Project Coordinator – MERL (PCIO)

The Aga Khan Foundation, Afghanistan (AKF (Afg)) is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a group of international, private, non-denominational development agencies working to improve living conditions and opportunities for people in some of the poorest parts of the developing world. The Network’s organizations have individual mandates that range from the fields of health and education to architecture, rural development, and promotion of private-sector enterprises and institutions that seek to empower communities and individuals, usually in disadvantaged circumstances, to improve living conditions and opportunities.AKF seeks to provide sustainable solutions to long-term problems of poverty, hunger, illiteracy, and ill health. In Afghanistan, AKF works with rural communities in mountainous, remote, or resource-poor areas to improve quality of life in the areas of natural resource management, market development, governance, education, and health.POSITION OBJECTIVEThe Project Coordinator MERL, based at Project Cluster Implementing Office [PCIO] Kabul, provides technical coordination and operational support for the implementation of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) activities across 6 province of Kabul, Herat, Ghazni, Logar, Kunar and Nuristan provinces, ensuring the effective measurement, documentation, and reporting of key project indicators (i.e., Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), resilience-building, and community-based development interventions). The Project Coordinator MERL will directly report to Project Lead - Project Cluster Implementing Office [PCIO] at Kabul and technically guided by the M&E Specialist of PMU and NPO MERL. The position supports the planning, implementation, and continuous improvement of provincial MERL systems, methodologies, and tools to generate reliable evidence on project performance, outcomes, and impact. It supports the development of data collection tools, training of enumerators and data collectors, and ensures the application of appropriate methodologies and quality assurance mechanisms for reliable and accurate data. The position also supports the implementation of vulnerability, risk, capacity, and resilience assessments and contributes to the analysis and use of findings for adaptive project management and learning. The role also contributes to maintaining and updating PMF/tracking systems, strengthening data management processes (including cleaning, coding, analysis, and visualization), and supporting the production of high-quality monitoring, evaluation, and research reports.In addition, the position plays a key role in coordination, reporting, and dissemination processes by facilitating collaboration between project teams and PCIO/National, PMU and MERL teams to ensure alignment of M&E activities. It supports field supervision, data quality assurance, and the consolidation of monitoring findings, while also contributing to narrative reporting and knowledge management. The position ensures that community perspectives and beneficiary feedback are systematically collected, documented, analyzed, and incorporated into project monitoring, reporting, accountability, and learning processes. This role further supports the dissemination of findings through workshops and events, ensures proper documentation of feedback, and provides logistical and administrative support for MERL-related activities. It also ensures compliance with safeguarding, ethical standards, and organizational policies across all MERL processes. JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Technical Responsibilities• Contribute to the design, planning, implementation, data management, analysis, and reporting of project M&E and research activities across the full project cycle.• Coordinate the implementation of MERL activities across assigned provinces in accordance with project requirements, organizational standards, and donor guidelines.• Coordinate studies (i.e. Baseline, endline, post-distribution monitoring, resilience assessments, vulnerability assessments, hazard and risk assessments), and other MERL studies as required.• Administer and document community consultation processes, including community meetings, participatory assessments, stakeholder consultations, validation workshops, and community feedback mechanisms. • Contribute to the development of data collection tools at output and outcome levels and support the preparation and delivery of training for trainers (ToTs), enumerators, and data collectors for M&E and research activities. • Support the establishment, regular updating, and maintenance of the project PMF/tracking sheet and ensure data integrity throughout reporting cycles. • Conduct regular data quality assessments and verification exercises to ensure the accuracy, completeness, consistency, and reliability of project data. • Provide technical support for end-to-end data management processes, including data storage, backup, verification, cleaning, ...