Within our project areas, we restore degraded landscapes using water harvesting, agroforestry and climate resilient agriculture techniques. In Kenya we work on a range of interventions to restore degraded rangelands using water harvesting and grazing management. In Tanzania we inform and train farmers to bring back trees on their farms. In the coming years we will expand our activities to other African countries.

We are looking for an experienced MEL expert to help us measure the impact of our projects, assess project performance and help to further improve our MEL strategy and streamline our MEL workflow for our growing network of projects and partners.

For this role, we seek someone who is seasoned in the field of landscape restoration and is both strong in technical aspects, such as remote sensing, managing databases, data visualisations and reporting, as well as in managing MEL activities and budgets.

You will be leading the further development of our general MEL strategy and approach on a day-to-day basis coordinate MEL staff and activities in our different projects, manage budgets and contracts with our partners, supervise all our data collection partners, and analyse and report on this data internally as well as to partners and donors.

Furthermore, together with the rest of the programs team, you will be involved in the set-up and implementation of new landscape restoration projects. In this role you will assure MEL strategies are implemented and pushing for learning and decision-making driven by data in Justdiggit strategy and project design.

We expect you to strengthen the processes and partnerships with regards to our MEL activities. We need someone who can identify problems/challenges and opportunities based on the derived insights and is able to communicate this internally and with our partners. And, as we are an organisation that loves communication, a good level of understanding on how to study impactful communication in project countries as well as visualising our impact in a meaningful and appealing way for the general audience are important.

Your responsibilities

• Develop Justdiggit’s MEL strategy and corresponding processes.
• Develop robust quantitative and qualitative methods and participatory approaches to measure the impact of our projects and assess project performance.
• Set up MEL frameworks for our new projects and align existing MEL frameworks with our growing ambitions and strategy.
• Coordinate the MEL activities, manage budgets and contracts for all our MEL activities including the innovative use of remote sensing data, machine learning and apps.
• Support, train and supervise our international colleagues and partners on the ground to help strengthen their skills, advance their knowledge of MEL principles, and improve overall MEL data quality and timelines.
• Analyse & validate the MEL data together with our implementing partners and colleagues, identify issues & challenges, combine different data sets into meaningful information and report about these insights for internal use and our donors/partners.
• Set up databases and a system that aggregates relevant information.
• Expand our network of (international) universities, partners and experts.
• Prepare project impact reports internally and for our donors and partners.
• Contribute to the growth of Justdiggit and improvement of project design with data, insights and learnings.
• Help identify interesting insights and facts to share with our followers on social media and in our newsletters.
• Carry out regular visits to our project partners and field sites to coordinate and supervise MEL activities and train our field partners.

Required experience and skills

• MSc. in earth sciences, ecology, environmental sciences, conservation or related field.
• >10 years of work experience in landscape restoration, soil and water conservation or agro-forestry projects in international development.
• Proven track record of developing MEL strategies and/or setting up research projects, conducting and supervising data collection and analysis, and managing MEL partnerships in an international context.
• Good organisational skills and ability to keep oversight of many different partners and (field)activities and knowing when to step in to prevent issues.
• Strong quantitative and qualitative skills. Have a keen eye to spot anomalies or surprising insights in complex datasets.
• Experience in setting up databases and systems for data collection and visualisation.
• Good working knowledge in QGIS or ArcGIS.
• Strong in initiating and building partnerships with MEL partners, researchers, experts and donors.
• Affinity with research into the effectiveness of marketing and communications.
• Experience in working in rural settings in the African context.
• Strong interpersonal skills and a positive and pragmatic ‘can do’ attitude.
• Fluent in English. Knowledge of Dutch and French is a preference.

We offer

• Be part of a great mission: regreen our planet!
• As part of a fast-growing organisation, there will be ample room for personal and professional development.
• Great colleagues and a diverse team, a good atmosphere, working in an international setting from the city centre of Amsterdam.

If you believe you are the right person for this role, please send your CV and motivation letter to sander@justdiggit.org before 15 November 2020.

About Justdiggit

We are a non-profit organisation working on landscape restoration in Africa. We believe in the power of nature and that together, we can cool down the planet. So far, we’ve regreened over 60,000 hectares and brought back 5 million trees in Kenya and Tanzania but we’re not done yet!

In the next 10 years it is our ultimate goal to reach 350 million farmers and inspire & activate them to restore all degraded land on the African continent by combining traditional farming techniques with data and modern technology. An ambitious mission which we can only achieve with the right team!

To learn more about our mission and our current regreening projects, take a look at our website.