Project Officer (Monitoring and Evaluation)

Job Posting Organization:
The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization dedicated to saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build pathways to peace, stability, and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impacts of climate change. Established in 1961, WFP operates in over 80 countries, employing thousands of staff members who are committed to the mission of eradicating hunger and improving nutrition. WFP is recognized for its efforts in providing food assistance and is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, highlighting its significant contributions to humanitarian efforts globally. The organization emphasizes diversity and inclusion, encouraging qualified candidates from various backgrounds to apply for positions within its ranks. WFP is dedicated to fostering a healthy work environment that aligns with its core values of Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion. For more information about WFP, visit their official website at https://www.wfp.org and follow them on social media platforms for updates and news.

Job Overview:
The Project Officer (Monitoring and Evaluation) position is crucial for the effective implementation of the National School Feeding Programme in Sierra Leone, which aims to provide hot meals to primary and pre-primary school-age children. This role involves supporting the development and refinement of the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework, ensuring that the program's objectives are met through robust data collection and analysis. The officer will lead the technical development of M&E tools and support the digitization of data collection processes, which are essential for tracking the program's performance and making informed decisions. The position requires collaboration with various stakeholders, including the National School Feeding Secretariat (NSFS) and the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE), to enhance the monitoring and evaluation systems in place. The officer will also be responsible for training and supporting field staff in the use of M&E tools and ensuring that data quality standards are maintained throughout the project. This role is vital for improving transparency, accountability, and the overall effectiveness of the school feeding program, ultimately contributing to better educational and nutritional outcomes for children in Sierra Leone.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Support the development, review, and refinement of the M&E framework, monitoring plan, indicator framework, data collection matrix, reporting templates, and data quality assurance protocols for the project.
• Lead the technical development and digitization of M&E tools, including ODK forms, school monitoring checklists, supervisory tools, community feedback forms, data verification tools, and reporting formats.
• Support configuration, testing, piloting, and rollout of digital data collection systems, including ODK Collect, ODK server workflows, School Connect, and related mobile data collection applications.
• Provide technical support to ensure that monitoring tools capture relevant school feeding indicators, including feeding days, food delivery, stock status, meal quality, attendance, community feedback, field monitoring coverage, follow-up actions, and other agreed performance indicators.
• Supervise and provide technical oversight for routine data collection by NSFS, MBSSE district staff, field monitors, community monitors, and school-level users, ensuring adherence to agreed tools, reporting timelines, and data quality standards.
• Conduct data quality checks, including review of completeness, accuracy, consistency, timeliness, geolocation, duplicate submissions, outliers, and other anomalies, and follow up with responsible teams to correct errors.
• Manage and maintain dashboards and standard reporting products, ensuring that data are regularly updated, clearly presented, disaggregated where relevant, and accessible to authorized users for decision-making.
• Analyze monitoring data and generate routine analytical summaries on program performance, implementation gaps, field monitoring coverage, school-level issues, data quality, trends, risks, and corrective actions.
• Prepare monthly, quarterly, annual, and ad hoc M&E reports, including dashboard extracts, data briefs, progress updates, review meeting presentations, and technical inputs for donor and management reporting. 1
• Support regular data review meetings at national and subnational levels by preparing data packs, identifying key issues, documenting agreed actions, and tracking follow-up through action trackers. 1
• Provide practical training, coaching, and technical backstopping to NSFS, MBSSE, district, and school-level users on M&E tools, digital data collection, dashboard use, data quality assurance, analysis, and reporting. 1
• Support the alignment of school feeding data with EMIS school codes, master school lists, and national reporting requirements, and contribute to future integration or data exchange between the M&E system and MBSSE reporting platforms. 1
• Support monitoring field missions, spot checks, and supervision visits to verify data collection processes, assess the use of tools, identify capacity gaps, and provide hands-on support to field teams. 1
• Document operational lessons, technical challenges, user feedback, and recommendations to improve the functionality, usability, and sustainability of the M&E system. 1
• Maintain organized records of tools, datasets, dashboards, reports, training materials, meeting outputs, and technical documentation related to the M&E workstream. 1
• Carry out any other M&E-related technical tasks assigned by the Project Coordinator in support of the project objectives.

Required Qualifications:
Candidates must possess a university degree in monitoring and evaluation, statistics, data science, information systems, education, social sciences, development studies, public administration, or another relevant field. An advanced degree will be considered an added advantage. Additionally, candidates should have at least three years of relevant professional experience in monitoring and evaluation, data management, digital data collection, program monitoring, reporting, or related technical functions. Demonstrated experience in developing M&E tools, indicators, reporting templates, data quality assurance processes, and analytical reports is essential. Practical experience with digital data collection platforms such as ODK, KoboToolbox, or similar tools is required, while experience with dashboards, data visualization, and database management is highly desirable. Strong skills in data cleaning, analysis, and presentation using tools such as Excel, Power BI, Tableau, SPSS, Stata, R, or similar applications are also necessary. Experience working with government institutions, UN agencies, NGOs, education programs, school feeding, security" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #007bff !important;">security" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #007bff !important;">food security, nutrition, or social protection programs is desirable. Strong written and oral communication skills in English, including the ability to prepare clear reports, data briefs, presentations, and technical guidance materials, are required.

Educational Background:
The educational background required for this position includes a university degree in fields related to monitoring and evaluation, statistics, data science, information systems, education, social sciences, development studies, public administration, or other relevant disciplines. An advanced degree in these areas will be considered an advantage, as it demonstrates a higher level of expertise and understanding of the complexities involved in monitoring and evaluation processes.

Experience:
The position requires at least three years of relevant professional experience in monitoring and evaluation, data management, digital data collection, program monitoring, reporting, or related technical functions. Candidates should have a proven track record of developing M&E tools, indicators, reporting templates, and data quality assurance processes. Experience in analyzing data and generating reports is also essential, as well as familiarity with the specific challenges and requirements of monitoring and evaluation in humanitarian or educational contexts.

Languages:
Fluency in English is mandatory for this position, as it is the primary language of communication within the organization and for reporting purposes. Strong written and oral communication skills in English are essential, including the ability to prepare clear reports, data briefs, presentations, and technical guidance materials. While English is the required language, knowledge of additional languages may be considered an asset, particularly if they are relevant to the local context or the populations served by the program.

Additional Notes:
The position is a service contract (SC-8) with a duration of 12 months. It is essential for candidates to be aware that WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of discrimination and harassment. The organization does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing, or other fees in connection with the application or recruitment process. All applications must be submitted exclusively through WFP's online recruiting system, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further stages of the recruitment process. The role may involve working closely with various stakeholders, including government institutions, NGOs, and community members, to ensure the successful implementation of the National School Feeding Programme.