Starting Date: ASAP

Contract type: Full-time and open-ended

Salary: As per respective grade and commensurate with relevant experience and skills

Location: Lahore - Pakistan

Application closing date: 07 05 2024

About the Job
Are you purpose-led and ready to embark on a journey to shape the future of sustainable cotton? Join us at Better Cotton as Program Officer MEL. The Program Officer MEL will ensure the development of appropriate monitoring, tracking, and reporting systems, tools, and templates that enhance monitoring of program outputs and quality. They will also provide support to Programme Partners (PPs) to meet the requirements of the Better Cotton compliance systems. Additionally, the Program Officer MEL will promote and ensure the use of data for decision-making processes.

Better Cotton supports more sustainable farming practices and farm livelihoods for nearly 3 million farmers in the Better Cotton network in 23 countries around the world.

The Challenge
Looking ahead to 2030, we are targeting reducing GHG emissions from cotton production by half, big cuts in synthetic pesticide use, improve soil health across our network, improve farm income and support women’s empowerment among farmers and farm workers.

Your role and responsibilities

We are seeking a motivated Program Officer MEL to join our MEL Function at Pakistan. In this role, you will be responsible for:

• Periodically reviewing and refining the MEL plan, indicators, and data methods to objectively measure progress and results.

• Providing technical support and advice to programme partners (PPs) in reviewing and improving monitoring systems, results indicators, methodologies, and learning processes.

• Developing and regularly updating an information management system and results framework to ensure the maintenance of records of data, reports, documents, and other resources.

• Acting as the primary contact for the online database, including managing the data, training partners, and preparing reports. This ensures that Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) data is available to support claims on results and impact.

• Providing necessary support in cleaning data received from projects on farming practices and managing large databases to ensure the data used for analysis is of the best quality possible.

• Supporting the analysis of agronomic, economic, and social indicator data to ensure accurate referencing to regional contexts.

• Assisting in the collection of data from project farmers by Producer Units to meet BCI requirements and deadlines, and conducting online trainings/webinars if necessary.

• Timely revising all templates-based observations from fields and guidance provided by the BCI global M&E team.

• Supporting in-country evaluations, impact assessments, rapid assessments, and case studies.

• Carrying out frequent and impromptu field monitoring visits to collect data and verify progress/status updates on various activities.

• Maintaining regular communication with the BCI global team on data management.

• Providing required information to the Membership Team, Programme Team, and Supply Chain team as needed.

• Updating Sales Force and Project Database on a regular basis.

• Communicating regularly with the Sr. Country Coordinator MEL to ensure the workplan is up-to-date and revised as needed based on country-level changes or developments.

• Supporting the Sr. Country Coordinator MEL in Pakistan to develop and deliver training to Programme Partner staff around data management, data quality, and data reporting requirements and templates.

• Assisting the Senior Country Coordinator MEL in identifying the training needs of Programme Partner staff.

• Coordinating season setup information, including participating Producer Units (PUs), PU structure, and information on PU staff, at the beginning of the cotton season for all Programme Partners (PPs).

• Coordinating, reviewing, consolidating, and updating farmer lists for early season, late season, and post-harvest stages for all waves and all Programme Partners (PPs).

We are looking for someone who has

Experience

Essential

Minimum of 2-3 years of work experience in development program/project

Experience in monitoring and evaluation and/or research

Experience of working in team and individually will be an advantage

Experience working with projects in rural settings

Experience in field data collection

Desirable

Experience of working in cotton farming

Experience of working in agriculture sector of Punjab and Sindh province of Pakistan

Skills and Knowledge

Essential

Graduation degree, or equivalent higher education qualification, in a relevant field

Demonstrated interest in sustainability and international development

Superior skills and aptitude to appraise arguments critically and logically, organise ideas in a clear and concise manner, and draw conclusions and formulate arguments in a way that is effective, concise, and precise

Excellent interpersonal skills, along with the ability to work independently, proactively, and in a collaborative manner with a team.

Excellent written and communication skills with the ability to communicate clearly and concisely, and to assimilate and process information for wide-ranging audiences

High proficiency in MS Office, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook

Willingness to frequently travel domestically, and occasionally overseas

Good aptitude for statistics and data analysis

Desirable

International exposure and/or education and/or experience and/or travel

Objective and meticulous professional with the ability to multi-task

Academic background in rural/agricultural development and sustainability

Understanding of Decent Work principles in the context of Pakistan

Knowledge of cotton production

What we offer

• Competitive salary

• Hybrid working – (Depending upon location)

• Continuous learning and development

• 25 days paid annual leave, plus 8-9 Bank Holidays and a further 3 days off and parental benefits

• A warm, positive working environment where everyone is valued

• The opportunity to make your mark and make a difference.

• Flexible working, with core hours from 10 am to 4 pm local time

• Medical outdoor coverage

• Indoor Health insurances for self and dependant/s

• Life Insurances

• Terminal benefit (Gratuity)

Working arrangements

The position is full-time (40 hours per week) and will be based either in Lahore - Pakistan. Better Cotton offers flexible working, with core hours being 10 am – 4 pm.  The position might require travel domestically as well as internationally if needed.

Our hiring process

Initial Screening:

If you are selected, you will be contacted for an initial screening, which may involve a brief phone interview or video call. The purpose is to learn more about you, confirm basic qualifications, and discuss the role and organisation.

Interviews:

If you are confirmed after the initial screening, you will be invited for interviews. The interview process at Better Cotton may include one or more rounds of interviews with various stakeholders, such as the hiring manager, team members, and potentially senior management.

Assessment and Testing:

Depending on the role, you might be required to complete assessments, technical tests, or skills evaluations to gauge your competency and suitability for the position.

Reference Checks:

Once you progress further in the process, reference checks are conducted to validate your work history, skills, and qualifications, and for some roles, your education and criminal history.

Offer stage:

After completing interviews, assessments, and reference checks, the hiring team evaluates your performance and fit for the role. If you are selected and your references are relevant and satisfactory, you will receive a formal job offer letter outlining the terms of employment, compensation, benefits, and any other relevant details.

About Better Cotton

Better Cotton is the world’s largest cotton sustainability programme. Our 200+ colleagues of 37+ nationalities are united by a shared passion and commitment to achieving the Better Cotton mission: to help cotton communities survive and thrive, while protecting and restoring the environment. Through our network of field-level partners a quarter of the world’s cotton is now grown under the Better Cotton Standard. We have united the industry’s stakeholders behind our efforts, from ginners and spinners to brand owners, civil society organisations and governments. Everyone who cares about cotton and its sustainable future can now be part of something better.

About our Values

The post holder will be expected to operate in line with our workplace values which are:  

• Trustworthy (including honest, transparent, credible) 

• As having Integrity (including responsible, authentic) 

• Positive (including problem-solving, pragmatic) 

• Engaging (including adaptable, inclusive, holistic) 

• Daring (including courageous, innovative, game-changing)  

Being you @ Better Cotton

Better Cotton is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer with a strong commitment to good practice and transparency in the management of natural, human, and financial resources.

We have a zero-tolerance approach to any attitudes or behaviours that put children or adults at risk of harm. Safeguarding incidents are acts of serious misconduct and are grounds for disciplinary action, up to and including, dismissal and referral to relevant authorities for criminal prosecution. Therefore, all offers of employment are subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks.