The Nature Conservancy is part of a public-private partnership to increase investment flows for sustainable land management and integrated natural resource management in the upper catchment of Kenya’s Tana River. The upper Tana River supplies 95% of Nairobi’s and 60% of Kenya’s hydropower. Yet water quality and water quantity issues are increasing in the upper Tana watershed. In March 2015, The Nature Conservancy helped established the Upper Tana-Nairobi Water Fund to address water quality and quantity issues. This water fund combines funding from public and private donors and major users ‘at the tap’ to put green infrastructure in place ‘at the top’ to protect the watershed. The water fund’s goal is to increase sustainable land management and integrated natural resource management through improved food production, greater household income, and more diversified development and livelihood options. To achieve this, the water fund team will implement three components in the upper Tana watershed:
- Institutionalize the water fund management platform by establishing the Upper Tana-Nairobi Water Fund Charitable Trust and developing financial management and operational systems;
- Improve Upper Tana catchment ecosystems that support livelihoods, food security and economic development by implementing sustainable land management and integrated natural resource management through improved food production, greater household income, and more diversified development and livelihoods options (with disaggregation of support and results by gender and age); and
- Implement knowledge management and learning systems through a Monitoring and Evaluation framework that a) supports water fund decision-making and adaptive management, biophysical and socio-economic data collection and analysis and b) allows for scaling up policy integration and replication of good practices as rapidly as possible.
The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer is responsible for all monitoring, evaluation and knowledge management activities under a 5-year term-limited position that supports the IFAD-sponsored, GEF-funded Upper Tana-Nairobi Water Fund. The M&E Officer will be part of the Project Management Unit, will report to the Project Director, and will work closely with the TNC Director of Monitoring and Evaluation for Africa. The position will be located in the project office in Sagana Town (Kirinyaga County) along the Nairobi-Nyeri road, with significant travel and prolonged stays in the Upper Tana watershed project sites.
The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer develops and maintains systems for progress monitoring, impact evaluation, and knowledge management of the Upper Tana-Nairobi Water Fund. She/he will work closely with local project partner organizations to further develop their M&E systems and train their staff. She/he will develop the overall framework for the water fund’s M&E in accordance with the project document and IFAD requirements, build partner capacity on data collection, analyze data, and lead the periodic reporting to project supporters. Finally, she/he will organize a rigorous qualitative-quantitative baseline for the project that can be used to assess impact and drive programmatic learning.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND SCOPE
- Identify the core information needs of project managers, partners, government, stakeholders and IFAD.
- Organize the baseline assessment, mid-term review, and end of project evaluation.
- Build capacity on M&E within partner organizations.
- Participate in development of annual work plans and ensure agreement on annual milestones and inclusion of M&E activities in the work plan.
- Supervise and implement M&E activities included in the annual work plans with a particular focus on results and lessons learned.
- Develop online databases, spreadsheets or other tools to ensure that monitoring and knowledge management data is compiled and readily available.
- Assist in the development of project reports by preparing technical progress reports in accordance with approved reporting formats and ensure their timely submission.
- Prepare consolidated progress reports for project management including identification of problems, causes of potential bottlenecks in the project implementation, and specific recommendations for addressing the problems.
- Check that monitoring data are discussed in the appropriate forum and in a timely fashion to allow for adaptive management of activities. If necessary, create such discussion forums to fill any gaps.
- Working with project collaborators plan and execute data collection campaigns for river water monitoring, biophysical and ecological data gathering and analysis
- Invest ample time in the field to support implementation of M&E work and identify where adaptations might be needed.
- Foster participatory monitoring by engaging primary stakeholder groups in the M&E of activities.
- Organize (and provide) refresher training in M&E for implementing partners, local organizations, and primary stakeholders with a view of strengthening local M&E capacity.
- Design and implement a system to identify, analyze, document and disseminate lessons learned.
- Network with external and TNC internal partners to exchange experiences, promote learning, and achieve M&E excellence.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Minimum of five years’ work experience in monitoring and evaluation.
- Experience managing complex projects, including staffing, workloads and finances under deadlines.
- Experience in the design and application of methods and strategies to produce, analyze and use data.
- Experience with qualitative and quantitative M&E data collection and analysis methods, especially in Excel.
- Experience setting up and managing M&E databases.
- Supervisory experience including motivating and managing performance.
- Experience developing partnerships with organizations, communities, and government.
- Experience demonstrating leadership and management skills.
- Experience with report writing and communication skills including oral presentations and knowledge management.
- Willingness to undertake regular field visits.
- Fluent in English and Kiswahili.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Sustainable Land Management and/or agriculture experience and knowledge.
- Experience working with multiple stakeholders.
- Expertise in rigorous quantitative and qualitative research and analytical methods.
- Demonstrated experience in analyzing, interpreting, and reporting on M&E results so that lessons can be learned and incorporated into programming.
- Supportive attitude towards building local capacities for M&E.
- Knowledge of methods and standards of M&E systems and initiatives.
- Teaching experience.
- Experience with multi-lateral donor-funded projects.