M&E Officer - ARED Project

Action for Rural Economic Development (ARED), in partnership with WeWorld-GVC and JPII, is a
project that aims at contributing to stability in Lebanon, by promoting local development,
improving the socio-economic conditions, and reducing the levels of conflict in North East Bekaa.

The program aims to:
1. Generate employment opportunities by revitalizing and diversifying the local economy in
targeted sectors with local potential, reaching to new markets and making it resilient to
external shocks and notably targeting youth and women
2. Strengthen the capacities of local actors to engage in the promotion of local economic
development whilst promoting stability and participatory action in the region
This is done through improving irrigation, agricultural value chains, producer aggregation, capacity
building for public institutions and supporting small and medium businesses in the region.

The Nawaya Network will be:
● Providing business training and coaching to 250 MSMEs (with a special focus on youth
and women), and grants to 100 MSMEs that work along the targeted value chains in the
area of North East Bekaa
● Providing business training to 7 farmer cooperatives and producer organizations
reaching 250 individuals and 100 non-aggregated farmers related to topics such as
finance, marketing, sales...
● Creating a regional brand for the products and facilitating access to market, both locally
and internationally
● Providing internship opportunities to 30 Business Support Specialists from the area
through the apprenticeship program to facilitate employment by organizations in the
region
● Creating a peer-to-peer program that will bring together all the beneficiaries of the
program as well as other stakeholders to ensure relevant exchange between them
concerning the value chains 

Main Business Coach Responsibilities

M&E Tools Development & Data Management:

• Supports the M&E Specialist in designing M&E tools and building/maintaining these tools via various data management systems.
• Provides advanced English to Arabic and Arabic to English translation of M&E tools.
• Distributes M&E tools to beneficiaries and carefully conducts the first level review and validation of all responses to ensure they were filled correctly and completely by beneficiaries before entering the data on the Excel sheets and/or on tahaki pro.
• Coordinates with programme staff to ensure their M&E responsibilities (e.g. data collection and data entry) are implemented according to the same expectations as those of the M&E Officer; conducts quality control checks to ensure all M&E deliverables are reliable and valid; and reports issues to the M&E Specialist while providing recommended solutions.
• Ensures that all M&E tools are entered on the Excel sheets and/or on tahaki pro in a timely manner according to established rules and schedules; and maintains effective and close communication with the MEAL Specialist to report and explain any delays, missing data, discrepancies, etc well in advance of M&E reporting deadlines.
• Supports the strengthening, systematization, and standardization of M&E tools and data management systems; periodically reviews and suggests ways to revise them so that they are adapted appropriately to changing programmatic needs/requirements.

Learning, Accountability, and Capacity Building: 

• Ensures programme staff clearly understand their M&E roles, responsibilities, and reporting timelines; and alerts the M&E Specialist of performance issues.
• Builds programme staff capacity through training and technical support to ensure continuous improvement of data collection processes and data management systems.
• Performs periodic spot checks in the field to (a) validate data collection/data entry processes of programme staff, (b) acquire knowledge on improving M&E tools and data management systems, and (c) recommend safeguards to supervisor for improving data integrity.
• Maintains regular communication with programme staff to identify challenges and incorporates their feedback to ensure the continuous improvement of M&E tools and data management systems.
• Recommends methods for updating M&E tools and data management systems to the M&E Specialist to ensure improved programmatic learning and decision making.

Reporting and Communication:

• Supports the development of monthly/quarterly/final progress reports by ensuring data for all logframe indicators is extracted from Excel tools and/or tahaki pro and imported to our partner's reporting platforms in a timely and accurate manner (e.g. on a weekly or monthly basis); and makes corrective actions when needed in real time while alerting the M&E Specialist of issues.
• Ensures relevant and timely M&E information is provided in user-friendly formats to key stakeholders, including The Nawaya Network colleagues, ARED partners, and the EU donor.
• Acts as focal point to tahaki pro for all Nawaya’s needs with regard to building and maintaining databases on the platform.

Other:

• Supports programme staff with M&E-related tasks as needed.

Requirements:

• Education: University Degree required, preferably in a related field. Graduate degree in public policy or public administration or related field a plus.
   
• Experience: 
  - At least 2-3 years experience in a M&E position, including: -Designing, implementing, and operating M&E systems from project initiation to closeout stages
  -Designing and managing beneficiary monitoring and database systems
  -Planning and managing surveys distribution/collection
  -Planning and conducting interviews and focus group discussions
  -Developing and refining data collection tools
  -Conducting data quality assessments and oversight

*Experience in or specialized knowledge of youth development, rural development, and/or employment is a plus.

• Compentencies:
  -Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability with project beneficiaries and programme staff.
  -Demonstrates accountability by establishing priorities, staying organised, and accurately completing multiple tasks while taking into consideration special assignments, changing priorities/interruptions, and deadlines.
  -Remains calm, in control, and good humored even under pressure, and able to deal with people with tact and diplomacy.
  -Solicits feedback from staff about the impact of his/her own behavior, and responds constructively to critical feedback and differing points of view.

• Skills:

  -English: Advanced Spoken and Written Fluency Required,
  Arabic: Advanced Spoken and Written Fluency Required,
  French: a plus
  -Advanced level of proficiency in Excel and Google spreadsheets.
  -Advanced level of proficiency in Google Drive.
  -Strong critical thinking and analytical skills, including the ability to evaluate proposed strategies or solutions for bias, assumptions, and contextual appropriateness.
  -Strong communication skills and emotional intelligence, including the ability to communicate technical information to both technical and non-technical colleagues, and to maintain respectful and productive working relations with internal and external stakeholders.
  -Strong detail-orientation skills demonstrated by the ability to complete each task as flawlessly as possible before moving to the next task.
  -Strong organizational management skills demonstrated by the ability to stay focused on different/competing tasks, while using one's time, energy, and resources effectively and efficiently in order to achieve the desired outcome.
  -Intermediate level of proficiency in math or statistical analysis.
  -Good moderation, facilitation, and training skills.
  -Good intellectual curiosity.