Project Assistant (MEAL)

Division: Child Rights in Business

Line Manager: Project Manager & MEAL Manager

Workplace: Kiambu County, Kenya

Overarching responsibilities “Main goals”

Overview

The Project Assistant – Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) will play a pivotal role in supporting the implementation of Terre des Hommes’ Child Rights in Business project in Kiambu, Kenya. This project seeks to integrate child rights into the core operations of businesses, aiming to protect children from exploitation, child labour, and violations of their rights. A key aspect of the project is the use of the CLARISSA participatory research approach, which emphasizes placing children at the centre of decision-making processes. Through this approach, children are actively engaged in research and advocacy, empowering them to drive systemic changes in business practices that impact their well-being.

The Project Assistant- will be responsible for monitoring and evaluating the progress and impact of the project, ensuring that all activities align with the project’s goals and objectives. This includes working closely with the MEAL Manager in designing and implementing tools and frameworks to document child-centred methodologies The role also involves evaluating stakeholder engagement and measuring the extent to which businesses have aligned their operations and policies with child rights principles.

In addition, the Project Assistant will support the coordination of data collection, analysis, and reporting, ensuring that findings are used to inform decision-making and improve the effectiveness of the project. This position provides an exciting opportunity to be part of an innovative and impactful project that seeks to create lasting change for children within the business sector, advocating for the recognition and integration of their rights into business practices for a more equitable future.

Specific Responsibilities/Context of “tasks”

Monitoring, Planning and Information Management

• Develop and maintain a comprehensive M&E framework aligned with the CLARISSA research approach and the project’s objectives to ensure that all M&E activities are strategically designed to track child rights in business.
• Analyses and report data to measure the project’s impact on child rights, particularly in terms of child participation and empowerment, working closely with local communities, children, and stakeholders to gather relevant data, process it accurately, and provide actionable insights.
• Support baseline and end-line assessments to evaluate the progress and effectiveness of the project in achieving its objective and track the project’s evolution over time and help identify areas of success and those requiring adjustment.
• Prepare periodic progress reports, M&E dashboards, and presentations for both internal and external stakeholders and capture key data on the project’s performance, challenges, and achievements.
• Ensure that data collection tools are aligned with the M&E plan and that all tools are tested for reliability and relevance in close coordination with the Meal Manager and Project Manager.
• Support project planning and coordination by assisting the project team with the execution of project tasks, ensuring that M&E activities are integrated into the project’s overall planning by aligning M&E objectives with project deliverables and timelines.
• Assist with the collection of data as outlined in the M&E plan by coordinating field activities, overseeing data collection teams, and ensuring data quality and consistency.
• Supervise and support field data collection activities, ensuring that ethical and methodological standards are strictly adhered to ensuring informed consent, confidentiality, and respect for children’s rights during the data collection process.
• Report any unmet targets, changes in context, and negative effects on beneficiaries to the Project Manager and/or M&E by monitoring external changes such as emerging risks, opportunities, or unforeseen challenges.
• Help manage and organize M&E information, ensuring that all data is securely stored, and confidential information is protected in compliance with privacy regulations.
• Prepare timely and accurate reports on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis, ensuring that data is up-to-date and accurately reflects the project’s progress.
• Develop summary reports highlighting key issues that have emerged from project activities and evaluations and synthesize findings, emphasizing lessons learned, challenges faced, and any recommendations for program improvement.
• Ensure the reliability and accuracy of data collection tools and the data collected by regularly reviewing the tools and processes to identify and rectify any potential issues by implement quality control measures to uphold the integrity of the data.
• Participate in surveys as per donor requirements, providing the necessary data and logistical support for successful survey implementation in collaboration with Project Manager and the meal Manager, ensuring surveys are conducted in a manner that respects child participants and yields accurate, meaningful results.
• Provide coordinated training to Tdh Program staff and community members on CPIMS tools and other Tdh M&E tools, ensure that staff are well-equipped to use these tools effectively and that there is a follow-up to ensure proper implementation and usage in the field.
• Support the Project Manager/MEAL Manager in developing tailored presentations for different audiences, including stakeholders and donors and provide necessary M&E data to ensure the presentations accurately reflect the project’s progress and outcomes.
• Support internal and external evaluations by providing monitoring data, logistical support, and assisting in the evaluation process, help track the results of these evaluations and ensure that lessons learned are incorporated into the project’s adaptive management.
• Ensure adherence to security policies, the Child Safeguarding Policy, and fraud prevention policies. ensure that all M&E activities are carried out in a secure and ethical manner, in line with organizational guidelines.

 Learning and Accountability

• Support the implementation of participatory research methods, which involve using child-friendly tools such as mapping, storytelling, child-led interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs), and key informant interviews (KIIs) and focused on amplifying the voices of children and other vulnerable groups.
• Facilitate learning sessions and document lessons, success stories, and best practices from the project’s activities to inform adaptive programming, helping the team to adjust approaches based on what works and what does not.
• Develop and maintain stakeholder feedback mechanisms, ensuring that there are accessible and child-friendly ways for children and other stakeholders to provide feedback on the project.
• Monitor project progress against predefined indicators, updating accountability frameworks as necessary and ensure that the project remains transparent, accountable, and responsive to its beneficiaries, particularly children.
• Support capacity-building for children and stakeholders to actively participate in learning and accountability activities by providing training and guidance to children and community members.

Skills

• Proven experience as a project assistant or in a similar role: Demonstrated experience supporting the management, coordination, and execution of projects, with a focus on M&E activities, particularly in child rights or related sectors.
• Knowledge of project management and M&E principles: Understanding of project lifecycle management, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting techniques, ensuring that project progress is effectively tracked and evaluated against established objectives.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills: Strong ability to convey information clearly and effectively to a wide range of audiences, including stakeholders, donors, and community members, and to build positive relationships with internal and external partners.
• Familiarity with participatory research methods Experience or knowledge in implementing child-friendly, participatory research methods (e.g., mapping, storytelling, focus group discussions, interviews) and understanding the child-centred CLARISSA research approach is a plus.
• Discipline, precision, transparency, and intellectual honesty: Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and commitment to ensuring data integrity, ethical practices, and accountability in all M&E activities.
• Experience working with child protection projects: Prior experience working in child protection or child rights-focused initiatives, with an understanding of the issues affecting children in various contexts, including the ability to apply child safeguarding principles.
• Ideally, experience with the following tools:
  • Advanced Excel (including pivot tables): Advanced proficiency in Excel for data analysis, reporting, and visualization.
  • CPIMS (Child Protection Information Management System), SPSS, ODK/KoBo Toolbox, Ona, or similar M&E tools: Experience with these platforms for data collection, management, and analysis.
• Knowledge of CPIMS+ and PRIMERO: Familiarity with child protection management systems such as CPIMS+ and PRIMERO, along with an understanding of how these systems integrate with monitoring and evaluation processes.
• Results-oriented with strong problem-solving abilities: Ability to focus on achieving project outcomes, overcome challenges, and think critically to resolve problems efficiently while maintaining a focus on results and program objectives.
• Familiarity with the Kiambu County environment: Understanding of the local context, challenges, and opportunities in Kiambu County, enabling the M&E Assistant to adapt M&E practices and tools effectively to the community’s needs.

Required conditions

Training/Qualifications

Bachelor’s Degree in Statistics, Social Sciences, Project Management, Development Studies, or a related field: A relevant academic background providing a strong foundation in research methodologies, data analysis, project management, and the understanding of development issues.

Experience

• Experience in developing and implementing monitoring tools in the child aid and business sectors: Demonstrated experience in designing and utilizing monitoring tools to assess program impact, particularly in projects related to child rights and business operations.
• Certification in M&E preferred: Formal certification in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is highly valued.
• Knowledge of research ethics and methodologies is highly preferred: Understanding of research ethics, especially when working with vulnerable populations such as children, is essential. Familiarity with qualitative and quantitative research methodologies ensures the M&E Assistant can apply sound practices in data collection and analysis.
• Previous  working experience in the same role within Kiambu would be an added advantage.

Languages

Proficiency English and Kiswahili

IT know-how

Proficient in MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and familiarity with data collection, analysis, management and database tools.

General Code of of Conduct and Tdh’s Risk Management Policies

Commits to complying with the General Code of Conduct and systematically reports any breach of the Code through the Tdh warning procedure: raises the awareness within the Foundation on violence and abuse and the rights that derive from them regarding children, community members and our own employees.

Commits to complying with the Risk Management Policies, including: Safeguard policies (the policy of Safeguarding Children, the Policy of Protecting against Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, the Guideline on Abusive Behavior at Work), the Safety/Security Policy and Anti-Fraud/Corruption Policies and the Prevention of Funding Criminal Acivities.

Commits to reducing the risk of abuse by developing an open and informed culture of management within the organization and in our work with children and the communities where we work.

Tdh’s organizational values

Our organizational values guide us in our operational and strategic choices and are the foundation of all decisions made by us. Those five values are incorporated into each process connected to the staff. All collaborators are assessed according to the organization’s values.

PARTICIPATION AND EMPOWERMENT

• We promote and enhance participation and empowerment.
• We create the space for active participation and embrace inputs from others.
• We are sensitive about others’ needs to influence.
• We share and delegate power and responsibilities.

PARTNERSHIP AND COLLABORATION

• We trust the capacities of our key actors as primary responders and agents of change. We build on their strengths and on their needs.
• We champion co-creation and value complementarity.
• We appreciate other points of view and seek collectively for pragmatic and innovative solutions.
• We manifest humility, respect, fairness and see others as equal partners.

 INNOVATION AND LEARNING

• We promote a culture of innovation.
• We value curiosity, welcome new initiatives, and foster creativity.
• We embrace voluntary learning and are ready for trial and error.
• We foster knowledge sharing, learning and strive for sustainability.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

• We celebrate Diversity and Inclusion of people.
• We genuinely commit to diversity and inclusion and see it as a wealth in all our activities.
• We understand the cultural contexts and value differences.
• We are truly committed to an equal treatment.

LEADERSHIP AND EXCELLENCE

• We thrive to offer our best, we think ahead, and are ready and willing to go the extra mile for the well-being of children.
• We provide quality programming and support. We are accountable and transparent. We use power responsibly.
• We position ourselves through our expertise and savoir-faire.
• We advocate for the rights of children whenever possible and seek actively opportunities to do so.