Position Summary :

The M&E and Capacity Development Officer will play a dual, strategic role within the company. You will design and implement robust monitoring and evaluation systems to track loan performance, social impact, and agricultural yield metrics across our portfolio. Concurrently, you will lead and coordinate capacity-building initiatives for both our microfinance field staff and our smallholder farmer clients, ensuring they have the financial literacy and agronomic skills necessary to succeed.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) System Design & Implementation

• Framework Development: Design, update, and manage the company’s M&E framework, including LogFrames, key performance indicators (KPIs), and impact tracking metrics specifically geared toward agribusiness lending.
• Data Collection & Management: Develop digital and physical tools for socio-economic and agronomic data collection (e.g., using mobile apps like KoboToolbox, ODK, or custom CRM solutions).
• Field Surveys: Conduct regular field visits to collect baseline, midline, and endline data from smallholder farmers, cooperative leaders, and agricultural enterprises.
• Impact Analysis: Analyze data to evaluate loan performance against social and environmental targets (e.g., women empowerment, adoption of climate-smart agriculture, changes in household income).
• Reporting: Prepare high-quality quantitative and qualitative reports for senior management, board members, and international development donors or investors.

2. Capacity Development Coordination

• Needs Assessment: Assess knowledge and skill gaps among target farmer groups (e.g., financial literacy, crop management, post-harvest handling) and internal loan officers.
• Training Design & Curation: Coordinate with agricultural extension officers, agronomists, and external consultants to develop highly practical training curricula tailored to low-literacy audiences.
• Logistics & Execution: Oversee the logistical planning, budgeting, and execution of farmer workshops, field days, and training-of-trainers (ToT) programs.
• Partner Management: Serve as the primary focal point for agricultural NGOs, government extension services, and technical partners providing agronomic training support.
• Training Evaluation: Monitor the quality of training delivery and measure the adoption rate of new practices among farmers post-training.

3. Knowledge Management & Learning

• Feedback Loops: Translate M&E findings into actionable insights for the credit and product development teams to improve loan products (e.g., modifying repayment schedules to align with harvest cycles).
• Success Stories: Document best practices, case studies, and human-interest success stories for marketing and donor relations.

Required Qualifications & Experience

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree: Required in Economics, Agricultural Economics, Statistics, Development Studies, Business Administration, or a closely related field.

Experience

• Minimum of 2 years of professional experience in M&E, directly within the microfinance, rural banking, or agribusiness development sectors is an added advantage.
• Proven track record of working directly with rural smallholder farmers and agricultural cooperatives.
• Demonstrated experience designing or coordinating adult learning programs, workshops, or community-level capacity building.

Technical Skills

• Data Analysis Tools: Advanced proficiency in MS Excel (Pivot Tables, complex formulas) and experience with statistical software (SPSS, Stata, or R) or BI tools (Power BI).
• Mobile Tech: Familiarity with digital data collection tools (ODK, KoboToolbox, CommCare).
• Agribusiness Knowledge: Solid understanding of agricultural value chains, seasonal crop cycles, and risk management in smallholder farming.

Soft Skills

• Cross-Cultural Communication: High emotional intelligence and ability to build trust with rural communities, community leaders, and corporate executives alike.
• Travel Mobility: Willingness to travel frequently (up to 40-50% of the time) to remote, rural field locations.

• Framework Development: Design, update, and manage the company’s M&E framework, including LogFrames, key performance indicators (KPIs), and impact tracking metrics specifically geared toward agribusiness lending.
• Data Collection & Management: Develop digital and physical tools for socio-economic and agronomic data collection (e.g., using mobile apps like KoboToolbox, ODK, or custom CRM solutions).
• Field Surveys: Conduct regular field visits to collect baseline, midline, and endline data from smallholder farmers, cooperative leaders, and agricultural enterprises.
• Impact Analysis: Analyze data to evaluate loan performance against social and environmental targets (e.g., women empowerment, adoption of climate-smart agriculture, changes in household income).
• Reporting: Prepare high-quality quantitative and qualitative reports for senior management, board members, and international development donors or investors.
• Needs Assessment: Assess knowledge and skill gaps among target farmer groups (e.g., financial literacy, crop management, post-harvest handling) and internal loan officers.
• Training Design & Curation: Coordinate with agricultural extension officers, agronomists, and external consultants to develop highly practical training curricula tailored to low-literacy audiences.
• Logistics & Execution: Oversee the logistical planning, budgeting, and execution of farmer workshops, field days, and training-of-trainers (ToT) programs.
• Partner Management: Serve as the primary focal point for agricultural NGOs, government extension services, and technical partners providing agronomic training support.
• Training Evaluation: Monitor the quality of training delivery and measure the adoption rate of new practices among farmers post-training.
• Feedback Loops: Translate M&E findings into actionable insights for the credit and product development teams to improve loan products (e.g., modifying repayment schedules to align with harvest cycles).
• Success Stories: Document best practices, case studies, and human-interest success stories for marketing and donor relations.

• Advanced proficiency in MS Excel (Pivot Tables, complex formulas)
• Experience with statistical software (SPSS, Stata, or R) or BI tools (Power BI)
• Familiarity with digital data collection tools (ODK, KoboToolbox, CommCare)
• Solid understanding of agricultural value chains, seasonal crop cycles, and risk management in smallholder farming
• High emotional intelligence
• Ability to build trust with rural communities, community leaders, and corporate executives

• Bachelor’s Degree in Economics, Agricultural Economics, Statistics, Development Studies, Business Administration, or a closely related field.
• Minimum of 2 years of professional experience in M&E, directly within the microfinance, rural banking, or agribusiness development sectors is an added advantage.
• Proven track record of working directly with rural smallholder farmers and agricultural cooperatives.
• Demonstrated experience designing or coordinating adult learning programs, workshops, or community-level capacity building.