Expertise France (EF) is looking for an Expert to support the team on various MEAL related activities throughout the project. He or she will be responsible in the establishment of a comprehensive MEAL framework and implementation plan. He or she will ensure the good rolling-out of the MEAL framework and tools and carry out the necessary training and/or coaching to EF team and partners to do so. 

It is then expected that the Expert will intervene on a regular basis to assess the progress made on MEAL activities, to support with unblocking impediments in the implementation of MEAL processes and tools, to support MEAL requirements in grants and to provide an independent and external perspective during yearly “pause and reflect”/review exercises.  
The main tasks of the MEAL Expert are as follows:

Project inception phase (approx. 12 man/days)

- Participate and support the project team in the refining of the logic of intervention:
•    Review the existing overall project theory of change (TOC) and logframe in collaboration with project team and partners, checking its coherence and relevance after inception assessments and consultations have been made, and suggest modifications accordingly,
•    Linked to the activity above, facilitate a process to reflect on project impacts and outcomes, ensuring that they are clear, realistic, feasible and measurable,
•    Support the project team in identifying and analyzing complementarities and potential risks of overlaps with other actors in the region working on Sargassum, in order to have an exhaustive overview of stakeholders, and in taking these elements into account when reviewing the logic of intervention,
•    Review the OECS component’s TOC and logframe to ensure it is in line with the overall project outcomes and needs expressed by the partner countries. 

-Establish an operational MEAL system for the project, and provide the team with tools to effectively monitor progress and achievement, and to provide evaluations with sufficient information to assess the programme success: (approx. 25 man/days)
•    Ensure that indicators can measure progress towards achieving the desired changes, as well as performance indicators at output level and relevant context indicators. These indicators should capture both quantitative and qualitative information,
•    Consult the project team members and experts to provide detailed definitions for each indicator and develop indicator reference sheets,
•    Lead the process of setting realistic and appropriate targets for each indicator and identifying specific sources of verification. As much as possible, use existing data sources embedded in existing systems (at least for impact-level indicators),
•    Provide recommendations for data collection and management systems and processes,
•    Draft and finalise the project MEAL framework guidelines document. This document should include MEAL principles, procedures and templates for data collection and reporting, assigned roles and responsibilities in MEAL matters, format and reporting frequencies,
•    Provide technical guidance on results-based management and MEAL to team and the implementing partners already identified, if necessary.

Implementation phase
- Support the team in the deployment of the MEAL system, and provide and/or facilitate regular critical reviews of project implementation to ensure the MEAL system feeds into the project management: (approx. 25 man/days)
•    Conduct monitoring missions and qualitative review exercises to: 
o    Confirm the smooth running of activities and analyse the operational and budgetary progress of the project, 
o    Support the team in highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the project, whether operational or strategic, through different information collection methodologies,
o    Facilitate yearly review exercises as planned in Expertise France processes,
o    Make recommendations on the adjustments to be made and the operational strategy to be followed to ensure that the programme’s objectives are achieved,
o    Review the programme TOC and identify unexpected changes that may affect its success,
•    Develop an evaluation strategy that corresponds to the context, learning and operational needs, as well as donor requirements. 
•    Contribute to the achievement of a baseline study as well as a midterm and final evaluation conducted externally,
•    Support the Scientific Knowledge Building and Learning officer, if necessary, on learning activities to be undertaken, and ensure that a continuous learning process is developed and documented,
•    Provide technical support if necessary, such as trainings, workshops and access to resources.

-Ensure integration of gender, inclusion and accountability in MEAL systems and practices, in close coordination in Gender Expert: (approx. 10 man/days)
•    Collaborate with the Gender Expert to ensure that gender and social inclusion considerations are effectively integrated into the MEAL framework, tools and data collection approaches,
•    Support the review and refinement of indicators to ensure they are disaggregated where relevant, and reflect the needs and experiences of different groups,
•    Explore possible ways to improve accountability to beneficiaries, including how feedback or complaints might be collected and used. Provide initial suggestions based on the project’s scope, context and partners’ capacities. 

-Support to grantees and pilot projects on MEAL integration: (approx. 20 man/days)
•    Provide guidance to grantees and pilot project teams to help them understand the project’s MEAL requirements and expectations,
•    Support them in developing and refining their logic of intervention (e.g. TOC, logframe) and in identifying relevant indicators, including those that contribute to the project’s overall results framework,
•    Provide coaching or technical support as needed during the implementation of their MEAL plans.

-Support the integration of participatory and outcome-focused monitoring and evaluation methods in order to complement traditional quantitative and output-focused project indicators. These methods should foster adaptive learning and project responsiveness.
•    Assess and recommend the most suitable participatory and outcome-oriented methods (e.g. Most Significant Change (MSC), Outcome harvesting and/or Outcome mapping) to complement output and indicator-based monitoring,
•    Design tailored frameworks or protocols for these methods, aligned with the project context, objectives and learning priorities,
•    Facilitate capacity building workshops with the team and partners to build skills in applying participatory and outcome-oriented approaches, or ensure that it is done through the two external evaluations to be undertaken,
•    Use findings from participatory methods to generate actionable insights and learning

Suggested deliverables:
-    An updated Theory of change that illustrates the short, medium and long term changes the programme wishes to achieve and/or support
-    An updated Programme Logframe, with gender-sensitive indicators, risks and assumptions
-    Indicator reference sheets and target values, taking into consideration the grants allocated within the projects (two calls for proposals)
-    Provision of a MEAL framework guideline
-    Recommendations on data collection and management systems and processes
-    Provision of data collection tools
-    Monitoring mission reports and recommendations follow-up table 
-    Facilitation of review exercises
-    Provide a ToR to measure changes from a qualitative perspective