Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning(Mel) Officer

PROGRAM SUMMARY Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty, and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities. The agency pursues its mission through emergency relief services, sustainable community development, civil society and economic development initiatives. The conflict that began more than three years ago in Syria has resulted in a steady increase in Syrian refugees to Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey.  To date, more than one million refugees have fled to Lebanon, and the numbers continue to mount. As numbers rapidly increase, humanitarian conditions are deteriorating.  The burden on host communities and the financial and emotional stress on refugees and their hosts is tremendous. Mercy Corps is responding to these needs by addressing urgent basic needs, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), child protection as well as the psychosocial impact of the conflict and displacement.  A growing programmatic focus is on mitigating the emerging tensions between hosts and refugees, particularly over economic resources, by addressing both livelihood opportunities and conflict mitigation capacity. GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY Working under the direction of the MEL Manager, the MEL Officer is expected to contribute to the quality assurance of program implementation in Lebanon and ensure that Mercy Corps project brings a significant contribution to reducing poverty, building secure productive and just communities, and plays a leading role in transforming Mercy Corps programs 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 MEL Officer will work closely with the MEL Manager to develop and document M&E plans for the project and develop 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 conduct regular visits to the field for direct project monitoring, as well as capacity building for staff and partners. S/he will work closely with Program/Sector Manager, Project Officers, other MEL Officers, Area Managers, project assistants 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 FUNCTIONS Monitoring and Evaluation Develop and manage  project database to facilitate timely information updates, data quality assurance, sharing of information and learning, etc.; Work with project team to integrate M&E into ongoing project planning and implementation systems and ensure adherence to Mercy Corps M&E minimum standards; In coordination with project team, ensure 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; Coordinate with members of the Project Team in the Office and 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; Assist in conducting assessments and evaluations; Contribute to understanding of and support for mobile data collection hardware and software; Develop a monitoring plan for project, conduct regular monitoring visits to the different project locations, develop monitoring reports and share with the project team; Update indicator tracker related to project on a monthly basis; Write up beneficiary stories from the field. Analysis of data and Reporting Support project team in data collection and data analysis; Liaise with other project teams and M&E staff as required to ensure that the project databases complement and align with each other.  This will ensure that data on project outputs and project impacts are aligned and reported together; Coordinate with project team to review indicator updates on a monthly basis.  Generate data reports (tables/graphs/reports) from the project databases at regular intervals, ensuring reports/information are available for project implementation staff as required. Facilitate data analysis with project implementation team as requested; Maintain a comprehensive list and schedule of private and institutional funding reports, including the detailed requirements necessary for the donor/project; Update the project reporting schedule and share among project team; Develop project operational reporting templates that facilitate the acquisition and aggregation of information in projects; 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; Coordinate with Communication department to provide data on project; Other tasks as required. Capacity Building Build the capacity of all relevant team members to develop and maintain a robust M&E system; Build the capacity of local partners in the area of M&E and reporting. 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. 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. KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE At least 4 years of experience in program development, M&E and reporting; Training skills and experience building national staff capacity;  Advanced computer skills and experience developing data management systems (advanced Excel skills desired); 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 manage several projects simultaneously and under pressure of deadlines. Comfortable with regular fieldwork. 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.