Collaboration, Learning, Adapting (CLA) Officer

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps has been operating in Ethiopia since 2004, working in rural, peri-urban and urban areas in Six regional states: Somali, Oromia, Afar, Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples(SNNP), Amhara, Gambela and the capital city of Addis Ababa. We engage in both development and humanitarian work, and seek to integrate approaches, programs and geographies as much as possible. Our partners include government, academic institutions, development and private sector actors, civil societies and participating public. Mercy Corps has a growing portfolio of programs in Ethiopia that focus on food security; agriculture and livestock market systems development; maternal and child health and nutrition; youth economic productivity; resilience and humanitarian response. In Ethiopia, some of our donors include USAID, SIDA, EU, DFID, and WFP.

Mercy Corps Ethiopia invites motivated and qualified candidates to apply for the following vacant position.

Position Title: Collaboration, Learning, Adapting (CLA) Officer

 Duty Station:  Dire Dawa(Covering Somali Woredas)

 Open Position:  1

 Program I Department Summary

Mercy Corps has been present in Ethiopia since 2004 and acts on behalf of people who have become disenfranchised and poor. We stand with Ethiopia to find and access opportunities, and to be part of lasting and meaningful transformation in the country. Mercy Corps seeks to be influential with government and development actors towards a more resilient country where poverty is tackled through the eyes of those who understand it best This translates into ensuring that the population is financially stable, healthy & nourished, educated & unformed, and that natural resources are accessible, shared and utilized sustainably.

Mercy Corps anticipates a multi-year, multi-million-dollar USAID funded initiative focused on: stimulating increased production, productivity and marketing through more competitive livestock and livestock products markets; increasing communities’ resilience; improving alternative livelihood options through essential skills transfer; improving food security and nutrition* and contributing to the wider knowledge on pastoral development. The program will operate in multiple pastoral regions across Ethiopia.

Mercy Corps is looking for individuals who will have responsibility to support technical teams in targeting, monitoring of activities, performance checking, and outcome monitoring.

General Position Summary

The Collaboration, Learning and Adapting Officer (CLA Officer) will work with RIPA site team. Mercy Corps is looking for individuals who will have responsibility to support technical teams in targeting, monitoring of activities, performance checking, and outcome monitoring.

Essential Job Responsibilities

1.      Support targeting of beneficiaries for project interventions — Working together with the field technical team and government counterparts, the incumbents will participate in the targeting of beneficiaries (including collecting data from said beneficiaries) for the project interventions: Financial Services, Rangeland Management, Climate Information, Job & Employment Creation beneficiaries and other project activities.

2.      The position holder is responsible to upload all approved Concept Notes for the Somali region to agency measurement system (TOLA), ensure that all the monitoring data and evidence are collected, stored on the system

3.      Ensure all necessary documents for program management are properly filed and kept both in hard and soft copy as per the requirement by Mercy Corps project management standards (PM@MC).

4.      Manage monitoring of activities — The incumbents will be responsible for establishing and monitoring beneficiaries (individual and institutional) data base in the aforementioned intervention area, gather pieces of evidence for innovative ways to manage risk, RIPA program development gains & policy level impact, achievement of output & outcome level quantitative and qualitative indicators, and performances of challenges encountered in the overall project activities.

5.      Involved in the development and implementation of Monitoring and Evaluation systems, including indicators, data collection, analysis and reports as required by Mercy Corps, donor and government.

6.      Compile presentations and updates on progress, successes and challenges as required by the managers, donor and government.

7.      Ensure appropriate regular monitoring and timely submission of all necessary reports in line with donor,

Mercy Corps and government reporting schedules and deadlines.

8.      Provide timely updates to program coordinator on progress of program areas

9.      Document and disseminate best practices and lessons learnt.

10.  Develop and maintain effective information database for the project in Somali region operational area

Capacity-Building

11.  Identify and recommend areas for specific training and capacity-building, both for staff and target communities to cluster manager

12.  Outcome monitoring and evaluation — CLA officer will be in charge of collecting baseline data from a sample of beneficiaries and follow up with them post-intervention.

13.  Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission.

14.  Be a team player —RIPA as a complex project requires more efforts to work closely together, communicate regularly and professionally for smooth implementation of activities.

15.  Other duties as assigned by the supervisor (CLA Specialist) and Eastern Cluster Coordinator.

Staff Training and Capacity Building

·        Work closely with CLA and MEL teams to develop and deliver staff/partner trainings, improving capacities in monitoring and evaluation and database management: data collection, entry, verification, and analysis; and other identified needs

·        Follow up on trainings by mentoring staff/partners to develop identified technical skills one-on one

Link M&E Results to Reporting

·        Review or edit data in reports as requested and required

·        Produce analytical summaries: graphs, charts, and tables as requested to fulfil reporting requirements

·        Other duties as assigned and agreed upon

Security

·        Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.

·        Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

Knowledge and Experience:

1.  Bachelor’s Degree in social sciences, statistics, monitoring and evaluation, or related field is required or demonstrated equivalent work experience in the field.

2.      At least three years’ experience in monitoring

3.      Demonstrated experience in reviewing data for quality and accuracy.

4.      Experience writing short technical reports

5.      Previous experience working other international NGOs are strongly preferred

6.      Proficient in tablet-based data collection

7.      Effective English oral and written communication, multi-tasking, organizational, and prioritization skills are necessary

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

Success Factors:

·        Ability to work as part of a team and coordinate with personnel.

·        Conscientious, with excellent judgment

·        Display an entrepreneurial spirit that is both creative and flexible. S/he will combine strong communication skills, creativity, initiative, participatory leadership and tactful decisiveness to assist in the development and implementation of Mercy Corps’ M&E strategy

·        Multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail and strategic vision are essential.

·        S/he must have the confidence, and humility, to work effectively with a large variety of people who will be diverse culturally, economically and in social status

·        S/he must be sensitive to political and cultural nuance and able to consistently apply excellent judgment to a variety of demanding and fast-changing situations

·        Ability to foster solid working relationships with host Government, beneficiary communities, and partner organizations

Strong organizational skills.