Monitoring & Evaluation Officer – Conservation

WeForest
WeForest is a fast-growing international non-profit association headquartered in Belgium and with current projects in Brazil, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi, Senegal and Zambia. The mission of the organisation is to advance innovative, scalable and lasting solutions to restore forest and landscapes for climate, people and planet. We promote scientific evidence for the ways in which forests contribute to climate change mitigation, beyond their impacts as stocks of carbon, by increasing water availability, enhancing local biodiversity conservation and rural livelihood and resilience.

JOB SUMMARY

The current position focuses on leading all governance and livelihoods-related M&E processes in the two WeForest-implemented projects in the province:

The Lavushimanda/Mpumba Community Conservation project [LCC/MCC] in Lavushimanda district, which started at the end of 2022, supports three Community Forest Management Groups (CFMG) to manage their community forests (Mabonga, Mwenda, and Salamo) as well as engage private landowners to support a holistic landscape vision that delivers for the community and conservation. This project is developed as a REDD+ carbon project to ensure long-term financing.
The Mukungule Project (MUK) in Mpika District, which started in March 2022, aims to scale up beekeeping in the Mukungule GMA by supporting beekeeping enterprise groups and local households with sustainable, forest-friendly income sources.

Work focuses on both Lavushimanda and Mpika districts and hence will require frequent traveling, involving approximately 75% office-based work and 25% fieldwork.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Lead conservation-related M&E processes across the province

Provide technical and operational support for project teams to collect, analyse and report on all conservation-related data which includes but is not limited to data on law-enforcement, biodiversity monitoring, forest monitoring, fire monitoring, as well as any other types of data relevant from a conservation and sustainable forest management perspective
In collaboration with the MEL manager, ensure lessons learnt from conservation-related M&E process are extracted and shared with relevant staff and advise project teams based on lessons learnt to guide adaptive management where relevant
Provide regular feedback to MEL manager to improve conservation-related and other M&E operations/procedures/guidelines/templates
Supervise & coordinate M&E processes at the MCC project

Supervise the development and implementation of baseline surveys, logical frameworks and M&E plans for the MCC project through setting and monitoring of SMART KPIs
Lead M&E reporting for the MCC project, through measuring progress of the KPIs and ensuring data quality
Ensure adoption of best data management practices which includes adopting of a naming convention, structuring the geo-database, improving data protocols/templates and organizing folder structure on Dropbox
Other support to WeForest

Support project document development (including translation to local languages) where and when needed
Support where possible, the field team in facilitating their work such as, but not limited to, data entry, data analysis and assist in field activities whenever necessary
Any other duties assigned by the MEL Manager and the different project managers in consultation with the line manager

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Education:

Essential: B.Sc. in Forestry/Agroforestry/wildlife management or equivalent.
Desirable: M.Sc., or equivalent experience in Development Studies and a certificate in Monitoring and Evaluation

Work experience and skills:
Essential:

3+ years relevant work experience, with demonstrated experience in leading the monitoring and evaluation of different project activities
Excellent communication and numerical skills
Competent in GIS software, KoboToolbox/ODK, GIS Cloud or other equivalent phone monitoring applications
Competent with Microsoft Office applications, email and other relevant computer skills
Willing to learn new monitoring tools and techniques
Clean and excellent track record and references
Competent in or at least acquaintance with SMART law enforcement software

Desirable:

Experience with Carbon project monitoring is considered a plus
Previous interaction with community-based organisations and experience with training and local capacity building
Exposure to and experience with the NGO sector

Language: Fluent in English (both speaking and writing) and Bemba/Bisa (both speaking and writing)

Other requirements

Able to ride a motorbike with a valid driving licence
Be willing to relocate and live in Mununga, Lavushimanda as primary work station with remote working options from Mpika, Muchinga Province of Zambia
 Flexible in terms of travelling and working conditions
All academic and professional certificates should be certified by the Zambia Qualification Authority (ZAQA)

Terms & Conditions

Start date: 01/10/2025 or earlier if possible

Duration of Contract: One year, renewable to a two-year contract based upon performance

Salary: Level 3a. Remuneration based on experience.

Location: The primary workstation will be WeForest Office, Lavushimanda District, with frequent travel to Mpika and Mukungule (Muchinga Province) for project monitoring and support.

Reporting line: The M&E Officer will be supervised by the WeForest Zambia MEL Manager and will directly report to the site Project Managers for the Lavushimanda/Mpumba Community Conservation Project (Lavushimanda District) and the Mukungule Project (Mpika District).

Application Procedure
Please send applications to recruitment.zambia@weforest.org with your CV, a motivation letter with

your CV, a motivation letter (maximum one page), and two recent references by 15th September, 2025.

Applicants are required to include a draft logistical framework with at least 20 SMART KPIs that you

believe should be recorded for these Muchinga projects. As a guide, WeForest is working on three pillars:

·       Governance and CBO Capacity Building

·       Forest Restoration and Protection

·       Community Outreach and Livelihood Development

Ensure the job title is mentioned in the subject of the email, and indicate where you saw the job post.

In your motivation letter, we encourage you to share what makes you interested in working with

WeForest and how your experience aligns with the role, particularly in monitoring, evaluation, and

reporting processes.

Recruitment Conditions
●        Shortlisted candidates will be required to complete a competency test, which will assess technical skills in data analysis, SMART KPIs development, GIS mapping, and reporting.

●        Due to the anticipated high volume of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. We thank you in advance for your interest.