Program Manager I MEAL at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Job Summary:

Under the direction of the Emergency Coordinator, the MEAL Manager I will lead all MEAL related RAPID activities including, but not limited to: monitoring progress on project indicators, elaboration of M&E tools, conducting needs/market/post activity assessments, beneficiary database management, recalibration of beneficiary targeting at project mid-point, development and implementation of accountability mechanism as well as compilation of monthly, bi-monthly, and quarterly reports. The MEAL Manager will be based in Makurdi, with occasional trips to other project areas and will work closely with MEAL Coordinator. This post will also work closely with the Program Manager and sector leads

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of the project MEAL system, in coordination with the MEAL Coordinator, ensuring tools, processes, roles, and standards are clearly defined and consistently applied across all sectors and project sites.
• Track sector performance against monthly, semi-annual, annual, and life-of-award targets, regularly analyzing indicator progress, project milestones, quality expectations, and implementation gaps to support timely management decisions.
• Develop, adapt, field-test, and roll out project-specific MEAL tools, including digital data collection tools in CommCare, while promoting appropriate ICT4D solutions to improve data quality, efficiency, and reporting.
• Ensure timely, complete, accurate, and consistent collection, verification, analysis, and storage of MEAL data, including beneficiary data, in line with CRS responsible data standards and ethical data management requirements.
• Coordinate needs assessments, market assessments, baseline and end-line surveys, post-activity monitoring, household-level data collection, and related analysis, ensuring findings are documented and used to strengthen program quality.
• Support donor and CRS reporting by tracking reporting requirements and deadlines, compiling MEAL inputs, preparing monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, annual, and final report contributions, and providing evidence-based analysis to Program Managers and the Emergency Coordinator.
• Strengthen accountability to affected populations by supporting accessible feedback and response mechanisms, ensuring beneficiary and community input is documented, analyzed, shared, and used to inform program adjustments.
• Supervise and coach MEAL staff, including M&E Officers, Accountability Assistants, and MEAL Assistants, ensuring clear work planning, timely performance management, quality technical support, and alignment with CRS talent management standards.
• Facilitate regular MEAL field visits, review meetings, and action-planning sessions with program, sector, partner, and ICT4D teams to identify bottlenecks, assign follow-up actions, track deadlines, and ensure agreed improvements are implemented.
• Document, package, and share lessons learned, best practices, success stories, innovations, and end-of-project learning review findings, while ensuring gender, protection, and other cross-cutting themes are integrated into partner MEAL plans and program learning.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills with ability to make sound judgment.
• Strong relationship management skills and the ability to work effectively with local stakeholders.
• Data analysis (quantitative and qualitative) and database management skills.
• Excellent communication and drafting skills for effective reporting in English.
• Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented mindset.
• Attention to detail, accuracy and timeliness in executing assigned responsibilities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Leadership experience in MEAL.
• Experience engaging with partner organizations.
• Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), standard statistical data analysis packages (SPSS, Stata or R), web conferencing applications, and information management systems.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in international development, International Relations, Sociology, Statistics, MEAL or in a related field.
• 5-7 years of relevant field-based MEAL experience in coordinating or managing light to moderately complex projects required, preferably with an international NGO.
• Experience communicating with communities and implementing accountability mechanisms.