Meal Officer - Waj 2

 OXFAM PURPOSE: To work with others to find lasting solutions to poverty and suffering. Oxfam has been working in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region for over five decades and over the past four decades promoting gender equality and supporting women’s right to participate and be represented in governance and decision-making structures and processes. This focus is complementary to other areas of Oxfam’s work on women’s rights and to the broader goal of Oxfam to contribute to a ‘world without poverty.’ Oxfam is committed to supporting women, men and children, living in poverty, to claim their rights to sustainable livelihoods, to basic social services, to life and security, to be heard, and to an identity. The “WAJ 2” Project is a three year initiative proposed to be implemented by Oxfam in partnership with six NGO partners in Lebanon (two), Jordan (one),Yemen (two), and Egypt  (one). It is designed to build upon the successes of Phase 1, implemented April 2011 – March 2014 in Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq (Kurdistan) as well as on Oxfam’s long-standing legal protection programme implemented in Yemen. The project’s development objective is to contribute to equitable access to formal and informal justice for poor and vulnerable women in the targeted countries. Women’s access to justice is considered to include three pillars: ability of women to use existing justice institutions, supportive environment for women seeking to access justice, and an accessible justice system with fair and gender-sensitive mechanisms for justice provision.   JOB PURPOSE:   To lead and support the development and implementation of effective and coordinated MEAL systems for the WAJ 2 project to support quality delivery as per Oxfam standards    DIMENSIONS: Problems vary and include a combination of routine and some complex. Work pattern is a mixture of reactive and project work. Required to make sound judgements regularly within agreed processes using a good understanding of the team and the facilities of the team. Communication is largely with internal staff also with some external contacts Synthesis, Analysis and communication of some complex information to a range of stakeholders   KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:  To develop programme MEAL systems in accordance with Oxfam standards To define and/or develop specific processes, methodologies and tools for planning, monitoring, evaluation, learning, accountability and reporting in line with Oxfam minimum requirements; In close coordination with affiliates and country teams, to develop and monitor implementation of systems, processes and tools ensuring quality and consistency in MEAL and in programme reporting; To define, apply and follow-up the policies, manuals and guides on Monitoring, Evaluations, Learning and Accountability of Oxfam to ensure their implementation with sufficient quality in all countries; To ensure that all processes, methodologies and tools are gender sensitive and capture gender transformative changes; To support teams in the process of adaptation of methodologies and tools according to each country context while ensuring consistency of MEAL.   To ensure capacity building and participation  of relevant Oxfam team, partners, target groups and community in MEAL To provide technical assistance and to support regional and county teams to implement, monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning processes at regional, national and local levels; in particular in the collection of quantitative & qualitative information from various sources To train and develop the regional and country programme teams on programme standards and on knowledge, skills and competencies necessary for effective monitoring, evaluation, learning and accountability; To train and/or to provide technical assistance for capacity building of partners to implement MEAL and in reporting; To provide support and advice for target groups in the  community and advise on processes for their participation in MEAL where appropriate; To monitor (remote and through field visits) quality of MEAL and provide ad hoc support for improvement; To promote and facilitate sharing of MEAL experiences and good practices among the programme countries and within affiliates.   To provide analysis and presentation of MEAL data and carry out the MEAL work for the regional activities, provide feedback on programme progress To ensure collation, analysis and presentation of MEAL information from country and regional programme components To compile country monitoring data into overall reports reflecting activities, outputs and outcomes in order to guide management decision making, provide accountability to stakeholders, share learning and demonstrate impact; To manage the regional and to support the country  teams’ appointment of external consultants for MEAL purposes including devising terms of reference, providing evaluations of methodological proposals by consultants and validation of reports; To coordinate and support regional and national level learning events; To monitor programme issues and risks and contribute to contingency planning and responses To feed back to the regional team on progress towards programme objectives and MEAL and advise on alternatives at country and regional levels ; To support effective learning and exchange from outside the programme  in order to improve the effectiveness of the AMAL programme. To lead the process of mid-term and final evaluation and management responses    SKILLS AND COMPETENCE:  Knowledge and proven experience in establishing and maintaining effective monitoring and evaluation systems for development projects Experience in gathering, analysing and presenting quantitative and qualitative data Demonstrable understanding of gender and rights based approaches to development especially in the MENA region Experience of using participatory approaches in development projects Team player with ability to deal with a range of people from various cultures and different capacities Ability to take initiative and work independently when needed Able to communicate effectively in written and spoken English and Arabic Commitment to Oxfam’s values Proven ability to work effectively with others – strong interpersonal skills Excellent facilitation and training skills  Good organisational skills including accuracy, consistency, attention to detail and patience Ability to show perseverance, tenacity and the ability to work under pressure  A strong focus on results – sets goals, plans and prioritises effectively, monitors quality and progress of work against plans, establishes high level of performance and sets an example to others Desirable Previous experience with Oxfam Previous experience of working on projects related to women’s empowerment Ability to work comfortably  in French language