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Job Title:    Country Senior MEL Officer

Organisation: Mercy Corps

Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda

About the Company:

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.

Job Summary:   The Country Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Officer will play a key role within the PAQ department to develop (with close supervision from the Country MEL Manager and dotted line wit Director of Programs), coordinate, maintain and continuously improve the M&E system at the country level, as well as build the capacity of M&E staff in each office or program. The general duties and responsibilities of the Country Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Officer are to oversee all monitoring, evaluation and learning activities within the country, ensuring the quality of the programs’ MEL activities, information management via the programs reporting system and Mercy Corps’ TolaData system.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

 Strategy & Vision

• Support the CMM with the development of country MEL strategy, provide leadership to field offices in developing individual program level M&E systems that inform and improve each program, as well as feed into the broader nation-wide M&E system and country strategy.
• Develop the program level MEL SOPs taking into account Mercy Corps new MEL Policy and minimum standards.
• Provide support with coordination and coaching of the country M&E teams in developing and maintaining a system that improves the country’s ability to analyze and represent impact to donors, government, colleague agencies, and communities themselves;
• Support with providing leadership to the country MEL management meetings and actively participate in country-wide strategy sessions to contribute to improved program implementation and adaptive management.
• Support the Program MEL leads in coordinating the baseline, mid-term evaluation and final evaluation, along with other key research activities including market assessments and gender assessments

Program Management

• Work with MEL staff, Program Managers to promote a culture of adaptive management, and evidence gathering;
• Lead program quality review processes including respect of MEL minimum standards, quality of MEL data collection and analysis, periodic program reflection meetings;
• Use existing MC resources to train M&E and program teams in the area of monitoring, evaluation and learning and the use of MEL Tech Applications
• Build the capacity of relevant team members to develop and maintain an excellent M&E system, by providing training on the TolaData toolbox and; ensuring MEL leads organize periodic meetings of data reflection and analysis to disseminate learning
• Lead TolaData adoption and integration into new programming and the institutionalization of TolaData at the country level by working closely with country leadership, program and MEL team members, and regional and HQ team members.
• Manage and contribute to country and regional status reports and accountability metrics on TolaData usage and adoption.
• Set up and supervise MEL team by actively coordinating the hiring, onboarding and orientation, as well as providing regular supervision for M&E staff;
• Support the creation and implementation of work plans (weekly, monthly and project- specific) so as to better prioritize tasks and ensure a proactive approach to data collection and project monitoring

MEL System Development and Implementation

• Coordinate a timely development and implementation of high quality MEL plans ensuring all MEL Policy and MEL SOPs standards are met;
• Supervise the integration of programs indicator plans on TOLA and check regular updates of data and evidences on the platform;
• Play a central role in all evaluation, design and implementation of internal evaluations as well as developing the capacity of teams in conducting internal evaluations;
• Work with the country Senior Management Team (CLT) to address MEL gaps affecting program implementation and conduct internal data quality assessments (DQA).

Accountability

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our participants and to international standards, while actively engaging participant’s communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
• Contribute to the establishment of an effective complaints, accountability and response mechanism (CARM) to enhance feedback, trust and confidence with program participants. Identify areas of Mercy Corps work which need to be improved and ensure that Mercy Corps learns from the feedback provided through this process.
• Work closely with the Senior CARM Officer to implement a strong community accountability and reporting mechanism (CARM) throughout the program.

Other:

• 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
• Perform any other duties assigned.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• BA/S or equivalent, preferable in social sciences, business administration, public administration, Degree in Management, Statistics, Economics, or related field.
• 3 to 7 years of experience in the areas of program development and monitoring and evaluation, including relevant experience building and managing an M&E system and team, relevant experience supervising data collection and data validation exercises, and building staff capacity;
• Experience designing practical and effective monitoring systems, including data and database management systems;
• Experienced in training and capacity-building in person and remotely and fostering a collaborative relationship with field practitioners and management;
• Experience with data analysis and presentation using Excel, Access, and advanced data analysis and visualization packages. Additional software and technical skills (databases, mobile technology, GIS, Power Bi, Ona, CommCare, TolaData,) preferred;
• Excellent ability in report writing.
• Strong communication skills; able to work in person and remotely with a geographically dispersed and culturally distinct teams
• High degree of computer literacy; Excel and Word skills are essential.
• Ability to manage and meet deadlines.
• Good computer skills and experience developing data management systems including ONA/KoBo/ODK is an asset;
• Previous experience working with international and/or local NGOs;
• Good understanding and skills at data management;

Success Factors

• The successful candidate should be a strong team player, with good communication and diplomatic skills.
• S/he should combine exceptional management skills and experience in building and maintaining partner relationships.
• S/He should be able to facilitate team dynamics and achieve aims, have excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, good organizational skills and ability to work independently, with a strong commitment to advancing learning in international development through monitoring and evaluation.
• S/he will have proven experience with cross-cultural team and capacity building, individual staff development and strong mentoring skills. Multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail as well as strategic vision are essential.
• S/he should be active within the M&E and learning community and have strong relationship-building skills and commitment to working collaboratively.

How to Apply:

All interested applicants must submit their Cover Letter & CV saved in 1 document as a PDF of no more than 5 pages at the link below.

Click Here

Deadline: 5th February 2025

NB:

• Please note that any application submitted that does not follow the above instructions will be automatically discarded.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
• Locals with the required qualifications are encouraged to apply.
• Mercy Corps does not charge any fees at any stage of the recruitment process.

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