Roving Emergency MEAL Officer – International Rescue Committee – IRC

BACKGROUND: The International Rescue Committee, one of the world’s largest humanitarian international NGOs, provides relief, rehabilitation and development support to vulnerable people and communities over 30 countries. We began work in Ethiopia in 2000 in response to severe drought in Ethiopia’s Somali region and are currently providing assistance to Ethiopians and refugees in six regions in Ethiopia, implementing emergency and development programs in health, water and sanitation, economic recovery and development (ERD), women’s protection and empowerment, education, child protection, and multi-sectoral emergency response.

Job Overview/Summary:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is seeking dynamic, analytical, and highly motivated individuals for the position of Roving MEAL Officer to be based in the IRC’s Country Office. The ideal candidate should have experience in NGO in the area of program/project Monitoring and evaluation accountability and learning (e.g. design, management, monitoring, evaluation, and client responsiveness mechanisms etc..) and has concrete experience with monitoring and evaluation, and tracking systems/tools, M&E software and processes; and setting client responsiveness mechanism in emergency, collect and respond for client’s feedback and compliant timely. The MEAL Officer contributes to the overall program quality through the coordination, and implementation of enhanced monitoring and evaluation system, accountability, and learning strategies. The emphasis is supporting Addis based sectoral and field-based MEAL staffs on MEAL tasks by providing direct supports where there are demanding MEAL activities. This position is based in Addis Ababa Emergency Rapid Response Unit but required to have frequent travels (75%) to the field-offices and intervention areas/refugee camps to provide technical supports. The Roving Emergency MEAL Officer will report to the ERR MEAL Manager and Senior CR manager (Management In Partnership (MIP) arrangement); majorly to facilitate the implementation of key MEAL activities like (Distribution tracking, Distribution monitoring, Post Distribution Monitoring, Feedback collection and tracking, and learning documentation etc.) and collaborate with partnership manager for direct and sub grant monitoring with ERR team and partnership team. The position holder will be in the forefront line to be deployed to a place where there is onset of emergency in the country and whenever MEAL support is needed in the Field offices.

Responsibilities: –

Monitoring and Evaluation Systems

• Support the ERR MEAL Manager in the project MEAL plans preparation of Emergency Rapid Response (ERR) grants.
• Support the ERR MEAL Manager in data collection, collation, synthesis, analysis and interpretation.
• Develop and/or update M&E tools, databases, and monthly reporting formats in close consultation with ERR MEAL Manager.
• Support Programs in assessments and surveys, mobile data collection; using KoBo Collect, Commcare, and the IRC apps to collect and analyze data.
• Support Field Office MEAL team in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning activities especially where there are high demands during times of Distributions and Surveys.
• Support the partnership unit in monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning activities especially related to sub grants activities funded by ERM /ECHO.
• Conduct regular data quality reviews against the 3 Cs “Completeness, Accuracy, Consistency” and sample projects for data quality audits as relevant and provide recommendation for the MEAL team
• Provide support on data collection, quality assurance, management, and storage.

Client Responsiveness (Accountability)

• Prepare/Update/Review Feedback Plans and establish appropriate and preferred feedback channels for emergency grants and projects in coordination with the senior Client Responsiveness Manager, ERR MEAL Manager and field-based MEAL staff if applicable.
• Lead and coordinate processes to collect, review and respond to client feedback at the provincial level.
• Set up feedback mechanisms to collect and respond to client feedback – both proactive and reactive and regularly promoted through different media and clients’ feedback is regularly collected, analyzed and responded to in timely manner.
• Organize regular FGDs and meetings with different stakeholders to solicit feedback on IRC’s work.
• During distributions, establish a help desk/information table for the community members to answer client’s comments/questions. After the distribution, prepare help desk reports on the distribution.
• Prepare client responsiveness reports based on consolidated analysis of client feedback recorded via proactive and reactive channels, to be discussed at field meetings, project review meetings for analysis and decision making at the provincial level.
• Ensure the utilization of monthly CR report and dashboard are regularly checked by emergency team in field project intervention location and client feedbacks are taken into account for future programing.
• Works closely with the Sr CR Manager in planning and conducting Post Distribution Monitoring Surveys and Exit Interviews.

Assessment, Learning, and Documentation

• Ensure relevant, timely, and quality support on assessments, surveys, and internal baseline/evaluations, i.e., support in developing the survey tools, digital data applications, data analysis, and report writing.
• Organize and attend semi-annual meetings with the senior MEAL Manager, MEAL Managers, and the Senior MEAL Coordinator on project monitoring and learning updates, achievements, challenges.
• Provide documentation and dissemination of key findings stemming from monitoring, assessment, evaluation, and other learning activities.
• Track and ensure organized, comprehensive electronic filing of lessons and validated findings/analyses from baseline and evaluations.

Capacity Building

·         Support the ERR MEAL Manager in capacity building of IRC and partner staffs.

·         Provide technical capacity building to field-based program team.

Position requirements

Education:

• Minimum of bachelor’s degree in development studies, social sciences, Statistics, Economics and/or other relevant fields with at least three years of relevant professional work experience.

Work Experience:

• Minimum of 3 years of proven experience with the first degree and 2 years of relevant experience for postgraduate degree holders preferably in an international NGO, in a similar role/with similar responsibilities.
• Demonstrated understanding of direct monitoring and evaluation experience, specifically in the humanitarian and development context.
• Proven experience developing tools and systems for, and building capacity of others in skills related to, program tracking and documentation.
• Knowledge of monitoring and evaluation methodologies, including logical models, conceptual frameworks, and assessment/evaluation.
• Proven experience of implementing client complaint and feedback mechanisms.
• High proficiency in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.
• Preferred knowledge of mobile data collection tools such as Kobo Collect or Commcare.
• Familiarity with information management systems and analysis software is a plus.
• Effective, high-quality communication, writing, and interpersonal skills are crucial.

Personal specifications:

• Ability to work under pressure, long work hours, and high workload.
• Ability to independently coordinate work and prioritize tasks.
• Experience in Emergency Settings
• Self-motivated, honest, highly responsible, and punctual.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• Applicants, and especially women, having experience in a refugee setting are encouraged to apply

Time frame

The length of the posting is for one year initially but could be extended, contingent upon satisfactory performance and funding.