Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) Officer – Sudan

Organization Overview:
The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) is a non-profit organization that implements legal reform programs. ABA ROLI has worked for over 25 years in more than 100 countries to promote the rule of law, advance human rights, strengthen judicial institutions, support legal professionals and advance understanding of the law and rights of citizens by the public. To this end, ABA ROLI has established partnerships with a wide range of actors, including institutions in the justice sector (judges, prosecutors, public defense offices, mediation offices and national human rights institutions, investigators and police), civil society organizations, bar associations, legal aid organizations and lawyers, among others. ABA ROLI’s work in Africa spans a variety of programing around the rule of law, access to justice, atrocity prevention as well as human rights protection and promotion. ABA ROLI’s Africa Division has country offices across the continent, including in Angola, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Liberia, and Uganda.

Program Overview:
ABA ROLI is hiring a full-time Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Officer to support two US Government-funded programs in Sudan, which focus on supporting a new Sudanese constitution and protecting the freedoms of religious minorities. ABA ROLI works in partnership with several Sudanese and international organizations on this program.

The Supporting a New Sudanese Constitution program aims to support the Sudanese people in their sovereign pursuit of a new Constitution that will serve as a true social contract for a liberal and democratic Sudan. The program will achieve this goal by implementing activities that advance the following two objectives: (1) Bolster Sudanese stakeholders’ ability to design a participatory, inclusive, transparent and knowledge-driven Constitution making process; and (2) Support Sudanese stakeholders’ legal drafting efforts so that the Constitution’s drafts are consistent with comparative state of the art and international standards.

Job Summary:
The Sudan MEL Officer, who will work remotely, will lead the implementation of a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system for ABA ROLI programs in Sudan to ensure adherence to donor and ABA ROLI MEL standards, in collaboration with the program team and ABA ROLI MEL staff. They will also oversee the assessment of program effectiveness and help the program and ABA ROLI learn from its activities and adapt, as necessary.

Principal Duties/Job Responsibilities:
Attends weekly calls with the ABA ROLI Sudan team to collect indicator data on program activities;
Reviews previous indicator data to ensure accurate and consistent reporting on DevResults and the Performance Indicator Tracking Table;

Attends some program activities (budget permitting) to meet program partners, confirm indicator accuracy, and gather program outcomes and results, and follow-up on long-term indicator data;

Reviews and monitors program theory of change and logical/results frameworks used to ensure that identified outcomes and outputs as well as strategies for the program remain relevant;

Manages data collection on performance indicators by program team members and program counterparts; collates, analyzes, and reports on data;

Ensures ethical and responsible data collection and storage practices and approaches are used throughout the program cycle for MEL;

Develops written and visual representations of program outputs, outcomes, and impacts for external audiences;

Oversees the Program Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for both programs, setting out specific performance indicators and targets for overall activities, and establishing monitoring systems to measure program progress;

Analyzes, collates, and consolidates outcome and outputs assessments into quarterly and annual technical reports, and provide recommendations for revised approaches where necessary;

Drafts and manages data quality assurance (DQA) processes for the country programs reports, and reports to all relevant stakeholders;

Maintains proactive communications with the Sudan Country Director, Sudan Program Manager, DC Program Manager, and ROLI Learning, Evidence, and Impact (LEI) team to ensure timely and accurate updates on program activities, achievements, and shortcomings. In areas where program shortcomings are identified, creates corrective action plans to improve performance against standards. In collaboration with program team members, develops learning materials, case studies, and knowledge sharing resources;

In coordination with ROLI MEL staff, supports evaluative activities as needed, including scheduling focus group discussions and interviews, collecting other data, providing context and documents for desk review;

Conduct contextual research and analysis to inform programming, data collection and assessment;

Coordinates with all program team members on activity monitoring and data collection to ensure a consistent and coordinated approach to MEL;

Is responsible for all hard and electronic copies of MEL files and data, following ABA ROLI data privacy policies;

Conduct periodic pause and reflect sessions with Sudan program staff to gather success stories, discuss lessons learned, and troubleshoot challenges;

Performs other related duties as required.

Qualifications:
A bachelor’s degree in social sciences, economics, international development, evaluation research, statistics, or a related field. Master’s degree is an added advantage.

At least 5 years of experience designing, managing and implementing results-based M&E activities, which includes at least 3 years of employment with an International Organization or NGO.

Proven experience in designing, implementing, and operating project M&E systems from project initiation to closeout stages at an international development organization, including experience building and maintaining working relations with stakeholders.

Experience in strategic planning and performance measurement, including indicator selection, target setting, reporting, and developing M&E and/or performance monitoring plans, as well as post-project sustainability plans.

Demonstrated experience supporting MEL activities related to law, human rights, democratic processes, or other related areas.

Experience analyzing quantitative and qualitative data.

Knowledge of reporting procedures, best practices, guidelines and tools for monitoring and evaluation, especially impact evaluation at an international development organization.

Knowledge of USG and/or other donor contracts, cooperative agreements, and grant MEL regulations.

Proven ability to deliver a quality written product and visual presentations; experience and competency with data analysis and producing quality descriptive data visualizations.

Proven success in developing, implementing, and refining data collection tools.

Experience working in Sudan or elsewhere in East Africa, and strong understanding of political and operating context in Sudan.

Fluency in English. Proficiency in Arabic (written and spoken) is an added advantage.

Interest in or experience with the justice sector is a plus.