MEAL Officer

Title: Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Officer  

Location:  Dimma

Reports to: Area manager

Employment Band- H2

Start of Contract & Duration: 5 Months

Posting date: November 15, 2019 

INTRODUCTION 

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC), an international non-governmental organization (NGO), has been providing relief and development services in the Horn of Africa since 1997. DRC promotes and supports solutions to the problems faced by refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs), and migrants. The organization has offices across the region, and has been operational in Ethiopia since 2009.  With funding from bilateral and multilateral donors, DRC is currently implementing a range of activities across Ethiopia and Djibouti, including WASH and shelter provision, child and youth protection, gender based violence response, awareness-raising of migration risks, protection monitoring of migration routes, and livelihoods support for returning migrants or those at-risk of migration.

OVERALL PURPOSE OF THE ROLE: 

The Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Officer will provide technical support to all projects and oversee all MEAL activities, including assisting project teams in defining indicators, developing data collection tools and data collection methodologies, and leading data assessments and project audits in the Dimma field offices. The Officer will collaborate closely with the Addis Ababa-based MEAL Coordinator, Accountability Officer and program team to ensure compliance with DRC’s MEAL requirements and best practices.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS

Responsibilities:

• Ensure full compliance with DRC’s Minimum Monitoring Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Standards in all projects implemented by the Dimma field office.
• Lead the development of MEAL components of project proposals, including the development of indicators and project-specific MEAL plans. MEAL plans and DIP will be developed in close collaboration with program teams and will be used to populate DRC’s Performance Monitoring Tracker (PMT), which will be used by the program and MEAL teams to provide monthly updates and analysis of progress against indicators. 
• In close collaboration with the Addis Ababa-based MEAL Coordinator and the program team, develop sector-specific data collection tools and ensure their proper use by implementing teams. The position will ensure the timeliness and quality of data collection, and ensure all captured data is managed according to protection information management standards and best practices.
• In collaboration with the MEAL Coordinator, lead field-level assessments, including baseline, mid-term, end-line and post-distribution monitoring surveys.
• Produce monthly analysis reports with updates on the implementation status of all assigned projects. This will entail flagging areas of concern, developing recommendations for corrective actions to share with the Area Manager, implementing teams and MEAL Coordinator, and documenting lessons learned.
• In collaboration with the MEAL Coordinator, facilitate field-level learning events to capture, document and disseminate lessons learned for internal and external purposes.
• Under the guidance of the MEAL Coordinator, conduct internal project audits with an eye to ensuring means of verification are documented and reflect data reported by the implementing teams.
• Identify and conduct MEAL-related capacity building needs and opportunities for DRC’s program staff in the Dimma field office and assume responsibility for facilitating trainings on Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS), and beneficiary feedback and response mechanisms.
• In collaboration with the country-level Accountability Officer, assume responsibility for the implementation of and compliance with DRC Ethiopia and Djibouti’s Beneficiary Feedback and Response Mechanism, and all associated tools and SOPs, in the Dimma field office.
• Coordinate with regional technical lines bureaus and the Administration for Refugees and Returnee Affairs (ARRA) for reporting purposes and during project monitoring exercises and terminal evaluations.
• Provide support in preparing and reviewing reports and verifying consistency between collected data, means of verification, the PMT and donor reports.

Experience and technical competencies: (include years of experience)

• A minimum of 3 years of MEAL experience within the humanitarian or NGO field.
• Demonstrated experience translating log frames and results frameworks into monitoring plans, developing data collection tools and protocols, leading data collection and management process, designing and managing databases, and analyzing data.
• Proven technical skills in monitoring and evaluation and experience with both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis.
• Excellent analytical, presentation, and report writing skills.
• Experience using software applications such as Excel, Access, or statistics software such as SPSS, STATA.
•        Previous experience with electronic or mobile data collection.

EDUCATION:

• University degree in statistics, economics, social sciences or related discipline

LANGUAGE:

• English (fluent)
• Amharic (fluent)
  

All DRC roles require the post-holder to master DRC’s core competencies: 

• Striving for excellence: Focusing on reaching results while ensuring efficient processes.
• Collaborating: Involving relevant parties and encouraging feedback.
• Taking the lead: Taking ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation.
• Communicating: Listening and speaking effectively and honestly.
• Demonstrating integrity: Acting in line with DRC's vision and values