MER Officer - Tripoli

Organizational Description: Founded in 1933, the International Rescue Committee (www.theIRC.org) is a world leader in relief, rehabilitation and post-conflict development services for those uprooted or affected by violent conflict and oppression. The IRC is currently working in over 25 countries around the world, addressing both the immediate and lifesaving needs of conflict affected people in emergencies and the reconstruction needs of post-conflict societies.

Background: High-quality Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs provide the foundation for children’s future academic success, health, prosperity and wellbeing. A large body of scientific evidence emphasizes the need for increased investment in early childhood, particularly for children experiencing conflict, crisis and displacement; these children are extremely vulnerable to the long-lasting effects that prolonged stress has on the developing brain.

In December 2017, Sesame Workshop and the IRC were awarded the MacArthur Foundation’s inaugural 100&Change grant to make real progress toward solving a critical problem of our time. With the extraordinary investment of $100 million, our partnership will transform the language, early reading, math, and social-emotional skills of a generation of children ages 0-8 affected by the Syrian war. Focusing on children in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria over the next five years, the Ahlan Simsim project combines the depth of in-person services, reaching 1.5 million children, with the breadth of mass media, reaching 9.4 million children. For more information, please visit: http://refugee.sesameinternational.org/.

Job Overview/Summary: The MER Officer will organize the assessment and research field level agenda for the Early Childhood Development program and activities in Lebanon, while also tracking and assisting in Baseline and End-line data collection conducted by external data surveyors in North, with potential support to Beirut. The MER Officer is supervised by and works closely with the Senior M&E Officer and the Senior Research Officer. The ideal candidate will have demonstrated experience in conducting research/data collection, preferably with expertise in humanitarian programming. She/he will lead the data collection by the IRC staff and external enumerators for both research and M&E activities under the ECD program that are integrated in remedial education programs, ECD programs (pre-school healing classrooms), livelihoods centers, safe healing and learning (SHLS) centers, and women’s protection and empowerment (WPE) centers.

Major Responsibilities for both Research and M&E:

• Coordinate with field level program teams to ensure that M&E and research data collection aligns with program implementation timelines and processes.
• Facilitate and recommend (as needed) updates to paper and electronic data collection tools and oversight/quality control on data entry via tablets or Excel for both research and M&E.
• Ensure that data collection for M&E and research are appropriate for interventions involving children ages 0 to 8 years and their families who are participating in early childhood development interventions.
• Ensure program resources are applied efficiently and effectively to achieve objectives within established timeframes according to program research and M&E plans.
• Make sure that deliverables are completed according to plan and are of high quality, in accordance with the overall project M&E and research plans.
• Contribute to producing high quality and varied M&E and research outputs for a range of audiences including analysis, report writing and presentations where necessary, in collaboration with other MER Officers, the Senior Research Officer, and the Senior M&E Officer.
• Contribute to identifying and synthesizing good practices and lessons learned for M&E, research, and program implementation.
• Foster and maintain good working relationships with internal and external stakeholders such as New York University researchers, IRC program implementation and M&E teams, and respondent communities.
• Consistently and proactively monitor/assess the safety and security of research and M&E teams; promptly reporting concerns or incidents to IRC management.

  Monitoring and Evaluation:

• Facilitate and provide leadership for field level data collection and reporting to ensure implementation of clear M&E processes and collection of high quality data in assigned region of Lebanon.
• Monitor and manage IRC staff and external enumerators’ during M&E data collection: check progress and assist in resolving challenges or issues, in collaboration with the Senior M&E Officer.
• Accurately collect, enter, compile and clean M&E data to report progress towards project objectives with minimal errors. Data will be collected on project outcomes and outputs, using tools such as program registration and attendance records, beneficiary feedback surveys, observational measures of child development, and other assessments as outlined in the M&E plan.
• Support the Senior M&E Officer in preliminary quantitative and qualitative analysis of M&E data as needed.
• Coordinate closely with the Senior M&E Officer to ensure that M&E timelines and targets are being met.
• Provide feedback as required on field level observations and monitoring results to the Senior M&E Officer and ECD program team. 

Research:

• Under the guidance of the Senior Research Officer and New York University researchers, support in reviewing and finalizing the research plans for ECD in Lebanon, and contribute to drafting of work plans, data collection tools, and field monitoring tools for each research activity.
• Supervise external teams of enumerators for qualitative and quantitative data collection, including creating field data collection plans, monitoring progress towards sample size targets, and conducting quality checks to ensure that data is collected appropriately and accurately according to research plans.
• Ensure that high quality research data is recorded and stored in an organized and secure system, and is easily retrievable and reportable on a regular and frequent basis.
• Support the Senior Research Officer, using statistical and analytical software tools, to analyze data according to plans.
• Work with the Senior Research Officer, the ECD Coordinator, the ECD Senior Quality and Capacity Building Officer, MEAL team, and New York University to provide timely updates and reports on research activities as needed.

Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to: Field Manager
• Position directly supervises:  Field enumerators for research and M&E
• Indirect Reporting: Senior Research, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Manager & Senior Research Officer & Senior M&E Officer
• Other Internal and/or external contacts:
• Internal: The position closely works with the Senior M&E Officer and the Senior Research Officer– to communicate what information is already being collected.
• External:  New York University researchers.

Job Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Statistics, Social Sciences, Public Health or other relevant field.
• Between 1 to 2 years of relevant working experience in managing field level data collection of quantitative and qualitative data for M&E and/or research.
• Demonstrated experience in conducting quality checks during quantitative and qualitative data collection.
• Demonstrated experience and capacity in conducting field-level quantitative and qualitative data collection and data entry using paper and electronic tools.
• Demonstrated experience and knowledge in quantitative and qualitative data cleaning and analysis.
• Previous experience in drafting reports of M&E or research results.
• Strong ability to work independently, organize work, meet deadlines, maintain composure, prioritize work under pressure, coordinate multiple tasks and maintain attention to detail.
• Good interpersonal and problem-solving skills, creativity and flexibility, ability to coordinate and build consensus.
• Personal qualities: works well in and promotes teamwork, comfortable in a multi-cultural environment, detail oriented, flexible and able to handle pressure well.
• Fluency in Arabic and proficiency in English required.

Preferred:

• Certification or specific training in Statistics, Information Management and/or Data Management.
• INGO experience.
• Fluency in English.