Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Associate 109 views0 applications

PROJECT BACKGROUND

The USAID Africa Trade and Investment (ATI) Activity is designed to bolster the U.S. Government’s ability to boost trade and investment to, from, and within the African continent. The continent-wide program is USAID’s flagship effort in support of the Prosper Africa initiative and will expand and accelerate two-way trade and investment between African nations and the United States.

Driven by market demand, ATI embraces innovative approaches to achieve its goals. ATI is designed as a small, core set of centrally coordinated technical and institutional support activities, and a large, flexible performance-based subcontracting and grants under contract facility designed to support the needs and opportunities that USAID Missions and the private sector identify.

ACTIVITY BACKGROUND

The ATI trade objective seeks to mobilize trade, including two-way between the U.S. and Africa, through a proactive approach that identifies and/or improves private sector awareness of opportunities, information sharing, and direct facilitation of new and existing business relationships. Building on almost two decades of successful Trade Hub work, the mechanism will have a particular focus on supporting African exports, intra-Africa and to the U.S. Activities must also accelerate the implementation of the existing Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) export strategies and trade preferences with the U.S.

In Southern Africa, USAID Southern Africa seeks to sustain the significant progress made on the USAID Southern Africa Trade and Investment (USAID TradeHub) through a buy-in program activity under ATI from October 2022 to September 2026, titled Southern Africa Trade Market Systems Activity. Specifically, the buy-in activity will focus on increasing exports from targeted Southern African countries to South Africa and boosting sustainable utilization of AGOA opportunities in the agriculture and agribusiness sector by targeted Southern African countries. To do this, ATI will deepen the market systems approach initiated under USAID TradeHub to tackle the root causes that limit Southern Africa’s agricultural market system – addressing incentives, behaviors, and relationships that impede the region’s trade competitiveness in three market systems:

• Trade promotion system refers to mechanisms linking supply with demand and helping exporters identify and meet these demands. Trade promotion activities are about raising awareness of agricultural trade opportunities among market actors;
• Trade enhancing services system, encompasses the sets of services that increase export competitiveness and functional ability to export. Trade enhancing service include all activities that build the export firms’ capacity to respond to the demand in the end markets in South Africa and the U.S.; and
• Supply chain management system deals with linking buyers to a robust supplier/exporter base and support to meet buyer needs. The activities in this market system relate to the core market functions of linking export firms to buyers with their products and services.

While ATI will initially focus on these three market systems, this list may be modified as opportunities and needs emerge and as USAID funding allows. The activity will operate primarily in the following Southern African countries: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia.

ROLE’S PURPOSE

The MEL Associate will support the MEL team with managing several large multi-year buy-in activities with significant labor and/or field presence. Responsibilities include managing data from different buy-in, working with Activity Associates to ensure that all data is captured, and verified. The MEL Associate with work with activity teams in support of program implementation and supporting USAID clients. The MEL Associate will support generating MEL frameworks for buy-ins, supporting the of procurements and grants programs, consolidating of data, and other administrative support tasks as needed by the MEL team.

OBJECTIVES AND DUTIES

• Support and track data from buy-in activity implementation to ensure it adheres to the approved work plan and deliverable schedule and troubleshoot deviations with the supervision of a MEL Manager.
• Support development and review of buy-in scopes of work, technical deliverables and contribute to subsequent learning.
• Take an active role in data collection, analysis, documentation, on reporting on all buy-in activities.
• Provide background information for indicators to the grants and procurement teams in preparation of negotiation memos for submission to USAID, supporting the development of first drafts.
• Provide assistance to grantees and subcontractors in areas of submitting proposals, achieving and maintaining compliance with USAID regulations, reporting, and other areas in which partners may require support.
• Liaise with activity teams to ensure proper MEL data capture and data quality to contribute to overall ATI project MEL reporting; and in tandem with relevant technical staff, generate buy-in scopes of work and indicator targets as needed.
• Travel to regional offices as required.
• Support internal and external studies.
• Document lessons learned and best practices in MEL according to USAID guidelines.
• Carry out any other tasks as requested by the MEL Manager.

REPORTING

The MEL Associate will report to MEL Manager.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s Degree and 7+ years of work experience.
• Familiarity with USAID rules and regulations regarding Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning.
• Ability to identify time sensitive demands & inquiries and respond effectively.
• Demonstrated knowledge of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning.
• Demonstrated report writing skills in English is required.
• An articulate individual who possesses excellent communications and personnel management skills and who can relate to people at all levels of an organization.
• An extremely well organized and self-directed individual with sound technical skills, analytical ability, good judgment, and strong operational focus.