SENIOR MONITORING EVALUATION AND LEARNING (MEL) MANAGER

Job by Mercy Corps Ethiopia

Category: Business Development, Development and Project Management, Economics

Location: Addis Ababa 

Career Level: Managerial Level (Manager, Supervisor, Director)

Employment Type: Full time

Job Description

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible.In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.

The program

The Resilience in Pastoral Areas (RIPA) Activity is a five-year USAID, Feed the Future funded project aimed at improving the resilience capacities of households, markets, and governance institutions across the Somali, Afar and Oromia regions, collectively contributing to enhanced food security and inclusive economic growth for over 129,129 households, while estimating that at least 50% of these households, or 64,565, benefit from a comprehensive set of interventions. Mercy Corps, in partnership with CARE, will implement an integrated program to address underlying causes of vulnerability to shocks and stresses.

RIPA’s programming is integrated across four components (with a fifth Crisis Modifier component). RIPA has developed a coordinated and sequenced implementation plan that will ensure most households in its targeted woredas will receive a comprehensive package of interventions by the end of the program period, building even greater resilience in these vulnerable regions. Mercy Corps is a global lead in Resilience thinking and implementation, and RIPA is a flagship resilience program for the agency globally.

Position Title: SENIOR MONITORING EVALUATION AND LEARNING (MEL) MANAGER

Duty Station: Addis Ababa

Open Position:  1

General Position Summary

The Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager is a key position in Mercy Corps and specifically pivotal to implementation of the RIPA CLA approaches, with a specific focus on resilience measurement and resilience learning. The Senior MEL Manager will work across component teams and with partners to ensure resilience building efforts and their impact are effectively measured as well as support the resilience learning agenda. In coordination with the CLA Team lead, she/he will be responsible for developing, coordinating, maintaining, and constantly improving the program wide CLA and M&E systems using relevant knowledge and evidence to guide program strategy, support adaptive management and continuous improvement, and advance learning as well as implementing an internal CLA capacity building strategy that trains and mentors staff and promotes a culture of learning. It is expected that this role will provide additional technical support to a complementary program to RIPA such as Gender and Conflict-sensitive Approaches to Peacebuilding in Ethiopia (GCAP).

Essential Job Responsibilities

Strategy & Design

Provide strategic leadership to field CLA team in developing individual program level CLA strategies that promotes learning, and improve program quality and performance, as well as feed into the broader RIPA CLA/M&E system and approaches, in close coordination with regional program coordinators and sector specialists.

Contribute to implementation of the strategic CLA vision and detailed implementation plan for the RIPA Activity, with an emphasis on user-centered approaches for engaging with and building buy-in among key program stakeholders on resilience measurement and learning.

Designing and providing leadership on activities for building data literacy skills important for interpreting and acting on intervention and overall program-level data

Contributing to the development of decision support tools and analytical products to integrate evidence into program design, monitoring, evaluation, and management

Collaborate with the CLA Lead and technical component leads to refine the program Theory of Change based on learning from literature review and ongoing program assessments.

The MEL Manager will play a strategic role in resilience monitoring and documentation – such as Market Systems Resilience (MSR) impacts, tracking and documenting crowding-in of market systems actors, annual Recurrent Monitoring Survey (RMS)/participants-based survey, annual sector focused analyses, intervention learning briefs, quantifying resilience storytelling (scale, and depth), quantifying the program integration approach

Qualitative monitoring to supplement the routine monitoring data reporting.

Collaborate with technical leads across the program and build processes for regular feedback loops to ensure integrated program delivery and adaptive management.

Technical Support

• Implement CLA/M&E systems with utility and program quality in mind, providing program team real time information that can steer program implementation as well as informing regional level stakeholders and strategic program direction and that helps strategize future program interventions.
• Build the capacity of all relevant team members to develop and maintain an excellent M&E system, including training on TolaData (digital tool developed by MC) and CommCare (ODK-based mobile data collection tool) and the periodic reflection and analysis of program monitoring data to disseminate learning
• Update and implement the Activity Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan (A-MELP) inclusive of IPTT with indicators, pivot log, measurement details and annual targets.
• Update indicator performance tracking in Mercy Corps’ TolaData platform and submitting annual indicator data on USAID DIS system.
• Facilitating learning events and bilateral sessions with key program stakeholders (particularly at regional level) using evidence to draw insights on and estimate individual contribution to collective resilience outcomes
• Manage the Learning and Research Plan to track and document evidence around critical learning questions and coordinate learning activities toward answering them.
• Work with CLA Lead and Technical component Leads to track learning questions emerging from assessments and other learning activities
• Support with quality documentation through comprehensive quality writing, and synthesizing evidence to generate knowledge and learning products
• Work with the CLA Lead to support on all program reporting needs including, consolidating program data for the automated IPTS system, reviewing, and writing quarterly and annual reports

Team Management

• Develop the capacity of the team, deepen understanding of their roles and assist with career development.
• Assist team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance & reach objectives.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on ones and performance reviews.
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Play an active role in hiring, orienting and leading team members as necessary.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives. 

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact. 

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

GEDSI (GENDER, EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND SOCIAL INCLUSION)

• Understand and aware GDI related priorities of the country office and contribute for the

realization of priorities (continually work to understand and be aware of the gender diversity and inclusion priorities of the country office and contribute in the execution)

• Promote gender equal and inclusive workplace culture in a day-to-day interaction with a team member, partners and program participants.

Security

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.

• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

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.

Safeguarding & Ethics

• Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

Job Requirements

Knowledge and Experience

• BA/S degree in development studies, research methods, statistics, economics, social sciences, project management or other relevant field required
• Five (5) years of active work experience in emergency and development programming required with the proven use of program technology
• Experience with theoretical and practical background in M&E and skilled in participatory qualitative and quantitative M&E methodologies and techniques preferred
• Experience with data management including the ability to structure and collate data sets for ease of analysis preferred
• Proven experience with systems thinking or systems approaches to programming
• Proven experience developing iterative learning systems or ‘feedback loops’ within development programs or organizational learning contexts
• Knowledge of resilience in development programs a plus
• Excellent computer skills (especially Microsoft office applications) and ability to use information technology as a tool and resource
• Demonstrated experience in training and capacity building across diverse teams and partners
• Excellent project management, time management, and organizational skills. Multi-tasking skills and ability to work under pressure
• Strong writing, editing, public speaking skill and good leadership skills
• Ability to summarize and simplify complex information and communicate it to the targeted groups
• Excellent stakeholder management skills
• Experience of working on USAID programs preferred.
• Previous experience living and working in challenging or insecure
• Strong command of English verbal and written skills
• Knowledge of local dialects is preferred.

Success Factors

The ideal candidate will work as an integral part of the CLA/M&E technical assistance team to ensure that all CLA technical support to program for adaptive learning is properly integrated throughout the course of program implementation. S/he will be a self-starter who can work independently or in a team setting, take initiative in tasks and self-learning, and be proactive in communication while forging productive relationships with colleagues throughout the agency. S/he must have a deep interest in Mercy Corps’ programs and a commitment to the goals of the organization. S/he needs to be able to prioritize, multi-task and organize many urgent tasks, often under intense deadline pressure. S/he will demonstrate creativity and flexibility, as well as a proven ability to learn quickly and be accountable for results. Even temperament and a good sense of humor appreciated.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in the capital city Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and it requires up to 30%-50% travel to field offices in RIPA program areas (Oromia, Afar and Somali regions).  Air travel is necessary to get to some field locations. Mobile phones services are widely available. Internet is available in all Mercy Corps offices with some inconsistencies in the most remote sites.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a short-term assignment. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps’ policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision.  Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment.

How to Apply

All interested candidates are encouraged to apply for the position advertised. All applications must be submitted electronically including a CV, three references, and all relevant official documents.

Only candidates that are short-listed will be acknowledged and called for interviews.

 “Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer promoting gender, equity, and    diversity. Qualified female and young candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. We are committed to empower women and youth.”

 DEADLINE FOR ALL APPLICATIONS: 27 July 2023/ 4:00 PM