JOB DETAILS:
Bantwana Initiative Uganda (BIU) is a Non-Government Organization and its programs focus on the development of high quality, comprehensive Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) service delivery models in the country. BIU brings a significant track record of excellence and innovation in improving access to and quality of integrated OVC care and support and strengthening coordination and harmonization of care, protection and support services for OVC households from community to national level. Learn more at (www.bantwana.or,ug)

As an equal opportunity employer, Bantwana Initiative Uganda. is seeking to hire full-time experienced /qualified persons to fill the following positions below for the anticipated 5-year USAID Uganda Targeting the Learning Crisis (TLC) Activity, which aims to create sustained, measurable improvements in development outcomes in Basic Education through Targeted Instruction (TI) for foundational skills, a learner-centric pedagogy that reorganizes math and reading instruction based on children’s actual learning levels, rather than on the prescribed gradelevel syllabus.

BIU as a consortium partner of the TLC Activity, seeks to implement a cost-effective, sustainable, and impactful programming, centered around evidence-based early childhood education for preprimary years, in order to significantly improve foundational skills and school readiness for Ugandan primary students using a Community Based Early Childhood Education (CBECE) model, in 14 districts of Uganda (7 in Lango sub region and 7 in Busoga sub region).

Please note: The following positions are contingent on approved donor funding.

Position: Monitoring, Evaluation &Learning (MEL) Officer (2 Position)
Reports to: Regional Coordinator
Duty Station: Jinja & Lira Regional Offices, Uganda (indicate your preferred duty station)

Job Summary:
The MEL Officer oversees the MEL system, providing technical support, guidance and capacity building to the regional BIU TLC project team to implement TLC performance monitoring plan. S/he will follow up and ensure timely collection of data, check for completeness and reliability of data, ensure timely data entry into the database, check for completeness of entered data against the physical data on forms/tools, and perform data analysis to inform ECE service delivery in the region. The MEL Officer will support the reviewing and ensuring the harmonization of data collection methodologies and data analysis for quantitative and qualitative indicators contained in the TLC project AMELP. The role involves maintaining of the BIU project database at regional level and training program staff on how to use the databases. Analysis, report writing and editing skills are required for this position. The MEL Officer reports to BIU TLC Regional Coordinator with an indirect reporting line to BIU TLC MEL Manager.

Key Job Responsibilities and Duties:
● Responsible for ensuring timely, high-quality data collection, entry, analysis, and reporting by the Regional TLC programs team across districts of operation.
● Check source documents/ filled forms for accuracy and completeness.

● Analyse any data entry errors, address them with the Project Officers and MEL Manager and check accuracy of entered data.

● Comply with data integrity and security policies e.g. confidentiality.
● Provide MEL technical assistance to Local governments and OVC partner.
● Respond to requests for information and access relevant files
● Provide training, assistance, and consultation, as needed, to regional TLC staff, districts and OVC partner on interpreting and using performance benchmarking measures, indicators, and reports, including ensuring alignment to BIU’s MEL framework and management information systems of Government/districts.

● Support audit requirements related to data quality are met for AMELP indicators, including all donor and prime assessments such as SIMS, SQA and DQAs.
● Support internal baseline surveys, mapping and assessments and the implementation of the MEL plan.

● Develop plans and approaches for providing technical assistance, mentorship, coaching and support supervision to district teams and community structures including ECE community center and household visits.
● Support the Regional Manager in compilation of all required periodic reports including quarterly and annual regional TLC ECE reports.

Required Qualifications and Experience
• Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in demography, statistics, Social Sciences, M&E/Research, Information Technology or related qualification is required.
• At least 5 years of relevant experience working on U.S Government and other key donor funded projects in a supervisory role required. Experience working on Community Education projects is an added advantage.

Specific Knowledge, Skills and abilities Required;
• Good analytical and communication skills, particularly on data.
• Knowledge of major databases and analytical programs including; STATA, SPSS and Epi Data, GIS and MS Office is required.

• Considerable experience working with consortium partners and other technical experts in MEL and research
• Familiarity with computer programming, routine management of information systems, and maintenance of electronic databases
• Ability to convey MEL results to non-technical stakeholders and generate interest in the use of MEL data/results for programmatic improvements
• Candidate must demonstrate leadership qualities with technical management expertise and strong interpersonal, writing and oral presentation skills
• Good knowledge and experience of USAID and Government of Uganda Education reporting requirements
• Proficient in MS Office programs (including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel) and Google products (Drive, Gmail, Docs)

Interested applicants with the required Qualification, Knowledge, Skills, Attributes and Abilities should send their applications and CVs (detailing responsibilities carried out in previous positions) as one pdf to the HR and Admin Officer, Bantwana Initiative Uganda through the following email:
Indicate clearly on the application subject line the position and region applied for easy reference.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Child Safeguarding is the responsibility that Bantwana Initiative Uganda has, to make sure its staff,
operations, and programs do no harm to children, that is, they do not expose children to the risk of harm and abuse, and that any concerns the organization has about children's safety within the communities in which they work, are reported to the appropriate authorities