MERL Officer

DUE: 27 JUN 2025

MERL Officer- Harare
£1600 – £1650 per Month (inclusive of housing & transport allowance)

About the role

We have an exciting opportunity for a MERL Officer to play a pivotal role in overseeing the monitoring and evaluation framework for the project, ensuring that data collection and analysis align with the goals of the SRI. This role is essential for assessing the impact of interventions, providing evidence for decision-making and policy implementation updates and reviews, and facilitating continuous improvement in educational practices.

Job objectives: an exhaustive list can be found in the job description on our website.

1. Implement and maintain the M&E framework in line with SRI objectives and donor requirements.
2. Develop tools, indicators, and methodologies for effective data collection and analysis.
3. Ensure availabilty of baseline programme data, to track progress against progress towards impact at midline and endline.
4. Ensure routine monitoring of project activities, outputs, and outcomes.
5. Collaborate with field teams to gather timely and accurate data.

6. Maintain databases and dashboards for tracking project progress and outcomes.
7. Conduct quantitative and qualitative data analysis to assess project performance.
8. Ensure data quality assurance mechanisms are in place and consistently applied.
9. Prepare regular M&E reports, including progress updates, impact assessments, and lessons learned.
10. Contribute to biannual donor reports, internal performance reviews, and stakeholder presentations.

Person Specification

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a relevant field such as Monitoring and Evaluation, Research Methods, Social Sciences, or related disciplines.
• Proven experience (2-3 Years) in designing and implementing monitoring and evaluation frameworks for development projects.
• Strong analytical and data management skills, with proficiency in quantitative and qualitative research methodologies.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to effectively engage with diverse stakeholders.
• Experience working with digital data collection tools and visualisation platforms (Data Collection, KoBoToolbox) and Data Visualization: Power BI is preferred.

About the organisation

Education Development Trust (EDT) is joining the School Readiness Initiative (SRI) partnership in Zimbabwe, which includes the Ministry of Primary & Secondary Education (MoPSE), Child Protection Society, Municipality Development Partnership, ZINECDA, University of Zimbabwe, and the Roger Federer Foundation. As the SRI Strategy 2019–2025 concludes, the initiative is entering its final phase (2025–2028), focused on consolidation, national scale-up, and sustainability planning. This phase aims to institutionalise and financially sustain the gains made by transitioning responsibilities, tools, and resources from implementing partners and the Roger Federer Foundation to MoPSE.The consolidation phase will finalise and integrate remaining interventions and tools developed throughout the initiative and will support the national scale-up of the Smart Tablet Early Learning Assessment (STELA) tool, officially adopted by MoPSE in April 2025, to all 8,014 primary schools for ECE A learners (ages 3–4). A central component of this effort will be the development and implementation of a cost-effective, national capacity-building package, delivered through MoPSE’s Continuous Professional Development (CPD) structure. The initiative will also support integration of SRI practices into the teacher education curricula of 14 colleges, whose first cohort of SRI-aligned graduates will be deployed in 2026. In support of equity and inclusion, the initiative will strengthen the quality of education in Community ECE Centres, which serve early learners in underserved communities.

Education Development Trust (EDT) is undertaking several strategic opportunities to strengthen foundational learning and improve education outcomes in Zimbabwe. These include the implementation of the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) component of the FCDO-funded TEACH programme, in partnership with Think Equal and MoPSE, targeting 3,220 ECD teachers across 18 districts, and reaching up to 217,500 children by June 2026.EDT is also leading the Teacher Professional Development (TPD) component of the TEACH programme, a £12 million initiative running until October 2025, aimed at improving teaching quality, equity, and learning outcomes, especially for marginalised children, girls, and learners with disabilities, while supporting wider reforms in inspections and assessments.In addition, EDT has secured a key engagement with the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report’s Africa Spotlight Series, contributing to SDG 4.1 through policy dialogue and peer learning to advance primary education completion and foundational learning across the region.

At Education Development Trust, we improve school systems at scale; we partner with governments around the world to help turn ambitious, visionary education policy into reality. We invest annually in our programme of education research and this evidence underpins our work and informs policy and practice around the world. We have a long-established presence in Africa – running programmes since 1992 – and have worked with a range of governments, donor agencies and partners to improve education across the continent, providing short-term, expert consultancy and delivering long-term, national education programmes. We have specialist expertise in sustainable school system reform at scale – from improving literacy and numeracy outcomes, to large-scale teacher training and strengthening the capacity of national ministries. We are experienced in leading complex programmes in challenging environments and we also work with like-minded organisations to ensure we maximise our impact.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal record checks. Education Development Trust also participates in the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, and we may request information from relevant job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual misconduct, including harassment, during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of these recruitment procedures.

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