Project Officer (Monitoring and Evaluation)

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

8 September 2026-23:59-GMT Greenwich Mean Time (Freetown)

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ABOUT WFP

The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

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WHY JOIN WFP? 

• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

• WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.

• WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.

• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.

• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

JOB TITLE: Project Officer (Monitoring and Evaluation)

TYPE OF CONTRACT: Service contract (SC-8)

UNIT/DIVISION: Programme Unit (attached to Ministry of Education)

DUTY STATION (City, Country): Freetown, Sierra Leone

DURATION: 12 Months

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

Sierra Leone is a food-deficit country, ranked 185 out of 193 in the 2025 Human Development Index. Recurrent crises in recent decades, including 11 years of civil war and an Ebola outbreak, have created structural vulnerabilities, reinforced by gender disparities and environmental degradation. These crises have left the country’s population of 8 million impoverished, despite Sierra Leone’s natural resource wealth. In February 2025, some 1,3million people were reported being food insecure (IPC +3). The Government of Sierra Leone is committed to providing hot meals to primary and pre-primary school-age children in collaboration with the implementing partners. School Feeding is the biggest social safety net programme in Sierra Leone. This intervention is becoming more important than ever to protect the most vulnerable children and ensure that no one is left behind. European Union support towards strengthening the NSFS Monitoring and Evaluation system WFP is one of the key partners supporting implementation of the National School Feeding Programme in Sierra Leone, under the leadership of the National School Feeding Secretariat (NSFS) within the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE). The NSFS is mandated to coordinate and oversee implementation of the programme, which currently operates across 15 districts through a range of partners, including local and international non-governmental organisations. Although the NSFS has established structures at national and subnational levels, it continues to face gaps in human resources, technical capacity, operational systems, and monitoring and evaluation. These constraints affect the Secretariat’s overall efficiency and may hinder progress towards the Government’s target of achieving universal school feeding by 2030. With funding support from the European Union, WFP will provide technical assistance to strengthen the NSFS monitoring and evaluation system. This support will enhance monitoring, data collection, data management, analysis, evidence generation, and informed decision-making. This Action responds to the urgent need to strengthen the monitoring, evaluation and accountability architecture of Sierra Leone’s National School Feeding Programme. While the programme is a major government priority and an important investment in education, nutrition, social protection and local food systems, its expansion has not been matched by a sufficiently robust system for generating and using reliable data. Current monitoring remains fragmented, largely paper based and dependent on multiple partner tools, limiting the ability of the MBSSE and the National School Feeding Secretariat to track performance, verify delivery, identify gaps and take timely corrective action. The purpose of the Action is to establish a nationally owned, digitised and sustainable M&E system that enables regular field monitoring, improved data quality, stronger reporting and evidence-based decision-making. It will support the restructuring of the NSFS by embedding clear monitoring roles, strengthening staff capacity, introducing practical digital tools such as ODK and School Connect, and creating dashboards, standard reports and community feedback mechanisms linked to government reporting structures. By the end of the Action, the NSFS is expected to have an operational monitoring plan, indicator framework, secure data repository, trained national and district personnel, functional dashboards, routine data review processes and clearer mechanisms for community accountability. These achievements will improve transparency, programme oversight and resource allocation, while enabling government and partners to respond faster to school-level issues. Ultimately, the Action is expected to contribute to more effective school feeding delivery, better informed policy dialogue, stronger national ownership and improved outcomes for about one million children targeted by the National School Feeding Programme. To this end, applications are invited from qualified individuals for the position of Project Officer (Monitoring and Evaluation, SC-8).

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Support the development, review and refinement of the M&E framework, monitoring plan, indicator framework, data collection matrix, reporting templates and data quality assurance protocols for the project.

2. Lead the technical development and digitisation of M&E tools, including ODK forms, school monitoring checklists, supervisory tools, community feedback forms, data verification tools and reporting formats.

3. Support configuration, testing, piloting and rollout of digital data collection systems, including ODK Collect, ODK server workflows, School Connect and related mobile data collection applications.

4. Provide technical support to ensure that monitoring tools capture relevant school feeding indicators, including feeding days, food delivery, stock status, meal quality, attendance, community feedback, field monitoring coverage, follow-up actions and other agreed performance indicators.

5. Supervise and provide technical oversight for routine data collection by NSFS, MBSSE district staff, field monitors, community monitors and school-level users, ensuring adherence to agreed tools, reporting timelines and data quality standards.

6. Conduct data quality checks, including review of completeness, accuracy, consistency, timeliness, geolocation, duplicate submissions, outliers and other anomalies, and follow up with responsible teams to correct errors.

7. Manage and maintain dashboards and standard reporting products, ensuring that data are regularly updated, clearly presented, disaggregated where relevant and accessible to authorised users for decision-making.

8. Analyse monitoring data and generate routine analytical summaries on programme performance, implementation gaps, field monitoring coverage, school-level issues, data quality, trends, risks and corrective actions.

9. Prepare monthly, quarterly, annual and ad hoc M&E reports, including dashboard extracts, data briefs, progress updates, review meeting presentations and technical inputs for donor and management reporting.

10. Support regular data review meetings at national and subnational levels by preparing data packs, identifying key issues, documenting agreed actions and tracking follow-up through action trackers.

11. Provide practical training, coaching and technical backstopping to NSFS, MBSSE, district and school-level users on M&E tools, digital data collection, dashboard use, data quality assurance, analysis and reporting.

12. Support the alignment of school feeding data with EMIS school codes, master school lists and national reporting requirements, and contribute to future integration or data exchange between the M&E system and MBSSE reporting platforms.

13. Support monitoring field missions, spot checks and supervision visits to verify data collection processes, assess use of tools, identify capacity gaps and provide hands-on support to field teams.

14. Document operational lessons, technical challenges, user feedback and recommendations to improve the functionality, usability and sustainability of the M&E system.

15. Maintain organised records of tools, datasets, dashboards, reports, training materials, meeting outputs and technical documentation related to the M&E workstream.

16. Carry out any other M&E-related technical tasks assigned by the Project Coordinator in support of the project objectives

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:

• Draft and updated M&E framework, indicator matrix, monitoring plan, reporting templates and data quality assurance protocols prepared for review and approval.

•Digitised data collection tools developed, tested, revised and deployed, including ODK forms, supervisory checklists, community feedback tools and school-level reporting tools.

•ODK and School Connect rollout supported through user configuration, tool testing, training, troubleshooting and field-level technical backstopping.

•Functional dashboards and standard reporting products maintained and updated on a routine basis.

•Routine data quality checks conducted and documented, with follow-up actions tracked and reported.

•Monthly, quarterly, annual and ad hoc M&E reports, data briefs and analytical summaries prepared on time and to the required standard. •Training, coaching and technical support delivered to NSFS, MBSSE and field-level users, with attendance records, training materials and post-training follow-up documented.

•Data review meetings supported with data packs, presentations, action trackers and documented follow-up actions.

•Lessons learned, technical issues and recommendations documented to inform system refinement, sustainability and future scale-up.

•A fully functional robust, digitised and integrated government-owned M&E system put in place and contributing to effective National School Feeding Programme delivery, informed policy dialogue and improved outcomes

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

•University degree in monitoring and evaluation, statistics, data science, information systems, education, social sciences, development studies, public administration or another relevant field. An advanced degree will be an added advantage

Experience:

•At least three years of relevant professional experience in monitoring and evaluation, data management, digital data collection, programme monitoring, reporting or related technical functions. •Demonstrated experience developing M&E tools, indicators, reporting templates, data quality assurance processes and analytical reports.

Knowledge & Skills:

•Practical experience with digital data collection platforms such as ODK, KoboToolbox or similar tools is required; experience with dashboards, data visualisation and database management is highly desirable.

•Strong skills in data cleaning, analysis and presentation using tools such as Excel, Power BI, Tableau, SPSS, Stata, R or similar applications. •Experience working with government institutions, UN agencies, NGOs, education programmes, school feeding, food security, nutrition or social protection programmes is desirable. •Strong written and oral communication skills in English, including the ability to prepare clear reports, data briefs, presentations and technical guidance materials

Languages: • Fluency in English is required.

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REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

 

WFP is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact:  [email protected]

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

 

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REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

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• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited to proceed to the next stage of the recruitment process.

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.