Principal Quality, Results and Monitoring Officer

THE BANK:

Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 81 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten Year Strategy and ensure greater developmental impact, five major areas (High 5s), all of which will accelerate our delivery for Africa, have been identified for scaling up, namely; energy, agro-business, industrialization, integration and improving the quality of life for the people of Africa. The Bank is seeking to build a management team that will lead the successful implementation of this vision.

THE COMPLEX:

The Senior Vice-Presidency is responsible for supporting the President in the day-to-day management of the Bank Group to achieve its strategic objective and drive performance culture that will align all processes and systems to deliver high impact results. The Senior Vice-Presidency will provide effective leadership and exceptional coordination to ensure implementation and monitoring of key corporate decisions as well as the identification of necessary corrective measures and actions. The Senior Vice-Presidency will lead senior management discussions, decision-making processes and the implementation of key Board and Management decisions.

THE HIRING DEPARTMENT:

Located within the Senior Vice-Presidency Complex, the Development Impact and Results Department is at the centre of Bank’s efforts to improve operational and corporate performance, accelerate the pace of delivery, enhance the quality and effectiveness of the Bank’s operations and also increase and report on the Bank’s impact on development. The Quality Assurance and Learning Division focuses on enhancing and mainstreaming the quality and results focus of the Bank’s strategies and operations.

More specifically, the Division (i) sets quality standards for the Bank’s interventions; (ii) develops and strengthens tools and processes throughout the operation cycle; and (iii) enhances staff and partner capacities and operations related knowledge.

The Bank’s five Regional Business Delivery Units lead delivery of the Bank’s operations. Each is headed by a Director General and Deputy Director General, who report to the Vice President, RDVP. Staff originating from different departments are brought together in the regional business delivery units, which cover both sovereign and non-sovereign operations.

THE POSITION:

The overall objective of the position of the Principal Quality, Results and Monitoring Officer (QRMO) is to support the Bank’s Regional Business Delivery Units, and in turn the Bank as a whole, to strengthen the quality and compliance of its monitoring and self-evaluation, as well as its development results planning, tracking and measurement.

Principal Quality, Results and Monitoring Officers provide expert advice to support quality and compliance throughout the project cycle. They provide advice to Task Teams working on both sovereign and non-sovereign operations. Each regional Business Delivery Unit, is assigned one QRMO. Each QRMO is enabled to deliver on this advisory, quality assurance and compliance role by remaining outside of Task Teams and via a reporting line to the central Quality Assurance Division. This provides a degree of independence, enabling the incumbent to focus on robust advice and quality assurance, while working closely with Task Teams in the regions. This is in line with the AfDB’s “One Bank” approach.

KEY FUNCTIONS:

The expected outcomes of the Principal Quality, Results and Monitoring Officer role are to (i) improve compliance with corporate reporting standards; (ii) improve the quality and effectiveness of monitoring in the region; (iii) contribute to improved quality and effectiveness of Bank strategies and operations in the region.

Specifically, Principal Quality, Results and Monitoring Officers support quality and compliance through the following duties:

For sovereign and non-sovereign operations:

Provide advice to task teams to develop robust project results frameworks, theories of change, monitoring plans, in accordance with the Bank’s guidance and international good practice.
Provide task teams with advice to strengthen monitoring and evaluation plans for new operations under preparation and appraisal, where necessary.
Provide training to strengthen capacity in the region for results planning, monitoring and self-evaluation.

For sovereign operations specifically:

Provide additional arm’s length review of “results readiness” for projects under preparation or appraisal in other regions, via the Bank’s readiness review tool.
Review a sample of supervision reports for quality and compliance, and especially from a results measurement perspective.
Support review of project implementation progress and project completion reports of sovereign operations for quality and compliance.

For non-sovereign operations specifically:

Where, requested, advise portfolio officers in reviewing a sample of annual supervision reports for quality and compliance, from a results measurement perspective.
Where requested, advise portfolio officers in reviewing extended supervision reports (XSRs) as prepared by independent consultants, for quality and compliance, from a results measurement perspective.

At regional and corporate level:

Provide advice to country and regional strategy task teams regarding results measurement in development of new country and regional strategies, mid-erm reviews and completion reviews, and examining country M&E capacity, where necessary.
Contribute to enhancing understanding of quality assurance mechanisms and monitoring and results measurement requirements and good practices amongst regional teams, including through contributing to training, compliance reporting and reporting on performance and lessons learned.
Contribute to the continuous review and improvement of the Bank’s monitoring and evaluation and quality assurance tools and practices.
Participate in delivery of training for project staff in Bank member countries, support roll out of digital tools and manuals to strengthen project data collection, quality and reporting. Promote digitization of MERL, in cooperation with broader corporate initiatives.
Act as a focal point on quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation and results measurement, support relevant corporate initiatives and reports, including in relation to the Bank’s Quality Matters campaign, and supporting regional offices to engage effectively with independent evaluations.

COMPETENCIES (skills, experience and knowledge):

Hold at least a Master’s degree in Economics, Development Studies, Monitoring and Evaluation, Statistics, or related disciplines.
Additional qualification or certification in results management, monitoring and evaluation or equivalent an added advantage.
Have a minimum of six (6) years of relevant professional experience in the field of monitoring and evaluation, or more broadly results measurement, preferably within the context of international development.

Technical Competencies

Monitoring and evaluation experience, including development of results frameworks at project and strategy level, hands on monitoring of progress towards development results.
Applied practical and proven experience in developing and implementing monitoring plans at project level.
In depth understanding of theory of change, preferably including participatory development and application in practice ex ante and ex-post.
Experience in use of digital tools to enable data collection, recording and analysis.
Proven problem-solving approach to data availability and data quality challenges found in some developing countries.
Experience as a trainer, facilitator or instructor for workshops and learning events .
Experience in conducting, and effectively communicating, robust analytical work, ability to analyze both quantitative and qualitative data.
Knowledge and practical experience of operations policies, procedures, and review processes of multilateral development banks or other development agencies.
Experience in developing country context and preferably including transition or fragile contexts.

Behavioral Competencies

Strong behavioral competencies, especially in line with the key performance drivers: communication; problem solving; client orientation; team working and relations; innovation and creativity; operational effectiveness.
Dynamic and motivated.

Excellent communication skills, with ability to tailor written and verbal communication for a range of audiences.
Ability to work with multidisciplinary teams, and in a multicultural environment.
Ability to persuade and influence others.
Experience managing junior team members/consultants.
Ability to work in French and/or English, with a working knowledge of the other language. For this post – based in Central Africa – ability to work in French is necessary.
Competence in the use of Bank standard software (Word, Excel, SAP, PowerPoint, MS Project, SharePoint, MS Teams). Competence in data collection and analysis tools such as KoboToolbox and Power BI an added advantage.

THIS POSITION IS CLASSIFIED INTERNATIONAL STATUS AND ATTRACTS INTERNATIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT.

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