Job Purpose

The M&E Officer will coordinate and ensure the effective implementation of the approved SMP monitoring, data quality assurance and reporting arrangements for ACT. The position will provide day-to-day technical support and field supervision to FMAs/School Monitors and Data Collectors; verify school attendance, meal distribution, waybills, beneficiary feedback (teachers, students, parents feedback) and monitoring records; ensure timely, complete and accurate data submission through approved WFP/ACT formats and platforms; and flag operational or data quality issues for timely corrective action by the ACT Management. The role is project-specific and must remain within ACT's agreed SMP scope.

Key Responsibilities:

Supervision and field coordination

• Prepare weekly/monthly monitoring and data collection plans for assigned SMP schools, in coordination with the ACT Project Manager and relevant WFP guidance.
• Supervise and coordinate FMAs and Data Collectors, ensuring clear school-wise assignments, field deployment, daily follow-up and completion of assigned tasks within agreed timelines.
• Review school visit schedules, field movements and evidence of deployment, including live location/attendance records where required by the project.
• Provide on-the-job coaching to field teams on approved SMP processes, data quality standards, confidentiality and reporting timelines

• Ensure all SMP data collected by field teams is complete, accurate, legible, verifiable and consistent with official school/project records before submission.
• Conduct routine data quality assessments, spot checks, back-checks, validation calls/field verification and correction tracking, as applicable and as per approved SMP procedures.
• Compile, clean and submit verified attendance, meal distribution, monitoring, beneficiary and issues data through approved channels/platforms such as MODA/ODK, Excel templates, and other formally cleared formats where applicable.
• Analyze monitoring data to identify discrepancies, trends and gaps related to attendance, meal distribution, field coverage, data submission timeliness and issue follow-up.
• Prepare weekly, monthly and periodic SMP monitoring/data quality reports for ACT project management and WFP coordination, using agreed templates and deadlines.

Approved tools, platforms and role boundaries

• Use only approved WFP/ACT SMP indicators, tools, templates, datasets, instructions and digital platforms. Any suggested refinement must be routed through formal review and clearance before use.
• Orient and train FMAs/School Monitors and Data Collectors on approved SMP tools, mobile/digital data collection protocols, confidentiality, data quality requirements and reporting timelines.
• Maintain secure records and ensure ethical and confidential handling of student, school, caregiver/mother, beneficiary and household-level data, including role-based access and responsible use of assigned devices where applicable.

 Coordination, accountability and follow-up

Coordinate with ACT project, M&E/data, reporting, finance/logistics, operations and kitchen teams for data reconciliation, issue resolution and timely corrective actions.

Participate in relevant SMP coordination, review and learning meetings and provide concise evidence-based updates on monitoring findings, data quality, field coverage and pending actions.

Support baseline, attendance verification, endline, PDM or other assessments only within the approved project scope, tools and instructions, as and when assigned.

Key Deliverables / Expected Outputs

•  Weekly/monthly school-wise monitoring and field deployment plan for FMAs/School Monitors and Data Collectors.
• Verified and cleaned attendance, meal distribution, updated enrolment (new admissions) and monitoring datasets submitted within agreed deadlines.
• Weekly/monthly SMP monitoring and data quality assurance reports, including gaps, corrective actions and follow-up status.
• Data correction log, issue tracker and evidence file for field monitoring, attendance scanning and data verification.
• Field visit reports with observations, evidence, action points and escalation of critical issues.
• Training/orientation records for field teams on approved SMP tools, procedures, confidentiality and data quality standards

 Requirements (Qualifications & Experience)

• Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences, Statistics, Development Studies, Economics, Public Administration, Education, Data Management or a related field.
• Master’s degree in Development studies, Statistics, Education, Economics, Data Analytics or a relevant discipline will be an advantage.
• Minimum 5-6 years of relevant experience in monitoring, field verification, data quality assurance, data analytics, and reporting, preferably in development or humanitarian projects.
• Prior experience in school feeding, education, food security, cash-based assistance or community programmes will be highly desirable.
• Experience in supervising large team of field monitors, enumerators/data collectors and ensuring timely completion of field/data tasks.
• Hands-on experience in distribution monitoring, process monitoring, activity implementation monitoring, attendance/beneficiary verification, source-document review, data cleaning and data quality checks.
• Experience working with INGOs/UN agencies or WFP-funded projects will be an added advantage.

Technical Skills

• Strong practical understanding of monitoring and evaluation, data collection, verification, data quality dimensions, field supervision and results-based reporting.
• Strong MS Excel skills for data cleaning, reconciliation, pivot tables, summaries and basic analysis; familiarity with Power BI, Tableau, R or similar visualization tools will be an asset.
• Practical experience using approved mobile/digital data collection platforms such as ODK/Kobo/MODA or similar systems,
• Ability to prepare concise analytical updates, monitoring summaries, field visit reports and management briefs using approved templates.
• Understanding of data protection, confidentiality, accountability to affected populations and safe handling of student/beneficiary data.