Monitoring & Evaluation Officer

“Connectivity is transforming the world. However, those who have the most to gain are often the last to benefit. The Vodafone Foundation is dedicated to deploying connectivity and technology to deliver long term, sustainable benefits for vulnerable communities around the world.” Lisa Felton, Director, Vodafone Foundation

Refugee classrooms are perhaps the toughest in the world. Throughout Africa, teachers are routinely working in under-resourced classrooms, trying to meet the needs of a large number of mixed-age and mixed-ability learners. Fostering quality learning in these environments remains a constant challenge for even the most talented teachers. This is especially difficult when teachers do not have access to dynamic or updated educational resources.

Vodafone Foundation won the Transformational Solutions in Education, Knowledge and Skills award for the INS programme, at the Financial Times/International Finance Corporation Transformational and Business Conference Awards 2020.

We believe that education is key to the future of our Planet and humankind.

We believe that every girl and boy should have access to quality education regardless of the country of origin or whether they can afford to pay.

We support inclusive approaches for refugee and forcibly displaced children, particularly in developing countries who host the majority of refugees globally.

We support addressing gender based digital divides and increasing access for girls to education.

We believe that technology can be transformational in empowering teachers and parents to educate children in and out-of-school and can contribute to protecting them.

We believe tech is a tool to serve humans and that holistic approaches such as INS are the solution.

Since 2014, Vodafone Foundation and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have partnered to deploy the Instant Network Schools (INS) programme. The Instant Network Schools (INS) programme aims to create a conducive teaching and learning environment which should include:

• A quality learning environment within a safe building/classroom, sufficient furniture, lighting and fans and safe storage for INS equipment.
• Adequate human resources to run lessons including a Coach (additional staff or referent given sufficient time to support teachers in lesson delivery)
• Reliable power, ideally from renewable/sustainable sources
• Reliable uncapped connectivity (or minimum data allowance of 500GB/month) with minimum speeds of 10 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up.
• Network infrastructure to support offline and online educational content distribution and online content filtering to promote a safe learning environment for teachers, students and members of the community. Including hardware, software and cloud solutions.
• Content creation, lesson management and delivery tools for teachers
• Digital courses to raise awareness on online safety, online search and privacy and empower teachers to leverage technology in the classroom.
• Devices to support educational activities (lessons or extracurricular): laptop(s), tablets, video/audio and charging stations stored safely.
• In-country and remote support structures to provide preventive and reactive maintenance.

Since 2020, Vodafone Foundation and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have partnered in Egypt to enhance the quality of education in lower secondary schools. To date, the INS programme is running in 48 schools across Greater Cairo, Alexandria, and Damietta reaching to more than 88,000 students and 2,400 teachers.

Overview

The Monitoring & Evaluation Officer – Instant Network School (INS) will be part of the Vodafone Egypt Foundation team. He/She will be part of a 5-people cross-functional team from Vodafone Egypt Foundation and UNHCR. He/She will report to Vodafone Egypt Foundation INS coordinator while working under the supervision of UNHCR’s INS programme manager. The position will also closely collaborate with Vodafone Foundation HQ team. He/She is based in Cairo (Egypt) with travels to Governorates where the INS programme is in operation (currently Damietta and Alexandria). He/She will coordinate the monitoring and evaluation activities for the INS programme.

This position is a full-time role. It is currently advertised for the September 2024 to August 2025 period with an opportunity to expand contract duration.

Roles and responsibilities

• Develop working relationships with relevant Ministry and Government contacts to ensure monitoring and evaluation frameworks align with national frameworks and education sector plans, indicators and priorities
• Input into the INS programme’s Theory of Change and proposed research methodology
• Contribute substantially to the design of indicators and field testing of the monitoring and evaluation methodology, participatory data collection methods and protocols, data verification techniques, risk assessment
• Support the delivery of externally commissioned outcome evaluation by coordinating data collection activities with all stakeholders
• Secure INS schools’ contribution and participation into the outcome evaluation
• Ensure INS schools are following the research protocol through regular support and monitoring visits
• Develop guidance and training material to support data collection
• Lead field data collection exercises as per research protocol (incl. lesson observation)
• Ensure the quality of M&E related data to be collected throughout the program implementation
• Contribute to the INS regular update reports (quarterly basis)
• Assist in data analysis

Essential Minimum Qualifications and Experience

• Undergraduate degree in social sciences or related field
• Minimum 4 years of professional experience in monitoring and evaluation, programme or project management, results based management or applied research
• Knowledge of monitoring and evaluation approaches in humanitarian settings and/or development settings, including monitoring of results-based management
• Experience in running experimental or quasi-experimental impact studies
• Some knowledge of qualitative research methods
• Ability to travel on a regular basis
• Fluency in English and Arabic
• Egyptian national

Desirable Qualifications & Competencies

• Prior experience in working on Secondary Education programming and connected / blended learning programmes is preferred.
• Experience with refugee, IDP and/or vulnerable populations.
• Experience supporting or evaluating Connected Education programmes
• Advanced interpersonal skills: he/she must be able to relate well with others, dictate responsibilities, offer support and constructive feedback
• Strong organizational and communication skills
• Exceptional abilities in multi-tasking effectively, managing own workload and balance competing priorities, reporting lines and deadlines
• Must have excellent problem-solving skills
• He/she must be able to adeptly and quickly solve problems as they come up
• Solid writing and reporting skills with a robust understanding of project management cycle and programme management in complex emergencies