Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Lead – NIRAS ZAMBIA LIMITED

Job Description

The Scottish Government Climate Just Communities (CJC) programme
The Scottish Government Climate Just Communities (CJC) programme is a flagship programme under the new round of the Climate Justice Fund and will implement community-led projects in Malawi, Rwanda, and Zambia. The purpose of CJC is to develop and deliver, through a participatory approach, a series of interventions that build inclusive and climate change resilient communities. CJC will achieve this by enabling local communities in Malawi, Zambia, and Rwanda to identify local priorities linked to the material and social impacts of climate change. Following which, CJC will support the delivery of interventions, developed through a participatory approach with communities themselves, that address these priorities.

The objectives of CJC are to:

• Empower communities to identify their own priorities to be addressed through climate justice support and build resilience to the local material and social impacts of climate change.
• Empower the most marginalised within communities (including but not limited to marginalisation for reasons related to gender, age, disability, or indigenous status) to participate and take action in building resilience to the local material and social impacts of climate change.
• Empower communities to advocate for climate justice and local equity.
• Create long-term, sustainable change within communities in line with the pillars of climate justice.

CJC Zambia
CJC Zambia is a £7.4m programme which began in August 2023 and will run until March 2026.
NIRAS Group (UK) Ltd has been contracted to deliver the CJC Lot 3 programme in Zambia. To deliver the assignment, NIRAS has developed a consortium of national and international organisations. NIRAS will be the Lead Service Provider contracted by the Scottish Government. Three Community Delivery Partners, Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), and the Green Living Movement Zambia (GLM), are the local Community Delivery Partners (CDPs), providing the entry points into target CJC communities, and responsible for facilitating community participation to design, implement and monitor programme interventions under CJC, in coordination with ward-level Community Management Committees (CMCs). Three advocacy partners, Tearfund, Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ), and Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR), lead the advocacy activities of CJC, working with the Community Delivery Partners to advance participatory climate justice advocacy at the local and national levels. A pool of specialised Technical Service Providers and consultants will offer innovative solutions and will work either directly with communities or provide support to Community Delivery Partners to implement the climate resilience-building interventions requested by communities.

CJC Zambia is being implemented across four of the most climate-vulnerable districts in Zambia:

• Luangwa
• Sinazongwe
• Shangombo
• Sioma

CJC Zambia will deliver interventions to over 15,000 households in climate-vulnerable communities in diverse areas, including:

• WASH
• Climate-resilient agriculture and livestock management
• Natural resource management (NRM)
• Disaster risk reduction (DRR)
• Economic development (access to finance, business development)
• Gender equality, disability, and social inclusion (GEDSI)
• Climate advocacy

Role Description
The MEAL Lead will be part of the CJC Zambia core team and will be responsible for overseeing the project’s monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning workstream, including implementing the project’s participatory MEAL approach with Community Delivery Partners, overseeing CJC’s results measurement system, and leading on technical progress reporting to the Scottish Government.

The MEAL Lead is a 100% FTE role based in the NIRAS Zambia Office in Lusaka.

The MEAL Lead will report to the Team Leader.

Key Responsibilities

• Leading on the design and implementation of CJC Zambia’s Monitoring, Evaluation Accountability and Learning system and overseeing the project’s research components as needed.
• Maintaining, managing, and improving CJC’s rigorous and participatory approach to Monitoring and Evaluation, including developing and/or refining qualitative and quantitative indicators to measure the project’s outputs, outcomes, and impact.
• Liaising with CDPs in the collection of routine monitoring data, taking responsibility for the development and maintenance of the KoboCollect platform collating partner M&E data.
• Working with NIRAS colleagues to further develop the PowerBI dashboard ensuring this provides the programme management and Scottish Government with real-time updates on progress.
• Leading monthly and quarterly client reporting regarding technical progress against intervention workstreams, and against the objectives and output targets as outlined in the CJC Zambia workplans.
• Implementing the participatory M&E approach for CJC Zambia, working with CDP staff to undertake quarterly and annual review/learning and feedback sessions with CDPs, CMCs, and local government staff to ensure that project activities are delivered in line with community theories of change, and community feedback steers the design and implementation of activities.
• Facilitating quarterly learning sessions with CDP staff and the core team to ensure the team continues to improve based on learning.
• Leading all qualitative and quantitative data collection processes and strategies, including contracting and managing an external survey partner to conduct endline household surveys, and data quality assuring monitoring data to ensure accurate and timely collection, recording, and reporting.
• Working with the Team Leader, Climate Justice Technical Advisor, and the Communications Officer to develop and disseminate effective learning, research, and communications materials.
• Participating in cross-lot CJC monitoring, evaluation, and learning activities, including joint resilience measurement activities and reporting against the programme-level Theory of Change.
• Presenting and responding to questions from programme stakeholders – including staff, client, and partners on any aspects of the MEAL system.
• Participating in other tasks as requested by the Team Leader.

Key Deliverables

• Deliverables will be determined on a quarterly basis and reflected in the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
• It is expected that the MEAL Lead will lead the preparation of client technical progress reports on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis, in close collaboration with the Team Leader and UK Project Manager.
• The MEAL Lead will also lead the design and delivery of the project endline survey, working with an external survey supplier.

Appraisal Process

• KPIs will be produced, against which performance will be measured on an annual basis during an appraisal process.

Required Expertise

• Master’s Degree.
• Experience in project monitoring, evaluation, and learning, preferably in a related development sector (climate adaptation, environment, agriculture, poverty reduction, livelihoods, etc).
• Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills.
• Experience in design and delivery of household surveys.
• Experience in participatory methods desirable.
• Experience in client reporting, including dashboards and reporting against project logframes.
• Strong attention to detail and report writing skills.

Application Process
To apply, please send your CV to FINANCE.ADMIN.ZM@niras.com by 23:59 on 2 March 2025.