Monitoring & Evaluation cum Knowledge Management Specialist - International Development Agency

1. POSITION VACANT:  Monitoring & Evaluation cum Knowledge Management Specialist, International Development Agency, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

2. ORGANIZATION BACKGROUND:

Our client is a respected, International Development Agency (IDA), that works across the globe to promote children's survival, protection and development.

Project Background

Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), a key flagship initiative of the Government of India was started in October 2, 2014, with the objective of accelerating sanitation coverage and bringing about improvement in the general quality of life in rural areas, by promoting cleanliness, hygiene and eliminating open defecation and ensuring Swachh Bharat by 2019.  The Mission focuses on community-led approaches for accelerating efforts at achieving open defecation free (ODF) status through access to improved sanitation facilities for each household, institution and public place.

The State Water and Sanitation Mission, Department of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development (PRRD), Government of Madhya Pradesh is the nodal agency for the implementation and monitoring of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), (SBM-G) in Madhya Pradesh. A state-level cell, has been established at Satpura Bhawan, Bhopal, to facilitate program planning, implementation and monitoring across the State.

With strategic support from our Client over the past four years, the State Government has adopted community approaches to Total Sanitation, that have included the development and adoption of guidelines for placing teams of motivators for undertaking collective behavior change at the community level, for the elimination of open defecation. Over 32 district now implementing community approaches to sanitation (CAS), 13 districts with over 18000 villages are declared as ODF. In 2017, 2.35 million households covered with IHHL during 1 January to 31 October 2017 that leads to an increase of 23.81% points in rural IHHL coverage (from 57.64% to 81.45%). With this rapid pace of progress new challenges emerge on account of ensuring collective behaviour change for complete elimination of OD practices and sustaining ODF status. Similarly there is need to strengthening effective monitoring and evaluation with in SBM-G programme delivery structure to enhance the concurrent monitoring of sanitation outcomes and processes to ensure timely mid-course corrections. Strengthening the ODF verification and validation systems to ensure the sustained ODF status is another area which requires system strengthening. The state is still confronting with the challenges of plugging the regional disparity. The IHHL coverage in the districts ranges from 100% to 41%. The progress during 2017 has shown that 7 districts are trailing behind in terms of both coverage and pace for which the state may miss the national goal of becoming open defecation free state by 2nd October 2018. Since July 2016, State SBM-G has also started online direct cash transfer system (FTO) for the timely and accelerated disbursement of incentive payment to households. In the past two years, SBM-G functionaries at the District and Block levels, have been trained on effective M&E and FTO systems, to improve the quality of monitoring and reporting. State level Water Sanitataion and Hygiene (WASH) validation has also been established, with the support of students of IIM, Indore, to validate ODF status of Gram Panchayats. Apart from technical assistance, the International Development Agency also provides analytical reports on physical and financial status with key issues and action points, to further strengthen monitoring of SBM-G.
As an agreed strategy, the International Development Agency shall enhance programme delivery through high-level technical assistance to the state, for the effective implementation of SBM-G. This will include supporting the state in institutional strengthening in CAS approach, technical assistance for effective M&E and technical assistance for effective operationalization of district institutions for sanitation. Equity is a strong strategic focus of the initiative and accordingly removal of SBM-G operational bottlenecks and providing programme support in tribal areas for the achievement of ODF communities, shall be key priorities. Areas of focus shall be aligned with State policy.

As a part of the strategic partnership with the State Government in the sector, it is proposed to place Monitoring & Evaluation cum Knowledge Management Specialist (MEKMS), who will work for strengthening Monitoring and Evaluation for effective programme delivery. As a part of the State Cell, the MEKMS shall focus on Client supported districts for various M&E activities, leading to effective service delivery for reduction in open defecation. Over the last couple of years, this support has been crucial for strengthening M&E under SBM-G, and has contributed strongly to the ODF priority.

Purpose of Assignment

The MEKMS shall provide technical support, focusing on strengthening the monitoring systems for better SBCC planning and monitoring, ODF verification and validation, CAS monitoring and M&E capacity development of the SBM-G functionaries.

The MEKMS will work in close coordination/ convergence with State Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Consultants, Officials of PRD, NIC, INGOs (working in WASH), CBOs, training institutions and other partners to develop and roll-out the M&E systems for effective service delivery under SBM-G. 

3. JOB DESCRIPTION/ RESPONSIBILITIES:

Under the overall guidance of the WASH Specialist and the direct supervision of the State Programme Officer SBM(G) -MP, the MEKMS will work and support closely to State Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and other relevant officials at both State and District level to provide the following services to SBM(G):

Output/Task	Deliverables	Percentage of time spent
·         Development and strengthening M&E for SBCC
Technical support in development of M&E system for effective planning, reporting and management of Social and Behaviour Change communication plans, capacity building of SBM-G functionaries on SBCC M&E systems and producing periodic analytical reports for mid-course corrections and strengthening SBCC progress for SBM-G. The above support will lead to following key outputs: ·         State SBM-G have online system for SBCC planning, reporting and management with real-time dashboard reports. ·         State, District and Block SBM-G functionaries have capacity to work of SBCC planning, reporting and management system and using the systems. ·         District/Block have periodic analytical reports on key progress indicators for mid-course correction in SBCC implementation to reach at least 80% achievement rate of SBCC plan.	·         Draft concept note and framework for SBCC M&E systems. By end of month 1 ·         Reviewed SBCC M&E framework including planning and reporting template, DASHBOARD report templates.  By end of Month 2 ·         Document on online programme design for NIC for SBCC management system. By end of Month 2 ·         Draft online pages and forms for field testing. By end of Month 2 ·         Final SBCC online module user guide. By end of Month 3 ·         Capacity building report of district coordinators on SBCC Online M&E system. By end of Month 3	40% (March to June 2018)
·         Development and roll-out of CAS planning and management system
Technical support to SBM-G in development and roll-out of CAS planning, management and incentive disbursement system linked with State SBM-G(website) for effective CAS roll-out to achieve and sustain ODF status.  The above support will lead to following key outputs: ·         CAS planning, management and incentive disbursement system linked with State SBM-G(website) developed and rolled-out. ·         State, District and block functionaries have capacity to roll-out CAS online module for CAS planning, management and incentive disbursement system. ·         District/Block will have periodic analytical reports on key monitoring indicators for mid-course corrections on CAS strategy, implementation progress and gaps. ·         Effectiveness assessment of CAS/FTO online system	·         Draft concept note and framework for CAS planning, monitoring and management module including motivators reporting and incentive. By end of month 1 ·         Reviewed CAS management system including motivators module including planning and reporting template, process flowchart, DASHBOARD report templates.  By end of Month 2 ·         Document on online CAS programme design for NIC. By end of Month 3 ·         Draft online pages and forms for field testing for CAS management system. By end of Month 4 ·         Final CAS management module user guide. By end of Month 4 ·         Capacity building report of district coordinators on CAS management system. By end of Month 4 ·         Quarterly analytical state/district factsheets one progress trends on coverage, SBCC, CAS and ODF  (Physical and Financial), bottlenecks and issues with each district and key course of action. By end of month 3	30% (March to June 2018)
·         Strengthening WASH outcome verification and validation
WASH outcome verification and validation system strengthened with evidence-based learnings and incorporation; contributing to concurrent validations mainstreamed into National flagships ·         State has web-based/mobile based ODF verification module developed and roll-out for periodic ODF verification by district and blocks. ·         Partnership and system developed with academic institution/agencies for ODF validation developed and rolled-out. ·         Analytical reporting of ODF and sustainability verification progress and issues shared with districts for mid-course corrections. ·         School benchmarking and grading for WASH	·         Concept notes and revised verification tools for online ODF verification module. By end of Month 2 ·         Detail documents and process flow based on approved ODF varication process for NIC.  By end of month 3 ·         Draft web page page and application for ODF verification management system. By end of Month 4 ·         Report on capacity building of SBM-G functionaries on ODF verification management module. By end of month 4 ·         WASH in school report card/factsheet (district wise desegregated reports) on key WASH in school indicators based on UDISE, Shaladarpan and SVP data. By end of month 4	30% (March to June 2018)

4. QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND COMPETENCIES:

Qualification:
Applicants must have University degree in Public Health, Environmental Sciences, Social Policy, Development, Engineering or any other relevant field.

Experience:
(1) At least 10 years of work experience in the field of development, of which a minimum of five years must be exclusively in WASH and M&E of rural development programmes in the WASH and development sectors;
(2) Experience of working on TSC/NBA/SBM/NRDWP/SSHE shall be an advantage;
(3) Experience of working closely with government departments and institutions, is essential.

Skills and Competencies:
(1) Thorough understanding and working knowledge of the concepts and principles of the new Water and Sanitation Policy Reforms, monitoring and evaluation concepts;
(2) Demonstrated coordination and negotiation skills;
(3) Excellent communication skills in Hindi and English; ability to speak, read and write fluently in both languages;
(4) Good computer skills, at least of MS-Office application software (MS Word, Excel, Power Point);
(5) Demonstrated competency of influencing higher office.

5. NATURE OF ENGAGEMENT:

The MEKMS shall be hired on a consultancy contract through Strategic Alliance Management Services P Ltd. (SAMS), a respected HR Agency.

6. PROFESSIONAL FEES:

Professional fees of the selected candidate shall be Rs. 99,000 /- per month for the period of the consultancy assignment. (Note: Subsistence, Mobility and Contingency support shall be separately provided, to address field travel and related costs incurred by the MEKMS).

7. LOCATION: Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh with need base travel to field.

8. DURATION:

The consultancy assignment will be effective from the date of joining till June 30, 2018.

9. REFERENCE: MEKMS

10. CONTACT INFORMATION:

Senior Consultant
Strategic Alliance Management Services P Ltd.
1/1B, Choudhary Hetram House, Bharat Nagar
New Friends Colony, New Delhi 110 025
Phone Nos.: 011- 2684 2162; 4165 3612
Email: mekms@sams.co.in

11. APPLICATION PROCESS:

Eligible candidates interested in this position are requested to apply to mekms@sams.co.in with a cover letter, discussing their interest in and suitability for the position, along with an updated resume, giving details of three references, current cost to organization and expected compensation, by March 2, 2018.