The MEL Officer leading this visit brings over seven years of experience in the design, implementation, and management of Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning systems across multi-country development programmes in Southern Africa. Their expertise spans across thematic areas including:
- Youth Empowerment and Livelihoods
- Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET)
- Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)
- Climate-resilient livelihoods and green skills
- Participatory MEL and outcome harvesting
- Results-based management and donor reporting
In their current role at Young Africa International, the MEL Officer has led the development of harmonised MEL frameworks across affiliates, coordinated cross-country indicator tracking, and facilitated data-driven learning for improved programme performance. They have extensive experience conducting field-based verification, data quality assessments, qualitative analysis using NVivo, and creating user-friendly dashboards using Power BI and Excel.
The MEL Officer also has a strong background in capacity strengthening, having facilitated training sessions for affiliate MEL focal points, programme staff, and implementing partners on data collection, analysis, and reporting standards aligned with donor requirements (e.g., EU, SIDA, Oak Foundation).
Their combination of technical MEL expertise and contextual understanding of youth development programming positions them well to lead this field monitoring exercise, identify practical improvements, and ensure alignment between field implementation and programme objectives.