SAMUEL KANDIDZIWA

Samuel is a results-driven Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Specialist with over five years of progressive experience in international development across sub-Saharan Africa. Holding a Bachelor of Science in Statistics from the University of Malawi and a Master of Social Work in Monitoring & Evaluation from DMI St. Eugene University, Samuel brings a strong technical foundation to every assignment. He is currently serving as MEL Manager at Link Community Development Malawi, where he oversees a portfolio of three donor-funded projects spanning education, climate change, livelihoods and gender, supported by the Scottish Government and the Global Partnership for Education.

Samuel has built and managed end-to-end MEL systems for some of the region's most complex multi-donor programmes, including USAID's Titukulane food security and resilience programme — one of the largest of its kind in Malawi at $85 million — and Global Fund projects targeting adolescent girls, young women and female sex workers across multiple districts. His technical expertise spans quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis, digital data management platforms (ODK, KoboToolbox, Power BI), GIS and spatial analysis (ArcGIS), and results-based MEL frameworks including logframes, indicator matrices, performance monitoring plans and data quality assessments.

Research Experience

Samuel has a growing and distinguished research portfolio that bridges rigorous academic inquiry with practical development outcomes. In 2025, he served as a Research Fellow with the World Initiative for Grantmakers Support (WINGS) on an EU-funded project, conducting primary research to establish baseline values for logframe indicators spanning 34 countries across Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. His peer-reviewed publication, Baseline Study on Scaling-Up Innovative Gender Inclusion and Safeguarding Approaches: Evidence from Malawi, Uganda and Ethiopia, was published through the University of Glasgow Enlighten repository, reflecting his capacity to generate evidence that informs programming at regional scale. He has also published on the application of artificial intelligence in project management in the International Journal of Research Publication and Reviews (2025), demonstrating a forward-looking approach to development practice.

Education Sector Experience

Samuel's work in the education sector makes him a strong candidate for the AFEP application. At Link Community Development Malawi, he has directly led MEL for the Scottish Government's Realising Inclusive and Safe Education (RISE) project, guiding the full cycle from baseline data collection through to dissemination across five districts in Malawi. He also led the midline and endline studies for the Scottish Government's Climate Just Communities project, which integrates education with climate resilience and livelihoods. Through these roles, Samuel has designed education-specific data collection tools, validated learning outcome data, and authored donor progress reports that track results against complex indicator frameworks. His prior engagement with UNICEF Malawi further sharpened his education data skills, where he contributed to the 2024–2029 Country Programme Strategic Plan through secondary analysis of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey and participated in data quality assessments for UNICEF education projects.

Samuel is fluent in English and Chichewa, and is committed to participatory, community-centred approaches to learning and evidence generation.

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Fields of specialization

Projects