Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, Research and Learning (MEARL) Officer, Level II/III

Project HOPE is an international NGO of more than 900 engaged employees and hundreds of volunteers who work in more than 25 countries, responding to the world’s most pressing global health challenges. Throughout our 60-year legacy, Project HOPE has treated millions of patients and provided more than $3 billion worth of medicines to local health care organizations around the world. We have helped build hundreds of health programs from the ground up and responded to humanitarian crises worldwide.

Code of Conduct

It is our shared responsibility and obligation to treat each other with respect, take affirmative steps to prevent matters involving Sexual Exploitation & Abuse and Trafficking in Persons, and to disclose all potential and actual violations of our Code of Conduct, which may include Conflicts of Interest, Fraud, Corruption, Discrimination or Harassment. Together we can reinforce a culture of respect, integrity, accountability, and transparency.

Program Summary:

Project HOPE works on global health program in international development and humanitarian assistance as well as domestic public health issues in the United States. Project HOPE prides itself in ensuring that every project that is given an opportunity to implement has a parallel system in monitoring and evaluating as well as improving the programming by adapting findings during the process of implementation to improve indicators to achieve the goals of the program. Additionally, Project HOPE believes in the need to document program progress, to account for impact of intervention provided during program implementation, to document and address underperformance of programs and to be very innovative as an international NGO in our implementation and reporting to donors. The MEARL Officer will support the MEARL Unit in the robust implementation on the MEARL System at Project HOPE headquarters and country levels to ensure the goals of programs being implemented are achieved.**

**

POSITION SUMMARY:

Under the guidance of the MEARL Director, the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, Research and Learning (MEARL) Officer will contribute to information and reporting processes and products to ensure professional, high-quality communication about Project HOPE’s programmatic activities and results. The MEARL Officer will also play an important role in strengthening the Project HOPE’s M&E system, improving information management and data quality, and in strengthening knowledge sharing and learning across the organization and with the international health and development communities. The MEARL Officer will contribute to the full-cycle monitoring and evaluation of Project HOPE’s programs, developing appropriate methodologies and tools to design evaluations. Furthermore, the MEARL Officer will support the country level MEARL team to ensure that MEARL system for each project is functioning appropriately so programs meet their goals as well bringing underperformance needs to the MEARL Director immediately who with the support of leadership at country and headquarters levels will take corrective action in a timely manner.

PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty with satisfactory results with or without reasonable accommodation. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

*Policies, Guidelines, and Procedures

• Contribute to mainstreaming the Global MEARL Guidelines across all related MEARL activities at the field level and ensure the guidance notes for monitoring, evaluation, research, and accountability are functional
• Contribute to mainstreaming the Global Emergency Response Guidelines across all related emergency response activities at the field level and ensure the guidance notes for monitoring, evaluation, research, and accountability are functional
• Support in mapping and detailing the navigation, selection, application, and adaption of existing guidelines, tools, and templates at the relevant stages of the global health and humanitarian response project cycle
• Contribute to the development of guidance and standards methodologies for the collection and analysis of data to allow for comparison and aggregation across time and the different projects

MEARL System

· Contribute to the institutionalization of a global health and emergency response project monitoring, information system to allow for tracking of key implementation indicators and ongoing use of program monitoring data to inform and strengthen program strategy and increase impact.

· In coordination with the relevant teams, the MEARL Officer will support the establishment of a reliable participatory MEARL framework to ensure quality in all field projects

· Support the design in MEARL procedures and operating plans for global health and humanitarian response projects at field level and develop harmonized data collection tools involving the different stakeholders (project team, partners)

· Contribute to ensuring that accountability to affected populations data is collected routinely throughout the project cycle, enabling evidence-based programming and corrective action

· Support the development of data gathering strategies and harmonize data collection, analysis, and reporting flows for projects in country

· Collaborate with the field/country’s information, communications, and telecommunications (ICT) section to develop and maintain the MEARL technology system, including updating, troubleshooting, and promptly addressing all problems as they arise

· Conduct regular site visits or when required to monitor service provision and ensure data quality

Data Management and Data Methodology

• Assist country/project team to develop strategies for assessing the quality of collected data for the indicators and manage tools and methods for assessing data quality for all indicators
• Support country/project team to organize the planning for project data quality audits and monitor and coordinate routine data quality audits conducted in different sites, compile results at the level of a project and develop actions plans to implement corrective measure

· Participates in developing & disseminating technical abstracts, articles, conference presentations & strategy papers.

• Support in the training and supervision of data gathering of internal performance evaluation and design and synthesize the findings from participative evaluation techniques
• Develop guidance and standards methodologies for the collection and analysis of data to allow for comparison and aggregation across time and the different projects
• Support country/project team on conducting qualitative and quantitative statistical analysis including descriptive (univariate and bivariate data analysis) and develop spatial data models and maps
• Contribute to the development and review of donor reports as well as scientific reports and abstracts for publications. **

Knowledge Management and Learning

· Develop KML mechanisms and processes for response while ensuring these mechanisms are in line with Project HOPE’s guidelines

· Establish basic learning systems that incorporate response studies’ findings, lessons learnt, achievements and gaps, and develop all the tools required to support learning practices

· Organize internal reviews and lessons learned workshops and present practical recommendations

· Support country/project teams to ensure after-action reviews and lessons learned exercises, including data collected through Community-Based Feedback and Response Mechanism (CBFRM) and other participative forms of community engagement and feedback collection

*Project Design and Planning

· Support the Business Development, Development department, Country Directors, RDs, field, and other technical staff to prepare M&E sections, including developing the M&E narrative, indicators, PITT tables within identified proposals

• Work with MEARL Director to provide technical assistance and support at global health and emergency response project start-up including the creation of MEARL plans that align with workplans, reviewing indicators as required by both Project HOPE and donor standards, and supporting country teams for timely and efficient project start.
• Contribute to the design and coordination of needs assessment and situation analysis through various approaches (e.g. direct data collection, secondary sources, problem tree analysis, SWOT analysis) and ensure that needs assessment and project design are linked
• Support country/project team with developing the results framework, theory of change, log frame and MEARL plan including indicators for existing and new projects
• Contribute to the identification of budget/resources needed for MEARL activities of projects

· Works with the country/project teams to create a project dashboard on an institutionalized MEARL system and input project indicators

· Develops/Reviews all data collection tools as requested by country teams and that country team has access to all necessary databases.

· Works with projects to ensure that all MEARL related products developed during the duration of the project are handed over to the country/ regional and HQ offices. These may include databases, sample tools etc.

· Works with the projects to ensure that all MEARL related tools/supplies are handed off to the regional/ country and/or HQ offices. These may include tablets used for data entry and others

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

· Master’s-level or a higher degree in social sciences, public health, statistics, emergency response or international development, with experience or background in MEARL, epidemiology, public health, and health information management

Experience

· Minimum of five (5) years of applied experience in designing, implementing, and overseeing monitoring and evaluation tasks for a global or public health organization and or emergency response organization.

· Demonstrated experience in teamwork and building staff capacity within complex programing

· Experience with MEARL approaches for key donors such as USAID, CDC, PEPFAR, BHA, OFDA, ECHO, EU, DfID, UN

· Experience in database design and other tools for information management like DHIS2 and CommCARE

· Experience in use of qualitative and quantitative software for data analysis as well as visualization tools such as SPSS, STATA, SAS, Atlas, MAXQDA, Tableau, and Power PI,

· Experience with mobile data collection platform such as DHIS 2 tracker, and KoboCollect

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

· Master’s-level or a higher degree in social sciences, public health, statistics, emergency response or international development, with experience or background in MEARL in global health and emergency response

Experience

· Minimum of five (5) years of applied experience in designing, implementing, and overseeing monitoring and evaluation tasks for a global health and humanitarian response in developing countries.

· Experience with MEARL approaches for key donors such as USAID, PEPFAR, BHA, OFDA, ECHO, EU, DfID, UN

· Experience in DHIS2 and CommCARE

· Experience in SPSS, MAXQDA, Tableau, and Power PI,

· Experience with DHIS 2 tracker and KoboCollect

PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT:

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Physical demands: **

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee must be mobile in an office environment and able to use standard office equipment.
• Must be able to communicate in verbal and written form and must be able to travel internationally.
• Project HOPE employees may be required to travel or work in countries where working conditions are classified as “hardship.”

Work environment:

• Typical office environment with exposure to a minimal noise level.
• Emergency deployments may be in resource-deprived environments with austere living conditions.
• Travel for extended periods may be by air and/or other modes of transportation.
• While international travel is not a regular part of every job, programmatic needs may require it intermittently.
• Project HOPE employees may be required to travel or work in countries where working conditions are classified as “hardship.”

Due to the substantial number of inquiries, we receive, only candidates who have met the required experience & qualifications for this position will be considered. No phone calls please.

However, since we are active around the world in the field of public health, we may wish to retain your CV in our database for other/future opportunities, unless you direct us otherwise.

Thank you very much for your interest in Project HOPE.