Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Assistant at Mercy Corps

Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Employment Type: Full-time
Supervisory Responsibility: None
Reports Directly To: MEL Officer
Works Directly With: Program Teams, Field Managers, Communication Teams, Program Support Teams
Salary Level: 3

Program / Department Summary

• Mercy Corps has been present in Nigeria since 2012, focusing its interventions on adolescent girls’ empowerment, economic development, and conflict mitigation. With the insurgency spilling over from the Northeast of Nigeria and causing displacement of millions of individuals, Mercy Corps started its humanitarian response in 2014 to address the rising humanitarian needs. With funding from institutional donors, foundations and private corporations, Mercy Corps continues to aid meet the basic needs of vulnerable populations in the areas of food security, shelter, water and sanitation, protection, and livelihoods.
• With the recognition of the protracted crisis in Northeast Nigeria, Mercy Corps’ strategy and expansion plans aim to address the root causes of the crisis and seek to build long-term resilience of communities with integrated programs focusing on the recovery of markets and livelihoods, social cohesion and social protection, and youth empowerment with emphasis on adolescent girls and boys. With multiple funding streams from large institutional donors and foundations, Mercy Corps’ programs in Northeast Nigeria continue to scale up and serve communities by transitioning them from humanitarian aid to early recovery programs.
• The Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL unit exists to strengthen the monitoring efforts of Mercy Corps programs. The MEL unit will provide a technical support service to programs. The aim of the MEL unit will be to assist programs in specific activities that help quantify, analyze, and document the impacts and outputs of Mercy Corps programs including data collection, data management, data analysis, and mapping.

General Position Summary
The position holder will support planning and execution of monitoring and evaluation, ensuring quality in accordance with accepted standards, providing essential feedback for learning, accountability and decision making for Mercy Corps Nigeria. S/he will be responsible for the following:

• The MEL Assistant will work with the MEL Officer as part of a team to operationalize the MEL system at the field location
• The MEL Assistant is responsible for supporting Mercy Corps staff and partners to regularly collect, enter, verify, analyze data, and make timely database adjustments to measure the impact of the program.
• The MEL Assistant will work directly with the MEL Officer and will closely coordinate with other program staff to help ensure monitoring and evaluation data is accurately incorporated into all reports and information products.

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Understand and maintain MEL systems that improve Mercy Corps’ ability to inform program implementation, analyze data and represent impact to donors, government, partner organizations and communities.
• Ensure all relevant program staff can utilize the database to analyze program information and results.
• Regularly review data entered into the MEL system to locate and fix problems with data entry or integrity.
• Manage regular synchronizations and backups of field data to cloud-based data management system.
• Troubleshoot front and back-end issues with the database, including any synchronization issues of field-level data.
• Work as part of a team to facilitate and support MEL operations including baseline, end line surveys, regular monitoring, data collection, analysis and reporting according to the M&E work plan.
• Facilitate data analysis with program implementation team as requested.
• Conduct regular field visits to ensure all elements of the MEL system are 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 MEL tools and documents.
• Assist the team in improving the MEL system by identifying good practices, field-tested lessons learned and creative recommendations; share with and encourage staff to incorporate these in their daily work.
• Review or edit data in reports as requested and required.
• Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its mission.
• Carry out any other duties as assigned or required.

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 Participants:

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically
• to our participants and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
• Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times.

Knowledge and Experience

• Must hold at least a Bachelor’s Degree, Higher Diploma, or equivalent in Economics, Agriculture, Demography, Statistics, Business Administration, or relevant field.
• One year of MEL experience (or similar) – preferably in Borno State.
• Intermediate computer skills in MS Office programs, particularly Excel is required. Skills in other programs, such as Access or statistical packages is also desirable.
• Prior experience with computerized data management systems is desired.
• Attention to detail and patience to double-check data entry is essential.
• Good basic math skills are essential and general knowledge of statistical principles is preferred.
• Prior experience carrying out surveys or conducting qualitative and quantitative data collection.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English is required. Hausa and Kanuri language skills is preferred.

Success Factors

• The ideal candidate will have a natural curiosity for quantifying and articulating the impact of Mercy Corps’ programs on individuals and in communities.
• S/he will also have an interest in exploring the larger factors that influence the success of programs and the well-being of populations. A successful candidate will have skills and a passion for data collection, and entry.
• The ability to interact effectively with international and national personnel is required. A demonstrated ability to multi-task, meet deadlines, and process information in support of changing program activities is necessary.
• The most successful Mercy Corps staff 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.
• Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs, MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times.