Resilience MEL Manager (Resilience Population Measurement Activity)Baidoa, Somalia

ABOUT MERCY CORPS

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

The Program / Department / Team (Program / Department Summary)

Mercy Corps has been operating in Somalia since 2008. With a staff of around 100 people and programs operating throughout the country, Mercy Corps’ overall country goal is building a peaceful and prosperous Somalia where all people feel secure, are economically empowered, and are meaningfully engaged. Mercy Corps’ current portfolio in Somalia focuses on humanitarian response and resilience; inclusive economic growth; enhancing trust and accountability between communities and their government; and improving youth livelihood and education opportunities. All Mercy Corps interventions in Somalia are implemented in a conflict and gender sensitive manner.

Mercy Corps is seeking a Resilience MEL Manager in the five-year USAID-funded Somalia Resilience Population Measurement (RPM) Activity. RPM aims to develop and lead a resilience measurement system on the collective resilience outcomes at a population level and build the capacity of participating stakeholders to estimate individual contributions to collective resilience outcomes. The program will establish a common measurement and analytics process among diverse actors in Somalia to link single-program-focused resilience capacity measurement methodologies previously piloted in Somalia and advance analytics to link diverse stakeholder-level contributions to collective, population-level resilience outcomes. The goal of RPM is to inform and improve stakeholder activities that contribute to resilience capacities that matter most for populations in the target zone. This will be achieved through two objectives: 1). Participating stakeholders have the ability to estimate individual contributions to collective resilience capacities, and 2). Population level change in resilience is assessed through an innovative mixed methods measurement system.

The Position(General Position Summary)

The Resilience MEL Manager is a senior technical role responsible for leading and managing the technical quality and implementation of work under Objective 1. This includes designing a detailed operational strategy, developing tools and facilitation materials, and delivering sessions and tailored follow-up to support stakeholders to engage effectively with resilience measurement. The Resilience MEL Manager will oversee and guide implementation of stakeholders’ resilience learning journeys, resilience results chains, interactive maps and approaches for estimating individual stakeholder Activities’ contributions to collective resilience capacities. The Resilience MEL Manager will also be responsible for contributing to the finalization of the MEL plan, establishing the program’s monitoring and evaluation system in partnership with the Deputy Chief of Party, and managing data collection and reporting against RPM performance indicators as detailed in the MEL plan over the life of the Activity. The Resilience MEL Manager will work closely with the Research Director to facilitate reflection on collective resilience capacities using Activity and population-level data and support other related activities under Objective 2.

Essential Responsibilities

STRATEGY AND TECHNICAL MANAGEMENT

● In consultation and working with the CoP, DCOP, Director for Research and Resilience Team; Contribute to setting the strategic vision and detailed implementation plan for the RPM Activity, with an emphasis on user-centered approaches for engaging with and building buy-in among participating stakeholders on resilience measurement and learning.

● Develop an operational strategy for Objective 1 for engaging and guiding participating stakeholders to identify their resilience-building logic, define learning and measurement needs, and draw connections to population-level resilience analysis.

● Lead and manage the technical quality and implementation of activities under Objective 1, including:

• Designing and leading processes to engage participating stakeholders to identify their resilience learning and decision-making needs (“Resilience Learning Journey”)
• Developing and facilitating access to resources and technical assistance to accompany stakeholders to develop resilience results chains, integrate resilience into their MEL plans and identify their resilience learning questions
• Designing and facilitating working sessions and close follow-up with participating stakeholders to advance in their Resilience Learning Journey
• Overseeing development of maps that visually depict the estimated population and location/coverage of capacities being built by participating stakeholders’ activities
• Developing a collective resilience results framework that demonstrates what resilience capacities are hypothesized to be most important for building resilience in the CDCS focal zone
• Designing and overseeing activities for building data literacy skills important for interpreting and acting on Activity and population-level data
• Contributing to the development of decision support tools and analytical products to integrate evidence into program design, monitoring, evaluation, and management
• Facilitating learning events and bilateral sessions with participating stakeholders using evidence to draw insights on and estimate individual contribution to collective resilience outcomes

● Coordinate, oversee and ensure quality of short-term technical assistance to support Objective 1.

PROGRAM AND TEAM MANAGEMENT

● Ensure overall delivery of Objective 1 activities are on scope, on time and on budget and meet Mercy Corps quality and program management standards and are in compliance with donor policies.

● Collaborate with technical leads across the program and build processes for regular feedback loops in order to ensure integrated program delivery and adaptive management

● Establish and oversee a stakeholder management organizational system to maintain clear communication and ensure tracking and knowledge management of work with participating stakeholders.

● Manage day-to-day work of Resilience MEL Officers

● Identify and support capacity building needs of RPM team members on Resilience MEL.

● Ensure all interventions under Objective 1 adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards.

PROGRAM MONITORING AND EVALUATION:

● Oversee establishment and ongoing implementation of effective program M&E systems to reach desired impacts; and appropriate documentation of lessons learned and recommendations.

• Review and finalize MEL plan, logframe and indicator plan during start-up phase.
• Set-up MEL system to collect data against indicators in the logframe and ensure timely data collection.
• Support the Research Director in leading the data collection of indicators related to Objective 2
• Lead on the collection for Objective 1 indicators.
• Manage quarterly and annual reporting; and coordinating the reporting with the DCOP and COP
• Support and facilitate the team wide review and reflection sessions

● Develop program reporting templates that facilitate the acquisition, aggregation and flow of information and learning within the program as well as externally.

INFLUENCE & REPRESENTATION:

● Build and manage collaborative partnerships with donors, local authorities, implementing organizations and other stakeholders.

● Present program M&E, research, and learning to external stakeholders and the program team in a way that influences decision-makers and promotes adaptations from learning.

SECURITY:

● Work closely with the country team’s security focal point to develop and maintain systems that promote the safety and security of all team members.

● Ensure that activities are designed and implemented with a clear analysis and understanding of security.

ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING

● As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

ACCOUNTABILITY TO PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS

● Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Supervisory Responsibility

Resilience MEL Officers (3)

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Deputy Chief of Party, Resilience Portfolio Measurement Activity

Works Directly With: RPM Director of Research, Strategic Communications Learning Manager and other members of the RPM Applied Learning team as well as Short-Term Technical Assistants, Somalia MEL, and Mercy Corps HQ research and technical support team members.

Knowledge and Experience

● BA/S degree in development studies, research methods, statistics, economics, social sciences, public policy, monitoring and evaluation, or other relevant field required

● Minimum four years’ experience at an advanced or senior level leading and/or overseeing monitoring and evaluation, with at least two of those years within resilience-focused programming

● Proven success in designing, implementing and operating project MEL systems, including experience in performance measurement, including indicator selection, target setting, reporting, database management and developing MEL and performance monitoring plans that support learning agendas and contribute to program efficacy.

● Experience with participatory qualitative and quantitative methodologies and techniques, including experience in planning and managing surveys and developing and refining data collection tools.

● Experience with data management including the ability to structure and collate data sets for ease of analysis.

● Excellent quantitative skills and power user with Excel; statistical packages including STATA, R, or SPSS; visualization software, like Tableau or Power BI, and GIS tools like QGIS, ArcGIS or Google Earth Pro is preferred.

● Demonstrated success facilitating the development of program logic models / results chains using participatory facilitation methods

● Demonstrated success designing and leading learning events and evidence-driven reflection workshops

● Strong written and verbal English communication and interpersonal skills to engage a variety of audiences; Somali language skills a plus

● Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with host governments, donors, other donor-funded projects and stakeholders, local organizations, and partners

● Experience working in East Africa required, experience in Somalia strongly preferred.

Success Factors

The successful RMEL Manager will be able to lead the strategic vision, operational strategy and technical quality for RPM Objective 1 activities. They will also combine exceptional technical skills with sound management experience to develop and oversee Objective 1 activities and the program-wide MEL system. They will have proven experience with cross-cultural teams and capacity building, individual staff development, and strong mentoring skills. Multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail and strategic vision are essential. The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The ideal candidate for RMEL manager is willing to be based in Baidoa with frequent travel (up to 20%) to Mogadishu and some travels to Nairobi for meetings and work when necessary. The location is unaccompanied and eligible for hardship and R&R benefits.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps’ policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues. Notably all Somalia staff are expected to comply with all country security protocols as guided by the country management.

Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision. Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

Click on the link below to apply:

https://jobs.jobvite.com/mercycorps/job/ohHDgfwB