Monitoring and Evaluation Officer

Expertise France

Expertise France (EF) is a public agency created on 1st January 2015 under the supervision of the French Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy and Finance with a strong inter-ministerial vocation. EF offers programme engineering and technical assistance by developing and implementing international cooperation actions worldwide. Expertise France is the French public agency for international technical assistance.

EF designs and implements cooperation projects addressing skills transfers between professionals. The agency also develops integrated offers, assembling public and private expertise in order to respond to the partner countries' needs. With a business volume of 148 million Euros, a portfolio of over 500 projects in 100 countries, and 63,000 days of expert missions every year, Expertise France promotes French and European development policy goals.

EF operates in various fields of development and institutional cooperation including safety and security reform, public health, human rights, strengthening of institutions and NGOs and governance. Carrying out large-scale, multi-stakeholder programmes, EF can ensure the cooperation between individuals, teams and institutions with very different statuses, cultures and specialties. EF has acquired a sound experience in administrative and financial management of large-scale international programmes. www.expertisefrance.fr

1. Project background

The multiple crises that have impacted Lebanon for several years have led to a serious deterioration in the standard of living of the population and increased the risks of economic, social and political instability in the country. With the start of the Syrian crisis in March 2011, more than one million people had to seek refuge in Lebanon. This influx of refugees has had significant human, social, economic and political repercussions and has weakened the structures of assistance to fragile populations. The last two years have been marked by the collapse of the economy, the October 2019 protests, the COVID-19 pandemic and the explosion of the Port of Beirut. This accelerated succession of economic and social humanitarian crises has led to a dramatic increase in poverty levels among displaced populations and vulnerable host communities.

In the spring of 2021, the World Bank estimated that the economic and financial crisis hitting Lebanon would be among the ten, and probably the three most serious crises in the world since the middle of the 19th century. The banking sector has ceased lending operations and is no longer attracting deposits, and the Lebanese pound (L.L.) continues to lose value with soaring inflation.

Local NGOs play an essential role in crisis contexts in Lebanon, through their proximity to the most vulnerable populations and their presence in the most affected areas of the country. Their activities contribute to improving access to basic services in a context of saturation of public services. They also play a key role in strengthening social cohesion in the face of the growing risk of communal tensions.

Six years after the signing of the “Grand Bargain” on aid localization, aimed at repositioning local actors at the center of humanitarian action, the role of local NGOs in the aid ecosystem in Lebanon still needs to be strengthened, and strengthening their capacities remains a major lever for the sustainability of crisis response actions in the country. Lebanese NGOs must therefore be supported in strengthening their management capacities, technical skills and sectoral specialization to assert themselves as effective and relevant actors in the response to current crises.

2. The Shabake2 project

The Shabake 2 project is part of the Peace and Resilience Fund – Minka Middle East, which aims to contribute to the response to the consequences of the Syrian crisis, and to act on the prevention and management of the protracted crisis in Lebanon. In addition, the intervention with a dynamic and mature Lebanese civil society makes it possible to concretize the French commitments of "localization of aid" within the framework of the "Grand Bargain" of the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit. The project is also a continuation of the first phase conducted by Expertise France (EF), which supported 13 local NGOs, and conducted a study on the local associative fabric and a mid-term evaluation, the conclusions of which feed into phase 2.

Following the lessons learned in Phase 1, the Shabake 2 project rebalances the objectives with increased attention to the rapid and concrete effects that NGO grants will achieve on the ground. The overall objective of the project is to strengthen social cohesion and support peace and stability by accompanying local NGOs in their key crisis management role and providing sustainable support to vulnerable host communities and Syrian refugees.

It aims to strengthen purpose-driven, technically sound and locally rooted NGOs to support their abilities in weathering the crises as they arise, gaining greater financial autonomy and contributing to Lebanon's recovery. An emergency response component, funded by the Crisis Centre (CDCS) of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE), is included in the programme, which makes it possible to articulate different French emergency and development instruments as part of a comprehensive approach to support Lebanese CSOs.

The project is structured around three components:

1. Enable NGOs to be trusted partners in the implementation of vulnerability reduction projects and thematic actions
2. Support local NGOs in their efforts to respond effectively to ongoing emergencies and crises in Lebanon
3. Strengthen the technical and organizational capacities and the economic model of partner NGOs for a better localization of aid for the benefit of vulnerable populations.

3. Job Description / Assignment

The main role of the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer (M&E Officer) is to oversee the monitoring and evaluation of the 3 project components, including development and emergency grants, as well as capacity strengthening activities. Working under the authority of the M&E Manager and in coordination with the Project Manager (PM), the M&E Officer will be liaising with a team of 3 Grants Officers (GO) and 8 Field Facilitators (FF) posted throughout Lebanon in areas of project implementation. This set-up is necessary to maintain equitable and quality relationships with the NGO partners and ensure the achievement of targets of both the NGO partners and the overall Shabake 2 project objectives. The portfolio of partner NGOs ranges from 12 to 15 partners throughout Lebanon over multiple cycles.

The position is based in Beirut, within the Expertise France Lebanon coordination office.

Responsibility 1: Design tools and M&E framework of projects

• Working under the supervision of the M&E Manager, design and update the project’s M&E plan and framework
• Develop and review data collection tools for both process and results monitoring against the project’s logframe as well as NGO partner logframes
• Establish an internal system to follow-up on partners’ M&E related needs.

Responsibility 2: Ensure implementation of M&E plan and framework, and respect of guidelines

• Liaise with the GOs and FFs in the field to facilitate the implementation of the M&E plan.
• Consolidation of field data to be submitted regularly to donors in accordance with the programme frameworks and indicators, to ensure compliance with internal and donor requirements.
• Conducting baseline surveys / performance surveys and/or needs assessments with partners/beneficiaries when needed.
• Be responsible for the coordination, planning and design of the monitoring process
• Liaise with the operations team on a daily basis to consolidate the field level data to feed into the program level.
• Ensure compliance with the Agency M&E plan.

Responsibility 3: Support NGO partners M&E capacities

• Assess capacity of partner in terms of M&E;
• Coordinate with the Project Manager and the field teams to identify the capacity strengthening needs of the local partner NGOs in terms of monitoring and data collection tools.
• Generate and introduce monitoring/data collection tools and templates as needed, for the partner organizations, in order to facilitate efficient information flow at the program level.
• Support and assist the data/information collection and validation process by the partner NGOs to ensure that systematic flow of information to EF Beirut Office is ensured according to the guidelines and standards set.
• Provide day-to-day support, coordination and mentoring to partner M&E staff to facilitate the compilation, consolidation and submission of data.

Responsibility 4: Contribute to a constructive learning environment, promote good practice and produce analysis

• Actively participate in monitoring/information management working groups of UN, other relevant meetings and international fora, sharing lessons learned and feeding lessons back in the program level.
• Contribute to the M&E / knowledge management / learning efforts at EF program level in general.
• Produce high-quality information and analysis based on the identified project level result frameworks and indicators as well as data analysis.
• Contribute to internal and donor reporting based on EF and donor requirements.
• Sharing lessons learned from reporting regularly with the M&E Manager and communicating recommendations and regularly following up the implementation of these recommendations.

4. Technical Skills, Experience & Knowledge

Education level

University degree in Information Management, Development Programs, International Project Management or any relevant field.

Qualifications

• 4 to 5 years’ experience in monitoring, information management, data collection and evaluation for international projects/donors/organizations, development projects, preferably in the humanitarian/social development / education or refugee assistance fields.
• Excellent understanding of result frameworks & indicators as well as international M&E standards and applications.
• Excellent Knowledge of the Lebanese civil society, and the Lebanese aid ecosystem in general
• Fluency in English and Arabic (written and spoken). Excellent command in French is a plus.
• Excellent computer skills: MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook).
• Excellent communication and reporting skills.
• Strong relationship skills and the ability to work effectively with local stakeholders.
• Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented.
• Previous experience work experience with international agencies would be an asset.