Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) Officer

“Unlocking the Potential of Savings Groups” Project, West Nile, Uganda

Do you have the passion, commitment and experience to work with savings groups in rural Uganda? Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) Uganda is searching for a driven and dynamic Community Based Savings Groups (CBSGs) Coordinator and Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) Officer for a new project in partnership with Financial Sector Deepening Uganda (FSD Uganda). The “Unlocking the Potential of Savings Groups” project in the West Nile region of Uganda will deepen sustainable access to formal financial services for targeted populations. The key objectives of the project include: 1) improving links to relevant digitalised financial services; 2) improving adoption of digitalised financial services through financial literacy of savings group members and; 3) contributing to learning and innovation on deepening access to finance for the poor through ICT platforms. The project will build capacity of CREAM to work with 800 CBSGs in Yumbe and Arua districts of West Nile, targeting 20,000 savings group members by the end of the project. Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) will provide the financial services, leveraging the mobile money channel and agents.
Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) Officer

Responsibilities:

The MERL Officer will manage and execute the AKF West Nile financial sector deepening project monitoring, evaluation, research and learning, as well as reporting related programme work and activities. S/he will work closely with the AKF West Nile MERL Officer, other senior management team, and all technical staff including staff at AKF Country and Regional Offices. S/he will also work closely with the relevant partners, including formal financial institutions (i.e. banks), community based savings groups (CBSGs) members, and sub-grantees/local CSOs. S/he will report to the AKF West Nile CBSGs Coordinator. S/he will be based in Arua.

Specific Responsibilities Include:
• Lead the development and implementation of the project’s performance monitoring and evaluation system including the performance monitoring framework, indicators and tools of data collection 
• Lead and coordinate the development of tools, collection and analysis data including interpretation of results for both baseline, ongoing and end-line assessments
• Work with AKF’s partners to assess the financial literacy of Community Based Savings Groups (CBSGs) in the West Nile and build capacity of the local partner on monitoring and evaluation
• Develop and manage a large dataset which tracks the performance of CBSGs over the course of the project to meet AKF’s reporting targets; collaborate with a leading bank to obtain and interpret savings and loan patterns in client groups
• Collaborate with stakeholders to collect informative ‘success stories’ which can help contribute to future programming and take the lead on translating impact-level results into lessons learned for both project team and stakeholders
• Develop high-quality reports for internal and external audiences
• Work with the Project Coordinator and Policy and Partnerships (Communications) unit to develop and publish policy memos and briefs

Required Qualifications:
• Minimum Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in international development or other relevant fields (e.g. micro-finance)
• Post-graduate qualifications in Monitoring and Evaluation (Diploma or above preferred).
• Minimum 3 years’ experience in Monitoring and Evaluation (experience in the areas of savings groups, rural development or livelihoods preferred)
• Sound knowledge of research design, statistical methods and survey methodologies
• Strong communication skills, i.e. able to make oral presentations and produce high quality written reports and results summaries
• Demonstrable competency in MS Office suite and at least 1 other statistical package (i.e. SPSS, Stata, R)
• Good analytical and interpersonal skills as well as a demonstrated ability to work effectively in a diverse team environment
• Experience in developing internal / external communications materials (preferred)
• Willingness to live in West Nile sub-region, undertaking frequent field travels in isolated rural settings

Candidates interested in these unique career opportunities with AKF (Uganda) should submit a cover letter explaining why they are best suited for the particular position, CV (not exceeding 3 pages) and the names and contact information of three professional referees by Wednesday, October 14th, 2015, to the HR & Admin. Manager - Aga Khan Foundation (Uganda), by e-mail to akf.uganda@akdn.org. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.