Senior Manager, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEAL) at Church World Service

Primary Purpose

The Senior Manager, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) provides operational leadership and technical expertise to teams overseeing the goals and objectives that govern RSC Africa activities. This role supports evidence-based contextual analysis, strategic planning and implementation, decision making, performance management and risk management for learning and improvement. The Senior Manager, MEAL will build the capacity of the RSC through strengthening learning and knowledge sharing across RSC Africa, with CWS leadership, implementing partners, and the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (BPRM) at the U.S. State Department. They will also play a role in project development, including the preparation and management of the MEAL budget, and project design, overseeing the team that develops Cultural Orientation curricula in coordination with other RSCs, domestic Resettlement Agencies, and the Cultural Orientation Resource Exchange (CORE).

Contracting for this position is subject to budgeting approval.

Key relationships:

Internal to CWS

• RSC Director
• Deputy Director, Program Implementation
• Deputy Director, Program Development and Quality
• Deputy Director of Administration
• Associate Director, Program Compliance
• Associate Director, Strategic Planning
• Associate Director of RSC Programs - East and Southern Africa
• Associate Director of RSC Programs - Great Lakes, West and Central Africa
• Senior Manager, Data Analytics and Visualization
• Associate Director for Refugee Processing

External

• BPRM Program Officer
• Refugee Coordinator
• UNHCR
• IOM
• RPC
• Resettlement Agencies
• CORE

Working Environment

• Office and/work from home environment.
• Periodic travel to the field as may be required.

Responsibilities

Leadership and Management (35%)

• Participate in and provide input in strategic planning conversations to achieve RSC Program goals.
• Engage in effective team management as per CWS expectations, including: ensure policies, procedures, and culture are understood and abided by; provide clear expectations, managing performance, yearly performance evaluations, and coordinating proper use of benefits; providing coaching and corrective action plans as needed; effective communication; maintaining accurate job descriptions; ensuring a safe and professional work place; and promoting safe-space, open door, and escalation policies.
• Coordinate programmatic inputs to the annual RSC budgeting process by working with Program Operations teams to anticipate staffing and resource needs based on PRM processing targets; monitors spending throughout the year against budget targets
• Monitor effective and appropriate use of resources across the department within the approved budget.
• Determine and apply cost saving measures to ensure program sustainability.

Program Administration (25%)

• Oversee development of work plans, their implementation and reporting for the MEAL and CDE teams reporting to this position.
• Provide support to RSC departments and teams in setting clear SMART goals, objectives, and indicators. Ensure the MEAL team provides technical support to the design of methodologies and tools that will ensure the availability of clear and accurate information across the RSC.
• Track progress towards achievement of established annual goals and objectives and ensure accurate, timely reporting to CWS and RSC leadership.
• Coordinate the quarterly process of submitting Performance Progress Reports to BPRM, including narrative information as well as tracking of required Objectives and Indicators,
• Establish and maintain effective communication systems for reporting, including a clear matrix of all reports with timelines, assigned staff, and intended recipients.
• Coordinate the deployment of staff and resources to ensure timely and efficient work output, in coordination with Programs Manage

Representation (15%)

• Maintain effective relationships with RSC Africa/USRAP partners, including PRM, USCIS, IOM, UNHCR, RPC and domestic Resettlement Agencies.
• Ensure partner communication is professional, timely and proactive and meets all MEAL requirements.
• Occasionally meet with PRM/USRAP partners and represent CWS/RSC Africa on processing or other programmatic matters.
• Ensure staff are professional when representing CWS/RSC Africa to refugees, partners, the funder and colleagues.

Compliance (10%)

• Ensure all refugee case processing functions within the team strictly adhere to DOS/BPRM, USCIS, RPC, CWS and RSC Africa policies, guidelines and procedures.
• Develop, implement, and disseminate internal standard operating procedures (SOPs) for reporting functions at the RSC.
• Provide input on effects of external policy updates on the department’s internal SOPs and workflow and implement changes due to these updates.
• Ensure timely and accurate reporting of suspected fraud, malfeasance, and data breaches and report any identified areas of significant compliance risk for the RSC Africa program.
• Coordinate regular departmental process reviews to compare requirements vs. current processing and outputs and implement process changes based on the outcome of the process reviews.
• Conduct QCs and job function observations of staff, and oversee team QC efforts, to ensure compliance is met and identify areas of improvement or training needs. Provide feedback to staff and/or other departments.

Data Management and Analysis (10%)

• Work closely with the Senior Manager, Data Analytics & Visualization, Data Integrity Manager and team to develop reports which monitor staff efficiency and accuracy of data entry for overall quality control and improvement.
• Ensure quantitative data provided in reports to stakeholders is accurate, represents the appropriate time period, and is not duplicative of or inconsistent with quantitative information provided in narrative form. 

Additional Roles and Responsibilities (5%)

• US passport holders may be required to facilitate DNA collection.
• Any other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Experience:

• 8 years of relevant paid work experience is required.
• 3 years of direct supervisory experience, including at least 1 year supervising managers with direct reports, with responsibility for hiring, evaluating performance, administering corrective action and directing day-to-day work, is required.
• Demonstrated management experience, to include administrative and program management, with a refugee serving/processing agency(s) preferred.
• Previous experience with USRAP preferred.

Skills:

• Strong analytical skills and excellent report-generation skills with the ability to understand, process and document information for a variety of audiences.
• Strong supervisory skills and understanding of performance management systems.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills.
• Advanced computer knowledge, specifically with MS Access, MS Outlook, MS Excel and other statistical analysis programs.
• Strong English communication skills, both oral and written.

Education & Certifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in a related field required, or four (4) years of paid work experience in lieu of a Bachelor’s Degree
• Master’s Degree preferred.

Abilities:

• Work and make decisions independently and contribute to overall operations of RSC Africa at management levels;
• Maintain a high performance standard with attention to detail, completing tasks within set timeframes;
• Exercise good judgement and seek guidance as appropriate when confronted with unanticipated problems;
• Deal effectively and courteously with a large number of associates, outside agencies, refugees and members of the general public;
• Manage large and diverse workload under pressure with competing priorities.
• Maintain the integrity of official records;
• Analyze and solve complex problems and make sound decisions;
• Work with minimal supervision;
• Be flexible with changing of daily duties as needed;
• Actively participate in the implementation of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP).