Monitoring and Evaluation Officer

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) office in Belgrade, Serbia seeks a Program Officer for Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning (MEL) and Reporting to assist its programs team in reporting program activities, monitoring and evaluating programs’ results as well as drawing lessons learned for future programs.  He/she will use data management and analysis skills to document and synthesize project results, helping NDI understand the direct and indirect effects of its programs in Serbia and learn lessons to improve future programs. The Officer will be supervised by the Institute’s Resident Country Director in Serbia and will be supported by Belgrade and Washington, D.C.-based staff. The hiring of this position is contingent on funding.

Responsibilities:

• Develop performance monitoring plans and work plans in cooperation with the resident country director and other senior staff;
• Develop indicators and methods of measurement and conduct baseline assessments at the project startup;
• Develop tools for collecting information necessary to monitor and evaluate program activities such as surveys, interviews and focus groups; identify relevant secondary sources of information, and oversee the collection of M&E data;
• Develop and ensure adherence data collection, management, and storage protocols;
• Support the office in data quality assessment processes initiated by donors by responding to question relating to overall data quality;
• Collect data on program results and, based on this information, prepare and submit regular reports in accordance with internal and external reporting requirements;
• Assist program staff in identifying and highlighting achievement of stated outcomes;
• Facilitate reflection sessions and design to identify lessons to inform the design of the future programs;
• Contribute to the drafting of project proposals, work plans, memos and other reports;
• Contribute to the development of program concepts, strategies and logical frameworks;
• Establish and maintain close working relationships with partners including, but not limited to, parliamentary staff, MPs, political parties and may include civil society organizations and other local partners in Serbian and English languages in line with MEL scope of work;
• Interact with any monitoring and evaluation databases as required including data entry, reporting, and visualization;
• Work with programs team to create data visualization necessary for reporting, analysis, or presentation;
• Train program team to utilize MEL tools and sources;
• Report directly to the Resident Country Director;
• Perform additional tasks needed during the program implementation.
• Reference: Urh-K0u5J21abYwDaHXzkCN1xTVQUunIdb0HXPBe8Hw.

Requirements:

• Undergraduate degree or Master degree in political science, international relations, law, international development or related area;
• A minimum of six (6) years relevant work experience related to political parties, election observation, political process monitoring, democracy development and/or governance, with a minimum of two (2) years of professional experience in performance monitoring and evaluation;
• Experience in results-oriented program design, strategic planning, and program evaluation;
• Experience with designing and employing evaluation tools and methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, and research from secondary sources;
• Exceptional interpersonal skills and cultural sensitivity to effectively interact with all levels of staff, U.S. and foreign government personnel, members of donor organizations, funders, and policy-makers;
• Exceptional analytical skills for interpreting complex program and political issues;
• Understanding of Serbia's political and socio-economic situation;
• Exposure to online communication tools (working knowledge advantage) for organizing online conferences and events (e.g. Google Hangouts, Zoom, etc.);
• Knowledge of core data quality principles
• Strong written and oral communication skills;
• High degree of organization, initiative, attention to details and ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and meet deadlines;
• Ability to work both independently and as a constructive member of a team;
• Strong time-management and personal-management skills;
• Punctuality, self-discipline and a high sense of responsibility;
• Willingness to work under pressure and irregular working hours if needed;
• Desire to learn new skills, tools and methods in project management;
• Strong knowledge of MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel;
• Strong knowledge of Google platforms and applications;
• Experience in databases and/or data visualization strongly preferred
• Ability and willingness to travel to locations in the region, some of which may be remote or lacking modern communications or transportation infrastructure;
• Excellent knowledge of written and spoken Serbian and English

Comments:

• Position is for 12 months, with the possibility of extension.
• Competitive salary for the position (commensurate with experience), subject to negotiation.
• Benefits will be regulated with the Employment Contract in compliance with the Republic of Serbia Labor Code.

NOTE:

NDI is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, political affiliation, religion, gender, disability, and/or sexual orientation.

Application process

Interested applicants should submit a CV and a motivation letter in English. Applications without a CV and/or motivation letter will not be considered.

Applications review process

Step 1: Based on received CVs and motivation letters most suitable candidates will be selected for the second step of the review process.

Step 2: Selected applicants will undertake written English and Serbian languages translation tests along with close-ended and essay questions related to the program topics. Best applicants will be invited for the third step of the review process. 

Step 3: Selected applicants will be invited for the final interviews with NDI Serbia Applicant Selection Committee.