Position Description – M&E Officer

Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA), based in Accra, Ghana, is recruiting a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer to support the expansion of our community-driven development (CDD) work in the Eastern and Bono East Regions of Ghana. This is a full-time position located in Osino, in the Eastern Region of Ghana, to be filled as early as possible.

Established in April 2016, ACA helps West African communities that are threatened by the destructive impacts of extractives-led development to take control of their own futures. We do this by working with communities to design their own sustainable development plans and to advocate to achieve those plans. We also build networks of lawyers and other experts to help communities’ plans come to fruition. ACA has CDD and legal projects in communities in Ghana’s Bono East and Eastern Regions, in addition to collaborating and supporting programs for the Public Interest Lawyering Initiative for West Africa (PILIWA), a network of lawyers and legal advocates in nine West African countries.

Role

ACA functions as a laboratory for innovations in community-driven development and legal strategies. We then teach our lessons to partners throughout West Africa, helping them to implement our methods and serve an ever-greater circle of communities.

As part of the expansion of its community-based development work, the M&E Officer will play a key role in collecting and analyzing data and supporting project staff to ensure quality data for strategic decision making. He/she will work directly under the supervision of the Monitoring, Learning & Evaluation Coordinator (MELC), who is responsible for identifying our accomplishments, distilling our lessons, and designing learning products for external audiences.

Under the supervision of the MELC, he/she will:

• Assist facilitators in the collection of project monitoring and continuous learning data from CDD communities in Ghana, providing technical support to the project team on issues encountered in the field or raised by the monitoring system.
• Support MELC in the development of data collection tools, data collection and processing, particularly for case studies and pilot monitoring and evaluation.
• Centralize data collected by facilitators, process and analyze it in relation to the project’s key success indicators, to stimulate discussions on the effectiveness and efficiency of the project.
• Contribute to the development of logical measurement frameworks, monitoring systems, and evaluation strategies, including community participatory monitoring and feedback mechanisms.
• Conduct frequent monitoring and spot-check field visits with program staff to track the progress of community-based projects and ensure that the data collected is of the right quality.
• Analyze monitoring, evaluation, and research data and participate in discussions to present findings
  to partner organizations to stimulate discussions on project efficiency and effectiveness with partners.
• Contribute to the preparation of quarterly reports to partner organizations during quarterly reviews
  with partners.
• Work with the program team and MELC to document lessons learned and community successes on a quarterly basis regarding CDD and any ongoing pilots.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in statistics, quantitative discipline, economics, or other field related.
• Minimum two year’s work experience in program/project monitoring and evaluation research or data management and analysis position.
• Demonstrable experience in developing and refining data collection tools
• Experience in designing M&E frameworks for development projects
• Experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection using mobile technology.
• Demonstrated passion for community-led development projects/programs.
• Experience in data quality assessments and oversight
• Ability to produce high-quality documents for different audiences
• Fluency in English and Twi
• Excellent writing skills, including for public/external audiences
• Willingness and authorization to live in rural Ghana
• Willingness and ability to travel widely across up to nine West African countries, including to remote, rural areas lacking electricity and paved roads

Preferred Qualifications

• French language proficiency
• Professional experience working in less-developed, Ghanaian rural communities

Compensation

ACA offers a competitive starting compensation and benefits package worth between and USD 12,000 and 15,000 depending on experience and other qualifications.

Application Procedure

Submit to ACA’s Executive Director, Jonathan Kaufman, at jonathan@advocatesforalternatives.org, with the subject header “ACA Monitoring and Evaluation Officer” the following:

• Cover letter explaining interest and relevant experience
• Resume/CV and list of relevant professional publications
• List of three professional references

If the application moves to the interview stages, each interview will be by teleconference.

Application Deadline

3rd February 2023

Position Description: Accounting Assistant

Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA) is recruiting an Accounts Assistant. This is a full-time position based in Osino (Eastern Region), starting in December 2023.

Established in April 2016, ACA helps West African communities that are threatened by the destructive impacts of extractives-led development to take control of their own futures. We do this by working with communities to design their own sustainable development plans and to advocate to achieve those plans. We also build networks of lawyers and other experts to help communities’ plans come to fruition. ACA has projects in communities in Ghana’s Bono East and Eastern Regions, in addition to collaborating and supporting programs for the Public Interest Lawyering Initiative for West Africa (PILIWA), a network of lawyers and legal advocates in nine West African countries.

Role
The Accounts Assistant will support ACA’s Community Driven Development (CDD) team as they add 100 communities to our portfolio over the next three years. Working under the Finance Manager, they will be responsible for the following duties:

• Design an efficient filing system for financial documents for the Osino office.
• Compile receipts and invoices for the Osino office.
• Lead in the procurement of goods and services for the Osino office.
• Enter data into ACA’s computerized accounting system.
• Compile monthly financial reports on the Osino office’s operations, for submission to the
  head office in Accra.
• Liaise with the Accra Office in the implementation of organizational Finance and
  Administrative policies.
• Any other duty the Executive Director and the Finance Manager will assign.

Duty Station
Osino, Eastern Region, Ghana. Please note that the candidate must reside in or be prepared to relocate to Osino immediately.

Required Qualification

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics or related field.
• Minimum of three years professional experience with a Finance/Accounting Department,
  preferably with a Non-Governmental and Not for Profit Organization.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Excel
• Knowledge of QuickBooks Accounting software
• Fluency in the English language

Compensation

ACA offers compensation and benefits that are at least comparable to that of other non-profit organizations operating in West Africa. Exact salary is commensurate with experience and qualifications.

Application Procedure
Submit to ACA’s Finance Manager, Eric Amamoo, at eric@advocatesforalternatives.org, with the subject header “ACA Accounts Assistant (Osino),” the following:

• Cover letter explaining interest and relevant experience
• Resume / CV
• List of at least two professional references

Application Deadline
15 October 2023

Position Description: Administrative Assistant

Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA) is recruiting an Administrative Assistant. This is a halftime position based in Accra (Ghana), to be filled as early as possible.
Established in April 2016, ACA helps West African communities that are threatened by the destructive impacts of extractives-led development to take control of their own futures. We do this by working with communities to design their own sustainable development plans and to advocate to achieve those plans. We also build networks of lawyers and other experts to help communities’ plans come to fruition. ACA has projects in communities in Ghana’s Bono East and Eastern Regions, in addition to collaborating and supporting programs for the Public Interest Lawyering Initiative for West Africa (PILIWA), a network of lawyers and legal advocates in nine West African countries.

Role

The Administrative Assistant will handle administrative tasks for ACA’s head office in Accra.

Specifically, they will:

• Assure the smooth functioning of the office through procurement of supplies, payment of bills, and management of office contracts (utilities, cleaning, repairs).
• Process and file documents for the purposes of statutory compliance (e.g. annual registration processes, renewal of NGO certification status).
• Organize, maintain, and manage confidential personnel records, and respond to personnel requests.
• Assist the Finance Department with regular errands related to payroll and travel advances.
• Any other duty the Executive Director and the Finance Manager will assign.

Duty Station
Accra, Ghana

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in any business-related field.
• Minimum of three years professional experience in Administration/Compliance Department,
  preferably with a Non-Governmental and Not for Profit Organization.
• Ability to deal with staff complaints concerning basic office protocols.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word.
• Fluency in the English language- both oral and written.

Compensation

ACA offers compensation and benefits that are at least comparable to that of other non-profit organizations operating in West Africa. Exact salary is commensurate with experience and
qualifications.

Application Procedure
Submit to ACA’s Executive Director, Jonathan Kaufman, at jonathan@advocatesforalternatives.org, with the subject header “ACA Administrative Assistant,” the following:

• Cover letter explaining interest and relevant experience
• Resume / CV
• List of at least two professional references

Application Deadline
15 October 2023

Position Description: Community Trainer (Osino) and Community Trainer (Nkoranza)

Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA) is recruiting Community Trainers for its communitydriven development projects in Ghana. These are full-time position based in Osino (Eastern Region), or Nkoranza (Bono East Region), starting in December 2023.

Established in April 2016, ACA helps West African communities that are threatened by the destructive impacts of extractives-led development to take control of their own futures. We do this by working with communities to design their own sustainable development plans and to advocate to achieve those plans. We also build networks of lawyers and other experts to help communities’ plans come to fruition. ACA has projects in communities in Ghana’s Bono East and Eastern Regions, in addition to collaborating and supporting programs for the Public Interest Lawyering Initiative for West Africa (PILIWA), a network of lawyers and legal advocates in nine West African countries.

Role:
Each Trainer will be responsible for working together with community-based facilitators and local government to implement ACA’s community driven development and advocacy plans in one of the two regions. Specifically, he/she will undertake the following:
• Train community-based facilitators (CBFs) on ACA’s community-driven development
(CDD) methods.
• Manage training calendar and produce training content based on CDD methods for new
CBFs and local government staff.
• On weekly basis, review, approve and provide constructive feedback on CBFs meeting plans
and supervise CBFs facilitations in communities.
• Track CBFs weekly data collection.
• Expand ACA-sponsored community advocacy groups (CiCoNet) and facilitate monthly CiCoNet meetings.
• Write and submit monthly CiCoNet reports.
• Support the project manager to coordinate ACA’s partnerships with local governments to build accountability and trust in all project communities.
• Provide supervision matrix for local government staff.
• Participate in strategic discussions at the District/Municipal Assembly and ensure smooth
implementation of local government accountability programs.
• Contribute actively to ACA’s experience and knowledge base on community driven development approaches                          •Assist the Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Communication (MELC) team periodically to write case studies and web and social media stories.
• As requested, train additional CBFs with ACA partners in other West African countries

Duty Station
Osino, Eastern Region, Ghana or Nkoranza, Bono East Region. Please note that the candidate must reside in or be prepared to relocate to the duty station immediately.
Required Qualification
• Holds bachelor’s degree in project management, education, coaching or related field.
• Minimum of three years’ experience in NGO work, teaching, coaching or related field.
• Outstanding written and oral communication and training skills.
• Working knowledge of adult learning and facilitation techniques.
• Proficient in team building, group interaction and conflict resolution.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Excel.
• Knowledge of Microsoft word.
• Ability to use a smart phone.
• Fluency in the English language and Twi.
Compensation
ACA offers compensation and benefits that are at least comparable to that of other non-profit organizations operating in West Africa. Exact salary is commensurate with experience and
qualifications.
Application Procedure
All interested applicants should submit cover letters, CVs, academic credentials, and at least two professional references to ACA’s Community Driven-Development Director, at nana.ama@advocatesforalternatives.org, with the subject header “Community Trainer.”
Application Deadline
15 November 2023