Program Background

The Agrifood System Transformation for Youth Employment (ASTYE) Uganda program

ASTYE is a 5-year transformative initiative designed to enable dignified and fulfilling work opportunities primarily for financially disadvantaged young women, refugees, and vulnerable groups by addressing structural barriers in Uganda's Agrifood system. Aligned with Uganda’s Vision 2040, the National Development Plan and Government of Uganda Agriculture Value Chain Development Strategy, the program will contribute to national efforts toward poverty alleviation, economic growth, as well food and nutrition security. Additionally, ASTYE is part of the Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy in Uganda, which aims to empower 4.3 million young Ugandans, particularly young women, by addressing structural barriers to employment and providing them with the skills and resources to succeed.

Specifically, GOAL will implement component one to reach 500,000 financially disadvantaged young people, with 400,000 transiting into work and 320,000 securing dignified and fulfilling work. As the program is young women-centric, 80% of the total outreach target will be young women within Uganda's agrifood ecosystem. Furthermore, 3% of the total youth in work target will be refugees, and another 3% will be people with disabilities.

Job summary

The MEAL officer will be part of a team of MEAL staff in charge of monitoring, evaluating and measuring the impact of program activities, conducting research, documenting and disseminating learnings. The MEAL officer is expected to play an important role in the implementation of ASTYE program and GOAL’s MEAL functions to enable efficient review and monitoring of the implementation of partnerships with intervention partners (e.g., private sector, CSOs/CBOs) and understand whether expected results are delivered. The MEAL officer will work alongside the MEAL coordinator, MEAL specialist, MIS specialist and Data Officer. He or she will also be supported by the Program’s Management Unit.

The key responsibilities of the role will be:

Monitoring and Evaluation:

• Responsible for coordinating and facilitating ground-level monitoring and evaluation of program interventions in collaboration with partners (including private sector actors, CSOs, and CBOs), ensuring that activities remain on track and aligned with overall program objectives.
• Support the development and tracking of performance indicators and targets.
• Carry out routine field data validation, on-site spot checks and data quality assessments to ensure the validity, reliability, and accuracy of reported data
• Support the design and implementation of applied research and studies to generate evidence, including diagnostic market research and baselines, barrier analyses, action research, as well as annual, midterm, and endline surveys.
• Provide regular feedback to Program teams and partners based on monitoring and evaluation findings.

Coordination, Capacity Building & Support

• Liaise with internal teams and partners to contribute to quality data collection, processing, reporting and use.
• Provide technical support and capacity strengthening to program teams in MEAL implementation.
• Ensure proper data storage, archiving, and compliance with responsible data management standards
• Conduct workshops and training sessions to enhance the MEAL skills of partner staff.
• Ensure accurate and timely data entry into the programme’s database.
• Collaborate with team members to develop and pilot MEAL tools to ensure necessary data is collected effectively.
• Contribute to the development of measurement plans for each Partnership Agreement with Portfolio Coordinators, Intervention Leads and partners.

Data Analysis and Reporting:

• Analyse quantitative and qualitative data to assess program performance and impact for reporting purposes.
• Generate regular reports and dashboards to provide insights into project progress.

Accountability, Learning and communications

• Collect stakeholders, participant and community feedback mechanisms to ensure program accountability.
• Assist the Programme team and partners in documenting lessons learnt.
• Participate in the development and dissemination of high-quality communication and learning materials, such as learning briefs, case studies, success stories in collaboration with the program team and implementing partners.
• Ensure compliance with Program, GOAL Global communications and branding protocols and standards on MEAL documents.
• Facilitate learning sessions and workshops to share findings and best practices

Job Level Specifications

Essential Criteria

• Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Economics, Social Sciences and Project Management.
• 3 years demonstrated experience in MEAL in a donor funded project.
• Experience with projects that use Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) and/or Market Systems Development project.
• Experience in collaborating and working with both private and public sector and civil society organisations (CBOs)
• Proficiency in statistical software and data visualization tools.

Desirable

• Good computer skills
• Strong analytical and report writing skills
• Strong communication, presentation and training skills

• Responsible for coordinating and facilitating ground-level monitoring and evaluation of program interventions in collaboration with partners (including private sector actors, CSOs, and CBOs), ensuring that activities remain on track and aligned with overall program objectives.
• Support the development and tracking of performance indicators and targets.
• Carry out routine field data validation, on-site spot checks and data quality assessments to ensure the validity, reliability, and accuracy of reported data
• Support the design and implementation of applied research and studies to generate evidence, including diagnostic market research and baselines, barrier analyses, action research, as well as annual, midterm, and endline surveys.
• Provide regular feedback to Program teams and partners based on monitoring and evaluation findings.
• Liaise with internal teams and partners to contribute to quality data collection, processing, reporting and use.
• Provide technical support and capacity strengthening to program teams in MEAL implementation.
• Ensure proper data storage, archiving, and compliance with responsible data management standards
• Conduct workshops and training sessions to enhance the MEAL skills of partner staff.
• Ensure accurate and timely data entry into the programme’s database.
• Collaborate with team members to develop and pilot MEAL tools to ensure necessary data is collected effectively.
• Contribute to the development of measurement plans for each Partnership Agreement with Portfolio Coordinators, Intervention Leads and partners.
• Analyse quantitative and qualitative data to assess program performance and impact for reporting purposes.
• Generate regular reports and dashboards to provide insights into project progress.
• Collect stakeholders, participant and community feedback mechanisms to ensure program accountability.
• Assist the Programme team and partners in documenting lessons learnt.
• Participate in the development and dissemination of high-quality communication and learning materials, such as learning briefs, case studies, success stories in collaboration with the program team and implementing partners.
• Ensure compliance with Program, GOAL Global communications and branding protocols and standards on MEAL documents.
• Facilitate learning sessions and workshops to share findings and best practices

• Proficiency in statistical software and data visualization tools.
• Good computer skills
• Strong analytical and report writing skills
• Strong communication, presentation and training skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Economics, Social Sciences and Project Management.
• 3 years demonstrated experience in MEAL in a donor funded project.
• Experience with projects that use Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) and/or Market Systems Development project.
• Experience in collaborating and working with both private and public sector and civil society organisations (CBOs)