The Ugandan Jobline

Job Title:  Senior MEL Officer

Organisation: Mercy Corps

Duty Station: Yumbe, Uganda

About US:

Mercy Corps is an international non-profit organization which implements high-quality, analytical development programmes in very difficult places. Mercy Corps has been operating in Uganda since 2006. It has and continues to implement programs in Acholi and Karamoja sub regions. Mercy Corps is taking a community-led, market driven approach to address poverty and food insecurity needs through interventions that get to the root causes and contributing factors of economic vulnerability.

About DREAMS Program:

Delivering Resilient Enterprises and Market Systems (DREAMS) for refugees is an innovative solution that seeks to drive refugee self-reliance. Working in Uganda and Ethiopia – home to 10% of the world’s refugee population – DREAMS seeks to provide 150,000 of the most vulnerable refugees with the security and dignity that comes from providing for one’s family. The program is integrating two proven models – poverty graduation and Market Systems Development – layering these approaches in a new way that will ensure that the poorest refugee households are able to improve their income and well-being significantly. Graduation provides the capital and skills to support refugees as they establish their businesses, and Market Systems Development helps build market access pathways to ensure those businesses can be successful. DREAMS program is a collaboration between three leading organizations in the field of global poverty alleviation: Village Enterprise, Mercy Corps, and IDinsight. The DREAMS program aims to improve the well-being of 150,000 women, children, and men over the course of the five years.  Targeting refugees and host community members in the West Nile region of Uganda, our innovative approach will layer the two evidence-based models – poverty graduation and market systems development – to achieve increased household income, savings, and assets: improved food security and wellbeing.

Job Summary:   The Senior MEL Officer will contribute to the quality assurance of program implementation and ensure that the program is meeting its deliverables, as well as developing tools and reports to demonstrate the impact and results of program implementation.  S/he will develop and maintain data management systems. The Senior MEL Officer is also responsible for supporting Mercy Corps staff to regularly collect (assessments, evaluation and research), enter, verify, analyze data and work with the MEL team to make timely adjustments to measure the impact of Mercy Corps’ programs and to ensure M&E data is accurately incorporated into all organizational reports, information products, and that feeds into programming. S/he will ensure the collection and analysis of useful, timely and actionable information for managers and decision-makers, and contribute to the frequent review, reflection, and key learning processes to improve performance.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Work with program teams, partners, and M&E focal points to integrate M&E into ongoing project planning and implementation and ensure adherence to Mercy Corps M&E minimum standards and systems.
• Assist with the development of appropriate monitoring, tracking, and reporting systems, tools and templates that enhance monitoring of project outputs and quality, generate evidence on project impact, promote and ensure data driven decision-making processes.
• Assist the program team 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.
• Coordinate assessments, research, and evaluations.
• Ensure that monitoring plans are developed for the program and that regular monitoring visits are conducted by MEL staff to the different project locations in adherence to minimum standards, and that reports are shared with the program teams.
• Work with partners and program team to gather success stories and anecdotal evidence of program impact to share for outreach and with donors.

Data Analysis and Reporting

• Work as part of a broader team to design, facilitate and support data collection and analysis systems including baseline, annual, and end line surveys, regular monitoring, data collection, analysis, feedback, and reporting.
• Generate MEL reports (tables/graphs/reports) from the database at regular intervals, ensuring reports/information are available for program implementation staff as required.
• Facilitate data analysis with program implementation team as required.
• Conduct regular field visits to ensure all elements of the data system are being utilized effectively, assessing, and identifying gaps and areas that require clarifications and improvements.
• Coordinate with field team and partners to implement system corrections and adjustments, solving operational issues and documenting actions taken and next steps.
• Work with program teams to ensure data analysis and reports are integrated into programmatic decision making to improve impact of the program.
• Contribute to monthly reports and other ad hoc reports to meet donor and internal requirements.
• Report program achievements on TOLA, Activity Info, and other relevant reporting mechanisms.

Capacity Building

• Conduct internal needs assessment and for the partners to determine M&E training plan and tools to support staff and ensure that information feeds into the program.
• Develop training materials and implement training plan based on needs assessment and gaps of partners and M&E focal persons.
• Build the capacity of all relevant team members to develop and maintain a robust M&E system.
• Review partner reports and provide feedback and comments to improve reporting quality.
• Adapt existing protocols and plans to mentor and coach colleagues to build their capacity to develop high quality reports.

Database Management

• Develop and manage a program database that improves Mercy Corps’ ability to inform program implementation, data analyzes, and represent impact to key stakeholders.
• Contribute to understanding of and support for mobile data collection hardware and software, including tools such as Comcare, Tableau, PowerBI etc.
• Ensure all relevant program staff can utilize the database to analyze program information and results.
• Design, adapt and maintain the database in conjunction with the MEL team to match strategic program or implementation changes.
• Review data being collected to locate and fix problems with data entry or integrity.
• Document database contents, protocols, and update manuals for smooth functioning of the data management system.
• Manage regular synchronizations of data.
• Troubleshoot front and back-end issues with the database, including any synchronization issues with field-level data entry.

Accountability

• Coordinate with the team to build systems that promote beneficiary accountability by ensuring that communities participate in initial assessments and program design.
• Coordinate with program teams to ensure that communities are informed about our programs 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 programs.
• Ensure that Mercy Corps’ Community Feedback and Accountability Mechanism is clearly communicated to project beneficiaries, and that the hotline numbers are visible to end beneficiaries throughout the program.
• Ensure all activities are gender sensitive and follow Mercy Corps’ Gender Equality Policy.
• Apply Do-No-Harm standards to ensure activities do not have detrimental effects on vulnerable communities.
• Conduct himself/herself in a professionally manner both while at work and outside as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and not jeopardize its humanitarian mission.
• Other assigned tasks, as necessary.

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.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• The applicant must hold a BA/S or equivalent, preferably in Social Sciences, Business Administration, Public Administration, International Development, or other relevant disciplines.
• Five years of relevant in M&E work and/or Data Management experience.
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation of market systems development programs is preferred.
• Fluent in both spoken and written English; Fluency in local Languages in program target areas is an added advantage.
• Previous experience working with international and/or local NGOs on both humanitarian and development.
• Advanced computer skills and experience developing data management systems including ONA/KoBo/ODK are required.
• Extensive experience in field survey/data collection techniques, data entry, data verification, management, and analysis.
• Strong team coordination, listening, and consensus building skills.
• The successful MEL Senior Officer will be bright, energetic, hard-working, and eager to learn. S/he will take a deep personal interest in humanitarian and development assistance.
• S/he will be attentive to detail and able to carry out assigned tasks in a timely manner and according to a very high standard of quality.
• S/he will be creative and flexible, contributing to developing and encouraging new and innovative solutions, but at the same time will not have any difficulty in adhering to systems and procedures.
• S/he will strictly follow all protocols related to safety and security, and holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Mercy Corps’ values.
• Must Possess a valid Motorcycle driving permit.

How to Apply:

All candidates should submit their applications online at the link below.

Click Here

Deadline: 8^th February 2024

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