Madagascar: International Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Specialist

Position overview

Based in the coastal town of Fort Dauphin in the southeast of Madagascar, this post will provide specialist knowledge of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) to a new sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) project. The successful candidate will work within a combined Malagasy and international team to drive an MEL strategy for Project Safidy, a new initiative seeking to develop an online SRHR network across the country in order to enhance access to SRHR resources for young people. Predominantly office-based in Fort-Dauphin, the MEL Specialist will travel regularly to pilot schools in the southeast of the country, alongside occasional regional travel to engage with partners. This exciting post would suit an early-career MEL specialist seeking in-country and leadership experience for developing and managing MEL systems.Title: Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) Specialist

Timeframe: until project close, scheduled to end in August 2018
Probationary period: 3 months
Contract: Full-time; 1,000,000 Malagasy Ariary per month
Reporting to: Head of Project Development (Community Health, WASH and Construction)

Project background

Project Safidy Phase 3 builds on previous SEED Madagascar projects which aimed to increase knowledge and safe sex practices amongst young people in Fort Dauphin in the Anosy Region. In the first two phases of Safidy, SEED worked alongside students and teachers at public middle and high schools in Fort Dauphin to introduce new dynamic ‘bitesize’ sexual health sessions, and develop educational resources and awareness raising activities. These proved to be extremely effective in improving the sexual health knowledge of young people, with a 53% increase in middle school student knowledge of STIs following the ‘bitesize’ lessons. Safidy Phase 3 will further refine educational resources, piloting them in the Anosy and Androy Regions to inform their continued development and shape the content. SEED’s SRHR resources – including ‘bitesize’ information packs and guidelines for managing Anti-AIDS Clubs – will build student knowledge of SRHR whilst supporting the capacity of teachers to provide sexual health education with skill and confidence, ensuring the sustainability of the approach. Throughout Phase 3 SEED will also work closely with the regional and national Ministries of Health and Education to disseminate the resources through an online network platform accessible to schools, community-based organisations and non-government organisations across Madagascar. The platform will provide a space for these stakeholders to share their knowledge, challenges and experiences enabling SRHR in Madagascar, and will support the Ministries of Health and Education strategy to further develop sexual health education in schools.

Primary responsibilities

Development and implementation of an MEL strategy for Project Safidy. Capacity building SEED project development staff, the Safidy team and local partners to ensure high-quality data collection that aligns with international development and SRHR indicators. Develop and lead a research strategy, including dissemination.

Duties and responsibilities

1. In consultation with the Madagascar Population, Health & Environment (PHE) Network, develop a comprehensive MEL framework for a two-year SRHR project that encapsulates a variety of activities and indicators in order to effectively measure change across a range of outcomes and outputs
2. Ensure the MEL strategy enables reporting across indicators for a variety of stakeholders, including donors, community groups and the Government of Madagascar
3. Analyse data from a baseline-endline survey accessing awareness of SRHR amongst students and their educators
4. Alongside an external consultant develop monitoring and evaluation tools of an online network platform
5. Oversee the implementation of the MEL frameworks across the project
6. Manage databases of all project findings
7. Support an international SRHR Specialist and the Head of Project Development to formulate a research strategy, ensuring project M&E captures data adhering to international development and SRHR indicators
8. Support an international SRHR Specialist to refine project resources in light of MEL
9. Contribute to project dissemination through networks, knowledge hubs and peer-reviewed journals
10. Identify technical needs and resources required for successful MEL and make appropriate recommendations given locational and budgetary limitations
11. Provide capacity building to and write training modules for SEED staff and local partners in MEL strategies, ensuring quality of project data while promoting a sustainable MEL approach of the broader organisation
12. Monitor quality of data collection and provide technical guidance for the successful implementation of an MEL plan through training staff and providing on-site support
13. Monitor planned and actual outputs in accordance to project targets
14. Contribute project learning to ensure SEED is positively represented in external meetings and affairs, including with Government Ministries at Regional and National levels, to maintain strong working partnerships and ensure support for the project and resources based on their alignment to best practice
15. Work closely with the staff in other Community Health projects to exchange information and provide mutual support
16. Any other tasks that the Head of Project Development (Community Health, WASH and Education) or Head of Community Health deems necessary within the broad outline of the role

Person specification

• Master’s degree in Community Health, International Development, Research Methods or related field
• Experience of working/volunteering internationally in a research or MEL capacity; SRHR capacity desirable
• Experience in the design and development of MEL frameworks for international development and/or community health sectors, including for quantitative and qualitative data
• Experience in implementation of MEL systems
• Experience in research design, and working with qualitative and quantitative data collection tools
• Clear demonstrable understanding of research ethics
• Ability to work with staff and partners to implement MEL systems, and to build capacity across cultures
• Demonstrable experience of information analysis and report writing, and ability to align these to KPIs
• Experience in participatory approaches to MEL is desirable
• Have the ability and desire to work with teams from different economic and cultural backgrounds and across multiple language barriers
• Experience of working with translators
• Have excellent communication skills, including a sound ability to adapt material for different audiences
• Experience of contributing to reports for external donors and stakeholders
• Be able to work both independently and as part of a multicultural and multilingual team
• Have passion and motivation for the work and to enthuse staff and volunteers
• Demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to SEED’s ethos and approach and be a good ambassador for SEED at all times
• Demonstrate proven ability to recognise and appropriately deal with challenging situations
• Demonstrate an awareness of and comfort with increased social and professional responsibility, working at all times with cultural sensitivity and respect
• Demonstrate the ability, social skills and confidence to give clear guidance and support to other members of the team in respect of the philosophy and procedures of SEED in order to protect both their safety and the reputation of the NGO
• Be punctual and be able to work to tight deadlines in an organised manner and to a high standard
• Have a flexible and patient attitude
• Have excellent problem-solving skills
• Knowledge of or willingness to learn French and/or Malagasy is essential Allowance and practicalities

The post includes various contributions, including:

• MGA1,000,000/month for the cost of living
• £1,000 towards the cost of flights
• Visa & insurance covered by the project
• The successful candidate will need to be equipped with their own laptop computer (non-tablet).

Country and organisation background

Madagascar is one of the most impoverished and least developed countries in the world, ranking 151/187 on the UNDP 2013 Human Development Index. Within the remote Anosy Region in the southeast of the country, the effects of chronic poverty are seen at their most extreme. More than four-fifths of the local population earn less than the global poverty line of $1.25/day (UNDP, 2013). A rapidly growing youth population stretches the capacity for Government health and education structures to meet the emerging, but critical needs of young people – many of whom are reaching adolescence with little or no knowledge of sexual health. While the median age of first sex at 17.12 is not significantly lower than the global average of 17.3 (USAID, 2014), contraception use and access to
sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) education compares poorly to other developing countries. Although the Malagasy government has a policy for high schools to campaign for sexual health awareness through student-led Anti-AIDS Clubs, these are largely inactive and delivery of sex education is inconsistent. With just 27.5% of Malagasy people attending high school (UNICEF, 2016), comprehensive SRHR education needs to commence much earlier in order to equip young people with practical sexual health information and the confidence required to make informed, safe decisions.

SEED Madagascar is a British registered charity which has been operating in the impoverished Anosy Region for over 15 years. SEED works with, and in support of, urban and rural communities in southeast Madagascar, aiming to tackle the immediate effects of extreme poverty, support long-term development and protect the environment. Its central mission is to build the capacity of individuals, organisations to lead and support sustainable conservation and development initiatives, with the objective of securing local community access to quality health, education and livelihoods assets, and increasing local capacity to conserve and manage natural resources including unique but greatly endangered forest environments. SEED’s health projects are predominantly focused on helping families to safeguard the maternal and child health, increasing students’ awareness of sexual health and STIs and supporting communities to build clean drinking water wells and safe sanitation. Research is also undertaken into community perceptions of the intersections between family planning, natural resource management and livelihoods, with the aim of strengthening SEED’s Population, Health and Environment (PHE) approach to project development.

Application procedure

Interested applicants should send a CV and covering letter outlining how their skills and experience match the requirements in the role description criteria to Rachel Mather by email on rachel.mather@seedmadagascar.org. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis until the position is filled. Long-listed applicants will have an initial informal chat with Madagascar based staff and short-listed applicants will then be offered a face-to-face interview with the London team in-person.

More information on the work of SEED Madagascar can be found at www.madagascar.co.uk