Monitoring & Evaluation and Communication Officer

Project Description 

SOCODEVI contributes to improving the living conditions of communities by supporting the creation and strengthening of sustainable and inclusive cooperative or mutual companies.

The Strong’HER project, is a strategically designed response to the multifaceted challenges posed by climate change, particularly vulnerability to drought and erratic precipitations. The 5 years project focuses on enhancing climatic change adaptation from 3 woredas in Oromia region and in Addis Ababa targeting 2,500 rural families, including over 1,300 women-headed households, and 4,000 women entrepreneurs. Central to Strong’HER’s strategy is advancing climatic change adaptation and reducing climate vulnerability within vital agricultural value chains, such as teff and legumes, alongside women-led value chains in small ruminants and poultry production. 

By focusing on climate resilience, the project is set to reduce the vulnerability of these systems to drought and erratic precipitations, thereby fostering agrifood systems that are not only sustainable but also capable of flourishing amidst the evolving climate landscape. This approach positions climate adaptation as the driving force behind strengthening these systems, resulting in enhanced food security and economic empowerment for women in the agricultural sector. 

By leveraging the cooperative model, Strong’HER aims to enhance the capacity of rural and urban women to develop and adopt climate resilient practices, and to participate actively in decision-making processes. This model will not only boost the democratic organisation and income of women but will also enhance the quality of their products by integrating climatic change adaptation measures. Addressing the fact that women are especially susceptible and disproportionately impacted by climatic change, the project will confront gender-specific barriers that impede their capacity to adapt and restrict their contributions and economic well-being in agribusiness. Strong’HER is committed to supporting women’s sustainable farm management in response to climatic change, thereby ensuring they have control over resources and benefits, and can expand their networks to fortify their resilience. Additionally, Strong’HER promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment by increasing their participation in leadership roles and ensuring access to resources and training.

Job Summary 

Reporting directly to the Operations Manager and working closely with the M&E Advisor in SOCODEVI HQ, the M&E and Communication Officer provides technical leadership to develop and/or implement the program framework, plans and indicators to capture project performance results and provide effective, accurate and timely monitoring, evaluation and reporting of all project activities. The M&E and Communication Officer works closely with the other team members to design, implement and supervise the program’s M&E activities, ensuring that lessons learned are integrated into program implementation to continuously improve quality of interventions and outcomes. The M&E and Communication Officer is responsible for documenting and disseminating program successes and challenges to Global Affairs Canada (GAC). The M&E and Communication Officer is also responsible for designing and conducting operations research.

• Oversee the development and implementation of the Performance Monitoring Plan (PMP) to capture project performance and results, including routine service delivery data reporting, endline assessments, and all monitoring for process and outcome evaluations;

• Develop and oversee data flow pattern for the program that will ensure timely data collection and reporting;

• Lead results reporting to GAC by providing written documentation on M&E activities and indicator results for progress and annual reports, as appropriate;

• Provide leadership and direction on M&E to ensure the program achieves its goals and corresponding objectives and targets;

• Ensure high-quality implementation, consistent with GAC RBM guidelines, information and reporting systems;

• Lead efforts to monitor and evaluate project interventions, document results and provide feedback to stakeholders to guide decision-making;

• Lead efforts to utilize training monitoring systems to track and monitor trainers and participants at training events to facilitate follow-up and recordkeeping;

• Conduct targeted evaluations and operations research, including design, data collection, management and analysis;

• Ensure quality of data through data verification procedures, including routine data quality audits;

• Cultivate strategic M&E relationships and alliances with other GAC projects and represent M&E activities in public and professional circles through meetings, conferences, and presentations;

• Promote and support the dissemination of project information among the project team;

• Work with project and financial staff to prepare and track progress of project and activity budgets;

• Coordinate all M&E capacity-building activities with project staff, implementing partners and facility staff.

COMMUNICATION COMPONENT 

1. Communication Strategy & Implementation

• Develop and implement communication strategies aligned with the organization’s mission, vision, and goals.

• Collaborate with internal teams to ensure communication efforts support programmatic objectives.

• Monitor and evaluate the impact of communication initiatives, providing reports to the management.

2. Content Development

• Draft press releases, newsletters, annual reports, and other communication materials.

• Create engaging content for websites, social media, and other digital platforms.

• Develop messaging frameworks for campaigns, events, and advocacy efforts.

3. Media & Public Relations

• Build and maintain relationships with media outlets and journalists.

• Coordinate media coverage, including press conferences and interviews.

4. Digital Media Management

• Manage the organization’s website, ensuring content is up-to-date and user-friendly.

• Develop and execute social media strategies to enhance online presence and engagement.

• Track analytics and audience engagement, adjusting strategies accordingly.

5. Stakeholder Engagement

• Communicate effectively with donors, partners, beneficiaries, and other stakeholders.

• Assist in organizing events, workshops, and campaigns to amplify outreach efforts.

• Support fundraising initiatives with compelling donor-focused communication materials.

Working conditions 

SOCODEVI offers the following and a great work environment: 

• One-year contract, renewable annually;

• Regular working hours: 8 hours a day from Monday through Friday, for a total of 40 hours/week;

• Salary will be paid on a monthly basis;

• 20 working days of annual leave per calendar year. The annual leave is earned at the rate of 1.67 days per month;

• Working during evenings and weekends might happen when necessary but shouldn’t be frequent;

• The successful candidate accepts to travel to the woredas when needed and required.

Qualifications and Requirements

• Undergraduate degree in agricultural economics, agribusiness, statistics, mathematics or related field or equivalent experience; 

• Minimum five years of work experience in monitoring and evaluating complex, large, multi-year agricultural development projects; 

• Proven expertise in quantitative and qualitative methodologies, operations research, reporting, data quality assessments, data analysis and presentation and setting up and managing M&E systems that track performance as per the objectives;

• Experience in participatory and community based approaches;

• Demonstrated strong management, coordination, teamwork and planning skills with proven ability to function effectively with multiple counterparts in both the public and NGO sectors; 

• M&E experience in development projects and in particular in environment projects;

• Strong technical skills, including ability to process and analyze data using one or more statistical software packages;

• Experience with Power BI and Excel advanced features (an asset);

• Excellent diplomacy skills and a proven ability to establish and maintain interpersonal and professional relationships with GAC, and other key stakeholders such as NGOs, government departments and the cooperatives;

• Demonstrated outstanding leadership, strategic thinking, organizational, team-building, and representational skills;

• Expertise in research to practice—identifying and adapting best practices to specific project contexts;

• Excellent skills in facilitation, team building, and coordination;

• Experience in database management and with mobile data collection tools (an asset).

• Excellent verbal interpersonal and presentation skills in English as well as written;

• Advanced computer skills (Windows, MS Office, Sharepoint);

Skills 

• Good command in English both verbal and written; 

• Proficiency in Amharic and Afan Oromia is required;   

• Ability to design and adapt training tools and capacity building programs;  

• Ability to analyze and synthesize; 

• Ability to work under pressure and deliver;

• Advanced computer skills (Windows, MS Office, Sharepoint);

• Ability to work in a multidisciplinary team;  

• Ability to use participatory approaches;  

• Ability to manage partnerships and relationships with peer organizations;

• Ability to adapt to rudimentary working conditions during technical support in the field.

Knowledge 

• Knowledge of M&E analysis tools; 

• Knowledge of monitoring, evaluation and learning processes according to a participatory feminist approach (an asset);

• Knowledge of results-based management (an asset);   

• Knowledge of rural contexts;

Qualities

• Autonomy  

• Rigor  

• Creativity  

• Critical thinking

• Versatility  

• Proactivity

How To Apply

To Apply: Send a cover letter, current resume with 3 referees to: recruitment.et@socodevi.org

Deadline to Send a cover letter, current resume with 3 referees: February 5th 2025 at midnight.

The title of your message must contain the job title: M&E and Communication Officer 

We are committed to the principles of fair hiring. Only those selected for an interview will receive an acknowledgement of receipt. 

At SOCODEVI, we recognize that promoting gender equality and a more inclusive world must apply as much to the communities targeted by our projects as to the people who implement them. We therefore

work to ensure a healthy, respectful and safe work environment for everyone on our team and we act, as an organization, in a responsible, fair and equitable manner.

As with all our positions, we encourage women, Aboriginal people, visible and ethnic minorities, and people with disabilities to apply. Your motivation and related experience can make all the difference, so don’t

hesitate to apply!