Top 5 Skills you need as an M&E officer

I lacked the technical skills necessary for my project assistant role. I decided to take a monitoring and evaluation course so that I could be more competitive. As an M&E officer, there are a few important hard skills worth brushing up on.

M&E is a great deal about a set of core competencies, relevant to the changing world of work. It is really all about strategy and understanding change. Remaining dynamic and responsive is key as I grow my career in M&E and many of these competencies will ensure that I will always have a place in the market.

I interact with data frequently, so I opted to enroll in this M&E training to help me fully interpret data.

I learned a lot and it gave me a good grounding on what monitoring and evaluation are. There was constructive input and guidance from the trainer throughout the lessons. I learned the top five skills that have been beneficial to me.  They include;

1. Analytics

If analyzing things is something you do a great deal, then why not put it to good use? Looking at social systems through an impact lens takes an analytical mind.

As an M&E officer, I found that having an analytical way of thinking will ensure that my practice keeps pace with the program. M&E is not simply about analyzing and presenting data, although this is a critical skill, it is about reflective thinking, and being able to understand the stories behind the data.

2. Report Writing

Once the numbers have been crunched, being able to explain the insights through clear reporting is a critical part of the practice. Report writing is required to keep funders updated, to build advocacy, and most importantly, to provide feedback to program practitioners as they do their work, to ensure that impact is optimized.

3. Presentation

As Monitoring & Evaluation officer, having good presentation skills will always stand you in good stead and will enable you to progress your career faster.  Analysing the data is only the first step, but communicating and presenting this makes the work real, and is the key to deriving all the benefits from M&E including more informed programming, improved impact and more meaningful advocacy.

4. Research skills

All aspiring M&E people should acquaint themselves with techniques of evaluation research skills. M&E activities like conducting evaluations, baselines, etc. require good research skills to produce credible and valuable results that should help to guide organizational planning and decision making.

Key research skills needed include designing research, designing data collection tools, coordinating evaluation research, developing evaluation protocols and work plans, and doing the actual data collection data in the field as well as analyzing data using various methods and tools.

5. Attention to detail

Much M&E work takes meticulous attention to detail. Working with data requires a special kind of focus, and Monitoring accurate and clean data is critical. If you have an excellent guide, and an abbreviation for perfection, then you’d make a great M&E officer.

Where can you learn these skills?

One easily accessible way to hone your skills as an M&E officer is short courses. Building your expertise beyond your degree is important. I would recommend you to join this Monitoring & Evaluation Training Course; an excellent way to increase your knowledge and understanding of trends in the sector.