Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Coordinator

YIGA | Karamoja and West Nile

Apply by 5th October 2026 at 5:00 PM (E.A.T)

About Restless Development

We have worked in Uganda since 1997, guided by four goals shaped by young people: Voice and Democracy, Education and Livelihoods, Gender and Sexual Health, and Climate Justice. We support young people to influence decisions, access quality education and sustainable livelihood opportunities, advance sexual and reproductive health and rights, promote gender equality, and lead action towards a just and sustainable future. We currently work in 26 districts across Northern, North-Eastern, Central and Eastern Uganda, with offices in Kampala, Jinja, Moroto and West Nile.

Our approach to safeguarding

Restless Development considers the welfare and protection of children, young people and vulnerable adults to be an organisational imperative with primacy over the success of programmes or strategic objectives.

About YIGA

Promoting Youth Inclusion in Governance and Decision-making in Uganda (YIGA) is supported by the Royal Danish Embassy under PACER and runs through December 2027. Restless Development leads the consortium with Media Challenge Initiative (MCI) and Karamoja Youth Effort to Save the Environment (KAYESE). Building on implementation in Karamoja, the project is expanding to Arua, Terego and Madi-Okollo in West Nile, alongside activities that bring regional youth priorities into national discussions.

YIGA addresses the information gaps, limited opportunities and institutional barriers that prevent young people from influencing decisions about their communities. It helps young people understand local government planning and budgeting, gather evidence on public services, and raise their priorities with elected representatives, officials and community leaders. At the same time, it helps these leaders involve young people in decisions and respond to their concerns through practical action plans and regular follow-up.

In West Nile, this includes training Youth Accountability Advocates and youth councillors, supporting community barazas and Youth Leader Connect meetings, and monitoring service delivery with local governments. MCI’s Youth Information Hub+ combines a physical hub in Arua and Karamoja, mobile and digital engagement approaches and digital resources with civic films, radio, storytelling and media literacy activities. Evidence from both regions will inform the State of Youth Civil Society in Uganda report and National Youth Working Group discussions. Throughout, YIGA seeks to turn informed youth participation into decisions and services that better reflect young people’s needs.

About the Role:

The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Coordinator will coordinate YIGA’s monitoring, evidence generation and learning across Karamoja, West Nile and consortium partners. The role will ensure that teams use consistent tools, produce reliable data and understand whether young people are gaining civic knowledge, influencing decisions and receiving responses from local governments and community leaders.

Reporting to the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager, the Coordinator will supervise MEL Officers and provide technical support to programme teams and partner MEL staff. The role will work closely with the Programme Manager on performance reviews, reporting and improvements to delivery. Priorities include establishing benchmarks for the West Nile expansion, tracking youth feedback and official responses, supporting the evaluation across both regions, and turning findings into clear recommendations for programme and policy decisions

Job title: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Coordinator

Location: Karamoja, Uganda

Geographical coverage: Karamoja and West Nile, including evidence from national-level YIGA activities.

Salary: UGX 73,299,474 Gross Per Annum

Preferred start date: As Soon As Possible

Duration: 1 year, renewable depending on funding and performance.

Reports to: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager

Direct reports: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officers

Expected travel: Regular domestic travel to project locations in Karamoja and West Nile, and national engagements as required.

Key Roles and Responsibilities

MEL systems and measurement

• Coordinate implementation and improvement of the consortium MEL framework under the MEL Manager’s guidance. Align indicators, data collection tools and reporting templates with the YIGA proposal, West Nile expansion and agreed donor framework.
• Define indicators clearly, including the unit counted, disaggregation, evidence source, collection frequency and responsible person. Help partners apply the same definitions across Karamoja, West Nile and national activities.
• Maintain a consolidated indicator tracker and data flow process. Check that revised targets and geographic coverage are formally agreed before they are used in reports, and raise inconsistencies for resolution.
• Strengthen digital and paper-based data collection, secure storage and access arrangements. Keep an organised evidence archive so reported results can be traced to their source.

Routine monitoring and data quality

• Coordinate monitoring of youth training, civic information, participation platforms, local government action plans and feedback mechanisms. Track changes in knowledge, active participation and government responses alongside activity delivery.
• Review and consolidate partner submissions, checking completeness, accuracy and consistency. Verify source records during field visits and agree corrections and support needs with the teams responsible.
• Distinguish unique participants from repeat attendance, physical participation from digital reach, and content distribution from evidence of use. Prevent double counting across hub activities, films, radio, dialogue and training.
• Produce clear performance updates by region, district and partner, with age, sex and disability disaggregation where appropriate and ethically collected. Explain gaps and limitations rather than presenting uncertain figures as verified results.
• Support biannual joint monitoring and quarterly programme reviews, preparing evidence, documenting findings and tracking completion of actions agreed with programme teams and partners.

Assessments, research and evaluation

• Coordinate the rapid assessment in Arua, Terego and Madi-Okollo, combining primary findings with relevant secondary data. Establish usable benchmark values and document how they compare with existing Karamoja measures.
• Support the gender and youth inclusion assessment of local governments, ensuring that findings provide a clear basis for Meaningful Youth Engagement training, action plans and follow-up.
• Support commissioning and delivery of the end-of-project evaluation under the MEL Manager’s guidance. Ensure that the scope covers both regions through a common framework while recognising differences in implementation duration and context.
• Provide technical support to the State of Youth Civil Society in Uganda study, including methods, data quality, validation and documentation. Coordinate with advocacy colleagues and partners so the findings can inform national engagement.
• Support additional approved studies where evidence gaps justify them. Prepare terms of reference and tools, coordinate field access and review deliverables while protecting the independence of external evaluators.

Youth feedback and accountability

• Maintain a practical system for recording youth concerns, requests, responsible duty bearers, agreed actions and response status from community barazas, Youth Leader Connect meetings, service monitoring and other feedback channels.
• Track whether local governments and community structures respond in a timely and inclusive way. Distinguish a promise from a completed action and verify reported changes through records and appropriate follow-up with young people.
• Help programme teams use feedback tools that are accessible to young people with different literacy, language and disability needs. Ensure that findings reflect whose views are missing as well as whose views were collected.
• Support teams to communicate responses and progress back to young people. Keep safeguarding disclosures out of routine public trackers and refer them promptly through designated confidential channels.

Learning and use of evidence

• Use programme evidence and learning to recommend decisions and improvements to delivery. Present findings in clear language, identify practical actions and follow up their use with the Programme Manager and regional teams.
• Facilitate reflection with youth, programme staff and partners to explain why results differ across areas. Record agreed adjustments, responsible staff and deadlines, and review whether changes improve implementation.
• Work with communications and advocacy colleagues on learning briefs, case studies, policy inputs and results summaries. Check claims against the evidence and obtain appropriate consent before using personal stories.
• Support the planned impact documentation and change storytelling training for PACER partners, contributing evidence standards and practical tools alongside media specialists. Share useful findings in organisational planning and strategy reviews.

Reporting, partner support and team coordination

• Coordinate the evidence and results sections of internal and donor reports, consolidating validated partner inputs in time for management review. Explain progress against outcomes, emerging risks, limitations and lessons.
• Provide training and coaching to partner MEL staff and programme teams on tools, indicator interpretation, data quality and reporting. Follow up recurring errors and agree workable improvements.
• Supervise MEL Officers through clear workplans, regular feedback and technical support. Coordinate with partner MEL focal points through consortium working groups while respecting their own management arrangements.
• Work with programme teams to ensure that youth priorities and perspectives are reflected in planning and service delivery follow-up, using monitoring findings to show what has changed and what still needs action.
• Provide verified records and analysis for donor visits, evaluations, audits and programme reviews. Maintain clear versions of approved reports, tools and datasets.

Ethics, safeguarding and inclusion

• Apply informed consent, confidentiality and appropriate data protection throughout data collection, analysis and reporting. Collect only necessary personal information and restrict access to identifiable or sensitive records.
• Ensure enumerators, staff and youth researchers understand safeguarding, safe interviewing and referral procedures before fieldwork. Report concerns through designated channels and avoid asking untrained staff to investigate disclosures.
• Review whether tools and field arrangements allow safe participation by young women, young people with disabilities and those with limited literacy. Raise evidence gaps and participation barriers with programme leadership.

Other responsibilities

• Undertake other duties as assigned by the Programme Manager or senior management, including occasional weekend work for which time off in lieu (TOIL) can be taken.

Skills and Experience

Essential

• Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Economics, Development Studies, Social Sciences or a related field.
• A postgraduate diploma in Monitoring and Evaluation.
• At least 3–5 years of experience in monitoring, evaluation, research or learning within NGO or donor-funded programmes.
• Experience designing and implementing MEL systems, frameworks and tools, with a strong understanding of results-based management and performance measurement.
• Experience collecting, analysing, visualising and reporting quantitative and qualitative data, and translating findings into practical recommendations.
• Experience working with consortia or multi-partner programmes and using digital data collection and analysis tools such as KoboToolbox, ODK and Excel.
• Strong communication, facilitation and report writing skills, with the ability to work collaboratively with diverse teams and stakeholders.

Desirable

• Experience in youth development, governance, accountability or advocacy programmes, including institutional donor reporting; familiarity with PACER/RDE reporting is an advantage.
• Knowledge of participatory MEL and youth centred data systems.
• Experience using data visualisation tools such as Power BI or Tableau.
• Familiarity with Uganda’s local governance, youth participation and accountability context.
• Experience supporting evaluations and operational research in complex programmes.

To Apply

Please submit your CV and a cover letter that provides tangible examples of how your skills, knowledge and experience will support your ability to perform the key priorities outlined in the above job description (using no more than 750 words)

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