MEL Specialist

MEL Specialist

Description

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In a disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action – helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future. Mercy Corps has been operating in Nepal since 2005, implementing programs in food security, agriculture, market development, financial services, youth engagement, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. We take a systems-based approach in our programming, with the aim of improving the lives and potential of vulnerable individuals and communities across Nepal.

World Food Program (WFP) Nepal as the lead/prime organization, in partnership with Mercy Corps and other partners, is going to implement a four-year School Feeding Program funded by USDA/FFE. In the program, Mercy Corps provides strategic leadership for two of the sub-activities ‘Local Purchase of Food: Hybrid Food Basket’ and ‘Home Grown School Feeding: Technical Assistance Post-Hand Over’.

The aim of the Mercy Corps’ interventions is to facilitate the development of a fully sustainable and locally managed food system for schools. This includes designing and implementing the strategy and detailed roadmap for schools to self-manage cash-based program where they locally procure and manage relationships and contracts with local producers, cooperatives and suppliers to supply the appropriate and necessary school meal food items during relevant timeframes. The program activities will link school feeding programs to smallholder farmers, farmer’s cooperatives, school management, community groups and local government to enhance the program’s long-term sustainability. The target area of the program covers five districts in the Sudurpachhim Province (Darchula, Bajhang, Doti, Achham, and Bajura) and one district in the Karnali Province (Jajarkot).

The MEL Specialist will work under the supervision of the Program Manager and in close coordination with the Agriculture Specialist/Field Manager, Procurement Specialist, Senior Technical Officers, and local implementing partners. The MEL Specialist will be responsible for developing and implementing the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) and Community Accountability and Reporting Mechanism (CARM) system and plan for Mercy Corps’ component of the program. The general duties and responsibilities of the MEL Specialist are to provide overall leadership to all of program-level MEL and CARM activities within the HGSF program, including setting up the systems, ensuring the quality of the program’s MEL and CARM activities and the roll-out of proper information management systems. The MEL Specialist’s role will also ensure the CARM system in program partners with providing adequate support to set up the system in implementing partners. S/he is responsible for the capacity building and mentoring strategy for program staff on themes related to monitoring, evaluation, accountability, reporting, and learning.

Responsibilities

The specific duties and responsibilities of the MEL Specialist include, but are not limited to, the following:

Strategy & Vision

• Provide overall leadership to the program on MEL and CARM systems and processes.
• Lead the development and implementation of the programs MEL and CARM systems
• Ensure effective, proactive and iterative design of the MEL and CARM system in the program and support program team to integrate the MEL and CARM system throughout the program implementation.
• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed.
• Actively participate in meeting and strategy sessions for the program.

Technical Leadership

• Set-up the MEL and CARM system, including all tools and data collection processes for Mercy Corps’ component of the program
• Design, set-up and manage the software system, CommCare, that Mercy Corps will be using to track beneficiaries and other data. Train relevant partner staff on its use.
• Lead the development of the program’s MEL and CARM Plan, with the implementing partners.
• Plan and lead all MEL and CARM activities including assessments, evaluations, routine monitoring (i.e. PDM) and develop standards for data collection.
• Build the capacity of all relevant program program team members and partners on the MEL and CARM systems and responsibilities
• Update MEL, CARM and program management systems to reflect program progress and needs; enforce proper usage of these systems by all program staff.
• Collate, analyze and validate information and data received from assessment, evaluations and regular monitoring activities.
• Collage and analyze CARM data received from individual partners and present pattern analysis and recommendations back to the program.
• Present data analysis and periodic reporting, in consultation with technical staff, to the program team, implementing partners and WFP.
• Ensure that lessons learned throughout the program are captured and communicated to internal and external stakeholders through appropriate channels
• Conduct planning and progress review meetings; ensure regular analysis and adaptation based on data, especially with a dedicated GESI-focus
• Provide guidance, recommendations, supervision, and leadership to ensure that the MEL and CARM systems meet the needs of programs, managers, and senior leadership.
• Adhere to all Mercy Corps procurement, logistics and administrative regulations related to programming
• Develop and manage a clear system for tracking and reporting against deliverables; and support in ensuring timely submission of high quality donor reports.

Program Management

• Contribute to program implementation to ensure adherence to Mercy Corps, donor and international standards, including the use of standardized indicators and documentation methodologies
• Lead the institutionalization of learning in the program structure by supporting the program team to develop and understand the programs results/monitoring framework, monitoring systems and feedback loops that enable learning and adaptive management.
• Support the implementation of MEL and CARM systems at field level through proper orientation and backstopping.
• Ensure that the MEL and CARM data trends is presented in a report and shared with the program team regularly to ensure timely integration of learning into activity adaptation and identify program priority
• Work with technical sector teams to support in developing, understanding and implementing specific sector MEL requirements and toolkits
• Address shortfalls in MEL, CARM and information management that affect program implementation
• Ensure the Team Leader/Program Manager has sufficient data and analytical narrative to include in donor reports

Coordination & Representation

• Represent MEL and CARM progress to donors
• Share the learning from the program with the greater humanitarian community within Nepal as well as regionally and globally as relevant
• Participate in program planning and review workshops and meetings

Teambuilding and capacity strengthening

• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Contribute to country team-building efforts, help team members identify
  problem-solving options and ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.
• Facilitate trainings and regular coaching sessions to ensure all program staff are concurrent with MEL systems, tools and methodologies
• Strengthen the capacity of all staff’s understanding of and contribution to the MEL.
• Serve as an overall member of the Mercy Corps Nepal team, including participation with various team building and capacity strengthening initiatives

Security

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by
  country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members and community operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

Accountability to Beneficiaries

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward 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 programs.
• Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Finance & Compliance Management

• Ensure adherence to program management minimum standards in carrying out their duties, advising and supporting other staff in the same as required
• Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards
• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to emergency programming.

Others

• Ensure proper integration of safeguarding and GESI aspects into sector specific program planning and implementation.
• Mercy Corps as a humanitarian agency is expected to respond as and when a crisis and humanitarian situation engulfs. As an MC employee all staff are expected to be part of humanitarian and emergency response in addition to their regular roles and responsibilities.
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Conduct themselves both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and not to jeopardize its humanitarian mission.
• Other duties as assigned by their supervisor and or Country Director.

Supervisory Responsibility

• Supervises Monitoring and Data Management Assistant (MDMA)

Accountability

• Reports directly to: Program Manager
• Works directly with: Agriculture Specialist/Field Manager, Procurement Specialist, Senior Technical Officers, and local implementing partners, and Mercy Corps Global Technical Support Unit (TSU) team members as required.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in international development, program management or other relevant field
• 5-7 years of monitoring and evaluation professional experience with positions of progressively greater responsibilities
• Excellent spoken and written English and Nepali language skills and ability to interact effectively with international and national staff.
• Strong team coordination, listening, and consensus building skills.
• Strong track record of training and building capacity of local staff in remote areas.
• Experience in coordinate mobile data collection tool/digital platform (online and/or offline modes)
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and/or statistical analysis using software such as Stata, SPSS, or others is desirable.
• Good understanding and skills at data management..
• Strong organizational skills and demonstrated ability to multi-task and process information into action as to not delay program activities
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.
• Previous experience with US government-funded grant (USDA, USAID, etc.) rules, regulations and requirements is preferred.
• Ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment
• Willingness to travel domestically across program districts as needed. (More than 50% travel)

Job Benefits

• A successful candidate will have the ability to live and work closely with a diverse team of individuals in a highly intense and fluid work and security environment with a capacity to spark innovative approaches to programming and inspire groups to collaborate closely to implement high-quality programs. S/he will have proven ability to learn quickly, take initiative, and be accountable for results, with an ability and willingness to remain mobile for short term and/or long-term as necessary within the region, based on programmatic needs. An ability to work independently and as part of a team, with curiosity about and sensitivity to new cultures, a desire and ability to learn and grow, both personally and professionally, and a great sense of humor.
• The most successful Mercy Corps team members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations. Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/short-term assignment to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Ongoing 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.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

• Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together.
• Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges.
• We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.
• We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

• Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact. We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding, Ethics & Integrity

All Mercy Corps staff members are expected to behave ethically and demonstrate the highest integrity in their professional and personal life. Mercy Corps has zero tolerance to any form of fraud, corruption, abuse, harassment or exploitation. Any breach of our policies or misconduct will lead to disciplinary action or may lead to termination.

Mercy Corps has zero tolerance for abuse, sexual misconduct and sexual exploitation (PSEA) of the people we work with and our own staff members. All staff must commit to internal policies.

Interested Candidates can apply through https://p2p.com.np/Public/ViewJob?JobTitle=Mercy%20Corps|Monitoring,%20Evaluation%20and%20Learning%20(MEL)%20Specialist

Valid through: March 19, 2023