Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Coordinator

 

PROGRAM SUMMARY: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a private, non-political, non-profit, non-religious organization with its global humanitarian relief tasks for more than 80 years since 1933. Today, the IRC continues to bring swift emergency relief and development to the vulnerable and the displaced people in more than 40 countries.   Since starting operations in Myanmar in 2008, IRC has broadened its portfolio to include health, water and sanitation, livelihoods, Governance and social development programs and aims to employ a holistic approach. IRC is committed to a long-term presence in-country with the aim of improving the wellbeing of vulnerable populations living in the most hard-to-reach areas. IRC primarily focuses on the most marginalized areas of the country, including Chin, Rakhine, Kayah,  Kayin, Northern Shan, and Mon States.

 

SCOPE OF WORK: IRC has found, as have many other organizations, that data are often collected and compiled primarily to satisfy donor requirements; actually using those data to improve programming and make real-time decisions is much harder and rarer. IRC in Myanmar is operates and annual portfolio of $14.2 million, through the implementation of over 15 grants in seven states, funded by 12 different donor agencies. In addition, IRC prioritizes partnership with local civil society organizations, and currently manages over 14 sub-grantees. IRC Myanmar strives to produce quality proposals, reports and evaluations that illustrate measurement of contractual goals and activities, but also includes analysis of context and dynamic needs of beneficiaries at the community-level. Programming and program cycle management thus require a more strategic and technically sound approach to M&E in order to better support program management, compliance to donor reporting and learning through consolidation and dissemination of lessons learnt from completed and ongoing programs.  

 

Leading the establishment of an M&E Unit within the Country program, the M&E Coordinator will provide strategic, technical, and managerial leadership for the IRC Myanmar measurement efforts, including monitoring, evaluation, learning, and – above all – making decisions and taking action based on data.  This position requires coordination of M&E activities across country programs – including support to program staff – and working with field-based staff to ensure that data are of high quality and used effectively for decision making. 

 

Position Reports to :  PD&G Coordinator
Position directly supervises:  M&E Manager

Other Internal and/or external contacts: Close coordination with Deputy Director of Programs and Country Director, Grants Manager (GM), Reporting and Communications Officer, Sub-grants Compliance manager, and Program Fellow, as well as the ACME Regional Measurement Action Coordinator

 

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Development and implementation of an M&E strategy for the country program that ensures technically sound and consistent approaches to:
  • Indicator development across projects and geographic locations, including incorporation of organizational core indicators
  • Routine monitoring of program activities
  • Assessments of beneficiary needs
  • Evaluations of the effectiveness of program interventions
  • Accountability feedback mechanisms to ensure responsiveness to needs and clients
  • Data collection, including digital data collection where feasible
  • Data storage and secure accessibility of data by project staff and country/regional management
• Support country-level knowledge management efforts and develop and implement systems that facilitate the sharing of information across field sites within Myanmar, and between Myanmar and other countries in the ACME region, specifically focused on use of data and analysis for decision making and donor influence.
• Work with IRC HQ technical units to ensure Myanmar program provides quality input to global outcome indicators.

• Work with project and field teams to implement the M&E country strategy, with a focus on:
  • Coordinated monitoring of project activities, ensuring that activities are carried out or as planned or adjusted/adapted as needed
  • Coordinated assessments of beneficiary needs, ensuring that tools and methodologies are appropriate, so that results are actionable and easily communicated
  • Coordinated evaluation of projects, ensuring that activities are effectively addressing the beneficiary needs
  • Contributing to an organizational culture shift from a focus on data being primarily for donor reporting to using data for decision making and action
• Work with ACME Measurement Action Coordinator to ensure that country teams are using the right tools and have the proper procedures in place to achieve both collection of high quality data and the effective use of those data
• Work with technical and country teams to implement the IRC’s program data platform
• Support field teams in analysis of data, including going beyond simple Excel charts to more sophisticated statistical analysis, and including creative use of GIS
• Manage external evaluations in partnership with relevant stakeholders, such as donor or project managers, including the development of Terms of R eference, selecting consultants or evaluators oversight of contract, reviewing outputs, etc.
• Support design and implementation of internal evaluations and project assessments with relevant program staff and technical advisors.
• Update and keep track of a country-wide evaluation plan to ensure projects are prepared for evaluations or internal assessments far in advance, and that each grant is subject to review in a systematic and timely fashion.

• Conduct preliminary participatory capacity assessment of current IRC program/field staff to identify specific gaps in M&E technical skills.  Based on needs identified by staff in the preliminary capacity assessment, support development of an M&E capacity building plan for 12 - 24 months.
• Work closely to build capacity of national M&E Manager counterpart. Coach, train, and mentor project-specific M&E and/or relevant field staff with the aim of strengthening their technical capacity, exchanging knowledge within the program team and providing professional  development guidance in conjunction with the M&E Coordinator
• Support capacity development for IRCs local partner NGOs through technical training, coaching, mentoring.

• Support country teams in developing log-frames and theories of change for new project proposals, including consistency with the IRC’s library of core outcomes and indicators
• Conduct assessments of beneficiary needs to feed into the design of new project proposals.
• Analyze and translate data into recommendations to donors for new strategies, funding, etc. Work with DDP and PDGC to develop advocacy and information sharing strategies to promote IRC’s learning.

• Leadership in supporting Myanmar program’s participation in REL’s evidence based program initiatives and serving as the main focal point with HQ M&E and research initiatives to be rolled out in the country programs.
• Support development of tools and systems that ensure recommendations/lessons learned from previous grants flow back into project design of new grants. Support project/program staff to properly document, organize and capture program progress and create a tools and library to increase institutional learning and disseminate lessons learnt.

 

 

• Advanced degree in statistics or the social sciences with emphasis on measurement
• Three to Five years of professional experience with demonstrated skills in
  • Developing and implementing M&E systems (including database design)
  • Strategic planning and performance measurement, indicator selection, quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methodologies
  • Collecting data
  • Remote monitoring
  • Data analysis
  • Using data for decision-making in multiple technical sectors
• Proven ability to think strategically about data
• Experience training and mentoring staff and local partners
• Excellent teamwork including abilities to coordinate well with diverse individuals and teams and to negotiate effectively with colleagues and stakeholders to achieve results;
• Knowledge of the trends and issues in international aid monitoring, knowledge management and measurement
• At least four years’ experience in developing countries and/or conflict-affected contexts
• Strong oral communication and presentation skills
• Fluency in English required
• Experience in Myanmar or similar settings highly desirable

Please follow this link to apply: http://www.aplitrak.com/?adid=a2F0cmluYW1pbGxlci42ODIzMS40ODEwQGlyYy5hcGxpdHJhay5jb20