M&E and Database Assistant at Mercy Corps

General Position Summary.

The M&E ICT, Database Assistant will work with the MEL Unit as part of a team to operationalize and improve the MEL system, which heavily relies on a well-managed CIPP database. The Database Assistant is responsible for supporting Mercy Corps staff and local partners to regularly collect/ enter/ verify/analyze/ data and make timely database adjustments to measure the impact of Mercy Corps’ programs. S/he will directly work with the Senior M&E Officer & Senior MEL Manager who are the point of contact for all Mercy Corps field staff regarding M&E support needs and operational issues. The Assistant will also closely coordinate with the Program team, CLA Officer and Communications Officer to help ensure monitoring and evaluation data is accurately incorporated into all reports, learning and information products.

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Understand, maintain, and innovate an M&E system database (MIS) that improves Mercy Corps’ ability to inform program implementation, analyze data, and represent impact to USAID, the Government, colleague agencies, and communities themselves.
• Support the M&E Officer to ensure all relevant program staff can utilize the database to analyze program information and results
• Support the M&E team in the design, adaptation and maintenance of the MIS in conjunction with the Communications Officer to match strategic program or implementation change(s).
• Support the facilitation of training on the use of a database, pivot tables and pivot charts to staff members that require it, or support on exporting to MS Excel for data analysis.
• Ensure the database is live and accessible to field offices.
• Support the review of data entries in the database regularly to troubleshoot and fix problems with data entry or integrity.
• Document system database content, protocols and update manuals for smooth functioning.

Implement the M&E Systems and Tools.

• Work as part of a team to facilitate and support M&E operations including baseline, annual, and end-line surveys, regular monitoring, data collection and analysis, feedback and reporting according to the MEL work plan.
• Support generation of data (tables/graphs/reports) from the database at regular intervals, ensuring reports/information are available for program implementation staff when required. Facilitate data analysis with the program implementation team as requested.
• Conduct regular field visits to ensure all elements of the M&E system and database are being utilized effectively by all stakeholders, assessing and identifying breakdowns and areas that require clarifications and improvements.
• Ensure field teams always have the most recent version of all M&E tools and documents.

Staff Training and Capacity Building

• Work closely with the Senior MEL Manager to develop and deliver staff/partner training, improving capacities in monitoring and evaluation and database management: data collection, entry, verification and analysis; and other identified needs.
• With guidance from the Senior MEL Manager, he/she will follow up on training by mentoring staff/partners to develop identified technical skills one-on-one.

 Link M&E Results to Reporting

• Support the review or edit of data in reports as requested and required.
• Support the production of analytical summaries: graphs, charts, and tables as requested to fulfil reporting requirements
• Conduct self both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and not jeopardize its peacebuilding mission in Nigeria
• Work closely with the CLA Officer to ensure that all learnings are documented and can be visualized.
• Other duties as assigned and agreed upon.

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

• Works with the M&E team to program all data collection tools on Commcare.
• Work closely with the Senior MEL Manager to manage the Tola Data system.

FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to peace and conflict programming.

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.

Ethics and Integrity

All Mercy Corps staff members are expected to behave ethically and demonstrate highest integrity in their professional and personal life. Mercy Corps have zero tolerance for any form of fraud, corruption, abuse, harassment or exploitation. Any breach of our policies will lead to disciplinary action or may lead to termination.

Knowledge and Experience

• BA/S or equivalent from a recognized institution, preferably in Statistics, Economics, MS Access, IT/Database Management, or administration
• Microsoft certification is preferred.
• 1-3 years experience supporting the management or design of M&E MS Access databases, knowledge of Sharepoint, MySQL, and VBA a plus.
• Excellent quantitative skills and power users with Excel; Experience with Access, Commcare and statistical packages including Stata, R or SPSS and GIS tools like QGIS, ArcGIS or Google Earth.
• Demonstrated skills in training, capacity building, and mentoring.
• Good basic math and analytical skills as well as a general knowledge of statistical or monitoring and evaluation principles.
• Former experience in field survey/data collection techniques, data entry, data verification, and analysis is beneficial.
• Fluency in spoken and written English & Hausa preferred.
• Computer literacy in MS Access and other MS Office packages including Excel, and PowerPoint is essential
• Willingness to travel to all CIPP field offices regularly
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.