Catholic Relief Services, Uganda Program
VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT
Job Title : Project Assistant – MEAL
Department : Programs
Supervisor : Project Manager – MEAL
Job Type : Regular, Full Time
Grade : 7
Country/Location: Uganda/Kampala

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) supporting relief and development work in over 100 countries around the world. CRS carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. CRS’ Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations; serving people on the basis of need, regardless of creed, ethnicity or nationality. CRS works through local church and non-church partners to implement its programs.

CRS has worked in Uganda since 1965, initially providing emergency assistance to Sudanese refugees living in the north. Over the years, CRS has expanded its programming to also address development needs in western, central and eastern Uganda. CRS’ projects in Uganda currently include agriculture, health, microfinance, peacebuilding and youth. CRS Uganda implements its programs through partnerships with local organizations, including the Catholic Church, other faith-based organizations and community entities for maximum impact and sustainability. CRS Uganda employs around 190 staff and has its main office in Kampala, with sub-offices in Moroto, Yumbe, and Hoima .

Project Summary:
The Vines Project, implemented by CRS Uganda, is a five-year, $13 million Food for Progress project that will make Uganda the world’s next leading supplier of high-quality vanilla. Vines will leverage the expertise of CRS and its partners to enhance the production of safe, pure vanilla and develop sustainable market links with US vanilla companies, directly transforming the lives of 16,200 farmers, 836 supply chain actors and create 15,820 new jobs to reach 32,856 vanilla stakeholders. The Vines strategy reflects best practices in sustainable development and will leave Uganda with a robust vanilla farming community resilient to the boom/bust nature of the market and a cadre of private sector agricultural extensionists to support more sophisticated production, processing, and marketing needs.

Job Summary:
You will implement MEAL activities and provide MEAL technical support to project design and implementation issues for CRS Uganda’s Vines project, aligned with CRS program quality principles and standards, donor guidelines, and industry best practices to advance the delivery of high-quality programming to the poor and vulnerable. Your MEAL knowledge and support will contribute the effective, adaptive and innovative implementation of the Vines project.

Job Roles and Responsibilities:
• Support the development and contribute to the implementation of Vines project MEAL practices that effectively engage partners, donors, and other relevant stakeholders and are compliant with agency and donor MEAL requirements;
• Provide input to and support project MEAL system design and data collection tools to measure program/project impact and progress;
• Train partners and MEAL Agents on the conduct of field-based MEAL activities and supervise and support quality data collection and data management activities according to the MEAL DIP;
• Lead simple analyses and reflective review discussions and workshops on ongoing monitoring data to contribute field-based insights to project discussions, facilitate programmatic adjustments and evidence-based decision-making, and contribute to learning;
• Foster respectful relationships with community members and stakeholders to promote honesty and integrity while working with MEAL Agents;

Education and Experience:
• Bachelor’s degree in development studies, population studies, social sciences, statistics, or a related field.
• Minimum of three years of relevant work experience in MEAL, ideally with an international NGO.
• Knowledge of technical principles and concepts in MEAL and of methods for managing data. General knowledge of other related disciplines.
• Experience in quantitative and qualitative data analysis.
• Good understanding of beneficiary tracking methods.
• Proficient in MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, data management systems, knowledge-sharing networks

Personal Skills:
• Strong analytical skills with focus on detail
• Ability to work effectively under stressful conditions
• Good technical writing skills
• Presentation, facilitation, training, mentoring, and coaching skills
• Proactive, resourceful and results-oriented

Required/Desired Foreign Language: Fluency in oral and written English with ability to write technical reports required.

Travel: 50% within Uganda

Key Working Relationships:
• Supervision: None
• Internal: Vines MEAL Manager, Chief of Party, all project staff and other CRS MEAL staff.
• External: Partner staff, MEAL staff from other peer agencies

MEAL Competencies Relevant for the Specific Position (include those that are applicable):
These are based on the MEAL competencies, job levels and competency profiles • Basic competency in MEAL in Design
• Solid competency in Monitoring
• Basic competency in Evaluation
• Solid competency in Accountability
• Basic competency in Learning
• Basic competency in Analysis & Critical Thinking
• Solid competency in ICT for MEAL
• Basic competency in MEAL in Management.

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.
• Serves with Integrity
• Models Stewardship
• Cultivates Constructive Relationships
• Promotes Learning

Method of Application

NOT be considered:
• Email a cover letter and CV only to [email protected]  by September 25th, 2020 at 5:00pm.
• Large files and/or scans of documents will lead to rejection of your application, in the subject line of the email, copy and paste –PROJECTASSISTANTMEAL only
• All applications that do not contain this exact subject line will be rejected and not read ONLY SELECTED CANDIDATES THAT MEET THE REQUIREMENTS WILL BE NOTIFIED. EOE/M/F/D/V