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Position Title: Regional Technical Advisor for Accountability and Learning in East Africa
Department: East Africa Regional Office (EARO) – Nairobi, Kenya
Reports To: Deputy Regional Director for Program Quality
Duty Station: Based in Addis Ababa
Application Deadline: June 30, 2015
Primary Functions
The RTA for Accountability and Learning will provide broad leadership around program accountability and learning for the East Africa Region. As part of a team of technical advisors, the RTA will provide technical assistance for the six country programs in the East Africa Region: Ethiopia, Kenya / Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan and Sudan. The RTA will create linkages between program monitoring and evaluation to enhance accountability and learning in the on-going health, water, agriculture, microfinance, and Orphans and Vulnerable Children programs in the region.
The RTA will work as part of the team working out of the CRS East Africa Regional Office, which provides support to country programs to ensure high quality programming and grant management. At the regional office, a Deputy Regional Director for Program Quality (DRD-PQ) works with each country program, supports Head of Programs and supervises a team of technical advisors to insure high quality programming.
The RTA for Accountability and Learning will also be a part of the Global Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) team and thereby liaise with technical advisors across the globe. The global MEAL team exists to promote best practices, learning and sharing and advance CRS’ Agency Strategy (2014-2018), which recognizes MEAL as a Core Competency. CRS – EARO is seeking to integrate accountability and learning with monitoring and evaluation to enhance donors and stakeholders accountability of resources and program impact, and to enhance learning for quality programming in development and emergency programs.
CRS, together with partners, utilize learning frameworks to advance the quality of its programming, particularly in strategic program areas. Learning leads to innovation and improvements in program performance and impact, and contributes to the agency’s ability to influence the wider development community and beyond. At CRS, learning includes sharing information from our programs on Gateway (the agency’s project information system), at internal and external events, through orientation of staff and by creating learning agendas at the country program.
Scope of Responsibilities
The RTA for Accountability and Learning serves as a member of the EARO regional team providing leadership and support for high quality CRS programming. S/he is also works closely with the MEAL Unit in headquarters, to promote global standards and approaches and to contribute EARO’s MEAL successes and lessons learned to the global knowledge base. S/he works in collaboration with staff in the region, headquarters, and country programs to develop and guide CRS strategies for accountability and learning. This position falls under a type of functional matrix, where the RTA is a full member of the EARO team but works closely with others to ensure coordination and adherence to standards and policy.
The RTA will primarily work with CRS staff in country programs to improve their capacity to implement accountability and learning activities. S/he will also develop new accountability interventions and write or contribute to sections of proposals related to accountability and learning. The accountability RTA will contribute to accountability and learning by: aiding CRS country programs to design accountability and learning strategies, including helping design activities to gather feedback from beneficiaries; devising ways to increase accountability to donors; developing various products and guidance to capture learning in CRS projects and programs and determining how those learning products can be shared to influence the design of future projects, other development actors and donor strategies; and increasing the visibility of CRS and its partners’ work.
Key responsibilities are to:
Remain up-to-date with latest methodologies, best practices, and donor requirements within the areas of accountability and learning.
Develop and disseminate knowledge in support of accountability and learning, including: guidelines, tools, case studies, and e-learning.
Develop an Accountability Framework for the EARO region
Improve accountability to a range of stakeholders through increased participation, transparent communication, responsive feedback mechanisms, and adherence to internal and external quality standards and requirements
Promote knowledge management and collaborative learning processes at the project, program and institutional levels, generating robust evidence for project and programmatic learning that leads to action, decision-making and influence
Provide guidance for the design, delivery and oversight of the quality and effectiveness of accountability and learning interventions.
Take an active role in promoting implementation of the agency’s policies and procedures on accountability and learning in the region
Ensure growth in all multi-sector portfolios by integrating accountability and learning in all stages of the business development cycle
Contribute to the accountability and learning agenda set forth by the global technical teams
Assist EARO/CPs to communicate and market core success in accountability and learning
Work with other organizations and partners active in accountability and learning, to share tools, best practices and accountability and learning standards. Supports country programs to network with institutions and experts in accountability and learning.
Work closely with the MEAL Unit in PIQA for technical direction and guidance; Coordinates with colleagues globally to share and incorporate lessons learned from other CRS regions.
Contribute to training materials and provide training on accountability and learning topics as needed by the CPs
Specific Responsibilities:
Technical Assistance and Monitoring
Work to integrate accountability and learning in all sectoral programming areas such as health, water, agriculture, emergency response, microfinance and peacebuilding
Advise and assist country programs in developing country program and project-specific accountability and learning strategies, tools, systems and plans
Participate actively in the recruitment of country program accountability and learning staff and serve as a mentor to them
Guide country programs to develop and implement accountability and learning plans, focusing on the knowledge, skills and attitudes of CRS staff, implementing partner staff and governmental partner staff and utilizing multiple approaches such as accompaniment, teaching, and supportive supervision
Strengthen accountability and learning in multi-sectoral programs and sectoral projects
Review project reports for accountability and learning compliance, and provide constructive feedback on those reports that will be disseminated to the donor or a larger audience
Assist Country Programs to document learning at key points during the project life
Capacity Building
Facilitate staff capacity development on accountability and learning. Build country program staff capacity to increase beneficiary accountability in programs by providing guidance, training and/or resources
Organize and facilitate regional community of practice
Disseminate lessons learned, best practices and global trends in accountability and learning. Work with Country Program staff in documentation and dissemination of best practices to enhance the country learning agenda and raise the profile of sectoral programming in the region
Providing feedback to the HQ Accountability and Learning advisors on what works well in the field for accountability and learning
Support the agency’s learning agenda, contributing CP learning upwards and sharing agency learning agendas and initiatives as they are developed
Growth and Project Design
Support country programs with pre-positioning and capture planning
Assist country programs with the design of tools integrating accountability and learning principles for needs assessments, formative research and evaluations
Ensure that project designs comply with most recent guidance and learning from donors and the academic community on accountability and learning
Contribute to developing large / strategic proposals by participating in a design team, writing relevant sections of the proposal, and contributing to the overall technical design.
Provide thorough reviews of all proposal documents including logframes, detailed implementation plans, budgets, and narratives reflecting donor and stakeholder accountability and learning industry standards
Assist with the testing of new accountability and learning tools developed by the field or headquarters
Networking and Alliance-Building
Network with appropriate organizations to build CRS’ profile in East Africa and to build strategic alliances, within the accountability and learning sector
Develop and maintain strong linkages with international donors. Work with the EARO BD RTA, market CRS’ work and seek ways to external funding for regional and country program strategies
Attend workshops in core areas related to accountability and learning organized by headquarters, consortia and country programs
Sharing communication and learning between country programs and HQ units in matters pertaining to accountability and learning, from these networks
Attend international conferences on accountability and learning, preferably as a presenter of CRS work. Prepare abstracts for conferences and assist country programs in preparing their abstracts.
Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)
These are rooted in the mission, values, and principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results.
Key Working Relationships:
Internal: MEAL Program Managers/Officers, Heads of Program, Regional Technical Advisors, Deputy Regional Directors, other MEAL RTAs, MEAL Unit (HQ).
External: Partners, PVOs, UN, NGOs, academic institutions, local government, working groups and networks working on accountability and learning efforts.
Education & Experience
Master’s degree or 1st Degree in Social Sciences/International Development/Communications or related field
Minimum of 5 years’ experience for Master’s degree or 8 years’ experience for 1st Degree, working on MEAL, preferably in an NGO setting
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