Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Officer/Associate

Job Summary

• The MEL Officer / Associate will serve as the primary on-the-ground operational anchor for a large-scale foundational education and learning assessment project in Lagos State . While the strategic framework and database audits are managed from the head office in Abuja, this role requires a hyper-local, field-active professional to execute daily data collection verification, field checks, and school-level quality assurance across Lagos public primary schools.
• The postholder will split their effort between direct field monitoring (verifying student eligibility, assessment monitoring, and school attendance trackers) and first-level data cleaning using digital platforms. 

Key Responsibilities

Evaluation Operations, Field Monitoring & Training Support (Baseline & Endline)

• Training Facilitation: Assist the Abuja-based MEL Coordinator in setting up and facilitating physical, localized training workshops for large teams of Lagos-based field enumerators and assessors prior to baseline and endline launches.
• Field Simulation & Quality Checks: Supervise enumerator roleplays, field simulations, and pilot tests during training to ensure all assessors master standardized assessment protocols, digital form navigation, and time management before deployment.
• Baseline & Endline Field Monitoring: Lead daily on-the-ground supervision and monitoring sweeps across selected Lagos schools during baseline and endline data collection windows. Ensure strict adherence to sampling criteria, verify assessor data entry hygiene, and troubleshoot tablet/software connectivity issues firsthand.
• Enforce Rigorous QA: Implement Data Quality Assurance (DQA) field protocols, ensuring that student pull-out processes, test timings, and electronic uploads match established research standards.

On-the-Ground Eligibility Verification & Spot-Checks (Lagos Field)

• Desk & Field Audits: Execute routine field spot-checks on a rolling sample of children confirmed by Implementing Partners (IPs) to verify eligibility requirements (such as age 6–14 and out-of-school status).
• Caregiver & Community Leader Interviews: Conduct structured 15–20 minute interviews with caregivers to inspect and photograph primary evidence documents (birth certificates, ID cards, or past school records). Interview local community leaders (e.g., Baales, Ward Heads, or religious leaders) to validate signed attestations.
• School Register Verification: Visit previous schools named on eligibility forms to cross-verify the student’s exact historical drop-out timeline against physical paper log registers.
• Data Discrepancy Reporting: Record and flag verified field outcomes as Confirmed, Not Confirmed (Age), Not Confirmed (Schooling), or Not Found directly into the data stream.

School Readiness & Learning Assessment Quality Assurance

• Support complete independent rtests using rapid citizen-led assessment tools for sub-samples of children in schools flagged by the project technical team for suspicious testing durations or anomalous score distributions.

Placement Validation & Daily Attendance Monitoring

• Enrolment Tracking: Physically confirm that school-ready children are placed in correct, age-appropriate classrooms within approved program schools.
• Attendance Audits: Conduct random school visits to cross-match the digital daily attendance entries captured by IPs in the tablet tool against physical classroom registers.
• Tracking Windows: Ensure that the required settling-in period is respected and document instances of systematic student absence or missing daily logs.

Digital Platforms & First-Line Data Cleaning

• Tool Competency: Use KoboToolbox, SurveyCTO and Tangerine mobile interfaces flawlessly to upload geotagged entries, verification interviews, and attachment photographs.
• Data Cleaning Support: Work daily under the guidance of the MEL Coordinator to conduct routine data cleaning, clarify missing field entries, and follow up with local IP teams on flagged data queries.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Education: Bachelor’s degree or Higher National Diploma in Statistics, Economics, Education, Social Sciences, Computer Science or a highly numerical development field.
• Experience: Minimum of 2-3 years of progressive field-level M&E experience in Nigeria, with direct exposure to the public education sector in Lagos State.
• Field Supervision Background: Proven experience training, onboarding, and monitoring field enumerators during large-scale baseline, midline, or endline studies is strictly required.
• Assessment Toolkit Mastery: Prior field experience administering or supervising early-grade learning assessments ( EGRA, EGMA , or citizen-led variations like ASER / LearNigeria ) is required.
• Technical Skills: Highly proficient in operating mobile data collection tools ( KoboToolbox/KoboCollect, Tangerine, ODK, or SurveyCTO ). Strong baseline skills in Microsoft Excel for sorting and looking up data records.
• Language & Local Knowledge: Professional fluency in English and excellent working command of Yoruba or Nigerian Pidgin . The candidate must possess deep geographical knowledge of Lagos State Local Government Areas (LGAs) and local communities.
• Mobility & Resilience: Willingness to spend up to 40-60% of working hours in the field , traveling to remote, congested, or underserved public school environments across Lagos State.