Evaluation and Learning Specialist

SUMMARY:
REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s Degree/ Advanced Diploma/ BTech (NQF 7) in M&E, Development, Public Administration, Economics or related field.
• A Postgraduate qualification in M&E, social sciences or equivalent experience and education would be advantageous.
• Training or certification in statistics and quantitative measurements would be advantageous.
• 6-8 years’ experience in monitoring, measurement and evaluation of development programmes/ projects; conducting evaluations and writing evaluation reports, at least 2 years of experience at a management level.
• Experience capturing both good practices and lessons learned, in a variety of approaches (e.g., end of the project evaluation, special studies); experience in project design and evaluation; experience in research, policy analysis and evaluation of donor-funded projects; Experience of Donor Communities
• Developing of Enterprise Standards; experience in the preparation of evaluation reports for different audiences – technical, management, government, donors and other stakeholders; experience in application of leading qualitative and quantitative data collection, analysis and reporting tools; experience in managing projects with multiple stakeholders and excellent report-writing skills.

POSITION INFO:
RESPONSIBILITIES:
Evaluation and Support:

• Execute the Jobs Fund Evaluation Framework and Learning Agenda.
• Support the evaluation of projects and extract learnings from the Jobs Fund portfolio. Provide the inputs to the Terms of Reference for evaluations and manage the service provider selection process.
• Manage the service providers secured to carry out project-level evaluations.
• Provide inputs into the design of baseline assessments, formative evaluations, mid-term evaluations and summative evaluations for projects.
• Support partners in the development of results chains for their projects.
• Plan for, design and conduct formative, process and summative evaluations.
• Utilize evaluation results to improve project roll-out and to appraise new projects

• Analyze and synthesize findings from project evaluations.
• Support awareness sessions with partners on evaluations, results-based management and project close-outs.
• Perform benchmarking and learning exercises on job creation, sustainability and systemic change.
• Document feedback on learnings from case studies, reviews, project close-out reports and other related factors.
• Engage in activities related to the synthesis and dissemination of lessons learned by the Jobs Fund.
• Support evaluation outputs and facilitate the implementation of recommendations from evaluations.

• Liaise and engage with stakeholders on learning and evaluation at the project level and Jobs Fund level.
• Providing support to Jobs Fund Partners to ensure post-Jobs Fund success.
• Appraise the Project Implementation Monitoring Plans and Theory of Change of new project applications.
• Advise on the use of job proxies when required.

• Support the JF in meeting evaluation and learning targets. Support the development of a learning framework with each business unit in the Jobs Fund.
• Provide technical support to project managers and the Communications Unit to develop and document compelling outcome and impact success stories, and to foster institutionalization and internalization of learning processes.
• Contribute to the training of project managers and partners on evaluation methodologies.

• Identify opportunities to optimize the Job Fund’s collection, use, and
• management of data.
• Support the training for Jobs Fund staff on the use of systems and effective data collection, use, and visualization.
• Simplify complex systems and processes into user-friendly guidance for staff. Collaborate with the grants management system (GMS) team and unit staff on broader system enhancements.

• Provide technical support to short- and long-term research, analysis, and information gathering assignments in support of evaluation and learning efforts.
• Manage, analyze, and effectively visualize large and complex data sets.
• Coordinate and respond to internal and external requests for data and data analysis. Support the synthesis of Jobs Fund knowledge, knowledge dissemination and active engagement of wider market players.
• Support the systematic recording of the social impact of Jobs Fund projects.
• JFPs already report social impact through narratives in quarterly reporting.

• Execute the overall framework of the monitoring and evaluation activities. Assess the validity of monitoring and evaluation data through regular and ad-hoc review of activities.
• Draft, revise and update tools and data collection procedures (e.g. logical framework, project performance tracking, indicators, data flow chart, M&E manuals).
• Support the Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Learning Lead in defining and implementing key project performance indicators (KPI) as well as monitoring them throughout the duration of projects.