Democratic Republic of the Congo: Monitoring and Evaluation Officer- DRC

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible.
In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions
into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.
Now, and for the future.

Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps has been operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since 2007, with a staff of approximately 250 people in North and South Kivu. We support vulnerable communities, while fostering strong relationships and partnerships across government, civil society and the private sector to deliver programs that build resilience and promote sustainable change. Our current activities focus on the provision of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services in camps for internally displaced people, and large-scale WASH infrastructure and service delivery in urban centers. Mercy Corps also has food security, economic recovery/development and governance programs, with an increasing shift towards transitional and integrated development programming. The DRC team has a strong commitment to providing entrepreneurial and innovative solutions to development challenges, and actively seeks and facilitates market-based solutions.

General Position Summary

Mercy Corps is recruiting a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Officer for a USAID-funded Development Food Assistance Project (DFAP) implemented in Eastern DRC. This five-year project will improve food and nutrition security and economic well-being of vulnerable populations through outcomes focused on agriculture, natural resources, livelihoods, health, nutrition, WASH and governance. The M&E Officer will be responsible for leading the implementation of effective measurement, evaluation and learning strategies aimed at ensuring that project activities result in positive outcomes for male and female participants of different age groups. S/he will have overall responsibility for building team members' and partners' capacity to integrate quantitative and qualitative approaches into project activities, raising awareness of the importance of ongoing measurement and learning. The M&E Officer will work closely with sector team leads to ensure the effective and timely execution of monitoring and evaluation activities, including high-quality compliance with USAID's M&E standards.

Essential Job Responsibilities

MEL Strategy

• Lead the development and maintenance of required USAID M&E products, including the M&E plan, logical framework, Theory of Change, Performance Indicator Reference Sheets, and others as necessary, in alignment with the mission-level MEL Strategy and Information Management Strategy.
• Oversee the set-up and roll-out and any necessary adaptations of the FARM program M&E framework, under the supervision and support from the Country MEL Manager and the Program Director.
• Train program team members on Do No Harm best practices and Mercy Corps' minimum standards as they relate to M&E.
• Ensure operationalization and monitoring of Mercy Corp's Accountability Mechanism in program activities.
• Ensure that gender, age, ethnicity and other relevant considerations are effectively integrated at design, implementation, analysis and report writing stages for all M&E products.

Ongoing monitoring and learning

• Develop monitoring workplans to ensure that all necessary indicators are measured in an appropriate and timely manner for each program sector.
• Conduct routine and ad-hoc data analyses according to program's needs in the areas of: adaptive management, external and internal reporting, and ongoing learning.
• Ensure that sector teams understand their respective indicators and the utility of these data.
• Train sector teams to perform their assigned monitoring responsibilities.
• Design and roll-out the capture and documentation of best practices and lessons learnt though regularly coordinated moments of self-reflection and adaption with program teams, in accordance with the mission-level Lessons Learned Strategy.
• Coordinate with the program Gender and Youth Advisor to integrate gender- and age-sensitive approaches in data collection tools and analyses.

Program evaluation

• In accordance with donor requirements and the program M&E plan, design annual evaluations to measure changes in program indicators.
• Train and coordinate the M&E team, sector teams, and contract enumerators as necessary to conduct evaluation activities.
• Ensure compliance with Do No Harm procedures in all evaluation activities.
• Conduct data analyses and facilitate data review discussions with sector teams to identify action points and learning opportunities.
• Lead preparation and finalization of the evaluation report for submission to the donor.

Information management

• Develop mapping of program data flow.
• Collaborate with sector teams to identify ways to make data more useful and accessible to teams.
• Ensure compliance with the integrated Google Drive-Excel-CommCare information management system elected by the mission.
• Identify and promote opportunities for use of alternative qualitative or quantitative data collection software or methodologies and applying them in ways that can best promote program learning.
• Ensure that FSP MEL data is stored according to Mercy Corps and donor standards.
• Ensure that data collected is sex and age disaggregated in line with Mercy Corps minimum standards.

Reporting

• Build M&E team capacity to produce effective reports information-sharing and mentorship, coaching in report writing, and quality control of final written products.
• Support the Chief of Party by monitoring and reporting on potential partners' MEL data and planning.
• Produce all required MEL reports for the FSP program.
• Contribute to all required donor reports.

Teamwork and coordination

• Manage a ten-person M&E team, identifying and proactively addressing capacity building opportunities within the team.
• Conduct project site visits to provide hands-on training to field staff on how to capture and organize information for accurate and appropriate documentation and reporting.
• Coordinate, guide and support M&E activities and information management within both Mercy Corps and its implementing partners as appropriate.
• Support performance management activities as needed for planning, monitoring, and annual performance appraisals.
• Manager and quality-control any M&E consultants engaged by the program.

Coordination and Representation

• Manage information sharing and coordination with remote M&E team members, including site visits and key indicator reporting.
• Provide support as needed to ensure successful donor and third-party monitoring visits.

Security

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

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 Beneficiaries

• 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

Directly supervises: FSP M&E Manager

Accountability

Reports Directly To:Mercy Corps MEL Director, with secondary link to FSP Chief of Party

Works Directly With: FSP Managers and staff, MEL specialists from other programs

Knowledge and Experience

• MA/S or equivalent in social science, public health, statistics, international development, or similar field.
• 1-3 years' experience in M&E.
• Demonstrated experience using quantitative and qualitative data for program decision-making.
• Previous experience coordinating MEL activities in francophone Africa preferred.
• Previous management experience.
• Demonstrated understanding of what gender sensitive programming is and why it is important.
• Prior experience in staff capacity building and participatory training.
• Excellent computer skills, including required experience with Excel, Google Drive, and electronic data collection applications (ODK Collect, CommCare, Kobo Toolbox, etc).
• Experience using other statistical or data management packages an advantage (R, Epi-info, Publisher, SPSS, QGIS/ArcGIS, etc).

• Demonstrated understanding of how GIS can help support better programming.

• Strong knowledge and experience of the context in eastern DRC is an advantage.

• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members is required;

• Fluent written and oral communication in both French and English is required;

Success Factors

A successful candidate will have a demonstrated ability to lead and communicate effectively with team members of varied work styles and cultures, follow procedures, and meet deadlines with flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving. S/he will have a proven ability to learn quickly, multi-task, prioritize, take initiative, and be accountable for results, understand the larger picture while remaining focused on the details, problem solving, work within a complex and sensitive setting and to follow laws, security and gender integration protocols. As a key technical position, this person should have a strong understanding of program logic and should be able to express and document his/her ideas clearly and convincingly. The most successful Mercy Corps team 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. In DRC, patience, diplomacy, tenacity, compassion, determination and a sense of humor are all success factors.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

This position is an unaccompanied post based in Bukavu (DRC). This position is expected to travel in program intervention zones up to 30%, provided security remains stable.

While conditions in the country are improving, and security is quite stable in Bukavu, there are still pockets of violence and insecurity. Mercy Corps' sub-offices experience variable levels of insecurity, with the situation closely monitored by UN peacekeepers. Air travel is necessary to get from one end of the country to the other. Mobile phones and cellular service are widely available. Internet is available in all Mercy Corps offices. Travel to field sites will be required where living conditions are clean and secure, but basic. There are a number of health services available with evacuation options for serious illnesses. There's reasonable access to most consumer goods, although they can be expensive.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Staff 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.

PI101076131

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