Protection and Rule of Law ME Officer at International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Requisition ID: req6527
Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Sector: Monitoring & Evaluation
Employment Category: Regular
Employment Type: Full-Time
Open to Expatriates: No

Job Description

• IRC has been present in Nigeria since 2012 when the organization responded to flooding in Kogi state.  In early 2014, IRC opened a field office in Mubi town of Adamawa state in NE Nigeria followed by offices in Yola (Adamawa state) in November 2014 and Maiduguri (Borno state) in October 2015. The IRC Nigeria country program is implementing multi-sectoral interventions in the sectors of: Health and Nutrition; Environmental Health; Child Protection; Education; Women’s Protection and Empowerment; Food Security and Livelihoods and Protection. Most of these programs are driven in partnership with strategic local NGOs.

Job Overview/Summary

• The purpose of the M&E Officer position is to coordinate the collection, compilation, consolidation and analysis of data to track programs/ projects activities, monitor progress and support impact measurement.
• S/he will also conduct development research, engage in reflective practice and generate lessons from projects/program and prepare M&E plans for the sector or Protection and Rule of Law.
• S/he is responsible for establishing and ensuring better data management systems for the core program s/he assigned for and coordinates the proper and timely evaluation of project objectives/impact.
• S/he will supervise, coach, and mentor the Protection and Rule of Law Assistant M&E Officer/s.
• S/he will ensure the existence of accountability mechanisms and devise a strategy for program staff participation in M&E activities.  The position holder will closely work with front line staff and volunteers. 
• S/he also will work closely with the M&E unit on technical matters and reports to the M&E Manager and will have dotted line report to the Protection Manager.

Major Responsibilities

• Program/project design and learning
• Participate in program/ project design specially in developing log frames;
• Design, develop and continuously update project M&E, and impact measurement tools and systems on timely fashion;
• Develop and make sure all the projects in the sub-sector has tested monitoring tools that capture both program activity and indicators progresses;
• Take part in diagnostic studies, evaluations and surveys;
• Organize periodical ongoing sector level review, reflective practice, evaluation and progress monitoring events by involving communities and local partners;
• Organize panel monitoring and/or similar M&E events to ensure accountability to the target community, with relevant stakeholders including communities and ensure their dissemination to concerned parties;
• With support from the M&E Manager and M&E Coordinator, establish and maintain project level information management system;
• Design a strategy to collect filed level information required by IRC, donors and/or stakeholders;
• Proactively ensure networking and sharing of lessons from the core program with strategic partners and other stakeholder including government;
• Ensure that learning from previous projects is incorporated into project design where applicable;
• Coordinate synergy and cross-learning among different projects and programs;
• Cross fertilize learning among projects by regularly producing (compiling) summary monitoring reports and sharing to staff and partners.

Monitoring and evaluation:

• Track progress against monitoring work plans;
• Coordinate the field level community participatory monitoring and evaluation, reflective practice and impact measurement;
• Ensues the on time execution of projects major monitoring and evaluation events including but not limited to baseline survey, mid-term evaluation, final evaluation, data quality audit and field supervision;
• Provide technical assistance to staff and partner organization on information management system, proper data collection and record keeping;
• Provide consistent, supportive supervision to strengthen staff performance as necessary to meet monitoring objectives;
• Update M&E plan timely and provide feedback to program staff on status and quality of implementation.
• Assist with monthly and/or quarterly performance indicator analysis, including generation of reports as well as presentations for staff related to on-going performance;
• Conduct regular data verification exercises to ensure reporting and collection of quality data;
• Verify entered data for completeness, correctness, and consistency and follow up on any data quality issues;
• Document findings from data quality audits and store in project files to ensure collective and sustainable access;
• Actively participate in and contribute to M&E team activities, system assessments, development and implementation of new systems and/or tools aimed at strengthening overall M&E practices at IRC Nigeria;
• Closely work with staff to ensure they follow correct procedures and criteria during beneficiary registration;
• Take part in the recruitment of enumerators and survey consultants;
• Provide M&E inputs for reports written during project implementation;
• Periodically leads reflective practice forums at field office/ project level and compile lessons from project implementation processes.

Information management and reporting:

• Establish and maintain project information management system;
• Submit data set to update country office wide program database on monthly basis;
• Compile regular project monitoring report, including lessons learned, prepared by different projects and application of evaluation recommendations;
• Ensure all projects have downward/ forward accountability mechanisms and works with project staff to make sure its implementation;
• Compile quarter, biannual and annual tabular and narrative reports (as required by project stakeholders) on projects’ accomplishments by cost and alert the management for special deviations form the plan.

Capacity building and supervision:

• Assist local partners in designing monitoring and reporting tools and establishing database management systems.
• Organize orientation for front line staff, partners’ staff and volunteers on the monitoring tools and train them how to use data for decision making;
• Let the front line staff and volunteers understand IRC’s program principles and the bigger picture, in general;
• Coach, mentor and supervise Assistant M&E Officer/s,
• Assist her/his subordinate/s in completing performance management activities including: performance planning, monitoring, and annual performance appraisals;
• Perform other duties assigned by the supervisor
• Perform other task related assignment proposed by his/her supervisor/s

Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to: M&E/Prol Manager, Prol Coordinator
• Position directly supervises: M&E/Prol Manager
• Indirect Reporting: Prol coordinator, Prol officers
• Other Internal and/or external contacts: describe the nature of departments or groups the position influences or requires support from to accomplish objectives.
• Internal: M&E Coordinator, PROL Coordinator, Snr. M&E Manager, M&E Manager, PROL Managers/Officers and M&E team
• External:  PAG members/CVs

Qualifications

• Degree in Statistics, Computer Science/IT/, Law or any other related field;
• Excellent computer skills are required (particularly Advanced Microsoft Excel, Access and Word);
• At least two year experience working in monitoring and evaluation preferred;
• Strong data collection, analysis, and report writing skills required;
• Ability to work independently, think analytically and take initiative in solving problems;
• Ability to communicate technical issues effectively;
• Familiarity with log frame analysis and M&E plan;
• Experience in conducting assessment;
• Desirable - Law background and Working with highly vulnerable and displaced people would be added advantage;
• Good verbal communication skills in local languages and working knowledge of English;
• Most importantly, commitment to IRC values and principles;
• A strong team player with excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work with groups of diverse backgrounds.
• Language Skills: Must be able to communicate and write in English. Local language is an added advantage.