Monitoring and Evaluation Expert

FVAC18.008

Name:

Promotion of Agricultural Livelihoods and Employment through Investment in Land Reclamation and Water Reservoirs

Job Title:

Monitoring and Evaluation Expert

Division/Department:

FAO Representation in Lebanon

Programme/Project Number:

OSRO/LEB/602/NET

Duty Station:

Beirut, with in-country field missions

Expected Start Date of Assignment:

July 15, 2018

Duration:

6 months

Reports to:

Name:

Dany Lichaa El-Khoury

Title:

Project Manager / CTA

General Description of task(s) and objectives to be achieved

Background

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) is currently implementing a project funded by the Dutch Government and entitled “Promotion of Agricultural Livelihoods and Employment through Investment in Land Reclamation and Water Reservoirs” in close collaboration with the Green Plan. The project responds to the reduced livelihood and food security levels resulted from the Syrian crisis. It tackles its negative impact on the host communities through the support to the agriculture infrastructure development in small mountainous exploitations, and improving the agricultural productivity and the farmers’ income, in addition to the creation of employment opportunities for both host communities and Syrian displaced.

The project aims as well to build the capacities of Green Plan to assist poor farmers in deploying agriculture infrastructure, as well as to contribute to the implementation of the new Green Plan Strategy Plan 2015-2019 in sustaining rural livelihood while improving water and soil conservation.

The project objectives are:

1. Strengthen the capacity of the Green Plan to implement rural development projects for vulnerable people;
2. Improve the livelihood of small and medium farmer communities through 390 ha of land reclamation and water conservation;
3. Improve the know-how of 1,220 farmers in establishing and managing orchards and irrigation systems; and
4. Create over 80,000 person-day job opportunities in the agriculture sector.

This current assignment is part of objective a) above. In order to strengthen the capacities of Green Plan, the projects aims, inter alia, to assist Green Plan in the establishment, monitoring and evaluation of the works delivery mechanism. Therefore, the FAO representation in Lebanon is looking to recruit Monitoring and Evaluation Expert to support in the implementation of these activities.

The project intends as well to conduct a midterm review that will lead to an improved project delivery in the remaining project duration and propose amendments (if any) required in project design and implementation arrangements in order to effectively and sustainably contribute to the promotion agricultural livelihood and employment in the Lebanese rural areas.

Specific objective of the assignment

The Monitoring and Evaluation Expert has a three-fold mission where he/she is expected to:

1. Contribute to the evaluation of Green Plan previous work;
2. Build the Green Plan capacities in Monitoring and Evaluation;
3. Lead the project mid-term review.

Duties, Responsibilities and Scope of Work

The Monitoring and Evaluation Expert will report directly to the Project Manager / Chief Technical Advisor. In particular, the incumbent will:

1. Contribute to the evaluation of Green Plan previous work

Purpose of the evaluation: Analysis of the main economic, social and environmental impacts caused by the Green Plan

Scope of the evaluation: Green Plan individual subsidies during the last 20 years;

Indicators:
1) Economic dimension: Benefit to Cost Ratio of the individual subsidies, Changes in Gross Margin;
2) Environmental dimension: Total change in vegetation cover, Total quantity of carbon stocked, quantity of soil erosion avoided;
3) Social dimension: Change in full-time equivalent employee for agricultural operations, Change in full-time equivalent employee for investment works, employment coefficient per type of work.

Specific tasks include (but not limited to):

1. 1. Assist the international consultant recruited to lead this exercise;
   2. Develop a sampling frame from Green Plan files;
   3. Amend and adjust the sampling frame as requested by the international consultant and FAO;
   4. Develop three or four case studies of different beneficiaries to be included in the final report;
   5. Contribute to developing the questionnaire for data collection by following the outline of the international consultant;
   6. Amend and adjust the questionnaire as requested by the international consultant and FAO;
   7. Define a data collection strategy, including the project team involved in the data collection;
   8. Train selected enumerators;
   9. Supervise enumerators and data collection, organise and record data collected;
   10. Clean data received from the enumerators in the field;
   11. Conduct statistical data analysis upon instruction of the international consultant;
   12. Develop cash flow models for crops for individual farmers on the basis of the data collected through the survey and on the basis of the data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture;
   13. Amend and adjust the cash flow models as requested by the international consultant and FAO;
   14. Analyse the data collected to produce findings and deduce conclusions that respond to the objectives of the evaluation in close collaboration with relevant actors;
   15. Contribute in the writing of sections of the evaluation report upon instructions of the international consultant;
   16. Prepare a synthetic PowerPoint presentation of the evaluation report and present it to Green Plan senior staff.

        

2. Build the Green Plan capacities in Monitoring and Evaluation
   1. Coordinate with the M&E Officer of the FAO Representation in Lebanon for the effective implementation of the below activities;
   2. Based on the results of the evaluation of Green Plan previous work, and the assessment of the current Green Plan structure, staffing and  procedures, propose a comprehensive Green Plan Monitoring and Evaluation system, built on internationally-recognised best practices for M&E in the agricultural and rural development sectors, including well-defined roles and responsibilities of the M&E unit at Green Plan, monitoring tools and procedures, mechanisms for baseline data/collection/updating, etc.;
   3. Submit the proposed Green Plan M&E system for review by FAO;
   4. Amend and adjust the proposal as requested by FAO;
   5. Present the proposed M&E system to the Green Plan senior staff;
   6. Design a draft capacity building programme (maximum of 4 days) for the Green Plan that enables a smooth implementation of the M&E system and mechanisms;
   7. Submit the draft capacity building programme for review and clearance by FAO;
   8. Amend and adjust the capacity building programme as requested by FAO;
   9. Implement the capacity building programme;
   10. Pilot an on-the-job monitoring of Green Plan workflow from application submission to the actual delivery of work;
   11. Write and submit, for review and clearance by FAO, a GP capacity building report.

        

3. Lead the project midterm review

Objective of the evaluation:
The Midterm review will assess the progress of the project against stated outputs as of June 2018, as well as identify issues and recommend course corrections.  It will also highlight issues and challenges affecting effective and efficient implementation of activities and delivery of outputs, and their contribution to project outcomes and impact. The review is being undertaken at the midpoint of project implementation and will pave the way for improved project delivery for the remaining project duration and propose amendments (if any) required in project design, implementation arrangements and/or institutional linkages in order to effectively and sustainably contribute to the promotion agricultural livelihood and employment in the Lebanese rural areas. 

Specific tasks include (but not limited to):

1. 1. Coordinate with the M&E of the FAO Representation in Lebanon for the effective implementation of the below activities;
   2. Design a draft review approach and methodology, based on internationally-recognised best practices for evaluation (M&E) in the agricultural and rural development sectors, sufficiently rigorous to respond to the objectives of the evaluation that would lead to complete, fair and unbiased assessment while taking into consideration at least the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and potential impact;
   3. Submit the draft review approach and methodology for review by FAO;
   4. Amend and adjust the approach as requested by the FAO;
   5. Define a data collection strategy, including the project team involved in the data collection;
   6. Supervise data collection, organise and record data collected;
   7. Analyse the data collected to produce findings and deduce conclusions that respond to the objectives of the evaluation in close collaboration with relevant actors;
   8. Prepare a draft midterm review report and submit it for review and technical clearance FAO (The report should follow UN and FAO standards and include at least: introduction, background and description of the scope, approach and methodology, assessment results, conclusions, recommendations and lessons learned);
   9. Amend and adjust the midterm review report as requested by FAO;
   10. Prepare a synthetic PowerPoint presentation of the midterm review report and present it to Senior FAO and Green Plan senior staff.

        

2. Conduct other project related activities
   1. Coordinate and share lessons learned related to M&E practices with partners and field staff as required;
   2. Participate on multi-disciplinary project/work teams in his/her capacity of M&E consultant when needed;
   3. Participate in the organization, conduct and follow-up of M&E related meetings, consultations and conferences, the development/production of required materials and the provision of information and assistance to partners;
   4. Provide support to consultants and staff assigned to the project in his/her capacity as M&E consultant when needed;
   5. Liaise and collaborate with the project partners for the good implementation of the project activities;
   6. Assist, if requested, in briefing meetings for the benefit of FAO Representative, Resilience Coordinator, Steering Committee, and senior related staff of partners;
   7. Undertake other project related tasks in his/her capacity as Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant as requested by the Project Manager / Chief Technical Advisor;

Profile and minimum expertise required

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Agriculture, Agricultural Economics, Social Sciences, Statistics or related field, with solid background/understanding of the agricultural and rural development sectors;
• A minimum of 10 years of progressive responsibility in development programmes, including significant experience in M&E activities and capacity building;
• Proven experience in internationally-recognised best practices and approaches/methodologies of M&E, in the logical framework and other monitoring and evaluation tools, and in the development and use of M&E methods (qualitative, quantitative, participatory);
• Proven experience in designing and facilitating M&E capacity building, training and coaching;
• Have participated in the implementation of quantitative surveys;
• Demonstrated ability to reliably perform project evaluations;
• Ability to use a logical and structured approach to collate, archive and synthesize information;
• Experience in undertaking secondary data reviews;
• Good knowledge of statistics;
• Previous experience in economic and financial analysis is a plus;
• Good written and oral working knowledge in English and Arabic;
• Computer literacy of the STATA or SPSS software programs, Microsoft package including Word, Excel and PowerPoint;
• Initiative, judgment, organizational ability and a good sense of teamwork and human relations.

key performance indicators

Expected Outputs:

Required Completion Date:

• Green Plan previous work assess report
• Green Plan M&E capacity building report
• Project midterm review report

• 10/10/2018
• 31/01/2019
• 30/11/2018

This position is open to qualified Lebanese candidates. Female candidates in particular, are encouraged to apply.