Regional Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Advisor at Mercy Corps

Essential Job Responsibilities

(20%) Participate in roll-out and monitoring of agency MEL and TOLA guidance including:

• Develop workplan for FY21
• Promote HQ MEL policy
• Develop and manage MEL dashboard to capture regional MEL needs, budgets and planning
• Review Tola Readiness Assessments
• Conduct regional webinars on topics related to understanding and implementing the MEL guidance and Tola
• When possible co-facilitate Tola trainings for program staff.

(50%) Assess and improve MEL and program performance related practices in each country

• Conduct MEL gap assessments covering specific M&E activities and practices, and a review of tools and documents.
• Based on assessment findings, begin development of a long-term rollout/training plan and strategy.
• Help country teams develop individualized Action Plans to improve data management practices
• Support country teams both remotely and in country on implementing their Action Plan, topics ranging from program logic review, data collection, data quality assessments, data management and analysis
• Visit country field M&E teams to conduct MEL assessments and develop support plans
• Coordinate MEL support as needed with HQ teams like Technical Support Unit (TSU), PaQ and Tech for Development (TD)
• Organize and manage a regional Community of Practice (CoP)
• Focus on MEL and Technology

(25%) Work with MEL staff, program management and HQ support teams on building the culture of adaptive management, evidence and learning in each country in the region, and supporting better overall performance of the country team in these areas.

• Conduct initial orientations and on-boarding of new program staff (esp. M&E, program managers, and country leaders) – promote tools like DIG, M&E tools, and Program Management @ Mercy Corps ([email protected]) minimum standards.
• Participate in regional trainings and use materials from these trainings to conduct follow-up sessions within the region as needed
• Coordinate with PaQ and T4D to ensure tech support is coordinated
• Work closely with/support the PaQ Advisor to train [email protected] facilitators, conduct [email protected] gap analysis and provide backstop for in-country trainings, and support in specific [email protected] topics as needed
• Engage with Country Directors and Regional Program Directors on leadership issues related to monitoring and evaluation and the relationship between M&E and program quality, evidence and impact – including use of indicators, learning, and evaluation methodologies.
• Conduct program quality reviews (implementation quality, meeting of minimum standards, quality of SADD and analysis).
• Help country teams make use of M&E data and contribute to evidence-based learning at all levels.

(5%) Learning.

• Spend time on best practice-oriented learning activities to help ensure that best practices in design, monitoring and evaluation, as well as NGO community-wide initiatives, are incorporated into the ongoing work of the team.

Organizational Learning

• As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Accountability to program participants

• 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.

Works Directly With: Technical Director—Africa Region, Country leadership teams, Country MEL Managers, HQ technical support teams, regional leadership and technical teams and global PaQ team

Knowledge and Experience

• BA in international development or other relevant social science (MA preferred).
• 3 to 5 years of experience working in international relief and development programs, with at least 2 years focused on providing M&E technical support to field programs, and at least four years working overseas preferred.
• Demonstrated skill with program design, including assessments, proposal development, indicator selection and M&E planning.
• Demonstrated skill and experience with facilitating program design processes, logical frameworks, theories of change, and overall program logic.
• Experienced in training and capacity-building (in person and remotely) and fostering a collaborative relationship with field practitioners and management,
• Experience with data analysis and presentation using Excel, Access, and advanced data analysis and visualization packages, as well as mobile data collection platforms. Additional software and technical skills (databases, GIS, and statistical packages) preferred.
• Experience designing practical and effective monitoring systems, including data and database management systems.
• Strong communication skills; able to work remotely with a geographically dispersed team.
• Fluent in English and preferred French language skills.