Terms of Reference Recruitment Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (ME&L)- Individual Consultant
• Position: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (ME&L) Individual Consultant, SADA
• Duration: Six Months, full-time
• Location: Kigali, Rwanda
• Deadline: December 11th,2022 at 11:00 PM Kigali (GMT+2)
1. Smart Africa
The Smart Africa Alliance is a partnership among African countries adhering to the Smart Africa Manifesto (herein after referred to as “the Manifesto”), the African Union (AU Commission, AUDA, specialized institutions and Regional Economic Communities), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Private Sector, Academic and Research Institutions.
The Smart Africa Alliance (or Smart Africa) is a bold and innovative commitment from African Heads of State and Government to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development on the continent, ushering Africa into a knowledge economy through the usage of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT).
On 30th-31st January 2014, the Smart Africa Manifesto was endorsed by all Heads of State and Government of the African Union at the 22nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa. This development places the Manifesto at the heart of the ICT agenda in Africa beyond just the 7 original signatories at the Summit to all African countries. The Smart Africa Alliance has since grown to include 32 African countries that represent 815+ million people.
The Smart Africa Manifesto aims to put ICT at the center of the continental and national socio-economic development of Member States. This means increasing access to ICT solutions, improving accountability, efficiency, and openness through ICT, promoting the introduction of advanced technologies in telecommunication, strengthening the private sector, leveraging ICT to promote sustainable development.
The Smart Africa Alliance as an organization is the framework for implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Manifesto, designed to make it actionable. The Smart Africa Alliance is not a profit-oriented organization.
2. Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA)
The Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) is the delivery vehicle of the Smart Africa capacity building and skills development activities across the various digital skills spectrum. It is a pan-African dynamic learning ecosystem in which African citizens of all ages and social classes can gain or improve their digital skills, gain qualifications, meet the emerging talent needs of employers, industry or be self-reliant.
The birth of SADA was driven by the need to meet a genuine need of sustainable jobs driven by the fact that 15% of the world’s working-age population are expected to be from Africa by 2030. The governments of the Smart Africa Member States recognize the urgency to drive inclusion and economic growth through the development and adoption of strategies for education and skills development to build this required future workforce. Digital skills development at all levels – from basic to competency-based – is required to allow the uptake of new technologies in the economy, increase productivity, support growth while avoiding unnecessary disruptions in the labor market and society.
Eighteen months since its birth, SADA has successfully impacted over 3000 policy and established national academies in seven (7) countries through an initial funding from BMZ/GIZ. As the Smart Africa Digital Academy program enters its full-scale phase, the Smart Africa Secretariate seeks to recruit an experienced Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning expert to develop a ME&L plan that uses evidence and systematic reflection to improve the relevance, effectiveness, and impact of the SADA program.

3. Duties and Responsibilities
The Smart Africa Secretariat would like to recruit a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (ME&L) Individual Consultant to establish the ME&L strategies and guide to support the continuous tracking of the SADA program development stages, allowing actors and stakeholders to learn from each other’s experiences, and build on the evidence gained to ensure the continuous improvement of the SADA program. The plan will guide the SADA project team, Country members and their SADA focal points, in collecting, analyzing data to support the SADA expansion strategy, as well as generating evidence, based on the overall program’s goals.

Responsibilities include:
• Develop and implement the ME&L and results framework for the SADA programme, capturing the common elements and indicators of the progress in programme delivery.
• Manage a rigorous approach to monitoring and evaluation to measure performance toward specific SADA programme’s goals and objectives, including quantitative, qualitative, and participatory methodologies
• Evaluate the current impact of the SADA program
• Provide training to staff and project stakeholders on ME&L (monitoring plans, tools, assessments, evaluations, surveys, and data privacy requirements)
• Provide template to support the production of monthly M&E and spot check (snapshots) reports from project team members
• Participate in other M&E activities as required by the Smart Africa Secretariate
4. Key qualifications
Education:
• A Master’s Degree in Social Sciences such as Statistics, Public Policy, Economics or related field,
• A recognized certification in Monitoring and Evaluation

Professional Experience:
• At least eight (8) years of progressive experience in the monitoring & evaluation of donor-funded international development projects.
• Strong experience in Survey Design
• Strong experience in quantitative and qualitative research with a thorough understanding of impact evaluation methodology.
• Mastery of database and statistical applications (SPSS, SAS, or related).
• Proven experience in designing and implementing Monitoring and Evaluation plans and providing tailored quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methodological approaches guided by best practices and supporting the generation of evidence-based findings.
• Experience in applying innovative technology-based data collection, analysis and comms approaches tailored to program context. Such may include Machine Learning, data visualisation, spiderbot, etc.
• Experience in applying the Theory of Change approach in planning MEL while promoting critical thinking and learning.
• Experience in results-based management, project monitoring, reporting, and evaluation to support organisations in developing their capacities in strategic planning, monitoring, evaluation, reporting and learning.
General attributes and skills:
• Overall understanding of the Smart Africa’s vision, mission, and goals
• Understanding of major funders’ reporting requirements (GIZ, NORAD, Worldbank, Mastercard Foundation, USAID, etc.)
• Demonstrated written, analytical, presentation, reporting, and computing skills and familiarity with modern communication systems (internet, the world wide web, email, etc.).
Languages:
Fluency in French or English, a good working knowledge of the language will be an added advantage.
5. Duration of the assignment
The Consultant will carry out the assignment on a full-time basis (5 workdays per week) for a duration of Six Months which may be extended based on the needs for the services, availability funds and Consultant’s performance.
6. Duty Station
The Consultant will be required to work from Smart Africa Secretariat’s Office in Kigali, Rwanda.
7. Reporting requirements
The Consultant will work under the supervision of the Director of Digital Infrastructure, Skills and Empowerment.
8. Application Procedure
Candidates should send the following documents to the following email address: hr@smartafrica.org, with mention of “Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (ME&L) consultant” in the subject line:
• A detailed CV with 3 contacts of professional referees.
• A one-page cover letter with a motivation statement in relation to the responsibilities and requirements for this assignment.
• Copies of academic degree, professional certificates, and other relevant training certificates
The deadline for submitting applications is December 11th,2022 at 11:00 PM Kigali (GMT+2) time.
Only selected candidates for interview will be contacted.
Any late application will be automatically rejected.