Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Coordinator (National Position)

Requisition ID: req7344

Job Title: Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Coordinator (National Position)

Sector: Monitoring & Evaluation

Employment Category: Fixed Term

Employment Type: Full-Time

Open to Expatriates: No

Location: Mae Sot, Thailand

Job Description

Background/IRC Summary: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is at work in over 40 countries and 26 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. The IRC has been operating in Thailand since 1975 and currently provides assistance to displaced persons in Tak, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi and Mae Hong Son provinces.

Job Overview/Summary:

The IRC in Thailand currently operates in five core programming areas – primary health care, protection, women’s empowerment and the prevention and mitigation of gender-based violence, education, and livelihoods. These programs reflect IRC’s guiding principles of capacity-building, participation, partnership, protection and promotion of human rights as well as holistic programming.

IRC strives to produce quality proposals, reports and evaluations that illustrate measurement of contractual goals and activities, but also includes analysis of context and dynamic needs of beneficiaries at the community-level. Programming and program cycle management thus require a more strategic and technically sound approach to monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in order to better support program management, compliance to donor reporting and learning through consolidation and dissemination of lessons learnt from completed and ongoing programs.  

With direct management support from the Deputy Director of Programs (DDP) and technical support from the Regional Measurement Action Coordinator, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Coordinator will ensure that the IRC country program implements the monitoring and evaluation commitments as set out in the Thailand Strategic Action Plan (SAP). The M&E coordinator will ensure that suitable monitoring and evaluation systems are in place, implemented as intended, and reporting in a comprehensive and timely manner to facilitate technical coordinators and managers deliver programs that achieve the desired outcomes/impacts. The M&E Coordinator will provide strategic, technical, and managerial leadership for the IRC Thailand measurement efforts, including monitoring, evaluation, learning, and – above all – making decisions and taking action based on data.  This position requires oversight of M&E activities across country programs – including support to program staff – and coordination with field-based staff to ensure that data are of high quality and used effectively for decision making. The M&E Coordinator indirectly  

Major Responsibilities:

1.Strategic Leadership for Development of Robust M&E System

-Development and implementation of an M&E strategy for the country program that ensures technically sound and consistent approaches to:
-Indicator development across projects and geographic locations, including incorporation of organizational core indicators
-Routine monitoring of program activities
-Assessments of beneficiary needs
-Evaluations of the effectiveness of program interventions
-Accountability feedback mechanisms to ensure responsiveness to needs and clients
-Data collection, including digital data collection where feasible
-Data storage and secure accessibility of data by project staff and country/regional management
-Support country-level knowledge management efforts and develop and implement systems that facilitate the sharing of information across regions and field sites within Thailand, specifically focused on use of data and analysis for decision making and donor influence.
-Work with IRC Headquarters technical units to ensure Thailand program provides quality input to global outcome indicators.

2.Technical Quality Oversight of M&E System Implementation

-In collaboration with the RMAC and the DDP, develop a country M&E strategy.
-Work with the M&E managers and project teams to implement the M&E country strategy, with a focus on:
     -Development of robust M&E plans and logical frameworks for each project.
     -Coordinated monitoring of project activities, ensuring that activities are carried out or as planned or adjusted/adapted as              needed.
     -Coordinated assessments of beneficiary needs and client responsiveness, ensuring that tools and methodologies are                      appropriate, so that results are actionable and easily communicated.
     -Contributing to an organizational culture shift from a focus on data being primarily for donor reporting to using data for                decision making and action.
-Lead design and planning of beneficiary selection criteria in collaboration with technical coordinators, managers and M&E managers.
-Work with the M&E managers and project staff to provide M&E inputs for reports written during project implementation.
-Work with the RMAC to ensure that country teams are using the right tools and have the proper procedures in place to achieve both collection of high quality data and the effective use of those data.
-Work with technical and country teams to implement the IRC’s program data platform.
-Serve as the country office’s focal person for annual statistics reporting.
-Support the technical coordinators and field teams in analysis of data, including going beyond simple Excel charts to more sophisticated statistical analysis, and including creative use of Geographic Information System.
-Assist in conducting regular analysis to: (1) compare data against project milestones, targets, and quality expectations across project sites; (2) identify issues requiring further attention; (3) define action needed and assign responsibility and deadlines;
-Manage external evaluations in partnership with relevant stakeholders, such as donor or project managers, including the development of Terms of Reference, selecting consultants or evaluators, oversight of contract, reviewing outputs, etc.
-Support design and implementation of internal evaluations and project assessments with relevant program staff and technical advisors.
-Update and keep track of a country-wide evaluation plan to ensure projects are prepared for evaluations or internal assessments far in advance, and that each grant is subject to review in a systematic and timely fashion.

3.Capacity Building

-Conduct preliminary participatory capacity assessment of current IRC program/field staff to identify specific gaps in M&E technical skills. Based on needs identified by staff in the preliminary capacity assessment, support development of an M&E capacity building plan for the Thailand country office.
-Coach, train, and mentor M&E managers, project-specific M&E and/or relevant field staff with the aim of strengthening their technical capacity, exchanging knowledge within the program team and providing professional development guidance.
-Work with the M&E managers to support capacity development for IRCs local partners through technical training, coaching, mentoring.

4.Design and Learning

-Support the DDP, the Program and Awards Management Unit and technical coordinators to design evidence-based programming that aligns with the IRC’s country strategy and is relevant for the context and responsive to the needs on the ground as identified by the M&E team.
-Lead the M&E section of the proposal development process, ensuring that the theory of change is based on the results of participatory rural appraisal (PRA) processes, that the log frame is developed with the full participation of the field team, and that multiple technical sector inputs are integrated.
-Support country teams in developing log-frames and theories of change for new project proposals, including consistency with the IRC’s library of core outcomes and indicators.
-Conduct client responsiveness assessments and assessment of beneficiary needs to feed into the design of new project proposals.
-Analyze and translate data into recommendations to donors for new strategies, funding, etc. Work with DDP and the Country Director (CD) to develop advocacy and information sharing strategies to promote IRC’s learning.
-Provide leadership in supporting IRC Thailand program’s participation in Research, Evaluation and Learning’s (REL) evidence based program initiatives and serving as the main focal point with HQ and regional M&E and research initiatives to be rolled out in the country programs.
-Support development of tools and systems that ensure recommendations/lessons learned from previous grants flow back into project design of new grants. Support project/program staff to properly document, organize and capture program progress and create a tools and library to increase institutional learning and disseminate lessons learnt.

Qualifications

Position Requirements:

-Advanced degree in statistics or the social sciences with emphasis on measurement
-At least seven (7) years of professional experience with demonstrated skills in:
             -Developing and implementing M&E systems (including database design)
             -Strategic planning and performance measurement, indicator selection, quantitative and qualitative data collection and                    analysis methodologies
             -Collecting data
             -Remote monitoring
             -Data analysis and using data for decision-making in multiple technical sectors
-Proven ability to think strategically about data and making decisions on the same
-Proven technical skills in monitoring and evaluation, including experience with multi-sectorial and multi-donor funded programs and experience with qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis
-Experience training and mentoring staff and local partners
-Proven ability to support M&E components in business development
-Excellent teamwork including abilities to coordinate well with diverse individuals and teams and to negotiate effectively with       colleagues and stakeholders to achieve results
-Knowledge of the trends and issues in international aid monitoring, knowledge management and measurement
-Strong oral communication and presentation skills
-Strong planning, organizational and interpersonal skills
-Fluency in English required

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Deputy Director of Programs
Position directly supervises: N/A
Indirect Report(s): M&E Managers
Other Internal and/or external contacts:
Internal: Country Director, Deputy Director of Programs, IRC Program and Awards Management Unit staff, IRC Regional Measurement Action Coordinator, M&E managers, technical coordinators and managers; operations staff.
External: IRC local partners and stakeholders

Professional Standards

IRC staff must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Global Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti-Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

Working Environment: The position will be based in the IRC office in Mae Sot, with extensive travel to other the field sites.


All applications will be treated confidentially and not returned. The IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, national origin, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, age, marital status or physical or mental disability. The IRC is an equal opportunity employer.