Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer at Mercy Corps

Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Employment Type: Full-time
Supervisory Responsibility: MEL Assistants
Reports Directly To: Senior MEL Officer
Works Directly With: MEL, Programs, Finance, and Operations
Salary Level: 4

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 provide assistance to 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.

General Position Summary

• The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Officer will work with the Mercy Corps program team as well as partner organizations to oversee and ensure the collection of quality MEL data for the program.
• The MEL Officer will be responsible for supporting the Senior MEL Officer to oversee the monitoring and data collection of programs, lead baseline, midterm, and end-line surveys, analyze data to provide insight to project team, and contribute to report writing.
• S/he will ensure that performance monitoring and results reporting tools and processes across the entire program are in place, effectively implemented and well synchronized between the two program sites.
• The MEL Officer will be an integral member of the program team learning and reflection processes, leading discussions on participant feedback.

Essential Job Responsibilities
Strategy and Vision:

• Develop MEL Plan(s) for programs and proposals.
• Develop a system for reporting and validating program data (Excel, Tola, Access, etc.)
• Work closely with the program teams and local partners, to ensure effective monitoring, evaluation and reporting of program activities and results.
• Coordinate reporting with partners, specifically tracking deadlines, ensuring adherence to monitoring formats and requirements, ensuring reporting quality and accuracy, and periodic report writing, editing, and submission.
• Compile progress against indicators and report back to the team according to the monitoring plan.
• Develop Data Quality Assessment Plan.
• Perform spot checks on the team’s data collection and reports each month.
• Actively participate in any additional evaluation MEL activities including but not limited to baseline surveys, mid-term, end-line surveys, evaluations, household surveys

Program Management:

• Contribute to learning/research agenda.
• Build the capacity of all relevant team members to implement program monitoring tools, accurately enter program data into relevant databases, and enable them to develop excellent reports and other documents.
• Build the capacity of our local partner organizations through ongoing training and support on monitoring tools, entering program data into databases, the development of reports and other documents.
• Document lessons learned and success stories on the project.
• Ensure adherence to program management minimum standards in carrying out his/her duties, advising and supporting other staff in the same as required.
• Other duties as assigned.

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.

Knowledge and Experience

• BA/S or equivalent, preferable in Economics, Statistics, Business Administration, Public Administration, International Development or similar field.
• 1 - 3 years MEL experience.
• Fluent in both spoken and written English with good knowledge of Hausa and Kanuri.
• Previous experience working on USAID-funded programs preferred.
• Relevant experience in field survey/data collection techniques, data entry, data verification, analysis, and reporting.
• Good understanding and skills in data management.
• Strong computer literacy with full knowledge of MS Office applications; knowledge of data science and programming is plus but not required.
• Strong team coordination, listening, and consensus-building skills.

Success Factors

• A strong team member will be conscientious, with excellent judgment, capable of multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem-solving and attention to detail with strategic vision.
• S/he must have the confidence, and humility, to work effectively with a large variety of people who will be diverse culturally, economically and in social status.
• S/he must be sensitive to political and cultural nuance and able to consistently apply excellent judgment to a variety of demanding and fast-changing situations, as well as the ability to foster solid working relationships with Mercy Corps staff and CBOs. Working as part of a team and coordinating with project personnel, as well as strong organizational skills, are essential to this position.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions:

• Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit to a field posting. 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 and in all in-country venues.
• Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision. Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment.