Monitoring, Evaluation And Learning Officer - Intaj Program

DISCLAIMER It is mandatory for applicants to mention the job title in the subject of their email Applicants who do not will be disregarded PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY Working in Lebanon since 1993, Mercy Corps has been running community development programs focused on promoting economic development and increased opportunity for disadvantaged communities, while responding to emergencies as they have emerged. The program portfolio has expanded in response to the massive refugee influx from Syria.  To date, more than one and a half million refugees have fled to Lebanon.  As numbers have continued to increase, humanitarian conditions are deteriorating.  The burden on host communities and the financial and emotional stress on refugees and their hosts are tremendous. Mercy Corps is responding to these needs by addressing urgent basic needs, child protection as well as the psychosocial impact of the conflict and displacement.  At the same time, Mercy Corps’ programmatic focus is on mitigating social tensions between hosts and refugees, particularly over economic resources, by addressing both livelihood opportunities, conflict mitigation capacity and local government capacity. The Mercy Corps Lebanon team consists of over 180 staff working across five offices throughout Mount Lebanon, South Lebanon, Tripoli and the Bekaa Valley. With funding from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), Mercy Corps has launched a two-year programme to implement economic development strategies that are potentially scalable and transferrable. The program, Improved Networks, Training and Jobs (INTAJ) in Lebanon, aims at improving the stability and resiliency in target communities in the North of Lebanon and the Beqaa through reduced unemployment and increased income for businesses with the following core activities: Support demand-driven, practical skills training and workforce-skills development for individuals. Offer small and medium enterprise (SMEs) specialized technical assistance, limited in-kind grants and linkages to existing business support services to lower risks and strengthen the ability of companies to grow their workforce. Improve efficiency and quality of solid waste management and recycling (SWM/R) value chain by building new market-driven relationships and incentivizing further investments in upgrading the value chain. GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY Working under the direction of the Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Officer is expected to contribute to the quality assurance of the INTAJ program in Lebanon. S/he will contribute to the monitoring and evaluation functions related to tracking project progress and quality, collecting useful, timely and actionable information for the Coordinator and decision-makers, and contribute to the frequent review, reflection and key learning process to improve performance. The MEL Officer will work with the INTAJ MEL team to manage the quality of data captured, maintain database systems across projects, and analyze data for reporting purposes. The MEL Officer is responsible for supporting Mercy Corps staff to regularly collect, enter, verify, and analyze data and work with the MEL team to make timely database adjustments to measure the impact of the program and to help ensure monitoring and evaluation data is accurately incorporated into all organizational reports and information products. ESSENTIAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES DATABASE MANAGEMENT AND INNOVATION Understand, maintain and innovate a system database that improves Mercy Corps’ ability to inform program implementation, analyze data, and represent impact to key stakeholders; Ensure all relevant program staff are able to utilize the database to analyze program information and results; Design, adapt and maintain the database in conjunction with the MEL team to match strategic program or implementation changes; Provide training in use of data management and analysis tools, including ODK Collect, Google Fusion Tables, and MS Office products, to team members; Advise the program teams, MEL Unit and management team on how the database systems need to be maintained and managed to ensure maximum flexibility with growing programs; Review data being collected in order to locate and fix problems with data entry or integrity; Document database contents, protocols and update manuals for smooth functioning of the data management system; Manage regular synchronizations of data; Troubleshoot front and back end issues with the database, including any synchronization issues with field-level data entry; Develop new databases, as necessary, and find ways to integrate information from other databases to support better organizational utilization of data. MONITORING AND EVALUATION Work with Project teams and M&E field teams to integrate M&E into ongoing project planning and implementation systems and ensure adherence to Mercy Corps M&E minimum standards; Assist with the development of appropriate monitoring, tracking and reporting systems, tools and templates that enhance monitoring of project outputs and quality, generate quality evidence on project impact and promote and ensure use of data for decision-making processes; Assist MEL Officers to develop and promote the use of standard indicators, tools and forms (as appropriate) and M&E practices across the project and coordinate the collection of information required for country-level management; Coordinate assessments and evaluations; Ensure that monitoring plans are developed for projects and ensure that regular monitoring visits are conducted by MEL staff to the different project locations and that reports are shared with the program teams; Assist and support MEL team in writing beneficiary stories from the field; Report M&E updates and activities to the MEL Advisor and INTAJ Program and Project Managers; IMPLEMENT SYSTEM AND TOOLS Work as part of a broader team to design, facilitate and support data collection and analysis systems including baseline, annual, and end line surveys, regular monitoring, data collection and analysis, feedback and reporting; Generate data reports (tables/graphs/reports) from the database at regular intervals, ensuring reports/information are available for program implementation staff as required. Facilitate data analysis with program implementation team as requested; Conduct regular field visits to ensure all elements of the data system is being utilized effectively, assessing and identifying breakdowns and areas that require clarifications and improvements; ANALYZE DATA AND REPORTING Review or edit data in reports as requested and required; Produce analytical summaries: graphs, charts, tables, narratives and appealing visuals, as requested, to fulfill internal and external reporting requirements; Liaise with other Mercy Corps teams as required to ensure that the databases complement and align; Develop user-friendly web-based data visualization applications to facilitate analysis and organizational learning; Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission in Lebanon; Other duties as assigned. OTHER Ensure all activities are gender sensitive and follow Mercy Corps’ Gender Equity Policy; Apply Do No Harm standards to ensure activities do not have detrimental effects on vulnerable communities; Participate in internal office coordination and planning meetings and workshops; 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 Beneficiaries Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards 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. SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: None Reports directly to: Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Coordinator Works directly with: Programs and MEL Field Teams KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE At least 3-5 years of experience in Monitoring and Evaluation; Computer and data management skills; Experience with qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methodologies required; Team player who takes initiative, is a problem-solver and able to multi-task; Effective verbal and written communication skills; Written and oral communication skills in Arabic and English; Detail-oriented and highly organized. SUCCESS FACTORS Conscientious, with excellent judgment; Multi-tasking, prioritizing and simultaneous attention to detail are essential; S/he must have the confidence, and humility, to work effectively with a large variety of people who will be diverse culturally, economically and in social status; S/he must be sensitive to political and cultural nuance and able to consistently apply excellent judgment to a variety of demanding and fast-changing situations; Ability to foster solid working relationships with teammates, local partners and others. Strong organizational skills and ability to work independently; S/he will have the ability to comfortably adapt to a quickly changing environment with a sense of urgency, humor, and curiosity; Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills; Excellent writing skills – ability to write in a variety of styles for multiple audiences; Able to work remotely with a geographically dispersed team; Able to work under pressure of deadlines.