Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Leavening (MEAL) Officer

Position Title: Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Leavening (MEAL) Officer  

Location: Mogadishu

Position Status: Full-time, Regular

Number of Positions: Two

  About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible.  In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.  Now, and for the future.

Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps has been operating in Somalia since 2005. With a staff of over 100 people and programs operating throughout the country, Mercy Corps’ overall country goal is building a peaceful and prosperous Somalia where all people feel secure, are economically empowered, and are meaningfully engaged. Mercy Corps’ current portfolio in Somalia focuses on humanitarian response and resilience; inclusive economic growth; enhancing trust and accountability between communities and their government; and improving youth livelihood opportunities.

General Position Summary

Mercy Corps seeks to hire two Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) Officers for its Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA)-funded multi-sectoral program—Somalia Early Recovery and Rural Resilience Initiative (SERRI). SERRI aims to enhance economic productivity and wellbeing in rural and peri-urban areas, improve capacity to respond to hazards, and reduce future humanitarian needs. The MEAL Officer will be responsible for providing support and participating in program-level monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities, ensuring quality and timely delivery of M&E, as well as information management via Mercy Corps’ proprietary Tola systems, Commcare, PowerBi, and other such systems that the MEAL Officer may design and implement. The MEAL Officer’s role is to support and promote coordination of the technical areas by working with the program team, private sector partners, and government. The MEAL Officers will also support capacity-building and mentoring strategies for the SERRI program team, lead stakeholder/beneficiary mapping, database management, and data analysis, including streamlining themes related to monitoring, evaluation, accountability, learning, and adaptive management. They will be responsible for the timely updating of the program PM@MC folders, reviewing activity weekly reports, and actively participating in weekly update meetings, as well as serving as the program’s CARM focal point for SERRI.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Accountability

·         Work with program teams, partners, and M&E focal points to integrate M&E into ongoing project/program planning and implementation systems and ensure adherence to Mercy Corps M&E minimum standards.

• Lead the program teams in M&E-related conversations and reviews like the Activity MEAL plan, Theory of change etc.
• Provide program-level leadership on Community Accountability and Reporting Mechanism (CARM) in line with Mercy Corps policy, working with the country CARM teams.
• Participate in internal and external MEAL-related working groups and maintain close working relationships with other MEAL counterparts in other relevant international NGOs, local NGOs, and associations.
• Participate in recruitment, training, and supervision of enumerators, etc.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Information Management

·         Lead the program participants' mapping from tool development, digitization on Commcare, data collection, analysis and reporting.

• Under the guidance of the MEL Manager and program lead, conduct periodic including ad hock field level activity monitoring, and compile program-level innovations and feedback, incorporating it into the broader country-level M&E system.
• Working with the MEAL Manager, set up and implement a holistic program-level MEAL system that uses open-source software and flexible cloud solutions to collect more accurately, monitor, verify, and document program activities.
• Contribute to program reviews, ensuring adherence to Mercy Corps M&E best practices and minimum standards, including the use of standardized indicators, form templates, and documentation methodologies.
• Support in ensuring accuracy and comprehensiveness in reporting on SERRI system-level indicators such as beneficiary numbers, design for system-level indicators, and other information as needed.
• Lead the annual program-level beneficiary count as per Mercy Corps standards working with program and MEL teams.
• Maintain UpToDate program filling and update on the Mercy Corps proprietary Tola System.
• Lead and facilitate program-level quarterly reviews to track performance and identify energy corrective actions.

Database Management

·         Develop and manage a program database that improves Mercy Corps’ ability to inform program implementation, analyze data, and represent impact to key stakeholders.

• Contribute to the understanding of and support for mobile data collection hardware and software, including tools such as Commcare, and PowerBI etc.
• Ensure all relevant program staff can utilize the database to analyze program information and results.
• Design, adapt and maintain the database in conjunction with the MEL team to match strategic program or implementation changes.
• Review data being collected to locate and fix problems with data entry or integrity.
• Document database contents, protocols, and update manuals for smooth functioning of the data management system.
• Manage regular synchronizations of data.
• Troubleshoot front and back-end issues with the database, including any synchronization issues with field-level data entry.

Knowledge Management

·         Assist in maintaining proper and standardized filing system for storing program documents according to Mercy Corps Program Management Minimum Standard.

·         Share learning from other programs and partners to bolster the performance of SERRI.

Security

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

Accountability to Beneficiaries

·         Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects. 

Supervisory Responsibility: None 

Accountability

Reports Directly To: MEL Manager

                Works Directly with: MEL and PaQ team, Program, Finance, HR and Operations.

Knowledge and experience:

·         Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture, Computer science, Economics, Statistics, Development Studies, Energy, Environmental Science, or Business computing.

·         Post-graduate qualification in Monitoring & Evaluation preferred

·         At least 3 years’ direct experience in monitoring and evaluation of humanitarian or development programs in Somalia. Required.

·         Good hands-on experience/skills in data management-This will be tested.

·         Experience authoring forms for remote mobile data collection through Commcare/Kobo/Ona-This will be tested.

·         Experience managing different aspects of assessments eg PDMs as a lead, right from tools design, data collection, processing, analysis, and report writing.

·         Strong computer literacy with a full knowledge of MS Office applications and G Suite.

·         Proficiency in at least one statistical software (Stata, SPSS or R and PowerBi) in handling large data sets -This will be tested

·         Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.

·         Demonstrated flexibility, creativity, and enthusiasm as well as a willingness to learn and to be continually adaptive within a dynamic and often self-directed working environment.

Success Factors:

The ideal candidate will be an excellent communicator, a strong team player, multi-tasker, have a strong sense of humor, and able to work in difficult and often stressful environments. S/he will be committed to the work of Mercy Corps and the objectives of this program. S/he will demonstrate strong analytical skills, dedication to work ethic, attention to detail and creativity in planning and problem solving.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives. We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact. We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination based on race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants, or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary-General and IASC and have signed on to the  Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves professionally, respect local laws and customs, and always adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all the times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

All interested candidates are encouraged to apply for this position and submit their applications (cover letter, updated CV, and contacts of 5 professional referees) through https://www.mercycorps.org/careers/national  only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for this position.

Deadline for Applications: September 21, 2024 at 4PM