National Specialist – Stakeholder Engagement and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL)

Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda through the FAO Strategic Framework by supporting the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and malnutrition. The main aim of the FAO country office in Zambia, which is headed by the FAO Representative, is to assist the Government to develop policies, programmes and projects to achieve food security and to reduce hunger and malnutrition, to help develop the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors, and to use their environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner.

The project Integrated Country Approach for boosting decent jobs for youth in the agrifood system, Phase IV (ICA-4) aims to support country stakeholders in designing and implementing sustainable, inclusive, and scalable solutions for generating decent employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for rural young women and men in agrifood value chains. In Zambia, the ICA-4 project has tentatively selected the soybean value chain as its main entry point.

Reporting lines

The National specialist will work under the overall supervision of FAO Representative and the direct supervision of the Assistant FAO Representative (programmes) and technical supervision of the Decent Rural Employment Team (DRET) Technical Officer/international project coordinator, and in close collaboration with the colleagues in headquarters and the regional/subregional offices. In particular, the incumbent will support the interregional project\: Integrated Country Approach (ICA) for boosting decent jobs for youth in the agrifood system, Phase IV (ICA-4) in Zambia.

Technical Focus

The National specialist will provide the technical and facilitation support related to the Stakeholder Engagement and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) functions of the project Integrated Country Approach for boosting decent jobs for youth in the agrifood system, Phase IV (ICA-4). .

Tasks and responsibilities

• Support the National Project Coordinator and local stakeholders in the participatory development of the country-based MEL framework, including the detailed results chain for each pilot intervention prioritized by the project in Zambia.
• In close collaboration with the National Project Coordinator and the international MEL specialist, regularly monitor and track the progress of project results against indicators at output, outcome and impact levels.
• Perform MEL data collection activities from direct and indirect beneficiaries in the field and timely upload the collected data to the data repository.
• Abide by ethics in data collection including the protection of rights of survey participants. Obtain informed consent from survey participants and due approvals from local/national authorities.
• Provide technical advice and support to the ICA-4 project team in Zambia to integrate a gender-transformative perspective in country-level project work and facilitate the engagement of young women in project activities.
• Coordinate project stakeholder engagement activities, through both institutional communication and participatory approaches, including by\: i. effectively engaging local stakeholders, with a focus on young women and men, in the participatory youth-sensitive value chain analysis to be carried out in the initial phase of the project, as well as the participatory MEL process and regular project activities; and ii. using existing ICA project tools, and in coordination with the International Youth Engagement specialist, develop a strategy and plan for communication and support for the informed engagement of the project's target group(s).
• Apply participatory methods to facilitate the mobilization and equal participation of young women and men in project activities.
• Establish relationships with communication focal points of youth groups, local youth networks and groups, youth support organizations, and other stakeholders in the project's area of intervention to facilitate inclusive and meaningful stakeholder engagement.
• Support the national project coordinator in communication between stakeholders, the FAO country office, and headquarters.
• Support the development of informational and communication materials in various formats, including audiovisual materials for social media, newsletters and other FAO institutional channels.
• Support the country office and the project team in identifying, documenting and disseminating results, success stories and learnings, including good practices and lessons learned from a gender perspective.
• Perform other related duties as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in social sciences (sociology, anthropology, political sciences, international relations, research methods or alike) and/or data sciences (statistics, data management or alike) and/or evaluation.
• 3 years of demonstrated qualified and relevant experience in setting up and operationalizing monitoring and evaluation systems in rural development or livelihoods projects in the NGO and/or IO/UN context.
• Working knowledge of English.
• Zambian National.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Demonstrated knowledge of principles and current approaches to MEL.
• Demonstrated understanding of data and information needs for program management and decision making, as well as of the project cycle management
• Demonstrated experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods.
• Experience in using applications for data collection and/or visualization (e.g. such as PowerBI, Tableau, STATA, SPSS, NVivo, CommCare, Survey Monkey, Survey CTO, Kobo, ODK, MS Dynamics 365 and Visio, Pictochart, Infogram) is highly desirable.
• Advanced use of MS Excel is highly desirable.
• Excellent communication and network facilitation skills.
• Experience in working with youth or on youth employment issues, and/or women empowerment and gender equality in agrifood value chains.

Selection Criteria

• Prior experience in facilitating participatory processes of stakeholder engagement and learning.
• Extent and relevance of experience in project monitoring and evaluation.
• Extent and relevance of experience in facilitating participatory processes of stakeholder engagement and learning.
• Extent and relevance of experience working with young people, women and/or in rural areas of Zambia.
• Level of communication skills, good writing skills including ability to write concise technical reports in English is a strong asset.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION