National Consultant: MEAL and Data Management

The consultant will support programme performance tracking, partner reporting, data quality assurance, digital MEAL systems, and donor reporting across consortium partners for the ITC CREATE programme in Uganda. The role involves managing digital MEAL systems, providing partner support and capacity building, tracking activities and missions, supporting reporting and MEAL functions, coordinating communication, and monitoring programme performance.

Responsibilities

• Support the implementation and day-to-day operation of the CREATE programme's digital MEAL system.
• Serve as the primary focal point between consortium partners, MEAL coordinators and the ITC MEAL focal point.
• Support data collection and data curation activities to ensure accuracy and completeness of programme records.
• Monitor data quality issues and follow up with partners to resolve inconsistencies, missing information, and duplicate records.
• Support the testing of new forms, workflows, and system functionalities.
• Support tracking of programme results, targets, milestones and deliverables against approved workplans and Schedule C commitments.
• Provide ongoing technical support to consortium partners and programme coordinators on the use of the digital MEAL system.
• Organize refresher sessions and training activities on data collection procedures, reporting requirements, and system utilization.
• Monitor partner reporting compliance and follow up on outstanding submissions, data quality issues and reporting requirements.
• Support onboarding of new partners and staff on programme MEAL systems, tools and reporting requirements.
• Maintain an up-to-date record of programme activities, missions, workshops, events, and technical assistance interventions delivered by ITC teams.
• Coordinate with programme staff and partners to ensure timely reporting of activities, missions and results through designated reporting channels and systems.
• Ensure supporting documentation, attendance sheets, participant lists, and event records are properly archived and uploaded to relevant ITC platforms, including the ITC Events Portal.
• Support the preparation of monthly, quarterly, annual, and ad hoc programme reports for donors and ITC corporate reporting requirements and verification of reported results against supporting evidence.
• Collect, consolidate, and verify data from implementing partners and programme teams.
• Assist in the analysis and presentation of programme results, indicators, and beneficiary data.
• Support the MEAL focal point and programme managers in maintaining accurate reporting against project targets and donor indicators.
• Contribute to the preparation of dashboards, data summaries, success stories, and reporting products as required.
• Maintain records and evidence files for audits, evaluations, donor reviews and programme reporting requirements.
• Support consolidation of lessons learned, success stories and programme knowledge products.
• Participate in weekly meetings with ITC project management to provide updates on MEAL progress, monitor deliverables, and address and escalate any issues as they arise.
• Facilitate coordination among consortium partners to ensure their MEAL activities align with the overall project framework and donor requirements.
• Support ITC and donor led evaluations.
• Support tracking of programme implementation against approved workplans, targets and milestones.
• Flag delays, data gaps and reporting risks to the Project Manager and MEAL focal point.
• Produce periodic performance summaries to support programme management and decision-making.
• Provide full access to ITC external and internal auditors to documents and information.
• Comply with any audit undertaken in line with the financial regulations and rules of the United Nations.
• Ensure necessary permissions regarding intellectual property rights for services under this consultancy contract and dissemination by ITC.

Requirements

• Undergraduate degree in Monitoring & Evaluation, Statistics, Economics, Development Studies, Social Sciences, Information Systems, Public Administration or related field.
• Extensive relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of a university degree.
• At least 5 years of professional experience in monitoring and evaluation, data management, programme reporting, programme coordination or related areas, preferably within donor-funded programmes.
• Experience in project management, Monitoring and Evaluation required.
• Experience working in Uganda required.
• Proven ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams, including external agencies and consortium partners.
• Strong analytical, reporting and data quality assurance skills.
• Ability to manage multiple reporting timelines and work with consortium partners.
• Ability to work with cross-functional teams and skilled in project coordination, monitoring and evaluation.
• Organisation and administration of information and communication to teams is required.
• Knowledge of the creative industries is required.
• Experience using digital data collection and management platforms (e.g. Airtable, Jotform, Power BI, Kobo, DHIS2 or similar) is a plus.
• Advanced knowledge of English is required.
• Another Ugandan language is an asset.

Skills

• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Data Management
• Programme Reporting
• Programme Coordination
• Project Management
• Data Quality Assurance
• Cross-functional Teamwork
• Consortium Partner Management
• Analytical Reporting
• Information Organization
• Communication Management
• Creative Industries Expertise
• Digital Data Collection
• Airtable
• Jotform
• Power BI
• Kobo
• DHIS2 Knowledge

Languages

English