PROGRAM SUMMARY
Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty, and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities. Mercy Corps has been present in the Middle East since the 1980s and currently has offices in Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Libya. 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 emerged. Recently, Mercy Corps’ portfolio has expanded in response to the refugee influx from Syria, including grants from UNICEF, UNHCR, European Commission, Canadian and American governments, and private foundations. Humanitarian response and resilience programming will be an increasing focus of the Protection Sector portfolio in Lebanon.
CONTEXT
As the Syrian conflict persists, instability and insecurity continue to impact the daily lives of boys, girls, adolescents and their caregivers in Lebanon, exposing them increasingly to protection violations. Tensions between refugees and host communities are worsening, with children emulating the discriminatory attitudes they witness. This is exacerbated by a lack of services and resources, as well as perceptions of unequal support for increasingly vulnerable host communities.
Child protection actors are working to provide protective environments for all children in Lebanon. However, as needs are increasing, funding is decreasing and is mostly short term. The deteriorating socio-economic situation of many refugees and vulnerable Lebanese, coupled with limited livelihoods opportunities and limited access to education, has contributed to families using negative coping mechanisms, such as child labour and child marriage. Breakdown of protection community mechanisms also place children and caregivers at greater risk of violence, exploitation, and abuse.
Greater focus is required on prevention and mitigating the impact of the crisis on women, boys and girls by continuing to strengthen and improve quality of psychosocial services (PSS), case management and access to specialized services. Services need to be made available for all children regardless of their nationalities. Working with children caregivers, families and communities at large is crucial to complement the support to institutions. Both system building and community based approaches are key to create a protective environment for children and to build resilience.
GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY
Working under the direction of the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Assistant is expected to contribute to the quality assurance of program implementation 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 manager and decision-makers, and contribute to the frequent review, reflection and key learning process to improve performance. The M&E Assistant will work closely with the Child & Youth Protection M&E officer to develop and document M&E plans and develops the data management systems. He/She will assist in developing review and learning processes (eg. complaints mechanisms, feedback loops, lessons learned documentation and sharing, etc.) ensure that systems and people are in place to ensure proper management of these functions and responsibilities. S/he will work closely with Program Manager, Field Coordinators and Capacity Building Officers and partners involved in project implementation in order to ensure a coherent and comprehensive project is implemented, lessons are learned and experiences shared across the various sectors and program teams.
ESSENTIAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES
Monitoring and Evaluation
Conduct timely data collection, entry, analysis, quality assurance, sharing of information and learning, etc.;
Work with Monitoring and Evaluation Officer in implementing project M&E plan and updating indicators;
Coordinate with M&E Officers to use the appropriate monitoring, tracking and reporting systems, tools and templates that enhance monitoring of project outputs and quality;
In coordination with the M&E Officers, update and maintain the project database and indicator tracker;
Generate quality evidence on project impact and promote and ensure use of data for decision-making processes;
Coordinate with partner organizations to ensure data is collected on time and entered in a timely manner;
Assist in conducting assessments and evaluations;
Contribute to understanding of and support for mobile data collection hardware and software;
Conduct regular monitoring visits to the different project locations;
Write up beneficiary stories from the field;
Document project progress through tracking attendance sheets, photos, etc.
Analysis of data and Reporting
Support project team in data collection and data analysis;
Liaise with other project teams and M&E officer as required to ensure that the project databases complement and align with each other;
Coordinate with the M&E officer to review indicator updates on a monthly basis.;
Generate data reports (tables/graphs/reports) from the project databases at regular intervals;
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;
Other tasks as required.
Accountability
Coordinate with the team in the office to build systems that promote beneficiary accountability by ensuring that communities participate in initial assessments and project design;
Coordinate with project team to ensure that communities are informed about our project and what we do, are aware of their entitlements, are comfortable to give feedback and that feedback is used to improve the quality of our projects;
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.
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.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: None
Reports directly to: M&E Officer
Works directly with: Partners, Program, and M&E Team
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
At least 1-2 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.
The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability; thrive in evolving and changing environments; make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.
Application Deadline
Organisation
Salary Range
Unpaid Position
Contract Type
Full Time
Application Submission Guidelines
Please mention the title "Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant CYP" in the subject of the email
Requires a Cover Letter?
Yes
Education Degree
Bachelor Degree
Education Degree Details
BA/S in Economics, Statistics, Management Information Systems, Public Administration, Or any Relevant Field.
Arabic
Fluent
English
Fluent
Hide guidelines for wrong answers
No