Position: MEAL Volunteer
Duty Station: Kabale
Reports to: MEAL Officer with dotted lines to the MEAL Manager
Organization: Health Access Connect, https://healthaccessconnect.org
Application Deadline: 16th March 2026
Organization Background
The mission of Health Access Connect is to link remote communities to healthcare. HAC currently pursues this mission through three programs:
- Medicycles: We help remote communities bring government health workers and their medicines to their villages monthly. In these outreach clinics health workers give HIV testing, anti-retroviral treatment, immunizations, perinatal services, family planning, and many other services available in rural health centers. Medicycles also conducts RCTs to assess the impact and importance of the outreaches in the communities.
- Treat & Teach: We improve access to family planning in the communities of Masaka and Kalangala districts by a) providing low-density high-frequency certificate training to health workers, b) setting up outreach clinics in remote communities, c) generating demand by collaborating with community health workers (VHTs), and d) reducing commodity stock outs by providing buffer stocks and improving commodity tracking at partner health facilities.
Purpose of the role:
The MEAL Volunteer will be responsible for providing support to the project MEAL function and will work with the MEAL Officer, MEAL Manager, Program Manager, Field Coordinators and the project team to design and lead a strong MEAL system for the project. He/she will support integration of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in project reporting. The MEAL systems’ objective is to ensure harmonised and aligned data collection and monitoring to inform decision making, accountability, reporting and learning in a timely and strategic manner.
The MEAL Volunteer will undertake routine monitoring through both quantitative and qualitative data collection activities to monitor progress against program performance indicators for reporting, learning, and program improvement and will establish a mechanism for collecting, tracking and responding to feedback and complaints from Programme stakeholders.
In addition, the MEAL Volunteer will ensure that quality benchmarks are used during implementation of project activities and put in place a tailor made documentation strategy for impact stories, reports, and best practices. The MEAL Volunteer will cultivate a culture of learning within the project and ensure that lessons learnt from pilots and project interventions are documented, shared between partners and with key stakeholders and contribute to national and global level learning and research.
Scope of Role
Budget Responsibilities: Ensure timely implementation of MEAL activities
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
Program Support
● In close collaboration with the MEAL Officer and Project Manager, participate in the design and development of monitoring tools and align indicator definitions to ensure consistent and timely tracking of all project indicators.
● Support implementation of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in project reporting. Support routine updating and dissemination of dashboard reports. Provide OCR requirements and feedback to MEAL team and document progress on indicators/achievement of targets
● Oversee routine monitoring, checking data completeness and identifying data quality queries, coordinating data collection activities for surveys, providing updates and reporting to the MEAL Officer.
● Review Project data collection tools to ensure that tools provide required information on HAC Mandatory and Project Specific indicators
● Provide onsite support to project team and stakeholders by carrying out routine data quality assessment and continuous quality improvement of the program to ensure quality program implementation and reporting.
● Implement the MEAL plan integrating deliverables for mandatory indicators and Project Specific indicators including setting up of mechanisms to monitor and document the progress of implementation of project activities.
● Participate in the design/ review of MEAL Plan, to include the Theory of Change (TOC), Logical Framework (Logframe), Indicator Performance Tracking Table (IPTT), Reporting Plan, Monitoring Approach, Data Quality Assurance, in addition to other report requirements as may be requested
● Provide technical guidance and build the capacity of the project staff and stakeholders on implementation of MEAL within the Project; to include capacities for data collection, storage, indicator definition and reporting.
● In close support from the MEAL Officer, ensure quality benchmark monitoring and ensure actions plans agreed on after monitoring are implemented in a timely manner. Provide feedback on monthly action plan tracker to the MEAL Officer & Project Manager.
● Participate in Project Output and Outcome monitoring across all project locations and ensure that information reporting and sharing systems fulfill needs of HAC, communities, government, relevant agencies, donors and other stakeholders and are in line with MEAL standards.
● Enhance use of digital data management within the program, this includes use of Kobo, OCR, Odoo among other programs.
● Participate/coordinate the design of quantitative and qualitative participatory project evaluations (baseline, annual and final), assessments, reviews and other special studies
● Work closely with the project team to ensure that performance indicators are regularly tracked and that activities implemented are well aligned with the indicators.
● Facilitate documentation of project results, impact, best practices and significant changes. Document learnings and best practices; disseminate learnings, reports, publications and participate in learning sessions, and ensure that the lessons learnt are utilized to inform programming and advocacy.
Complaints Response and Feedback Mechanism (CRM)
● In close support from Communications and Development Officer, He/she supports the project team in the development of information sharing materials/briefs, posters and brochures, and dissemination of Project information materials to relevant stakeholders, partners and beneficiaries.
● Set up relevant contextualized feedback and complaints infrastructures, mechanisms, and approaches to receive feedback and complaints from beneficiaries including children
● Collect and manage complaints and feedback in close coordination with the Project team. Track timeliness of response to complaints and maintain an updated Project complaints tracker
Partnerships
● Participate in joint field monitoring and provide regular guidance and support to ensure partner’s effective implementation of MEAL according to expected standards and donor requirements.
Learning
● Foster and develop a culture of learning within the project based on learning priorities for the donor and partners.
● Establish information sharing mechanisms for project staff to document and share examples of good and bad practice and learning.
● Identify opportunities for research and learning questions in collaboration with the project team, Project Manager, MEAL Officer.
Communication and Networking
● Foster a culture of information sharing, learning and collaboration within the project.
● Be available for and responsive to questions, queries and requests for information and support from the project teams.
● Create and sustain positive working relationships internally with other staff; externally with the district local government and partners, and other stakeholders, and also maintain an up to date understanding of key development trends in the Project area.
● Representing the project in external fora at the district as may be requested by the project manager and MEAL Officer.
● Ensure coordination with the government activities and structures in the implementation of project activities
Additional job responsibilities
● The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.
Qualifications
Required
● Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health, Bachelor of Science in Economics, Bachelor of Statistics, Bachelor of Science in Quantitative Economics, or any other relevant subject.
● A Postgraduate diploma in M&E is an added advantage.
● Minimum 2 years of experience from an NGO working with multiple health projects in remote areas within Uganda.
● Excellent computer skills with all Microsoft Office programs (MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel)
● Experience in Preparing and Translating Questionnaires, Data Collection, and Data sorting.
● Skills in Data Analysis and Data Visualization using PowerBi, SPSS, and Data Looker Studio.
● Have good command and demonstrated skills in designing data collection tools using Kobo Toolbox, ODK etc
● Willing to travel and work in remote and hard to reach areas within HAC geographical operation locations in Uganda.