Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning (MEAL) Advisor (Contract)

Location: Remote
Reports to: Global Program Manager
Duration: 6 months

Time Commitment: This is a project-based position with defined deliverables; time commitment per week during the 6 month duration may vary.

Organization Overview

The Elba Hope Foundation is a nonprofit organization. At our heart lies a steadfast commitment to sustainable progress and better futures for Africans and the African Diaspora through the interconnected tools of agriculture, conservation, food security, education, youth advocacy, and social justice.  Our mission is to drive transformative change by fostering innovation, empowering communities, and forming strategic partnerships that will have a lasting impact on these sectors, both today and for future generations.

Position Overview

The Elba Hope Foundation is seeking a Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) Advisor to strengthen the organization’s approach to program monitoring, performance measurement, learning, and reporting across programs in the United Kingdom (UK), Sierra Leone (SL), and the United States (US). The Advisor will develop a practical, harmonized MEAL framework that supports consistent measurement across the organization while allowing for appropriate adaptation to each country and program context. A core focus of the assignment will be to establish the plans, tools, workflows, and systems required for continued monitoring beyond the consultancy period.

Key Responsibilities

The Advisor will work with relevant program and leadership teams to:

• Develop MEAL plans and frameworks for each program.
• Define appropriate indicators, data sources, collection methods, responsibilities, and reporting schedules.
• Develop standardized and context-specific monitoring and data collection tools.
• Establish workflows and systems for routine collection, validation, analysis, reporting, and use of program data.
• Strengthen organizational capacity to maintain and use the MEAL system on an ongoing basis.
• Support staff training, documentation, and handover to ensure sustainability after the consultancy ends.
  
  

Qualifications

The preferred consultant should demonstrate:

• Significant professional experience in monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning.
• Experience designing organizational or multi-program MEAL systems.
• Demonstrated experience developing MEAL plans, indicators, data collection tools, and reporting frameworks.
• Experience building monitoring workflows and sustainable data management processes.
• Strong understanding of quantitative and qualitative monitoring methods.
• Experience supporting programs operating across multiple countries or contexts.
• Ability to translate technical MEAL concepts into practical tools for program staff.
• Experience delivering staff training and capacity building.
• Strong analytical, facilitation, and technical writing skills.

Experience working with global programs, or comparable contexts is desirable.

 Deliverables 

The consultancy will result in a practical, proportionate, and sustainable MEAL system that EHF staff can operate and maintain using existing organizational capacity and Google Workspace.

The Advisor will develop one common EHF MEAL architecture, with program-specific adaptations where required for Hope Power Project, Creative Futures, and DYSF. The Advisor is expected to build on existing systems and materials wherever practical rather than recreate tools or processes that are already fit for purpose. The total fixed professional fee for satisfactory completion of the scope is USD $28,000, payable upon EHF's acceptance of the following deliverables:

1. Contract Execution & Approved Workplan: Finalized contract; kickoff meeting; agreed methodology, workplan, consultation schedule, and document/data request.
2. MEAL Diagnostic & Implementation Priorities: Focused assessment of existing MEAL practices, tools, data, partner reporting, prior research, and staff capacity across the three programs; identification of gaps and assets that can be retained; prioritized recommendations for system development.
3. EHF Organizational MEAL Framework & Master Indicator Framework: One common EHF results and measurement architecture; manageable organizational and program indicator set; indicator definitions, data sources, collection frequencies, responsibilities, quality standards, reporting expectations, and approach to learning and adaptation.
4. Program MEAL Plans: Operational measurement plans/matrices focused on Hope Power Project, with lighter engagements for Creative Futures and DYSF. Creative Futures includes practical longer-term tracking of skills, confidence, and employment outcomes; DYSF includes media, awareness, advocacy, event, and public/policy engagement measures; Hope Power receives the greatest technical depth across electricity, digital access/skills, education/employment, livelihoods/economic outcomes, and agricultural training.
5. MEAL Toolkit & Accountability Tools: Standardized data-collection and reporting templates; partner reporting tools; participant feedback and outcome tools; longitudinal follow-up tools where appropriate; data-quality checks; learning/reflection templates; and necessary Hope Power-specific tools. Includes a formal, proportionate Hope Power community feedback and complaints-response mechanism.
6. EHF Data Workflow & MEAL SOPs: Practical organization-wide workflow covering data collection/receipt, partner submission, validation, entry, storage, review, reporting, escalation, learning, and use. Concise MEAL SOP documenting roles, responsibilities, procedures, quality controls, and system maintenance.
7. Google Sheets Performance Tracking System & Dashboard: Operational Google Sheets-based single source of truth for approved EHF program metrics; standardized data structures; program and organizational views; targets and actuals where appropriate; automated summaries/charts; validation controls; and instructions for routine updating and maintenance. EHF will prepare requested historical data for import.
8. Staff Training & System Launch: Practical training for EHF staff who will enter, validate, manage, or use MEAL data to confirm that staff understand indicators, tools, workflow, quality requirements, dashboard use, accountability processes, and routine system maintenance.
9. Live Pilot, Refinement & Final Handover: Support for one live reporting and data-collection cycle; assessment of usability, data quality, indicator clarity, workflow, and dashboard performance; reasonable refinements based on pilot findings; complete final package of approved materials; implementation / maintenance roadmap; final handover meeting.

Scope Parameters

The USD $28,000 fixed fee assumes a proportionate system designed for EHF's current organizational scale and operating model.

The scope assumes:

• Three core programs: Hope Power Project, Creative Futures, and DSYF with the majority of the Advisor’s focus on the more complex Hope Power Project.
• Creative Futures UK and emerging US delivery will use one common program MEAL approach, with limited geographic adaptations made by program staff where genuinely necessary.
• Google Sheets will be the primary performance-tracking technology.
• EHF will prepare historical data for migration in an agreed format.
• The Advisor will design data-collection and assessment methodologies but will not conduct large-scale primary research, baseline studies, or impact evaluations.
• The Advisor will support one live system pilot/reporting cycle.
• The system will be designed for semiannual organizational performance review while allowing program data to be updated at appropriate intervals.

Benefits

• Flexible remote work environment.
• Opportunity to support sustainable and accountable M&E for a growing global nonprofit.
• Collaborative, mission-driven team with meaningful international impact.
  

Application Instructions

Please submit your resume and a brief cover letter describing your experience and fit for the role. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

We are seeking candidates who bring a deep contextual understanding of Africa and a strong alignment with our mission and values. This may come through lived experience, long-term professional engagement, or meaningful personal connection to the regions and communities we serve. Our work is rooted in respect for local leadership, cultural knowledge, and community-driven solutions, and we prioritize applicants who demonstrate humility, accountability, and a clear commitment to working in partnership with diverse stakeholders. 

The Elba Hope Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic.