Monitoring and evaluation manager - rabat, morocco

At Counterpart International, we believe that the people closest to the challenges are best positioned to solve them, but they should not have to do it alone. For more than 60 years, we have partnered with communities around the world to turn local ideas into lasting solutions. We connect local vision with global opportunity, working alongside leaders, organizations, and networks to build inclusive, resilient communities where people thrive. As a trusted steward of development funding, Counterpart is committed to transparency, accountability, learning, and measurable results.

Counterpart International is implementing the USDA Food for Progress (FFPr) Promoting Rural Infrastructure, Modernization, and Efficiency (PRIME) project, which aims to modernize Morocco's slaughterhouse and cold-chain infrastructure across the livestock value chain, contributing to improved food safety, market efficiency, agricultural productivity, and trade. Aligned with Morocco's Generation Green 2030 strategy and USDA Food for Progress objectives, PRIME will strengthen regulatory compliance, build institutional and workforce capacity, facilitate public and private investment, and improve market access through enhanced traceability and consumer awareness.

Working with government institutions, private-sector actors, and technical partners, PRIME aims to mobilize substantial public and private financing for infrastructure modernization and support 125 slaughterhouses in improving hygiene and food safety practices. The project will promote sustainable, market-driven improvements that strengthen Morocco's livestock sector while creating opportunities for agricultural trade and commercial cooperation between Morocco and the United States.

Job Profile

Counterpart is seeking a qualified Monitoring, and Evaluation (M&E) Manager to lead the design, implementation, and oversight of a robust MEL system for the USDA-funded PRIME Morocco Food for Progress project. The M&E Manager will ensure that project performance measurement, evaluation, learning, and reporting are aligned with USDA Food for Progress requirements, the approved project Results Framework and Theory of Change, and Counterpart standards.

The M&E Manager will lead timely collection, verification, analysis, visualization, and use of high-quality quantitative and qualitative data to support accountability, adaptive management, learning, and continuous improvement. The position will work closely with the Chief of Party, technical teams, implementing partners, relevant Government of Moroccan institutions, regulatory authorities, private-sector stakeholders, and implementing partners, and Counterpart's Global MEL team.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Lead the design, implementation, and periodic updating of the project's MEL Plan, including the Performance Monitoring Plan (PMP), Results Framework, Performance Indicator Reference Sheets (PIRS), performance indicator tracking tables, annual targets, data collection tools, and learning agenda in accordance with USDA requirements.
• Provide technical oversight and coordination for independent baseline, midterm, and final evaluations, including development and review of evaluation terms of reference, methodologies, sampling approaches, instruments, reports, dissemination products, and management responses.
• Lead implementation of the project's non-experimental mixed-methods evaluation approach, including contribution analysis, outcome harvesting, triangulation of quantitative and qualitative evidence, longitudinal/panel measurement, organizational assessments, and enterprise-level surveys, as appropriate.
• Establish and maintain measurement systems for PRIME's key results, including slaughterhouse modernization and compliance, food safety and SPS practices, post-production efficiency and food loss, cold-chain capacity, enterprise sales and throughput, access to finance and investment, institutional performance, and adoption of improved practices.
• Ensure appropriate measurement of Food for Progress Strategic Objectives, including clear documentation of contribution pathways and consistency between activities, results, indicators, and targets.
• Establish and maintain clear beneficiary definitions, counting methodologies, disaggregation requirements, and procedures to prevent double counting across project activities, value-chain actors, and indicators.
• Lead development and implementation of project MEL systems and tools, including digital data collection instruments, indicator databases, data-flow protocols, feedback mechanisms, and standard operating procedures.
• Lead the project's MEL data management system, including offline-capable digital data collection, data validation and verification, secure storage, access controls, regular backups, supporting documentation, data visualization, and reporting through approved platforms such as DevResults, KoboToolbox, Power BI, or other project-approved systems.
• Establish and implement data quality assurance procedures, including routine data verification, periodic data quality assessments (DQAs), source-document reviews, data cleaning, site-level verification, corrective action tracking, and documentation of data limitations.
• Ensure timely and accurate analysis and visualization of quantitative and qualitative data using appropriate statistical and analytical software.
• Coordinate MEL activities and data-sharing arrangements with relevant Moroccan government institutions, training providers, financial institutions, slaughterhouses, private-sector actors, and implementing partners, ensuring consistent indicator definitions, reporting standards, and data quality requirements.
• Strengthen MEL capacity among project staff, implementing partners, grantees, and relevant local stakeholders through coaching, training, technical assistance, and routine feedback.
• Collaborate with third-party evaluators and consultants conducting external evaluations, baseline, midline and endline, and other project learning activities while safeguarding evaluator independence.
• Produce high-quality performance reports, dashboards, data summaries, evaluation inputs, and other MEL deliverables required for USDA reporting and project management.
• Facilitate adaptive management and learning through semi-annual performance reviews, pause-and-reflect sessions, stakeholder consultations, after-action reviews, evaluation dissemination, and systematic follow-up on recommendations and agreed actions.
• Analyze performance data and generate actionable insights for the Chief of Party and technical teams, including early identification of deviations from targets, implementation bottlenecks, emerging risks, and opportunities for program adaptation.
• Ensure systematic capture, documentation, and dissemination of learning across the project and contribute to cross-project learning and strategic support across Counterpart's USDA portfolio.
• Collaborate closely with Counterpart's Global MEL and program teams to ensure alignment of field-level MEL activities with organizational standards, technical strategies, and USDA requirements.
• In coordination with the Director of Finance and Risk Management and the Grants and Procurement Manager, support the design and management of systems to track cost-share and leveraged resources, ensuring consistent definitions, supporting documentation, and compliance with USDA requirements and Counterpart policies.
• Collaborate with the Grants team throughout grant-making and implementation, including review of applications, participation in relevant review processes, establishment of grantee MEL requirements, oversight of grantee data collection, and review of indicator and MEL reports submitted by project beneficiaries.

Qualifications:

• Advanced university degree in, statistics, economics, agricultural economics, international development, public policy, social sciences, or another relevant field; a bachelor's degree with substantial relevant experience may be considered.
• Minimum of 8 to 10 years of progressively responsible experience leading MEL activities for complex, multi-sectoral development programs, preferably including USDA-funded or Food for Progress programming.
• Demonstrated experience designing and managing MEL plans, PMPs, Results Frameworks, PIRS, indicator tracking systems, data collection tools, DQA systems, and learning processes in donor-funded programs.
• Demonstrated experience with mixed-methods evaluation, non-experimental evaluation designs, contribution analysis, outcome harvesting, longitudinal/panel surveys, census and sample-based enterprise surveys, organizational capacity assessments, and quantitative and qualitative analysis.
• Demonstrated experience developing and managing indicators related to agricultural productivity, agricultural sales and trade, post-production processes, food safety/SPS compliance, access to finance, private-sector investment, institutional capacity, and beneficiary measurement is strongly preferred.
• Experience working with livestock and/or poultry value chains, slaughterhouse or agro-processing systems, cold chains, food safety/SPS systems, agricultural market systems, or related private-sector development programming is strongly preferred.
• Strong knowledge of data quality assurance, data governance, beneficiary counting, disaggregation, data security, and ethical management of personally identifiable information.
• Proficiency with quantitative analysis software, strong skills in Excel; and experience with digital data collection, performance management, and visualization platforms such as KoboToolbox, DevResults, and Power BI or comparable systems.
• Demonstrated experience supervising MEL teams, strengthening partner MEL capacity, and coordinating with government institutions, private-sector actors, evaluators, and implementing partners.
• Strong analytical, report-writing, facilitation, communication, and presentation skills, with demonstrated ability to translate data into practical recommendations for program management and technical teams.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English are required. Professional working proficiency in French is strongly preferred, and proficiency in Arabic is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated experience working in Morocco or comparable North African agricultural and food-system contexts is strongly preferred.
• Experience with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), geospatial analysis, and spatial data visualization tools is preferred but not required.

Equal Opportunity and Accessibility

Counterpart International is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices on the basis of any status protected by applicable law. Reasonable accommodation is available for qualified applicants and employees with disabilities during the employment process.