MEAL & Information Management (IM) Coordinator

Overall purpose of the role:

DRC is looking for an experienced MEAL/IM Specialist to Provide 50/50 expertise across Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning and Information Management to harmonize surveys, assessments, tools, data flows, and reporting across the EC-funded Consortium (currently DRC and Mercy Corps). The postholder will lead on survey/assessment design and implementation quality, build interoperable IM systems, and coordinate partners to ensure comparable indicators, methods, and outputs that enable timely, evidence-based decision-making.

Responsibilities:

MEAL (Surveys, Evaluations, Accountability & Learning) - 40%

• Lead/advise on baseline, endline, PDMs, PSMs, post-construction, satisfaction/intentions, and thematic assessments across partners; ensure standardised designs, sampling, consent, and tools for comparability.
• Draft ToRs and analysis plans; ensure multi-sector participation from design to utilization (planning → data collection → analysis → results uptake).
• Assure data quality (DQAs), ethical approvals as required, safeguarding/PII protections, and adherence to CHS, Sphere and EC/ECHO guidance.
• Develop/validate harmonised questionnaires (KoBo/ODK), translations, skip logic, constraints, enumerator manuals, and field protocols.
• Ensure statistically sound and context-feasible sampling; manage risk-based adaptations for access/security constraints.
• Lead/quality-assure analysis (Excel/SPSS/R/Python as available), produce factsheets, dashboards notes, one-pagers with key findings, and practical recommendations with action owners/timelines.
• Systematize after-action/learning reviews and integrate lessons into proposal design, IPTTs/Results Frameworks, and implementation plans.
• In close collaboration with the Accountability Staff, Support CFM alignment across partners (hotline/helpdesks/boxes/community meetings, etc.); ensure referral SOPs for sensitive cases and closed-loop responses.

Information Management (Data Architecture, Quality, Products) - 40%

• Build and maintain a harmonised indicator dictionary (disaggregations, definitions, formulas), survey question library, naming conventions, and metadata standards.
• Design partner-to-consortium data pipelines (KoBo/ODK → staging → cleaned tables → analytics), including de-duplication and version control.
• Design & maintain harmonized monitoring tools (Kobo/ODK forms, checklists) aligned to the consortium indicator dictionary; ensure interoperability, version control, and partner adoption across consortiums.
• Establish/oversee automated and manual DQ checks (completeness, validity, consistency, outliers, geospatial checks); lead periodic DQAs with partners and corrective action tracking.
• Implement data governance: roles/permissions, consent and PII handling, encryption, retention schedules, and secure sharing in line with donor and organizational policies.
• Build/maintain Power BI (or equivalent) dashboards for survey results, indicator progress, coverage maps, and CFM trends; publish regular refreshes and snapshot exports for donor reports.
• Produce lightweight GIS products (site maps, buffers, service coverage) and maintain clean GIS layers in line with consortium protocols.
• Maintain SOPs for data collection, cleaning, merging, weighting, and analysis; keep a change log and data dictionary so analyses are reproducible across reporting cycles.

Coordination (Partner Support, Harmonization, Compliance) - 20%

• Convene and chair a MEAL/IM TWG with a shared workplan: survey calendar, tool approvals, indicator registry, DQA cycles, and dissemination timeline.
• Deliver targeted coaching to partner MEAL/IM staff and enumerator supervisors on sampling, tool deployment, QA in the field, data cleaning, analysis, GIS, and dashboard use.
• Maintain an onboarding pack for new partner staff (SOPs, templates, checklists).
• Coordinate MEAL inputs to proposals (logframe, indicators, means of verification, harmonised targets) and to donor reports (quarterly/annual).
• Ensure timely sharing of preliminary results with program teams; track uptake of recommendations and close the loop on management responses.

Additional Tasks

Perform any additional tasks requested by the Chief of Party or relevant stakeholders as deemed necessary to support the overall programmatic objectives of the EC Consortium.

Experience and technical competencies

Essential

• A Master’s degree in relevant field and with 3 years of relevant experience or Bachelor’s degree in relevant field (international development, social sciences, statistics, public health, etc.) with at least 4 years of relevant experience
• 5+ years in blended MEAL/IM roles within humanitarian/development programs, including multi-partner/consortium settings.
• Proven leadership of surveys/assessments end-to-end (design → field QA → analysis → utilization) and translation of findings into decision-ready products (factsheets, briefs, dashboards).
• Practical expertise with KoBo/ODK, Excel/Power Query, and Power BI (data modeling, measures/DAX, publishing).
• Experience building/maintaining IM systems & databases (e.g., ActivityInfo, shared repositories, version control) and harmonized indicator dictionaries.
• Data protection & governance: consent/PII handling, access controls, retention; familiarity with CHS, Sphere, EC/ECHO MEAL expectations and safeguarding.
• Data quality assurance (DQAs), sampling, and mixed-methods analysis; ability to interpret complex datasets and communicate clearly to varied audiences (incl. donors).
• GIS literacy (QGIS/ArcGIS) and GPS-enabled data collection sufficient for coverage mapping and basic spatial analysis.
• Track record of partner capacity-strengthening and technical working group facilitation.
• Strong stakeholder coordination skills with NGOs, clusters, donors, and authorities; excellent written reporting.

Desirable

• Advanced skills in R/Python and/or SPSS/Stata; qualitative tools (NVivo or similar).
• Deeper GIS capability (spatial joins, network analysis) and lightweight automation/ETL.
• Familiarity with additional data-collection/IM platforms (CommCare, ONA, DEEP, DHIS2).
• Experience operating in insecure environments and applying risk-based adaptations to MEAL/IM.
• Certification in advanced MEAL/IM or data management.
• Visual communication skills (e.g., Adobe Creative Cloud) for polishing briefs and figures.

Languages

• Proficiency in English
•  Arabic is desirable

About you

• In this position, you are expected to demonstrate DRC’s five core competencies:
• Striving for excellence: You focus on reaching results while ensuring an efficient process.
• Collaborating: You involve relevant parties and encourage feedback.
• Taking the lead: You take ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation.
• Communicating: You listen and speak effectively and honestly.
• Demonstrating integrity: Upholding and promoting the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct in relation to DRC’s values and Code of Conduct, including safeguarding against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

Conditions

Contract:       1-year renewable contract, subject to funding and performance. Salary and conditions in accordance with the Danish Refugee Council’s Terms of Employment for International staff. This position is graded at NM.G

Start Date:    January 2026

Duty Station: Port Sudan

Reports to:    EC Youth Program Chief of Party

Application and CV

Interested candidates who meet the required qualifications and experience are invited to submit updated CV and cover letter explaining their motivation and why they are suited for the post.

Please submit your application and CV in English via our online-application form on www.drc.ngo under Vacancies by 28 Dec 2025.