Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator

BACKGROUND : Founded in 1933, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. At work today in around 30 countries, the IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

Since June 2014, heavy clashes between armed opposition groups and Iraqi forces have led to a rapid deterioration of the security situation throughout much of Iraq. The number of people requiring life-saving assistance in Iraq increased 400% over the last 14 months, with three large waves of displacement having placed millions of displaced people, refugees and host families at high, and in some cases, extreme risk. As of March 1^st 2015, the number of people living in formal IDP camps across Iraq stands at over 220,200 individuals (in 25 camps), and over 1.2 million have moved outside of their governorate of origin to flee the combats. In addition to the 2.1 million displaced, there are also 1.5 million people from host communities, 1.4 million people who live in active areas of conflict where access to basic services is minimal, and 220,000 refugees who have fled Syria. The Syria crisis itself is often described as the worst humanitarian catastrophe since the end of the Cold War. The IRC is offering a robust humanitarian response to the Syria crisis. With an annual budget in excess of $100 million and a rapidly expanding portfolio, supported by nearly 1000 staff, IRC is undertaking programs in Syria and the neighboring countries of Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

In Iraq, IRC has responses in Dohuk, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah governorates in the field of health, environmental health (WASH), education, youth & livelihoods, economic recovery & development, women’s protection & empowerment, child protection and general protection. In southern and central Iraq the IRC works in coordination with the humanitarian community to addresses the needs of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and war-affected Syrians from several operational bases in the region. In response to the IDP situation, the IRC in partnership with the UNHCR – has been running the Protection Assistance and Reintegration Centres (PARCs) since 2009 in the central governorates.

SCOPE OF WORK: The M&E Coordinator is a new position within the Iraq country program, created to manage, strengthen, and provide strategic direction to M&E efforts and ensure that the IRC Iraq program has the flexibility to respond appropriately to a dynamic context while maintaining high humanitarian standards and remaining compliant with contractual obligations and other internal standards. 

RESPONSIBILITIES:

M&E Strategy and Design

• Ensure that the Iraq program M&E systems are in compliance with country, regional and global objectives, standards and strategic initiatives;
• Provide strategic direction for the utilization of M&E resources, the development and maintenance of M&E systems, and the roll-out of new initiatives;
• Support Program Coordinators in the design (and implementation) of assessments, gender analysis, stakeholder analysis, beneficiary targeting and other pre-program data collection and analysis;
• Contribute to donor proposals and reports, through quality analysis and interpretation of data, as well as development and review of logframes/results frameworks
• Collect and analyze lessons learned and best practices from previous programs and ensure that these are incorporated into the design of new projects;
• Provide technical assistance to sector programs in the development and review of M&E plans and data analysis plans;
• Ensure consistency of indicators across all offices and sector programs as appropriate, maintaining a bank of program indicators;
• Leverage lessons learned, best practices, program data, and other information to generate donor communication pieces, proposal annexes, success stories, and other high-quality documentation;

• Work with senior management to identify and pursue strategic opportunities for evaluations

M&E Implementation

• Provide technical assistance to sector programs in project and program monitoring initiatives including but not limited to the design of data collection tools, data management and analysis;
• Ensure the quality and consistency of data tools and management across all offices and sector programs, maintaining a bank of good M&E tools;
• Support the program teams team in preparing and reviewing M& E calendars and drawing links and efficiency gains between them;
• Ensure that beneficiary feedback is adequately captured, analyzed, and utilized by program teams;
• Lead evaluative efforts such as emergency real-time evaluations, internal end-of-project evaluations, impact studies, case studies

M&E Capacity Strengthening

• Promote and strengthen the understanding of the importance of M&E within the country team and the use and /or analysis of M&E systems during program design and implementation.
• Develop and facilitate M&E workshops and modules for staff and partner organizations ;
• Conduct orientations for new M&E and relevant program staff;
• Provide mentoring/accompaniment to IRC staff to increase capacity and to achieve annual performance and development plans;
• Remain up-to-date with developments among the IRC M&E community and world-wide trends, good practices and resources;
• Conduct field monitoring visits events frequently with project teams;

Information and Communications Technology

• Act as the IRC Iraq focal point for organization-wide M&E-related consolidation and reporting requirements such as ActivityInfo, IRC’s upcoming global measurement data platform, regional beneficiary counting reports, organizational performance monitoring, annual reports, etc.;
• Support program teams to develop strong project databases, tracking, record keeping and filing methodologies for all activities;

• Support M&E and program teams in effectively sharing M&E resources for learning, knowledge management and communication, across programs and offices;

• Maximize the value and utility of ICT related M&E initiatives.

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS :

• Bachelors degree in social sciences or other relevant field;
• Minimum 3 years experience in managing M&E processes and a sound technical understanding of contemporary M&E principles, methods and approaches;
• Experience in the development or humanitarian sector, preferably in an INGO and in a remote context;
• Strong measurement, analytical, systematic-thinking, planning and organizational skills;
• Demonstrated experience and excellent skills developing qualitative and quantitative data collection tools;
• Demonstrated experience and excellent skills developing logical/results frameworks, indicators and other key M&E tools;
• Demonstrated experience and excellent skills in data/information management and analysis, with experience using databases and software applications;
• Demonstrated experience and capacity in conducting field-level data collection and data entry;
• Experience in capacity building and team building;
• English fluency, both verbal and written, required; Arabic or Kurdish language skills an advantage.

PERSONAL/OTHER SKILLS :

• Strong written and oral communication skills, with effective representation and liaison;
• Excellent inter-personal skills, demonstrating diplomacy and tact;
• Promotes teamwork and able to influence and motivate individuals that are not under direct line management;
• Capable of applying skills and knowledge in a range of capacities, including direct implementation, remote management, advisory functions, training and the transfer of technical knowledge and management skills to others;
• Comfortable in a multi-cultural environment;
• Flexible and able to handle pressure;
• Values learning and takes a strong interest in new developments in the field of M&E;
• Willingness to spend about 30% of time in the field.

Note: List of responsibilities, professional and personal skills are considered indicative and not exhaustive; actual duties may differ or change depending on office and agency priorities at the time.

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability.