Regional Measurement Action Coordinator

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

The IRC recognized several years ago that while our focus on impact evaluations and research had put us at the cutting edge among NGOs for assessing contribution to impact, support to country programs on routine monitoring and use of data for decision making still needed to be enhanced. IRC developed a strategy to address these challenges through 2020 that provides a cohesive vision and tactical plan to ensure we generate and use the right data across IRC. The strategy focused on four pillars:

1) Ensure programs measure and collect the right data

2) Enable IRC to manage the flow of data from field to HQ

3) Build the capacity, processes and resources to conduct measurement activities

4) Ensure data is used to inform decisions across IRC.

Location: Preferance -  Colombia, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela, or U.S. location.

Length of assignment: 12 months

Languages: Fluency in Spanish and English, both written and verbal a must.

Job Overview:

This role sits within the Latin America Regional Unit reporting to the Deputy Regional Director with a technical report to the Senior Advisor Measurement Action, and covers six countries Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia and Venezuela.

This position sits within the Regional Team reporting to the Deputy Regional Director with management in partnership to the Senior Advisor Measurement Action. The overarching goals of the position are:

1. To provide thoughts leadership in measurement at regional and global level; actively contribute to the development of a sound measurement strategy (routed in IRC 100) that responds to both country and HQ needs; and ensure alignment of Measurement goals and priorities at country, regional and HQ levels;

2. To foster monitoring, evaluation and learning excellence in country programs – ensuring countries have the technical guidance, systems and competencies to produce timely quality data & measurement products to enhance program impact for our client; produce sound donor reports and support strategic & programmatic decision making

Below are the key responsibilities under the overarching goals:

1.To provide thoughts leadership in measurement at regional and global level; actively contribute to the development of a sound measurement strategy (routed in IRC 100) that responds to both country and HQ needs; and ensure alignment of Measurement goals and priorities at country, regional and HQ levels;

• Provide measurement leadership and foster collaboration with country, regional and HQ colleagues in developing and implementing, the measurement strategy, priorities and key IRC initiatives ; Contribute thoughts, knowledge from country experienceto the IRC global strategy 100 through both regional and global forum;

• Foster the prioritization of data use and measurement by the senior management team within country program and regional forum;

• Establish and maintain a vibrant Measurement Community of Practice (CoP) whereby M&E staff working across the region share best practice, learn from one another, provide input into new tools and resources and build harmonized best practice across IRC contexts;

• Support the success of IRC Country, Regional and Global measurement initiative; channel the countries interests, preferences, aspirations and concerns to the Measurement Unit;

• Stay abreast of new measurement developments in and outside IRC; Partner with relevant technical units to assure products are fit for purpose and according to best practice standards for methods and use of data

2.To foster monitoring, evaluation and learning excellence in country programs – ensuring countries have the technical guidance, systems and competencies to produce timely quality data & measurement products to enhance program impact for our client; produce sound donor report and support strategic & programmatic decision making

• Provide hands-on technical assistance to support country programs to deliver on their measurement commitments by working closely with in-country measurement staff, country management and headquarters Measurement Unit. This includes:

O Coordinate the M&E in the region, ensuring consistency of approach is used that enables cross-cutting consolidation, analysis, learning and reporting of M&E results to all stakeholders involved.

O Establishing and following processes and procedures that are conducive to continuous improvements in data quality and support IRC’s management in their efforts to use measurement data for decision making.

O Foster the prioritization of data use and measurement by the senior management team within country program and regional offices;

O Providing support in the review of proposals, with a focus on ensuring sound logframe, target, M&E plan and budget. Ensuring use of the Indicator Selection Tool and where possible, selection of IRC core indicators within and across countries in the region, leading to meaningful aggregations and potential benchmarking opportunities;

O Providing support for routine and ad-hoc measurement activities throughout the program cycle in accordance with the relevant MFA, G&G and PCM guidelines and including the Annual Statistic and Beneficiary Counting efforts.

O Supporting countries with assessment, baseline, midline, endline as well as evaluation, review and lessons learned.

• Support in-country DDPs and senior measurement and learning staff in the hiring, onboarding and continuous mentoring, capacity building and professional development of measurement staff; as well as advising Country Office on recommended staff structure, software and hardware for effective measurement.

• Support the success of IRC Country, Regional and Global measurement initiatives; foster collaboration with country program teams, and channel the countries’ perspectives to the Measurement Unit;

• Provide measurement guidance and support on key global strategic initiatives including G&G. PCM, SAP and Strategy 100

Minimum Qualifications

Job Requirements:

Essential qualifications, skills and experience

• Advanced degree in relevant field such as economics, statistics, international development, public policy, or other social sciences, or relevant work experience

• Minimum seven years of progressing experience designing, implementing, and supporting M&E frameworks and results including supporting field-based M&E design and reporting, as well as working with major international donors on M&E related aspects.

• Strength in developing baseline research, logic models, data collection and analysis of data sets, mid-term evaluations, outcome evaluations, and in mentoring and teaching-by-doing other M&E staff.

• Experience with the challenges of effective monitoring in the field, including cultural, gender, and access considerations with the aim of enhancing project learning, quality, and data-driven decision making.

• Good understanding of basic ICT principles and the logic of data collection and management systems.

• Strong computer skills: proficiency with MS Office – especially MS Excel. Knowledge of ArcGIS, Kobo ToolBox, CommCare, MS PowerBI, as well as other software used in qualitative and quantitative M&E would be solid assets.

• Excellent communication skills, including solid writing skills and the ability to plan for and prepare strategic communications.

• Proficient in both English and Spanish

Highly desirable

• Experience with direct program implementation in emergency and low-resource contexts.

• Experience rolling out organizational initiatives, particularly related to monitoring and evaluation

• Team player able to work with multi-cultural teams and under tight deadlines