MEAL Officer

CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND

The Syria crisis is often described as the worst humanitarian catastrophe since the end of the Cold War. Inside Syria, 7.6 million people are internally displaced and 12.2 million are in need of humanitarian assistance, with 4.8 million in hard-to-reach areas. There are 4 million Syrian refugees in neighboring countries. This is no short-term humanitarian episode. The devastating human consequences to huge numbers of people will endure for decades. The destruction of relationships, communities, livelihoods, homes and infrastructure will take years to repair.

IRC is offering a robust humanitarian response to the Syria crisis. With an annual budget in excess of $140 million and a rapidly expanding portfolio, supported by more than 3,000 staff and workers in the region, IRC is undertaking programs in Syria and the neighboring countries of Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan in the fields of health, child protection, education, women’s protection and empowerment, NFI and food distribution, cash assistance, water and sanitation, and livelihood programming. Our work in these challenging settings gives rise to some of the most pressing issues facing contemporary humanitarian action, including questions of access, security, funding, and coordination.

Job Overview/Summary

As part of IRC’s MEAL unit, the MEAL Officer will manage internal M&E reports that are generated by MEAL staff inside Syria. The person will be required to receive, catalogue, manage, and share MEAL reports with designated focal points on non-MEAL teams including the Health, Protection, and Economic Recovery Teams. Additionally, the MEAL Officer will be asked to conduct ad-hoc analysis of data from Health, Protection, and Economic Recovery and Development (ERD) programming.The MEAL Officer should have advanced communication skills, advanced excel skills, and be highly organized. The position may require long hours and a sincere commitment to humanitarian response work. The ultimate objective of the MEAL Officer is to ensure that critical information is delivered to decision-makers in a timely fashion and that information is well organized. Under the leadership of the Syria MEAL Coordinator, the MEAL Officer will play a key, hands-on role in achieving IRC Syria’s goal to use data and information in all decision making.

This is an ideal position for a young professional or recent graduate that is looking to expand their experience in Monitoring and Evaluation, Information Management, or NGO work. The ideal candidate is outgoing, friendly, and dedicated to serving others.

This position is a great opportunity for learning and upward advancement.

Major Responsibilities

Knowledge Management

• Receive structured and unstructured reports from staff inside Syria and synthesize information into reports
• Maintain the MEAL team’s online filing structure
• Catalogue all MEAL team activities from inside Syria including the administration of surveys, needs assessments and spot checks, and their associated outputs.

Reporting

• Triage information provided from MEAL team and send communications to program focal points on important topics.
• Write brief summaries in English of MEAL activities
• Follow up with staff inside Syria on M&E activities

Data Analysis

• Support the ICT4P Manager on the MEAL team with excel-based data analysis
• Support the ICT4P Manager on the MEAL team with data cleaning
• As needed, complete tasks related to dashboarding, tool development, and technology.

Key Working Relationships

Position Reports to:MEAL Coordinator

Indirect/Technical Reporting: NA

Position directly Supervises: NA

Key Internal Contacts: Program Managers and Information Management Staff

• University degree, preferably in information management, computer science, statistics, mathematics, or a related field

Work Experience:

• Minimum 2 years previous experience working with Excel including pivot tables and graphical representation of data.
• Minimum 1 year working in monitoring and evaluation
• NGO experience an advantage
• Statistics, data analysis, data-driven computation are all relevant areas of experience.

Demonstrated Technical Skills:

• Intermediate knowledge of Monitoring and Evaluation concepts
• Advanced communication skills in written and spoken English and Arabic
• Intermediate to advanced skills in Excel including pivot tables, data management, and graphical representation
• ​Full professional competency in Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel, Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint.
•  Able to think critically about data and information, triangulating, and cross-checking data when needed and with minimal guidance

Languages: 

• ·Fluent in Arabic and English

Standards of Professional Conduct:  The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – Code of Conduct.  These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability.  In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Harassment-Free Workplace, Fiscal Integrity, Anti-Retaliation, Combating Trafficking in Persons and several others.

Gender Equality: IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances.

Attention Returning National Candidates: IRC strives to attract, motivate and retain qualified national staff in our programs. We strongly encourage national or returning national candidates to apply for this position. If you are a national of the country in which this position is based and are currently located outside of your home country and possess over two years of international work experience, the Middle East Region has introduced an attractive remuneration package. The package includes competitive compensation, return flight to post, shipping allowance, temporary housing and a relocation allowance. Certain restrictions may apply.

Working Environment

The overall security situation in Jordan is relatively calm, especially in Amman. The Jordanian government is stable, and civil unrest is largely peaceful. However, Jordan’s generosity in hosting refugees from Palestine, Iraq and now Syria have created huge strains on the country’s economy and infrastructure. The IRC office is in a modern professional building. 

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.