The DMEAL Officer supports the implementation of monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning activities primarily for the Solar Water Enterprise Hubs programme, while also providing officer-level DMEAL support to other ForAfrika programmes in the South Africa Country Office, including WASH and Food Security and Livelihoods, as capacity allows.

Working under the supervision of the DMEAL Specialist and in close collaboration with programme and technical teams, the DMEAL Officer takes day-to-day ownership of the MEAL dashboard, water-quality data tracking and KPI monitoring for the Water programme, and supports the integration of this data into the quarterly donor reporting cycle. Given the technical, infrastructure-driven nature of the programme, this position carries a strong data management and technical monitoring component, tracking system functionality, water quality compliance and asset condition alongside community governance and financial sustainability indicators.

Key Responsibilities:

Programme Design and Planning Support

• Support the DMEAL Specialist in developing and refining the indicator matrix, data collection tools and reporting templates for the Water programme's Key Performance Indicator framework, spanning service delivery, technical compliance, community governance, economic activation, livelihoods, financial sustainability, capacity build and safeguarding.
• Support the adaptation and roll out of DMEAL tools and methodologies across other South Africa Country Office projects, under the guidance of the DMEAL Specialist.
• Participate in programme planning and review meetings, contributing data-driven and field-level perspectives on programme performance.

Monitoring, Data Collection and Field Verification

• Maintain and update the portfolio-wide MEAL dashboard, integrating field-visit data, remote-monitoring telemetry, water-quality laboratory results and community-governance records.
• Set up, administer and quality-assure data collection tools and platforms, including ActivityInfo, KoboToolbox, ODK or equivalent systems, and train and supervise enumerators and data collectors on their use.
• Conduct regular field visits and spot checks across the three provincial clusters to verify site-level data, confirm system functionality and cross-check community governance and financial records.
• Coordinate with WASH Field Engineers and Community Mobilisation Officers to ensure timely and complete submission of site-level data, including site-tier status, maintenance logs and Water Management Committee records.
• Track water-quality compliance against SANS 241:2015, including quarterly bacteriological sampling results from accredited laboratories, and flag non-compliant sites for follow-up.
• Support the logistics and data collection for programme evaluations, including the Phase 1 baseline condition assessment and subsequent monitoring rounds.
• Ensure the timely submission of field data and monitoring reports, in line with ForAfrika's monthly data submission calendar.

Data Quality Assurance and Analysis

• Clean, validate and analyse data from field visits, remote-monitoring telemetry and laboratory results, checking for completeness, consistency and accuracy before it is reported.
• Track and report on KPI performance against annual targets across the eight KPI categories, flagging deviations to the DMEAL Specialist.
• Investigate and resolve data queries raised during internal reviews or by the GSO DMEAL unit and follow up on recurring data quality issues.
• Maintain organised and secure records of source documents, data collection tools and the KPI logframe, in line with ForAfrika's data protection and confidentiality standards.

Reporting and Donor Integration

• Support the DMEAL Specialist in preparing monthly cluster-level and quarterly consolidated donor reports, drawing on dashboard data and KPI tracking.
• Contribute data and analysis to programme inception reports and subsequent reporting milestones.
• Support the documentation of success stories, lessons learned and case studies, drawing on field observations and community feedback.

Accountability and Learning

• Support the day to day functioning of the beneficiary feedback and complaints mechanism across programme sites, including registering, referring and following up on cases.
• Contribute to the organisation and facilitation of learning events, training sessions and reflection sessions, across the Water programme and, where relevant, other South Africa Country Office projects.
• Contribute field level observations and community feedback to the documentation and sharing of lessons learned and best practice.
• Promote accountability, data quality and compliance with ForAfrika's DMEAL standards throughout programme implementation.

Desired Experience and Qualification:

• Bachelor's degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Built Environment, Engineering, Social Sciences, Statistics, International Development or a related field.
• At least 3 years of experience in DMEAL, preferably with NGOs, development organisations or infrastructure programmes.
• Experience with, or exposure to, Built Environment, engineering or technical infrastructure projects is highly desirable, given the programme's focus on solar-powered water systems, civil works and technical compliance.
• Familiarity with water quality standards and testing protocols, such as SANS 241:2015 or equivalent, is an advantage.
• Experience with data collection and dashboard tools such as ActivityInfo, KoboToolbox, ODK or equivalent platforms.
• Experience training or supervising enumerators and data collectors.
• Good analytical and problem-solving abilities, with the capacity to interpret and present technical and programmatic data clearly.