Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio)
Walaa Abu Zaiter
Research, Policy And MEAL Experienced Professional
Madrid,M
Summary
Walaa is a dynamic and results-driven professional with over 12 years of experience in programming strategies and research, delivering measurable impact and revenue growth in the non-profit sector. Walaa excels in Research, Monitoring, Learning, and Evaluation (RMLE), and has successfully partnered with renowned organizations including the Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, and Right To Play. Her expertise encompasses a diverse range of sectors such as livelihoods, MSMEs, FSL, protection, education, mental health, and WASH.
Walaa is highly proficient in data management and analysis, leveraging advanced tools like SPSS, Power BI, and Excel to drive evidence-based decision-making. She is recognized for her strong leadership, networking, facilitation, and problem-solving skills, which consistently enhance organizational efficiency and outcomes. Walaa’s ability to make independent decisions with sound judgment has been instrumental in advancing the strategic objectives of the organizations she supports.
Overview
14
14
years of professional experience
6
6
years of post-secondary education
7
7
Certificates
2
2
Languages
Work History
Operations Coordinator
Opt.
Spain- Madrid (Remote)
05.2024 - Current
- Supporting/developing short to medium-term programmatic strategies, aligning them with cluster and AAH global priorities, Revision of strategic indicators
- Contribute to contingency plan/ scenarios definition
- Development of Area Based Access and acceptance strategies
- Support streamlining of processes and structure of departments and tools for effective project implementation
- Lead the implementation of specific project components and/or coach team members inside Gaza to implement and/or replace Field Coordinators when on leave
- Prepare briefings and donors' update, talking points for meetings etc.) and presentations.
- Facilitate Program development and design etc. using innovative approaches e.g theory of change and outcome mapping
- Analyzed department metrics and performance and reported findings to management.
- Spearheaded process improvement initiatives, identifying areas for optimization and implementing changes accordingly.
- Implemented process improvement to shape organizational culture, optimize procedures for higher efficiency and help company evolve and grow.
- Enforced regulatory and company policy compliance to improve workplace and employee safety and readiness.
- Launched staff engagement, gender diversity and cultural programs in addition to robust reporting tool that increased operational quality.
- Conducted root cause analysis in deficient areas to identify and resolve issues.
- Performed statistical analyses to gather data for operational and forecast team needs.
- Introduced new methods, practices, and systems to reduce turnaround time.
- Evaluated upcoming program plans to forecast expected resource needs.
- Boosted productivity by establishing effective communication channels between departments.
- Oversaw day-to-day operations of large teams across several sites.
- Implemented innovative programs to increase employee loyalty and reduce turnover.
- Contributed to the development of departmental policies and procedures ensuring consistency across the organization.
Head of Base
Action Against Hunger
Gaza Strip
03.2023 - 05.2024
- Directly line-manage project / Programme Managers, Base Admin and Base Log and evaluate them according to ACF standard tools and procedures.
- Responsible for revising the ACF base Strategy and its annual work plan in coordination with the CD and establish a monitoring plan
- Managed time efficiently in order to complete all tasks within deadlines.
- Identified issues, analyzed information and provided solutions to problems.
- Assisted with day-to-day operations, working efficiently and productively with all team members.
- Proved successful working within tight deadlines and a fast-paced environment.
- Proven ability to learn quickly and adapt to new situations and to new technology and software applications.
- Self-motivated, with a strong sense of personal responsibility.
- Adaptable and proficient in learning new concepts quickly and efficiently.
- Demonstrated a high level of initiative and creativity while tackling difficult tasks.
- To ensure that programs are aligned with the national strategies, are relevant and of high quality for ACF mandate
- Coordinates, oversees, reviews and validates the timely and correct preparation of reports to donors, internal reports and any other document for external actors (amendments to donors, letters, requests, contract etc…)
- Engage and represents ACF in relevant sector working group or other external meetings, ensuring leadership in the sectors relevant for the organization
- Ensure effective operational management of the Programme area through oversight of and adherence to Programme tools, logistics, communications, transport, human resources, and finance policies and procedures
- Work closely with the technical coordinators to facilitate the correct implementation and identification of projects
- Contribute to the development of the area Programme through participation in and facilitation of assessments, visits, and evaluations
- Application and respect of ACF procedures, internal regulations, deontology and principles both for the Head of Base and staff
- Update and review base structure/Organizational Chart according to programme needs, with input from the relevant coordinators and Country Director
Deputy Head of Base
Action Against Hunger
Gaza Strip, Palestine
02.2023 - 05.2023
- Oversee implementation of ACF programs (FSL, WASH and cross cutting) in Gaza Strip to ensure the timeliness, effectiveness and quality of activities; provide needed supervision and guidance to the two managers under his/her supervision
- Ensure and reinforce the use of project management tools including work plans, budget follow up, SOPs, beneficiary databases and selection criteria etc
- Contribute through annual learning/trends analysis to the advocacy initiatives and communication activities
- Guide and facilitates the development of Base program strategies including cross cutting sectors (child protection, protection, safeguarding and psychosocial support)
- Propose and promote the use of and/or development of new and innovative technical approaches; identify risks and opportunities
- Capitalize and systematize innovative experiences contributing to the technical development of ACF
- Ensure ACF contributes substantially to the Cluster and Sector work to prepare the development and review of the annual HNO and HRP documents and leads the submission of relevant proposals at a Base level
- Support and facilitate the development of the base localization strategy, in line with ACF international strategy
- Act as a Head of base in the absence of the Head of Base position including managing operational units finance, logistics, HR and Admin.
MEAL Manager
Action Against Hunger
Gaza Strip, Palestine
12.2021 - 01.2023
- Lead regular diagnosis of the MEAL department in Gaza, identify gaps and propose solutions to address them
- Lead the development of the MEAL annual plan for the base and its regular follow-up
- Ensure the M&E procedures are being developed, followed, and implemented for each project and these procedures are standardized at the base level and follow mission standards if any
- Responsible for the development and follow up of the MEAL plan per project and the development of relevant quantitative and qualitative methods
- Provide guidance, support and technical revision on Project and programs' designs and strategies
- Actively contribute to the development of the MEAL Strategy for the entire mission
- Facilitate the development of program theory of change and problem analysis
- Provide guidance, input and technical support in donors' reporting, BNFs counting, key findings and summary learnings identified during project implementation
- Represent Gaza Base in regional and global MEAL meetings and contribute to technical strategy meetings
- Organize capacity building sessions with ACF Opt. teams as per the needs identified.
- Supervise and coordinate with technical teams on needs assessments
- Ensure the FCM is working and that it effectively gathers and addresses in a timely manner Feedback and Complaints; ensure learning from this feedback are incorporated
- Represent ACF in external MEAL technical groups and working groups and internal ACF meetings upon needs
- Ensure that Information Management System and tools are made available to technical and MEAL teams for the project cycle management in a timely and relevant manner and that technical IM support is provided to the Technical Teams as needed
Head of Advocacy, Communication and MEAL
Action Against Hunger
Gaza Strip, Palestine
10.2018 - 11.2021
- Develop the relevant M&E framework and SoPs, including annual project reviews, participatory impact assessments, process monitoring, outcome monitoring, operations monitoring and lessons-learned activities and events
- Ensure the M&E procedures are being followed and implemented on each contract in the base
- Develop base complaints and feedback mechanism with required tools and procedures as well as required resources
- Capacity building for MEAL staff and program staff on MEAL system, knowledge and recent practices in evaluations and assessments including supporting Westbank office and training of EJ staff
- Support and enhance local partners' MEAL capacity and systems when required
- Contribute to the proposal development through facilitating problem analysis and Theory of change workshops as well as developing the relevant MEAL framework
- Support program strategy development through advice and guidance with monitoring data and recent identified information gaps, as well as provide guidance on required needs assessment for strategy improvement
- Guide the process for identifying the key performance questions and parameters for monitoring performance and comparing it to targets, particularly through baseline and end line surveys
- Review the quality of existing data, methods of collecting and degree to which it will provide good baseline statistics for impact evaluation
- Analyze monitoring results for impact evaluation purposes and to identify the causes of potential bottlenecks in projects implementation
- Responsible for implementation of the advocacy strategy in the base
- Represent Action Against Hunger on advocacy – in AIDA advocacy working group meetings in Gaza, and other similar fora
- Actively contribute to the development of the MEAL Strategy for the mission
- Participate to the development of mission processes and Guidelines and the harmonization process.
Monitoring and Evaluation Manager
Secours Islamique France
02.2018 - 10.2018
- Develop M&E system in SIF Gaza Mission.
- Develop systems and tools to Support adequate implementation of Project cycle management tools including mental health interventions focusing on women war survivors and Orphan children
- Capacity building of PMs on planning and monitoring tools for PCM (PMP tool standard from HQ)
- Provide advice to senior management and program staff on current research and trends and gaps in information relevant to SIF programs.
Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator
Norwegian Refugee Council
Gaza And West Bank , Palestine
03.2013 - 07.2017
- Leading and supervising M&E unit in NRC Palestine in Both offices Gaza and EJ, with continues movement between the 2 offices
- Responsible for Country progress reporting to the HQ in Oslo and responsible for Donor progress reporting
- Design and develop M and E tools and systems for NRC Palestine M&E
- Provide advice to senior management and program staff on current research and trends and gaps in information relevant to NRC programs
- Provide progress overview for the country management group on CCs progress using quantitative data and qualitative data
- Ensure compliance with donor M and E requirements and NRC guidance including review of reports before submission to donor
- Ensure that data is collected and recorded ethically and within the remits of NRC policy on confidentiality and consent
- Ensure involvement of beneficiaries and wider community in assessments and development of complaint and feedback mechanism to ensure voices of beneficiaries captured and to improve organization accountability towards beneficiaries
- Support proposal development by guiding the development of appropriate log frames that reflects projects' objectives and SMART indicators
- Support and guide risk analysis and problem analysis processes and tools to ensure adequate programming is in place
- Guide and lead Needs Assessment for proposal development including Market analysis
- Ensure standardization of M&E approach within and across programs
- Ensure involvement of beneficiaries and wider community in assessment and maintain good relationships with all parties
- Act as a focal point for external and internal evaluations of NRC programs and activities
- Support internal improvement processes (LEAN, Macro Log Frames etc.) according to need, facilitating and leading the gap analysis, SWOT analysis and problem analysis exercises for the strategy development MLFA
- Liaise with peer organizations and M+E staff in partner agencies to facilitate lessons learned and coordination
- Support the internal data management/visualization systems with the needed skills/software and applications (using Ko-Bo for data collection, using Mindjet-Mind manager for data visualization)
- Coordinate and cooperate with regional M&E experts to share and exchange knowledge and experiences
- Control and manage the country M&E Plan, budget, responsible for the annual budget planning for M&E activities and staffing
- Analysis for different researches focusing on children and education (internal and external) and evaluations using different techniques SPSS and Excel and for all data types Quantitative and qualitative
- Consultant and member of steering committee for the UNESCO study on the Development of Inclusive and Child-Friendly Programs From early Childhood to Adolescence
- Consultant and FP for Overcrowding research for shelter NRC program, and participated in the Focus Group discussions and Case studies for the research
- Consultant and member of steering committee for running Evaluation for Oxfam under ECHO/NRC agreement
- Quantitative data analysis Consultant statistician and co-author for better learning program research to produce scientific paper on impact of nightmares on children academic performance under supervision of University of Tromso in Norway.
Information and Research Officer
Norwegian Refugee Council
01.2011 - 03.2012
- Reporting in the CAD (CORE ACTIVITY DATABASE) (previous reporting system) by following up with the activities conducted by the education team and reporting progress against planned
- Conducting all programme evaluation starting with the needs assessment in the beginning of the year, Mid Cycle evaluation in the Middle of the implementation of the activities and ending by the final evaluation at the end of the project activities
- Lead and support Analysis of different researches conducted by the NRC education programme (internal and external)
- Developing and creating data management systems using different software like Excel, Access and SPSS
- Creating budget database for education team members for monthly following up
- Supporting Information Counseling and Legal Assistance programme by reviewing and modifying the evaluation tools used by the PCDCR in their activities
- Conducting monitoring visits to the education programme activities
- Participate in building the strategy of the programme and the log frame
- Conduct training for new education staff in Jerusalem in M&E tools, research tools and research practice
- Acting as a focal point for any researches with consultancy contracts.
Project monitoring assistant
UNRWA
10.2011 - 03.2012
- Qualitative Analysis for the students' drop out research which was conducted with the NRC education programme
- Analysis of Research conducted for the violence inside UNRWA schools
- Participate in the analysis of the evaluation of the UNRWA Summer Games
- Participate in the analysis of different researches for UNRWA programmes
- Working with the Over Aged student's initiative, monitoring visits, and evaluation reports
- Working in the vocational training courses, monitoring visits, evaluation and writing reports.
Consultancies And Research
- 04/2024, current, M&E Consultant, GSMA London
- 11/2022, 02/2023, MEAL and Context expert, Norwegian Refugee Council
- 05/2022, 07/2022, GBV Evaluation Consultant - Team Leader, Alianza Por La Solidaridad
- 07/2021, 09/2021, MEAL Strategy development Consultant, NAWA for Culture and Arts Association
- 03/2021, 06/2021, MEAL Evaluation Consultant, NAWA for Culture and Arts Association
- 04/2020, 12/2020, MEAL and Project cycle management specialist, NAWA for Culture and Arts Association
- 09/2019, 01/2020, MEAL specialist, NAWA for Culture and Arts Association
- 08/2019, 06/2020, M&E consultant, Right to Play International
- 07/2019, 11/2019, M&E consultant, GSMA London
- 03/2019, 05/2019, M&E consultant, Oxfam Novib
- 09/2018, 10/2018, M&E consultant, Norwegian Refugee Council
- 10/2017, 12/2017, GBV M&E consultant, Culture and Free Thought Association
- 11/2017, 12/2017, GBV M&E consultant - Team Leader, Alianza Por La Solidaridad
Education
Postgraduate Degree - Business Administration
Edinburgh Business School Heriot Watt University
Scotland - UK 07.2021 - 12.2022
Bachelor of Science - Architecture
University of Palestine
Gaza Strip 05.2005 - 05.2010
Skills
Decision-Making
leadership and Team building
Conflict and cultural sensitivity
Networking and facilitating dialogue
Supervision and leadership
Problem Resolution
Certification
Conflict sensitivity
Software
SPSS
Power-Bi
Interactive online participatory platforms
Timeline
Operations Coordinator
Opt.
05.2024 - Current
Head of Base
Action Against Hunger
03.2023 - 05.2024
Deputy Head of Base
Action Against Hunger
02.2023 - 05.2023
MEAL Manager
Action Against Hunger
12.2021 - 01.2023
Postgraduate Degree - Business Administration
Edinburgh Business School Heriot Watt University
07.2021 - 12.2022
Head of Advocacy, Communication and MEAL
Action Against Hunger
10.2018 - 11.2021
Monitoring and Evaluation Manager
Secours Islamique France
02.2018 - 10.2018
Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator
Norwegian Refugee Council
03.2013 - 07.2017
Project monitoring assistant
UNRWA
10.2011 - 03.2012
Information and Research Officer
Norwegian Refugee Council
01.2011 - 03.2012
Bachelor of Science - Architecture
University of Palestine
05.2005 - 05.2010
Additional Information
Experience with Donors
GAC, EU, ECHO, HF funds, BHA (USAID), GIZ, BMZ, CDCS, NMFA, AECID, ACCD
Sectors M&E systems development experience
Food Security and Livelihood, WASH, Education and Mental health, Protection, Shelter, Financial inclusion
Problem Solving Skills
Excellent
Results Oriented
Excellent
Team Working Skills
Excellent
Digital Competence
Very Good
Power Bi
Very Good
Spss
Excellent
Kobo Toolbox
Excellent
Ms Office Package
Excellent
Conflict Sensitivity Skills
Very Good
Consultancies And Research
- 08/2024, current Monitoring and Evaluation consultancy, Caritas Chezc and Caritas Jerusalem, Gaza health emergency response
- 07/2024, 08/2024, Policy and Research consultant, Fundación Alianza por los Derechos, la Igualdad y la Solidaridad Internacional
- 06/2024, 07/2024, Policy and Research consultant, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
- 04/2024, 06/2024, M&E Consultant, GSMA London
- 11/2022, 02/2023, MEAL and Context expert, Norwegian Refugee Council
- 05/2022, 07/2022, GBV Evaluation Consultant - Team Leader, Alianza Por La Solidaridad
- 07/2021, 09/2021, MEAL Strategy development Consultant, NAWA for Culture and Arts Association
- 03/2021, 06/2021, MEAL Evaluation Consultant, NAWA for Culture and Arts Association
- 04/2020, 12/2020, MEAL and Project cycle management specialist, NAWA for Culture and Arts Association
- 09/2019, 01/2020, MEAL specialist, NAWA for Culture and Arts Association
- 08/2019, 06/2020, M&E consultant, Right to Play International
- 07/2019, 11/2019, M&E consultant, GSMA London
- 03/2019, 05/2019, M&E consultant, Oxfam Novib
- 09/2018, 10/2018, M&E consultant, Norwegian Refugee Council
- 10/2017, 12/2017, GBV M&E consultant, Culture and Free Thought Association
- 11/2017, 12/2017, GBV M&E consultant - Team Leader, Alianza Por La Solidaridad