Background

Climate change, manifesting in the form of intensified cyclones, storm surges, and sea-level rise (SLR), is accelerating saltwater intrusion into the fresh water resources of the coastal belt of Bangladesh. Climate change-induced soil and water salinity is projected to adversely impact freshwater dependent agricultural livelihoods (leading to loss of productivity or livelihoods) as well as the availability and quality of drinking water in the vulnerable coastal communities. Furthermore, given the crucial role that women play in water security and household level resilience, and their socio-economic marginalization, the climate change-induced threat to agricultural livelihoods and drinking water security of the affected coastal communities disproportionately affects women and girls.

Therefore, the key objective of the proposed project is to support the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) in strengthening the adaptive capacities of coastal communities, especially women, to cope with impacts of climate change-induced salinity on their livelihoods and water security. GCF resources will be combined with GoB co-financing to address information, technical, financial and institutional barriers to implementing and managing resilient livelihoods and drinking water solutions for the vulnerable communities in the Southwestern coastal districts of Khulna and Satkhira. An estimated 719,229 people (about 245,516 direct and 473,713 indirect) will benefit from the proposed project interventions.

The proposed project will empower target communities, especially women, as ‘change-agents’ to plan, implement, and manage resilient livelihoods and drinking water solutions. The project will enable those communities to address climate change risks on livelihood and drinking water security to promote synergistic co-benefits. It will enhance the adaptive capacities of these communities in the face of worsening impacts of climate-change induced salinity on their freshwater resources which in turn adversely affect livelihood and drinking water requirements. GCF resources will be invested in promoting a diversification from currently non-adaptive, freshwater-reliant livelihoods of small-scale farmers, fishers, and agro-labourers towards climate-resilient agricultural livelihoods. GoB co-financing is leveraged to support adoption and scale of these alternative, climate-resilient agricultural livelihoods through strengthened value-chains and market linkages for their long-term viability in the face of increasing salinity and extreme weather. The project also utilizes GCF and GoB resources to support investments in and management of climate-resilient drinking water solutions to secure year-round, safe drinking water supplies for the targeted communities. Access to reliable, safe drinking water enables the communities, especially women and girls in targeted households, to invest the resulting time and cost savings and health co-benefits in enhanced livelihoods and income generating and/or educational opportunities. In turn, the enhanced incomes and livelihoods will enable the communities to sustain the investments in the drinking water supply solutions in the long-term. Finally, through investments in institutional capacities, knowledge dissemination and evidence-based learning, the project will enable pathways for replication and scale of project impact to secure livelihoods and drinking water across the vulnerable districts of the southwest coast of Bangladesh. The project yields significant environmental, social (including gender), and economic co-benefits including enhanced integrity of coastal ecosystems and freshwater resources; improved gender norms and women empowerment; and increased income and health benefits, estimated at USD15 million and USD4 million respectively over the project lifetime.

The project contributes towards GoB’s achievement of priorities outlined in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and its climate change strategies. The project objective speaks to the top five key near-term areas of intervention identified by the INDC to address adverse impacts of climate change including:

• Food security, livelihood and health protection (incl. water security);
• Comprehensive disaster management,
• Coastal Zone Management, including Salinity Intrusion control,
• Flood Control and Erosion protection,
• Building Climate Resilient Infrastructure.

Directly aligned to six of the fourteen broad adaptation actions prioritized by INDC, the project is implementing improved EWS, supporting climate resilient infrastructure, Tropical cyclones and storm surge protection, stress-tolerant variety improvement and cultivation, and Capacity Building at Individual and institutional level to plan and implement adaptation programmes and projects.

Under the overall guidance of the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist and direct supervision of the Regional Project Manager, the M&E Officer will be responsible for the monitoring and ensuring high quality and timely inputs, and for ensuring that the project maintains its strategic vision and that its activities result in the achievement of its intended outputs in a cost effective and timely manner.

The M&E officer will be responsible for designing and implementing the M&E activities of the Project; assisting the Project Manager in preparing Quarterly/Annual reports on project progress and will monitor the project activities on a regular basis, developing and maintaining the MIS of the Project and will be responsible for the collection & analysis of different data in relation to the project activities.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer works in close collaboration with work closely with Project Management Unit, UNDP and Department of Women Affairs (DWA) and Department of Public Health and Engineering (DPHE).

Duties and Responsibilities

The incumbent will be assigned to develop and implement a monitoring system to capture the project activities and results under the supervision of Project Coordinator. S/he will be responsible specifically for:

• Establish the overall M&E strategy in accordance with the M&E plan outlined in the project document and promote a results-based approach
• Provide timely and relevant information to the Regional Project Manager, PMU, and other project stakeholders
• Coordinate and maintain close communication with the Outcome Board representatives, and representatives of primary stakeholder groups, external consultants, and field staff, as well as with members of external M&E-related missions.
• Collect and update project information at regular interval. Follow best practices in disseminating progress with colleagues and relevant stakeholders
• Foster participatory planning and monitoring by training and involving primary stakeholder groups in the M&E of activities
• Guide and coordinate the review of the project log frame, including:
• Provide technical advice for the revision of performance indicators
• Ensure realistic intermediate and end-of-project targets are defined
• Conduct a baseline study (situation at project start)
• Identify sources of data, collection methods, who collects data, how often, cost of collection and who analyzes it
• Ensure all critical risks are identified
• Coordinate the preparation of all project reports. Guide staff and executing partners in preparing their progress reports in accordance with approved reporting formats and ensure their timely submission. This includes quarterly progress reports, annual project report, inception report, and ad-hoc technical reports. Reports should identify problems and causes of potential bottlenecks in project implementation, and provide specific recommendations.
• Monitor the follow up of evaluation recommendations
• Organize (and provide) refresher training in M&E for project and implementing partner staff, local organisations, and primary stakeholders to develop local M&E capacity.
• Monitor and evaluate the compliance of actual progress and performance against the planned work plan and expected quality,
• Prepare reports for project management including identification of problems, causes of potential bottlenecks (if any) in project implementations,
• Recommendations on how to reduce the impact of deviations vs. work plans,
• Prepare the ToRs for mid-term and final evaluation in accordance to UNDP and GCF guidelines;
• Design and implement a system to identify, analyze, and disseminate lesson learned;
• Facilitate exchange of experiences by supporting and coordinating participation in any existing network of UNDP/GCF projects sharing common characteristics;
• Identify and participate in additional networks, for example scientific or policy-based networks that may also yield lessons that can benefit project implementation;
• Prepare regular and timely project monitoring reports for GOB/UNDP/donors/other concerned agencies
• Facilitate the work of external evaluation monitoring, and audit teams as required
• Assist the Regional Project Manager and Project Coordinator in reviewing and updating Project Quarterly Risk, Issue logs
• Assist the Regional Project Manager and Project Coordinator in preparation of GCF Annual Progress Report
• Any other related activities as assigned by The Regional Project Manager and Project Coordinator

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree with major in Statistics/ Applied Statistics/ Development Studies/ Public Administration/ Management, or relevant disciplines. Preference will be given to candidate having Master’s degree.

Experience:

• The candidate should possess the following qualification to compete for the announced position:
• At least 5 years of experience in design and implementation of M&E/MIS in UN/GoB/Development Partners/INGOs/University/Reaserach Organizations
• Experience in designing tools and strategies for data collection, analysis and production of reports;
• Proven ICT skills, especially in the development of MIS software using database software;
• Excellent ICT and computer skills.
• Expertise in analyzing data using statistical software (eg, SPSS);
• Strong training & facilitation skills.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in written and spoken Bangla and English

Source:https://jobs.partneragencies.net/erecruitjobs.html?JobOpeningId=28445&hrs_jo_pst_seq=1&hrs_site_id=2