Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning Officer (MEAL Officer)

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

                                                      For

Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning Officer (MEAL Officer)

Country Office: Ethiopia

Work Base: Tigray

Availability: As Soon As Possible

Salary Scale: EMS07 Level 01 -  $849 USD

Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply for this position.

About Action Against Hunger

Action Against Hunger-USA is a global humanitarian organization that takes decisive action against the causes and effects of hunger. We save the lives of malnourished children and we enable entire communities to be free from hunger. With more than 8,000 staff in over 50 countries, our programs reached 17 million people in 2019.

About the Country Program in Ethiopia

Action Against Hunger has been operational in Ethiopia since 1984 responding to both chronic and acute needs through a multi-sectoral strategy where nutrition, Food Security and Livelihoods, WASH, and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support activities are integrated to have a meaningful impact on people’s resilience.

Action Against Hunger currently operates in 5 different regions (Oromia, Somali, Amhara, Benishangul Gumuz, and Gambella) with a portfolio of 20m USD/year of emergency, resilience building, research, and innovation programs. We have a country team of more than 800 staff in 17 regional and satellite offices. 

General Assignments / Scope of the Role:

 The Senior MEAL Officer is primarily responsible for the overall day-to-day MEAL management of BHA/DART CVA project. He/she also charged significant level of effort to oversee the essential MEAL functions of the projects in Tigray base. With the proper guidance and instruction of the MEAL manager, he/she is required to ensure proper implementation of the monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning function of the project, monitor day to day activities in the field, and oversee proper delivery of internal progress updates, donor and partner reports. Furthermore, he/she will expected to roll out the MEAL standards and tools effectively in the project area and assist all type of data collection, analysis and reporting endeavours. He/she will monitor the quality program implementation, ensure adequate beneficiary verification, and ensure timely execution of PDM and other regular M&E activities along with partners and stakeholders. The Senior MEAL Officer will engage in developing project progress tracking tool, lead monitoring assessment and produce reports that may be required.

Purpose

• To contribute to the progress of the country's MEAL system towards its strategic goals through developing and maintaining an effective MEAL system in Tigray base.
• To provide MEAL support to project implementation and to lead the process of MEAL, create conditions so that learning is feed into program decision-making.
•  To contribute to the development of essential MEAL system and function to the dedicated project 
• To develop systems for documentation of learnings and best practices, to organize and share internally and with external stakeholders

Engagement

Internal

 MEAL Manager: hierarchical relationship + exchange of information MEAL Technical Advisor: exchange of information + technical support

External

 Local governmental and non-governmental partners: exchange of information, coordination, training, supervision, influence on the choice of technical options Local authorities: exchange of information, participation in regular M&E activities Local representatives of international aid organizations: exchange of information

Delivery

Reporting

• Develop and compile monthly APR reports
• Monthly Accountability Report
• Monthly MEAL Activity Report
• Donor and stakeholder reports
• Internal and external evaluation reports
•  Learning documents and success stories

Ad-hoc reports (assessments reports, newsletters, etc.

Essential job duties

Objective 1: Implement the monitoring and evaluation activities at the field:

The Senior MEAL Officer is responsible for:

• Develop and implement MEAL plan for each project;
• Ensure that MEAL standards of the program and the mission are being implemented and respected;
• Ensure the proper follow up,  compilation, and review of Activity Progress Reports;
• Undertake baseline and end-line survey’s with high quality in data collection, analysis, and reporting;
• Ensure timely undertakings in assessments like PDMs, exit interviews, and verification reports, etc.;
• Lead the annual need assessment exercise of the mission,
• Undertake continuous field monitoring visits and draft reports on the visits, including actions taken and recommendations;
• Review and compile field level donor and government reports for consistency with the MEAL standards;

Objective 2: Effectively implement the accountability system:

The Senior MEAL Officer is responsible for:

• Establishing context-based functional accountability system for the base;
• Ensure clear, timely, and relevant project information are shared for communities and beneficiaries;
• Ensuring project beneficiaries know about the project activities, their entitlements, targeting criteria, target selection criteria, and feedback and complaint mechanism;
• Ensuring communities and project beneficiaries actively participated throughout the project period;
• Establishing contextual Community Feedback and Complaint and Response Mechanism (CFRM);
• Ensuring feedbacks are collected, recorded in a database, reviewed timely, track and coordinate with program managers for a timely response; and compile the monthly accountability reports;
• Ensuring Action Against Hunger’s Community Feedback and Complaint mechanism minimum standards implemented;
• Support the MEAL TA’s and the mission in roll outing MEAL and accountability guideline;
• Ensuring the voices and concerns of the community and beneficiaries we serve are heard through regular individual and community level assessment (FGD and KII);
• Continuously engage with program team on the effective implementation of CFCRM;

Objective 3: Effectively and efficiently, utilize communication, coordination, and partnerships:

The Senior MEAL Officer is responsible for:

Capacity

• Actively consult with others to ensure you understand their needs or goals;
• Consulting with the PM to determine support needs in field-level MEAL;
• Support the field team in quality data management;
• Support the field team on analytical tools and methodologies;

Communication and partnerships

• Make complex things simple for the benefit of others;
• Actively listen and question to check your understanding and draw out others when they are not expressing themselves clearly or seem to be holding back;
• Be sensitive to what others may be feeling, based on what they say, how they say it and their non-verbal behavior, adapting your style and approach to fit;
• Address difficult issues when they arise, being honest and open;
• Maintain on-going relationships with individuals and contacts through networks, based on mutual rapport and respect;
• Take on different work when necessary to achieve a team or organizational goal;
• Listen to and take on board fresh perspectives and views even if you initially disagree with them;

Steward resources

• Implement ways to reduce the inefficient use of resources or pass the ideas on to someone who can make them happen;
• Estimate the resources needed to achieve your own work plans or objectives and to deliver them in the most efficient and cost-effective way;
• Set and communicate realistic timelines for achieving tasks, working out how best to adapt as priorities change or unforeseen circumstances arise;

Strive for improvement

• Constructively challenge existing practice;
• Seek better ways of doing things, taking into account the possible implications;
• Make positive suggestions on a way forward when faced with challenges even if these fall outside own scope of work;
• Look inside and outside Action Against Hunger for new ideas and evaluate them for own work;

Objective 4: Reporting

The Senior MEAL Officer is responsible for:

• Take an active role in ensuring timely and proper program reporting of the base;
• Summarize program and donor reports, internal and external evaluation reports, learning documents and case studies, ad-hoc reports, and provide inputs where necessary.
• Take an active role in the analysis of program achievements during donor and other reporting, together with the Program Managers and Field Coordinator

Objective 5: Learning:

The Senior MEAL Officer is responsible for:

• Facilitate experience shared and review meetings at the field level between sectors;
• Establish a system for gathering, organizing, documenting, and sharing of learnings and best practices;
• Producing success stories and share for learning and program implementation improvement;
• Document and share best practices and learnings through publications, web sharing, and other means within the mission;

Supervisory Responsibilities

N/A

I.                    Gender Equality Commitments  

• Foster an environment that supports the values of women and men, and equal access to information.
• Provide a work environment where women and men must be evaluated and promoted based on their skills and performance.
• Respect beneficiaries’ women, men, children (boys and girls) regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion. race, color, ancestry, national origin, age, or marital status. 
• Value and respect all cultures. 

II.                  Fiscal Responsibility

• N/A

III.                Physical Demands

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to sit for long periods and to concentrate on work, including typing, and turn out heavy volumes of work accurately, within short time frames under stressful situations in the context of a moderately noisy office with many interruptions. Must be able to proofread own work accurately so that only minor corrections are needed on an infrequent basis.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

IV.               Working Conditions, Travel, and Environment

The duties of the job require regular job attendance at least five days per week. Must be available to work outside normal office hours or on the weekends as required and in line with Labor Law.

Must be able to travel as required for standard domestic and international business purposes. While performing the duties of this job in the field, the employee may be exposed to precarious settings under high-security risks and/or very basic living conditions and outside weather conditions, as well as infectious diseases. 

Required Qualifications and Professional Experience

•  Bachelor’s degree in humanitarian affairs, international development, public health, epidemiology, statistics, economics, or other social/developmental sciences
• At least 3 years of proven experience in the Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Accountability of humanitarian or development programs
• Demonstrated knowledge of M&E concepts and international humanitarian quality standards
• Experience with mobile data collection (preferred)
• Fluency in English and local language (both written and spoken skills)
• Knowledge of the local language is mandatory.

 Required Skills & Competencies

Essential

• Professional, motivated, open, creative, mature, responsible, flexible, and culturally sensitive
• Excellent communication, writing, and analytical skills
• Proven ability to translate evaluated results into learning strategies
• Experience in monitoring and evaluating  donor (i.e. ECHO, SIDA, PRM, EHF) funded activities
• Skills in statistical and other software (MS Excel, SPSS, SPHINX, STATA, EPI Info, ENA for SMART, GIS, etc.)
• Microsoft Office Skills (Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Word)
• Experience in humanitarian M&E
• Experience in designing and leading internal and external evaluation
• Experience designing and leading capacity building and training for national teams
• Familiarity with Management Information Systems (Databases) and GIS
• Knowledge of  project cycle management
• Commitment to ACF mission, values, and policy

PREFERRED

• Previous experience with nutrition, WASH, food security, and livelihoods programming.
• Previous experience with cash-based interventions (i.e. cash for work, cash transfers, or cash vouchers)
• Experience with mobile data collection processes and platforms
• Experience with GIS and spatial analysis
• Familiarity with Management Information Systems (Databases)
• Languages: (indicate fluency level)
• English (fluent)
• Knowledge of local language (Desirable)