This position will support and improve the design, coordination and implementation of the monitoring, evaluation and reporting framework across the three main pillars for which WeForest aims to demonstrate project impact: 1. forest governance, 2. trees and biodiversity and 3. Communities & livelihoods.

The position can be fully remote and thus based anywhere in the world, although ideally being based in one of our project countries or (close to) our HQ office in Belgium. The position will be embedded within the Global operations team, reporting to (and closely collaborating with) the Head of M&E and Research. The successful candidate will have regular contact with the designated M&E focal points in the project teams as well as close cooperation with the rest of WeForest’s Operations and Communications & Marketing Teams.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

Improve project-level Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Framework & Capacity

• Continuously assess the quality of newly collected data, its analysis and resulting reports in the projects, and the degree to which it supports adaptive management.
• Develop and disseminate M&E protocols, templates and tools when needs are identified, to support project teams and/or implementing partners to efficiently and correctly collect, analyse, interpret and report data.
• Guide project teams and/or implementing partners on proper data and metadata storage & management.
• Identify areas where technical support to project teams is required and facilitate capacity building through one of several modalities (e.g. in house training, external training, protocol development, etc.).
• Assist project teams in developing or reviewing their M&E framework (project’s logframe, M&E plan & protocols, workplan).
• Critically review the technical quarterly/bi-annual project reports and provide constructive feedback during the project review meetings.

Strengthen & update the monitoring, evaluation and reporting framework at WeForest HQ

• Assist the Head of M&E and research with maintaining & updating the HQ-level M&E databases (KPIs).
• Explore potential for adopting suitable database & dashboard-producing software across the organisation.
• Actively participate in a subset of the HQ-level M&E workgroups, that aims to keep track of progress, budget allocation and short-term planning of additional HQ-led M&E activities complementing the M&E activities performed at the project-level.
• Assist the rest of the M&E and research subteam with translating M&E findings for use by the fundraising and communication teams.

Support Monitoring, Reporting & Verification (MRV) framework development for a limited number of carbon projects

• Assist the HQ operation team and project teams with developing the MRV plan, including the specific indicator set and optimal sampling protocols for carbon stock/pool assessment.
• Additionally, assist MRV plan development specifically for VERRA’s CCB (climate, communities and biodiversity) standard, to demonstrate positive impact on communities’ livelihoods and local biodiversity through adequate indicators.

SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS

• At least an M.Sc. or equivalent experience in, a scientific field closely related to data analysis (i.e. statistics, data management), ideally with additional knowledge of one of the substantive issues handled by the projects such as (tropical) forest conservation and restoration, biodiversity, agroforestry and livelihoods (e.g. Ecological data processing, Forestry, Biology and Biodiversity management, Geographic information system analysis, Natural resources economics, Land resources management, and related fields).
• Good technical skills and knowledge of data collection methodologies, data quality control, statistical & descriptive data analysis, graph construction and data interpretation for at least one of the following data types: forest vegetation data (permanent plots), animal biodiversity data (camera trap/ audio recorders/ transect), forest governance data, qualitative livelihood data (e.g. household surveys), quantitative livelihood data (e.g. focus-group discussions, key informant interviews) or geospatial data (e.g. forest polygons, POI point layers).
• Good technical skills and knowledge of at least some of the associated tools used for data collection and data analysis (e.g. Kobo Collect, GISCloud, QGIS, SPSS, R, Excel). Knowledge of database and/or business intelligence software is a plus (e.g. Access, PowerBI, Tableau).
• Substantial proven field-based project experience, with responsibilities for monitoring, evaluation and learning, preferably for projects working on relevant themes such as forest conservation and restoration, agroforestry and livelihoods.
• Experience with carbon project-development and associated MRV protocol development is a plus.
• Excellent understanding of general concepts related to Climate Change, Forest and Landscape Restoration, Livelihoods and agroforestry.
• A proven track-record of having developed relevant data collection (M&E) frameworks, tools and protocols at project and/or organisational level.
• Proven field experience with data collection relevant within the context of this position.
• Good moderation, facilitation and training skills.
• Good organisational skills and analytical skills.
• Ability to work in a team of diverse cultural backgrounds.
• Excellent knowledge of English, good knowledge of French is a plus.