Planning Monitoring Monitoring Evaluation Reporting and Learning (PMERL) Advisor

Diakonia is a Swedish international development organization with the overall goal to change unfair political, economic, social and cultural structures that generate poverty, inequality, oppression and violence. Diakonia works with the most vulnerable people, local partners and other strategic actors for the fulfilment of the right of all people to live a life in dignity - irrespective of age, class, disability, ethnicity, gender, nationality, political conviction, religion, or sexual orientation and identity.

Diakonia has about 400 partner organizations in 25 countries. In Sub-Saharan Africa Diakonia has country offices in Mozambique, DRC, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Mali and Burkina Faso with the Regional Office in Nairobi Kenya. 

Overall Job Purpose

Provide leadership in the implementation of Diakonia’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning standards  to ensure country offices and regional programmes deliver strategies in compliance with Diakonia global and donor requirements; continuously review and update working methodologies; coordinate reporting for internal and external accountabilities and promote organizational learning to improve operational effectiveness and efficiency.  The position will be preferably based at the Africa Regional Office, Nairobi Kenya but can be based in any of Diakonia Country Offices.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Programme planning and design

·   Synthesize and disseminate planning guidelines to country offices to facilitate a standardized approach within prescribed timeframes

·   Support and advice country offices in strategic planning and validate the process to ensure alignment to the global strategy

·   Support and advice country offices and regional programmes in the development of funding proposals to ensure PME aspects and the Diakonia working methodology are well elaborated

·   Ensure programmatic alignment with Diakonia’s strategic movements

PME Implementation

·       Provide proficient qualitative and quantitative methods support to both Country Offices and Partners

·   Provide methodological support to the COs and partners, to evaluate their work and gather quality data to develop an evidence-based impact analysis

·   Provide support and advice to country offices and regional programmes in specific PME activities based on challenges identified by the regional manager/deputy regional manager, the country managers

·   Support and advice partners in specific PME activities as identified by the country managers

·   Make visits to targeted country offices, including field visits to assess progress in the implementation of programmes, in compliance with the PME guidance

·   Participate in partner review meetings in targeted country offices to support country office teams and assess progress made in the implementation of programmes

·   Participate in induction programs to provide new staff with opportunity to understand Diakonia values and enable them contribute more effectively in the delivery of programmes

PME Reporting

·   Analyze and disseminate reporting guidelines to country offices to ensure reports are timely and in line with approved guidelines

·   Support the reporting process by providing input and direction to country offices to ensure reports are of acceptable standards both in timeliness and accuracy

·   Prepare regional results report for Sweden’s CIVSAM grants by consolidating reports from country offices and regional programmes and drawing conclusions to communicate performance to planned results

·   Lead and quality assure the annual strategy reporting process in the region to reflect progress made in the implementation of respective strategic plans

·   Write a consolidated regional report to head office reflecting the consolidated progress made in implementing strategic plans and their contribution to global strategies.

PME Monitoring

·  Participate in selected monitoring visits to assess implementation of activities and progress towards results and formulate concrete recommendations to ensure achievement of expected results

·   Provide regular feedback to country office programme teams on project activities, and suggest strategies for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of programmes by identifying bottlenecks in completing project activities and developing plans to minimize or eliminate such bottlenecks

·   Provide support to country offices (and partners) on needs basis to strengthen PME monitoring through training, joint reflections, review of log frames and development of tools 

Organizational Learning

·   Provide feedback from the reporting process for purposes of learning and identifying areas of synergy between country offices

·   Take leadership in planning and facilitation of regional staff forums to strengthen PME learning

·   Identify good practices in the region and facilitate staff members to share such in respective forums 

 Participate in relevant networks for purposes of learning different methodologies and approaches in developing, documenting and disseminating learnings within the region

·  Continuously review and update working methodologies to enable staff in the region understand and internalize them in relation to the broader identity of Diakonia

·   Identify cross cutting capacity gaps in PME and take necessary steps to address them

·   Performs other related duties and functions as requested

·   Actively participate in Diakonia’s global working groups to help create or update new guidance documents and ensure most recent trends are internalized towards the region

·   Ensure facilitation and dissemination of comprehensive and current information on Diakonia’s strategic movements and programmatic focuses of feminist approach, gender transformative mainstreaming, conflict sensitive and environmental mainstreaming as priorities.

Education, Training & Professional Qualifications

Job Competencies & Experience