Senior ERD MEAL Officer

BACKGROUND: More than 3.6 million people have fled across borders to seek safety in the 1st month since the escalation of conflict in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and over 6.5 million Ukrainians are reported to be displaced. As the vast majority of the displaced are women, girls, and boys, this could become the worst humanitarian crisis Europe has seen in decades.

Between February 7-23, 2022, an IRC team undertook a scoping mission in Poland to better understand the context, humanitarian and civil society landscape, and anticipated service gaps in the event of an escalation of conflict in Ukraine and consequent displacement into neighboring Poland. As of February 24th, the IRC has pivoted to an emergency response to respond to those that have fled Ukraine into Poland and are working both directly and with partner agencies to facilitate immediate assistance that can be used where it is the most needed.

Job Overview: The Senior ERD MEAL Officer will support the ERD program team in developing, managing, and strengthening monitoring and evaluation efforts of the IRC program (Cash and Livelihood) in the Poland with the aim of ensuring a high program quality in line with international humanitarian standards and responsiveness to beneficiary needs in a rapidly changing context. The Senior M&E Officer will support development and maintenance of a robust monitoring system that facilitates both accountability and learning and includes but not limited to data collection, analysis, learning reflection and timely action-taking. Specifically, the Senior ERD M&E Officer will be responsible for:

Monitoring, Data Collection and Analysis: Working with ERD team to monitor programme activities in Poland, specifically:

• Lead the implementation of activities according to the program’s M&E plan and adherence to IRC’s monitoring standards
• Lead the program teams and partners in designing/updating M&E tools, as well as in guiding data collection and analysis as required
• Plan, manage, and conduct periodic visits to data collection in program sites
• Lead Partnership assessment on MEAL capacities at the procurement stage and relationship with Partners’ MEAL staff
• Lead the preparation of data for M&E reports in relation to ERD
• Carry out regular data quality audits (DQAs) and follow up with indicators for internal reporting
• Ensure data received from the field teams and partners is correctly entered into the program trackers on a regular basis – gather, consolidate, clarify errors, and clean the program data
• Ensure accurate and regular data entry and review, including robust analysis and identification of trends, following the ERD information management protocols and standards set out by IRC
• Maintain the ERD information management system and ensure safe and accurate documentation, filing, storing and usage of information
• Work closely with ERD Managers to develop electronic data collection for program tracker, rapid assessments, and ERD monitoring
• Share weekly the updated Program Data and Indicator tracker with ERD Team, alongside a brief trends analysis report to guide ERD activities and inform programming

Assessments

• Coordinate with ERD Coordinator and Managers in consolidating of Terms of References for assessments, surveys, and evaluation by working together with sector Technical Advisor.
• Coordinate with ERD staff in developing and reviewing tools
• Lead design and implementation of surveys to assess beneficiaries’ satisfaction (sample calculation, sampling strategy, data collectors’ management, analysis)

Accountability: Working with MEAL Coordinator and MEAL Feedback Mechanism Officer, to ensure a client responsiveness system is set up in ERD programs.

• Ensures that a proper complaints and feedback mechanism is in place and that all project stakeholders are sensitized on how to use the complaints mechanism
• Manage and follow up on project complaints from CRM database and work with Team to ensure all feedback are completed
• Ensure that participation and accountability activities are well documented, and learning is shared within IRC and implementing partners

Reporting: Based on emerging needs in Poland, work with potential partners/partners to design quality and responsive ERD interventions, specifically:

• Submit monthly program data and indicator tracking reports and analysis to the ERD Coordinator and Managers, in-line with safety and ethical standards and to MEAL plan
• Compile, edit, and write monthly and quarterly ERD quantitative program reports using assigned template, including collating reports from field staff, and producing final information products
• Other duties as requested by the ERD or MEAL Coordinator

Capacity strengthening and learning: Provide individual support to program staff in areas of data collection, specifically

• Orient and mentor partner M&E and program staff on ERD M&E system as per MEAL Plan.
• Support/Deliver M&E/data base/ data collection trainings
• Design jointly with program staff beneficiary/client feedback on services to improve program quality, managing data collectors, and
• Conduct learning sessions with clients and staff, presenting to them the results of beneficiary feedback.
• Prepare, participate in, and support follow-up of data review meetings that serve to discuss program progress and use data to inform decision-making for program adaptation
• Ensure that IRC meets its internal and external accountability commitments through the development and implementation of accountability mechanisms appropriate for the rapidly evolving context and including a beneficiary feedback and response mechanism to be utilized by program teams.
• Promote a learning environment that include regular discussions on lessons learned, best practices, and knowledge sharing between programs and within programs between different offices.

Requirements:

• Language: English required; if possible, Ukrainian
• Bachelor’s degree in relevant field including data science, business, engineering, social sciences, economics, or related field)
• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in developing and implementing M&E plans data collection and analysis, and thorough knowledge of M&E and ERD principles, methods, and approaches
• Thorough understanding of project cycle management processes
• Knowledge of quantitative and qualitative data collection tools
• Demonstrated understanding of and ability to maintain confidentiality and respect for clients/beneficiaries
• Experience within international organizations a distinct advantage
• Positive and professional attitude, including ability to lead and work well in a team setting
• High degree of flexibility and strong ability to organize work, meet deadlines, maintain composure, prioritize work under pressure, coordinate multiple tasks and maintain attention to detail
• Experience in data/information management and quantitative analysis, statistical software such as SPSS, or Stata is preferred, but not required.
• Professional MS Office skills, especially Excel