Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (PMEAL) Manager

OXFAM PURPOSE: To work with Oxfam and Partners’ staff to overcome poverty and suffering.

TEAM PURPOSE: To increase Oxfam’s program impact in Syria by working closely with country management and program teams to improve program quality – providing leadership, coordination, technical expertise, and support on foundational program quality (design, planning, monitoring, evaluation, learning, social accountability and partnership) with Oxfam’s one program approach, gender, rights-based approach and impact at scale embedded.

JOB PURPOSE: The PMEAL Manager provides technical leadership, expertise, tools and capacity development to Oxfam Syria’s programmes (Oxfam and partner teams) to ensure strong programme and project design, and effective and coordinated Monitoring Evaluation Accountability & Learning (MEAL) systems that align with the Oxfam in Syria’s Country Strategy, Oxfam standards and that enable programme quality and inform programme decision-making.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES (Technical, Leadership, People and Resource management)

DIMENSIONS:

1. Diverse and complex problem-solving, requiring professional knowledge field experience and an understanding of development and humanitarian work.
2. Decision-making requires significant levels of judgement based on technical and management experience, generally actively supported within line management or the regional programme quality team.
3. The focus of the role can vary but with well-defined targets and/or minimum standards and is both proactive and reactive.
4. Information sources are diverse, ranging from academic research to data collection in programme and non-programme areas and often requires a judgement on credibility and accuracy of the information.
5. Makes complex technical information accessible and usable by non-specialist.
6. Short-, medium- and long-term planning is required in the context of changing priorities
7. Work patterns are not routine and often high pressure.
8. Knowledge required includes broad understanding of and their relevance to own specialism.
9. Specific competencies and skills are required to achieve the job’s objectives e.g. geographical, thematic, managerial, methodological
10. Communication largely with internal staff, also with some external contacts / target audiences to support operational work.
11. Impact and influence of the job is mostly within the job holder’s own programme unit in line with the Oxfam Minimums Standards for MEAL and other key methodological guidelines.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Oxfam program in Syria has been Operational since 2013 with a goal of alleviating the suffering of vulnerable women, men, girls & boys affected by the Syrian crisis in Syria. The Program continues to be operational in the context of the conflict in the country which caused over 6.2 million to be internally displaced, 2 million fleeing as refugees, who come to be highly vulnerable to disease outbreaks, malnutrition, and lacking access to basic life services. The Syria Country program responds to improve resilience among communities by increasing equitable access to basic services services andassisting people in meeting basic needs such as emergency food and livelihood support; water& sanitation; protection and gender. Since 2013, the Syria emergency response program has been implementing humanitarian and early recovery interventions.

In pursuit of increasing Oxfam’s program impact in the country; the PMEAL Manager is to effectively discharge leadership and managerial role in PMEAL; technical advisory and back up for program design, monitoring and evaluation, building partners’ capacity, improving the overall program quality of the program in the country, and establishing effective networking and collaboration among external actors in Syria, and program quality team within Oxfam in the Region.

PMEAL Technical Leadership and Management:

1. In coordination with the DCD-P, work with the Program Quality team to develop a culture of programme quality and knowledge-driven programming within Oxfam and partners, and actively participate in senior management meetings, providing support to evidence-based decision-making processes.
2. Lead on the MEAL of the Oxfam Country Strategy and on learning and review opportunities for progress made in the OCS.
3. In coordination and collaboration with the DCD-P, provide leadership and quality assurance on the planning, preparation, and implementation of annual Programme Quality (PQ) Reviews that inform PQ improvement plans, and support country and program management to establish PQ priorities.
4. Lead on the Oxfam Common Approach to MEL and Social Accountability (CAMSA) roll out in the Syria Office, including on the development and implementation of programme and project improvement plans.

Programme development, design and planning:

1. In close collaboration with the Funding Team, Thematic Advisors and Area Managers, support programme teams in planning for programme, project, and proposal design. This includes promoting and supporting early engagement and active participation of partners and primary change agents in programme and project identification and design.
2. In collaboration with thematic advisors and DCD-P, provide guidance to and support developers and authorisers in ensuring that programme quality is embedded in new programmes and projects and that developed programmes and projects meet Oxfam quality standards. Influence funding and decision-making processes to ensure adequate resource allocation for MEAL.
3. Advise and support Oxfam and partner teams on quality data gathering and analysis at community, local and national level to facilitate informed programme and project design.
4. Proactively lead/ support the development of sound programme logic and objective setting that is informed by contextual information, learning, and knowledge.
5. Ensure that Information Management products (monthly reports, dashboards, etc) are actively used by program teams and supporting Area Managers and other field teams in the using data collected to make decisions on planning and programming.

Programme and Project Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning:

1. Proactively support Oxfam and partners in designing and ensuring the operationalization and implementation of effective and participatory MEAL strategies and plans at all levels in line with Oxfam standards.
2. Provide technical advice and support in designing and implementing relevant programme and project MEAL systems, including the definition of specific processes, methodologies and tools for needs assessments, baselines, PDM, DDM, Action Reviews, etc, and other MEAL exercises.
3. Identify, test and roll-out innovative MEAL approaches and methods – particularly for monitoring, accountability and beneficiary feedback in remote programming settings.
4. Provide assurance and control of the quality of programme and project MEAL that is appropriate to the context and in line with Oxfam standards.
5. Ensure compliance with Oxfam’s beneficiary counting methodology, and lead on initiatives to strengthen data and information management.
6. Lead / support on the design and management of evaluations in compliance with Oxfam’s evaluation policy.
7. Lead on the definition of country knowledge and learning agenda and provide methodological guidance / leadership on the design and organization of programme reviews and learning events.

Oxfam and partner staff resourcing and capacity development:

1. Facilitate identification of needs, planning, and implementation for country team capacity building in PMEAL, and build capacity of Oxfam and partner staff to deliver PMEAL, including through induction, training, and coaching. This includes mobilizing of internal and external resources as relevant in close coordination with the regional programme quality team.
2. Provide effective performance and development management of supervised staff (line and matrix), utilising Oxfam’s people management tools and approaches.
3. Support to effective performance management and development of country staff by contributing to objectives development and review in the area of PMEAL.
4. Ensure adherence to Oxfam guidance and policies relevant to consultancies related to PMEAL. Provide overall quality assurance and quality control of PMEAL consultancy-related work, and support in the design and management of consultancies as required.

Internal and external coordination, representation, and networking:

1. Promote and facilitate the identification of learning from PMEAL practices by Oxfam and partners, ensure that knowledge and learning is shared internally and externally, and promote replication of good practices across the country programme.
2. Ensure that Oxfam’s MEAL system is linked to wider inter-agency M&E initiatives and developments and liaise with technical teams to ensure coordination with sectoral working groups and processes.
3. Lead, coordinate and support country use of the KNOW system and marketplace for programme quality.
4. Contribute to and support implementation of regional and global Oxfam programme quality strategies, processes, policies, and initiatives. This includes contributing to effective corporate processes and reporting (e.g. Output reporting, indicative outcome areas, Program Quality Reviews etc).

ESSENTIAL

1. Advanced University Degree in international development, social science field, or any technical area relevant to the position
2. Demonstrated 5-7 years of Planning and MEAL international and/or national experience of humanitarian, emergency settings, and an understanding of relevant complex humanitarian contexts.
3. Experience in managing and leading diverse teams, including the ability to motivate for quality improvement.
4. Strong experience in influencing, managing, advising, training, and coaching others on PMEAL, including HR and resourcing.
5. Strong technical competence and experience in quantitative and qualitative M&E methods, data analysis, reporting and understanding of contemporary trends and innovations in MEAL. For example, Experience with statistical packages (e.g. SPSS, R) and familiarity with IT applications to support MEAL and information management
6. Proven ability to advise and lead on the development and implementation of MEAL strategies, plans, and systems in humanitarian and development programmes
7. Ability to plan workload, meet competing deadlines and demonstrate accountability for outputs with minimal direct supervision
8. Good organizational skills including accuracy, consistency, attention to detail, tenacity, and the ability to work under pressure
9. Sensitivity to cultural differences, and the ability to work in a wide variety of cultural contexts.
10. Experience of working in insecure environments
11. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal English) and the ability to write clear, concise reports and influence verbally to persuade with diplomacy and tact.
12. Commitment to humanitarian principles and action, to Oxfam’s overall aims, policies and value and, particularly, mainstreaming gender in humanitarian and development work
13. Prepared to undertake regular travel within the country
14. knowledge of the middle east region, operating environment and context specific to Syria and/or other countries in the middle east.

Additional essential criteria an individual needs to be able to deliver the role.

• Decisiveness
• Relationship building
• Self-Awareness
• Strategic Thinking and Judgment
• Mutual accountability

Desirable

1. Experience working in insecure and remote management contexts and the establishment of remote MEAL systems
2. Arabic language skills