Summary
Date Posted: Tuesday, August 13 2024, Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
We are an International Development Organisation putting ingenious ideas to work so people in poverty can change their world.

We help people find solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems. Challenges made worse by catastrophic climate change and persistent gender inequality. We work with communities to develop ingenious, lasting and locally owned solutions for agriculture, water and waste management, climate resilience and clean energy. And we share what works with others, so answers that start small can grow big.

We are a global change-making group. The group consists of a UK registered charity with community projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America, an independent development publishing company and a technical consulting service. We combine these specialisms to multiply our impact and help shape a world that works better for everyone.

OUR AIMS
We help people find solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems, made worse by catastrophic climate change and persistent gender inequality. Our aims are to:
Make agriculture work better for smallholder farmers, many of them women, so they can adapt to climate change and achieve a good standard of living
Help more people harness the transformational effects of clean affordable energy and reduce avoidable deaths caused by smoke from indoor stoves and fires.
Make cities in poorer countries cleaner, healthier places to live and work.
Build disaster resilience into the lives of people threatened by hazards – reducing the risk of hazards and minimising their impact on lives and livelihoods.

HOW WE WORK
We work on holistic solutions that change systems and have a framework to help us achieve our aims:
• Analyse the root causes of a poverty and vulnerability
• Define the change at scale we need to make
• Develop activities along three complementary paths: Demonstrate, Learn and Inspire.
• Demonstrate that our solutions are sustainable in the real world
• Learn by capturing evidence and adapting our approach
• Inspire wider support to multiply our impact.

OUR ORGANISATION
Practical Action is an unconventional, multi-disciplinary change-making organisation

A highly innovative community development charity operating in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Practical Action community projects use ingenious ideas to design, test, refine and prove new ways to overcome poverty and disadvantage and then ‘open-source’ knowledge of what works so that it can be implemented at a greater scale by others.
A world-class consulting operation that helps socially responsible business, government policy makers and other development organisations. This draws on learnings from our own development work as well as the combined brainpower of a roster of over 2,000 expert consultants. Practical Action Consulting helps to extend the reach of our influence by providing the best advice to others, whose work can make a bigger difference.
A well respected specialist development publisher. Practical Action Publishing brings together development practitioners, researchers and thought leaders to create publications that stimulate discussion, strengthen peoples’ capabilities and inspire sustainable change.

PRACTICAL ACTION IN EAST AFRICA
In East Africa, Practical Action has a long history of addressing systemic barriers that prevent people from accessing energy that transforms their lives, helping communities and government makes cities healthier and safer, making agriculture and markets work better for small holder farmers and supporting communities and government to become more resilient. We use a mix of programming with communities and consultancy services with shapers of policy and practice to achieve our aims in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.
Our work with communities affected by climate change targets people who are threatened by climate and natural hazards. We work to better understand the drivers and barriers to climate change adaptation and mitigation with special emphasis on community driven pathways and sustainability. The overall goal is to support communities to build long term and sustainable resilience to the impacts of climate change.
In Rwanda, we are recognized leaders in clean cooking and sustainable energy solutions. This includes ground-breaking work in solar, wind and water powered electricity generation, often delivered through independent mini-grids. We bring rural communities, people in refugee camps, energy providers and decision makers together to put sustainable, clean energy solutions to work for the people who need them most.
In our strategic business plan 2018-2021, we propose to extend our current reach and scope in Rwanda by deepening our energy work and stretching our portfolio to work with small holder farmers to make agriculture work better for them.

Within our energy ambition, Practical Action is implementing the Renewable Energy for Refugees (RE4R) project in partnership with UNHCR. The project aims to deliver renewable energy investments through an innovative approach in humanitarian settings, working directly with refugees and host communities in Kigeme, Nyabiheke and Gihembe refugee camps in Rwanda. The project will provide access to affordable and sustainable sources of renewable energy, and improve the health, wellbeing and security of target populations. It will draw on Practical Action’s considerable existing experience of renewable energy programmes in developing countries – working directly with communities to deliver the best energy services and products possible for local people.

about the role
Practical Action seeks to recruit a capable and focused Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Officer to be based in its Rwanda office in Kigali. The MEL officer will be responsible for delivering high quality MEL activities across the three project sites including coordination of MEL activities between field staff and technical team in Kigali.

SCOPE OF WORK
Title: MEL Officer
Reporting to: Head of Programs
Matrix management: RE4R Global MEL Advisor
Direct reports: NA
Matrix reporting: NA
Relationships
Internal: Delivery Teams, MEL teams, technical advisors
External: Strategic Partners relevant to the project – government ministries, donors, partners
Location: Kigali, Rwanda
Grade: 7
Travel: Within project geographic scope

ACCOUNTABILITIES
Leadership and Strategic Alignment
• Coordinate the Rwanda’s quarterly and annual reporting against Practical Action’s Strategic Business Plan (SBP), particularly on RE4R’s contribution to Practical Action’s Energy Ambition.
• Lead Practical Action’s MEL activities relating to contribution to change in the energy access sector, using a systems approach to analyze and integrate cultural, political and economic factors.
• Ensure that Practical Action’s work draws on learning and innovation from work in the field and other partners and are shared effectively with the wider Practical Action organization.
• Ensure that project activities, outputs and outcomes feed into Practical Action’s impact ambition, strategic plans and project implementation
Delivering Quality
• Lead field level data collection methods for monitoring activities defined in the project MEL Framework
• Provide technical support and guidance to field coordinators on MEL activities
• Provide technical assurance and support for the delivery of monitoring activities
• Aggregate and analyse data and determine corrective actions from monitoring activities
• Ensure high quality evidence of the project’s outcomes and impact is produced
• Liaison with project partners to ensure high quality data collection and analysis
• Work with field coordinators to support data verification activities
• Manage and coordinate appropriate MEL feedback mechanisms
• Work closely with project team and partners to ensure feedback is appropriately acted on
• Lead the field coordination of project’s evaluation activities
• Document and disseminate best practices from the project
• Lead in the collection of positive impact stories and supporting material, including photos and videos
• Capture and disseminate project learning along with ensuring effective knowledge management between departments and affiliates to ensure the whole organisations benefits from and applies programmatic learning
• Support RE4R Rwanda Project Manager to deliver timely and high-quality project reports for authority bodies, internal reporting and donor requirement

PERSON PROFILE
To be successful in the role, the ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate:
Experience & Knowledge
• Demonstrable experience working in the field of monitoring, evaluation and learning (5 years minimum), and working knowledge of renewable energy, development programming and humanitarian response.

Essential
• Bachelor’s degree required in social science, international development, information systems management or related field.
• Proven success in implementing and operating complex monitoring, evaluation and learning systems
• Knowledge of current MEL approaches and data collection methods and the ability to select suitable methodologies for different contexts
• Demonstrable ability to think critically and analyse qualitative and quantitative data sets
• Proven ability to synthetize data and make appropriate recommendations for high-quality project delivery
• Proven ability to refine data collection tools
• Ability to work in cross-cultural teams
• Strong analytical and report-writing abilities
• Strong facilitation skills
• Strong communication skills
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Kinyarwanda

Desirable
• Professional qualifications in Project Management
• Clear understanding of gender issues and their implications on projects delivery
• Knowledge of systems thinking
• Knowledge of off-grid energy access technologies such as: solar PV, solar home systems, rural electrification, and mini-grid distribution systems

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 60

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

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