Catholic Relief Services
*This position is contingent on the receipt of donor funding.
About CRS
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.
Job Summary:
The purpose of this position is to design, manage, strengthen, and give strategic direction to the USAID Resilient Environment South MEAL system. The MEAL Manager will provide technical expertise and leadership to generate and analyze quality evidence and data through monitoring, assessments, and evaluations. The MEAL Manager should be a technician with demonstrated experience in building or strengthening monitoring systems, quantitative and qualitative analysis, survey, and sample design, and effectively promoting evidence-based program management, with ability and experience in remote monitoring. The Manager will work closely with staff and partners to develop monitoring systems and tools. The Manager will be responsible for coordinating and supervising MEAL activities. S/he will work with CRS and partner staff to build MEAL capacity for adaptive management. The Manager should have demonstrated experience in education and youth development, participatory community governance, local advocacy, local capacity building, and/or management and use of grassroots level-generated data. Additionally, the MEAL Manager should have demonstrated experience delivering results in a volatile environment as well as in situation monitoring and assessment. The Manager is expected to have a high level of initiative and to use critical thinking skills to identify and fill MEAL gaps.
Responsibilities
Roles and Key Responsibilities:
- Provide management, guidance, and technical oversight of the Resilient Environment South activity, throughout the project cycle to ensure project design, start-up, implementation and close-out are in line with CRS’ MEAL quality principles and standards, donor guidelines, and industry best practices.
- Effectively manage talent of and supervise other MEAL staff within the project. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching, strategically tailor individual development plans, and complete performance management for direct reports.
- Lead the development of program learning: identify opportunities for learning, research and publications around natural resources management, land restoration, and related topics, as part of the project. Lead implementation of the MEAL policy in line with CRS’ and USAID policies.
- Facilitate the dissemination of promising practices and lessons learned to contribute to the agency knowledge management agenda to the donor, to partners, and within CRS. Ensure integration of innovations and best practices.
- Oversee technical assistance and capacity strengthening activities in MEAL for staff and partner organizations within the project’s consortium to enhance program quality and impact.
- Ensure timely and appropriate MEAL-related project expenditures in line with financial plans and efficient use and stewardship of project material sources.
- Create opportunities for reflection and learning among MEAL staff on the project and as part of MEAL practitioners within the Haiti country program, in coordination with the country program MEAL Manager.
Qualifications
Basic Qualifications
- Master’s Degree in International Development, International Relations or in Monitoring and Evaluation, as required. Additional experience may substitute for some education.
- Minimum of five years relevant international working experience in an advisory or management role with progressive responsibilities, ideally with an international NGO, with minimum of three years working for programming interventions in MEAL; seven years’ relevant experience is highly
- Experience in mentoring, coaching, facilitation and training applying adult learning principles and practices.
- Proficient in MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information and budget management systems, knowledge-sharing networks.
Required Languages– Professional proficiency in French and English required. Conversational Haitian Creole is a plus.
Travel– position is based in Haiti with up to 40% internal travel.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with ability to make sound judgment and decisions and offer innovative solutions
- Strong relations management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship.
- Good presentation and facilitation skills
- Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented and results-oriented
Preferred Qualifications
- Academic or working knowledge of current and rigorous social research analytic methods for measuring program and project performance preferred.
- Demonstrated ability to write high quality technical proposals.
- Demonstrated application of technical principles and concepts in MEAL and USAID’s Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) framework. General knowledge of other related disciplines to ensure proper cross-sectoral approach.
- Experience engaging with partner organizations
Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)
These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.
- Integrity
- Continuous Improvement & Innovation
- Builds Relationships
- Develops Talent
- Strategic Mindset
- Accountability & Stewardship
Supervisory Responsibilities: MEAL Officer, Accountability Officer
Key Working Relationships:
Internal: Project leadership (Chief of Party, Deputy CoP), Country Program MEAL Manager, Regional MEAL Advisor
External: MEAL Advisors of partner organizations
***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.
CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer