Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Specialist: Africa Oceans Strategy at Nature Conservancy
OFFICE LOCATION
The Position will be based in any of the TNC Office in either Mombasa Kenya, Dar Es Salam Tanzania, or Cape Town in South Africa
WHO WE ARE
The Nature Conservancy’s mission is to protect the lands and waters upon
which all life depends. As a science-based organization, we create
innovative, on-the-ground solutions to our world’s toughest challenges
so that we can create a world in which people and nature thrive.
Our goal is to cultivate an inclusive work environment so that all our colleagues around the globe feel a sense of belonging, and that their unique contributions to our mission are valued. We know we’ll only achieve our Mission by hiring and engaging a diverse workforce that reflects the communities in which we work. In addition to the requirements in our postings, we recognize that people come with talent and experiences outside of a job. Diversity of experience and skills combined with passion is a key to innovation and a culture of inclusion! Please apply – we’d love to hear from you. To quote myriad TNC staff members, “you’ll join for our mission, and you’ll stay for our people.”
Since establishing the Africa Program in 2007, The Nature Conservancy’s vision in Africa is to work towards fostering a sustainable future for people and nature, partnering with indigenous communities across 55 million acres on the continent. Our efforts are firmly rooted in people, leveraging scientific and technical expertise as we collaborate with governments and organizations to conserve and enhance Africa’s shared resources in the 9 countries we operate.
TNC’s work in Africa transcends three key pillars: securing ownership rights to lands and resources for indigenous people, strengthening leadership and resource management and helping communities value nature through a holistic appreciation of its benefits while increasing revenue streams for conservation efforts and socio-economic development. Together with our partners, we are witnessing critical milestones in integrated land and fisheries management, ocean and source water protection, energy development and sustainable food production, working together and strengthening our resolve in tackling global challenges such as climate change, habitat and biodiversity loss that stands to adversely impact the nearly 1.4 billion people that share Africa.
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TNC Africa Oceans Strategy focuses on securing large-scale ocean protection by supporting effective marine spatial planning, sustainable fisheries, and community-led conservation approaches. Our work seeks to establish sustainable financing to enable conservation outcomes at large marine ecosystem scale, by supporting policy and regulatory frameworks, as well as local capacity, with emphasis on linking science and communities to habitat protection, restoration and management. TNC’s work on fisheries aims to safeguard productive marine fisheries for ecosystem health and as important foundation for food and livelihood security. Our vision is for aquaculture to grow with the least environmental impact. TNC has established partnerships with several non-government and government agencies to support fisheries and coastal community-led conservation throughout Africa. Our aim is also to conserve and restore lost or degraded coastal wetlands (seagrass meadows, mangroves, and salt marshes) and to promote best practices to scale beyond the capacity of TNC, including scaling through Global Partnerships such as Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA). The current geographic focus of TNC Africa Oceans Strategy is Seychelles, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Gabon, Namibia, Angola, and Mauritius.
WHAT WE CAN ACHIEVE TOGETHER
The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Specialist provides
technical and scientific support to TNC’s Africa Ocean Strategy team,
TNC Country Programs working on oceans, and other TNC staff as
appropriate to advance the Africa Ocean Strategy under TNC’s 2030 Goals.
They strengthen MEL processes and build capacity of TNC staff,
partners, community members and the implementing agencies in designing
and executing relevant trainings and providing technical assistance in
relation to monitoring, reporting and data management.
The MEL Specialist sets targets and collects data in priority areas. The MEL Specialist conducts scientific surveys and research, records data, writes reports, and develops proposals in order to administer and support coordination of conservation programs within Africa Ocean Strategy in the target countries. The position develops a systematic and functional monitoring framework to collect the qualitative and quantitative evidence gathered by the various projects, including reporting on outputs and outcomes. They formulate the overall MEL plan, tracking progress, and ensure the implementation of the plan. The role also provides technical support toward design and implementation of specific Africa Ocean Strategy projects.
WE’RE LOOKING FOR YOU
The MEL Specialist will be responsible for the design, coordination, and
implementation of the MEL framework for the Africa Ocean Strategy.
Reporting to the Africa Ocean Strategy Director, the position will be
based in either of the TNC Offices in Mombasa Kenya, Dar Es Salam in
Tanzania, or Cape Town in South Africa with frequent travels in the
Western Indian Ocean (WIO) and the Benguela Current Large Marine
Ecosystem (BCLME) regions as the current areas of focus. The MEL
Specialist will have a dotted line to the regional MEL Director for
technical MEL guidance and linkage with MEL actions across ecosystems
and countries. The MEL Specialist also works to support implementation
of specific Ocean Strategy activities and as part of mainstreaming MEL
framework within TNC and partners programs.
The role involves working closely with and in partnership with fishers, local community, fishing industry, government, and non-government organizations in the region. This is an initial 3-year term-limited position with an extension of tenure subject to performance and availability of funds. No employment visas or assistance is being offered with this position except for the local labour employment requirements.
The responsibilities and scope for this position are:
Develop a program-level MEL framework for the Africa Ocean Strategy.
Lead the development of program for MEL Plan and provide MEL support in
refining results framework and identifying relevant indicators to report
on results.
Lead, coordinate and continuously update a stakeholder mapping and
analysis for Africa Ocean Strategy and develop an active database.
Develop program field-monitoring framework that allows for systematic
planning and tracking of program monitoring, e.g. templates for field
monitoring and reporting.
Develop evaluation designs, data collection tools, and analysis frameworks and align these with existing TNC frameworks.
In collaboration with project leads, strengthen data collection to
measure progress towards both TNC’s 2030 and program-level targets.
Develop, review and update log-frames and theory of change for the Africa Ocean Strategy, Programs and specific projects.
Develop annual workplans and budget for MEL program and support regular reporting as needed.
Coordinate and participate in MEL field visits.
Contribute to the preparation of project proposals and reporting according to donor requirements.
Organize review of program work plans with partners and other stakeholders in liaison with Project Managers.
Provide capacity-building support to relevant team members and other
stakeholders on MEL and any computer-based support that may be required.
Foster and support cross-project learning, lessons learning workshops
and strengthen a Community of Practice for the sharing of best practices
and lessons for adaptive management.
Provide advice to the strategy and project managers on improving projects performance using MEL findings.
Update regional dashboards and manage the TNC Hub database for the TNC Africa ocean work.
Participating in and providing MEL support to all ocean strategy
conservation projects as needed as will be assigned by the Ocean
Strategy Director.
WHAT YOU’LL BRING
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Master’s Degree in science or related field and 5 years of experience or
equivalent combination of education and experience in conservation
practice, social sciences, MEL, development studies, statistics, project
management, or related disciplines.
Demonstrated k experience in marine science and conservation.
Demonstrated experience in synthesizing, interpreting, technical writing
and communicating scientific information to a broad range of audiences
and stakeholders.
Facilitation and communication skills (oral and writing) and fluency in in English.
Demonstrated experience in evaluating project activities.
Demonstrated experience in developing MEL approaches and frameworks
including Theories of Change, intermediate results and outcomes,
qualitative and quantitative data collection tools and methods,
indicators, data quality control, data management, and reporting.
Experience in managing and supervising data collection and leading and working with cross-functional teams.
Experience in analyzing data and using statistical packages such as Excel and /or R or and other data analysis tools.
Desired Qualifications
Over Seven (7) years of experience working with MEL in the field of
environment conservation, marine conservation, natural resource
management, development and/or other.
Extensive experience providing MEL support to multiple projects in multiple countries across the Africa region
Strong expertise in the social sciences and social-ecological systems.
Specialized training in M&EL and experience incorporating project learning into adaptive management.
Demonstrated experience in projects related to marine biodiversity
conservation, community-led conservation and/or natural resource
management.
Experience in implementing, providing guidance, and building local capacities for MEL.
Demonstrated knowledge and experience with web-based data management and
visualization systems for monitoring performance and outcomes.
Strong knowledge of common software applications especially Excel.
Experience working in complex partnerships and with multiple stakeholders.
Multi-language skills and multi-cultural or cross-cultural experience are appreciated.
Willingness and ability to undertake extended periods of field travel
(at least 40%) within the WIO and BCLME regions and beyond.
WHAT WE BRING
Since 1951, TNC has been doing work you can believe in. Through
grassroots action, we have grown from a small non-profit into one of the
most effective and wide-reaching environmental organizations in the
world. Thanks to more than 1 million members, over 400 scientists, and
the dedicated efforts of our diverse staff and partners, we impact
conservation around the world!
TNC offers competitive and comprehensive benefits packages tailored to the individual countries where we work. These may include health care benefits, retirement benefits, parental leave, paid time off, life insurance, and disability coverage as well as an employee assistance program and other life and well-being benefits. Learn more about our benefits on our Culture Tab on nature.org/careers.
We’re proud to offer a flexible work environment that supports the health and well-being of the people we employ.
APPLY NOW
To apply for job ID 53754 submit your materials online by using the
Apply Now button at https://careers.nature.org/. Need help applying?
Visit our recruitment page or contact applyhelp@tnc.org.
The Nature Conservancy is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our commitment to diversity includes the recognition that our conservation mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people of diverse backgrounds, beliefs and culture. Recruiting and mentoring staff to create an inclusive organization that reflects our global character is a priority and we encourage applicants from all cultures, races, colors, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, military, protected veteran status or other status protected by law.
TNC is committed to offering accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application process. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please send a note to applyhelp@tnc.org with Request for Accommodation in the subject line.
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An attractive salary and benefits package is part of TNC’s value proposition to our employees. TNC strives to provide competitive pay and bases salaries on the geographic location of the role committing to being equitable across groups and providing hiring salary ranges when possible.
Since we support flexible and remote work for our employees, many positions have a flexible location within countries where we’re registered as a Non-government Organization and established as an employer. This may mean we’re unable to provide a hiring salary range in the posting for some of our positions. However, candidates invited to be part of our interview process will be provided their location specific range upon request.
