Regional Measurement of Actions Coordinator at International Rescue Committee

IRC Summary:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is among the world’s leading humanitarian relief and development organizations. Since 1933, the IRC has been at the forefront of every major humanitarian initiative to assist people uprooted by war, persecution, or civil conflict. IRC staff go to the toughest places, implement both immediate response and long lasting programs, and conduct the type of applied research and advocacy the aid community needs to continually push itself to find better solutions for people. In all its country programs and in the US, IRC teams partner with local governments and others to achieve outcomes related to people’s health, education, safety, power and economic well-being.

The IRC recognized several years ago that while our focus on impact evaluations and research had put us at the cutting edge among NGOs for assessing contribution to impact, support to country programs on routine monitoring and use of data for decision making still needed to be enhanced. IRC developed a strategy to address these challenges through 2020 that provides a cohesive vision and tactical plan to ensure we generate and use the right data across IRC.

The strategy focused on four pillars:

1) Ensure programs measure and collect the right data

2) Enable IRC to manage the flow of data from field to HQ

3) Build the capacity, processes and resources to conduct measurement activities

4) Ensure data is used to inform decisions across IRC.

IRC is also developing a new Global Strategy which will be launched in October 2020 in which it is expected that measurement and the use of information and evidence will be a key focus. The Regional Measurement Action Coordinator will support the development and the implementation of the new measurement strategy - which will be rooted in the IRC Global Strategy with the goal of strengthening IRC’s ability to use data to understand and improve its results.

Job Overview:

This position sits within the Great Lakes Regional Unit reporting to the Deputy Regional Director with a technical report to the Senior Advisor Measurement Action. It covers four countries Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania.

The main tasks of the position are:

1) to support in-country M&E staff in their efforts to ensure that program data are of high quality and used effectively for decision making and

2) to ensure alignment of measurement vision and priorities between countries and Headquarters

The scope of the job includes both coordination and technical responsibilities contributing directly to the achievement of IRC’s measurement and overall effectiveness goals, particularly those integrated within the individual countries’ Strategic Action Plans. It also includes supporting the regional management in better understanding country and regional performance and in using data to inform decision making.

The selected candidate will be a professional with experience in a variety of operational contexts and able to work across multiple technical areas. She/he will understand the challenges to effective measurement both technically and operationally and be able to collaborate with a diverse group of colleagues to develop and implement a common set of measurement standard guidelines and best practices that can contribute to making the IRC an outcome focused organization. This role will contribute to the implementation, throughout the countries in the region, of key aspects of the measurement strategy and delivery plan.

Major Responsibilities:

•  Provide hands-on technical assistance to support country programs to deliver on their measurement commitments by working closely with in-country measurement staff, country management and headquarters Measurement Unit. This includes:
• Providing support for routine and ad-hoc measurement activities throughout the program cycle
• Supporting the use of standardized indicators within and across countries in the region, leading to meaningful aggregations and potential benchmarking opportunities.
• Brokering between in-country measurement staff and other technical staff across the organization to ensure that country needs and feedback are properly and timely addressed.
• Establishing and following processes and procedures that are conducive to continuous improvements in data quality and support IRC’s management in their efforts to use measurement data for decision making
• Collaborate with country, regional and HQ measurement staff, in the development and implementation, of measurement priorities included in key IRC initiatives such as the Indicator Selection tools, the Annual Statistic, Strategy Action Plans, the Good & Great Standards and the Project Cycle Management initiatives;
•  Actively participate in the Measurement Unit’s development of global tools and approaches, and support deployment of them to country and regional teams.
• Support the establishment of Client Responsiveness Systems, including client satisfaction surveys and the collection and use of routine feedback data in Countries together with technical advisors.
• Support in-country DDPs and senior measurement and learning staff in the hiring, onboarding and continuous professional development of measurement staff.
• Coordinate the M&E of multi-country programs in the region, ensuring consistency of approach is used that enables cross-cutting consolidation, analysis, and reporting to all stakeholders involved.

Key Working Relationships:

• Position reports to: Deputy Regional Director Great Lakes
• Technically report to: Senior Advisor Measurement Action
• Position directly supervises: None
• Technically coordinates: Country M&E and Meal Coordinators, and other measurement staff as needed
• Other Internal and/or external contacts: Country Directors, Deputy Directors of Programs, other Regional Measurement Coordinators, and Technical Advisors, IT team, ICT4P Team, Awards Management Unit, Global Partnerships and Philanthropy, Research, Evaluation and Learning team.

Qualifications

Essential qualifications, skills and experience

• Advanced degree in relevant field such as economics, statistics, international development, public policy, or other social sciences.
• Minimum seven years of experience designing, implementing, and supporting M&E frameworks and results, with extensive experience supporting field-based M&E design and reporting, as well as working with major international donors on M&E related aspects. Extensive experience in developing baseline research, logic models, data collection and analysis, mid-term evaluations, outcome evaluations, and in mentoring and teaching-by-doing other M&E staff.
• Experience with the challenges of effective monitoring in the field, including cultural, gender, and access considerations with the aim of enhancing project learning, quality, and data-driven decision making.
• Proven ability to operate in a complex organization, across functions and projects, on own initiative and collaboratively as part of diverse teams, including project management experience.
• Excellent communication skills, including solid writing skills and the ability to plan for and prepare strategic communications.
• Good understanding of basic ICT principles and the logic of data collection and management systems.
• Strong computer skills: proficiency with MS Office – especially MS Excel. Knowledge of ArcGIS, Kobo ToolBox, CommCare, MS PowerBI, as well as other software used in qualitative and quantitative M&E would be solid assets.
• Willingness and ability to travel up to 40% of time.
• Fluency in English and good working knowledge of French.
• Highly desirable
• Experience with direct program implementation in emergency and low-resource contexts.
• Experience rolling out organizational initiatives, particularly related to monitoring and evaluation.
• The chosen candidate will be a proven team player able to work with multi-cultural teams and under tight deadlines.

Working Environment: Standard office environment

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability and Equality. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.