About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible.

In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions

into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.

Now, and for the future.

The Program / Department / Team (Program / Department Summary)

The Programs function at Mercy Corps supports its mission and works with program impact, innovation, and influence teams. The Program Function is composed of headquarters and regional departments which are guided by Mercy Corps global strategy: Pathway to Possibility (P2P) and works in close partnership with all other departments to deliver the highest quality programming and impactful results. The Programs function aligns closely with the Pathway to Possibility, and works to deliver on increased accountability, alignment, and fair and transparent resource allocation, while acting with its Core Behaviors of collaboration, curiosity, inclusion, and integrity at the forefront. The Programs function is a key steward of Mercy Corps’ strategic commitments and the integration of these commitments into programming, inclusive of: Climate Smart, Locally Led, Evidence Driven, Innovative & Creative, and Safe, Diverse & Inclusive.

The Evidence & Learning Unit sits within the Global Program Support Department and leads Mercy Corps’ efforts to use data, evidence, and analytics to improve programs, scale what works, and influence others. The Unit is composed of teams focused on Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL), Research and Learning, Crisis Analysis, and Evidence Use, and works closely with regional, country, and programmatic counterparts and a range of evidence-related partnerships.

The MEL Team aims to promote and harness a strong organizational culture of data-driven decision making at the program, country/ portfolio, regional and global levels by strengthening systems and capacity for tracking, demonstrating, and using program MEL data and evidence for learning. The team’s objectives are: 1) strengthen programs’ ability to meet MEL Policy requirements; 2) strengthen the knowledge and ability of program teams to design and implement context-informed and learning-focused MEL; 3) strengthen the culture of M&E data utilization to enhance data driven decision making and effective program adaptation; and 4) develop, pilot, and roll out mechanisms to measure alignment and progress towards P2P strategic objectives and results.

The Position

The STA MEL Advisor is a parental cover of three months of the Senior MEL Advisor. The position provides technical support in advancing effective MEL practices.

S/he plays an important role in integrating learning across programs, building capacity, skills,

and knowledge across team members of various programs. S/he contributes substantially to

the development of resources advancing the implementation of Mercy Corps’ MEL Policy

standards and, with other MEL team members, proactively searches for the most effective solutions to assure adherence to these. The incumbent provides substantial direct support to MEL processes in programs or supports other team members in providing this support.

This is a temporary position with a duration of 3 months to provide coverage during a maternity leave.

Essential Responsibilities

TolaData

• Orients and trains other Mercy Corps team members on TolaData training materials in addition to supporting these team members with the integration of TolaData in their day-to-day work
• Acts as the primary HQ focal point on TolaData and manages ad hoc user issues, bugs, and requests for support as TolaData Business Owners within the MEL Team.
• Leads the MEL team in quality control of program teams’ use of TolaData as well as assessing the program’s performance based on TolaData.
• Work Closely with IDAA team and program standard focal point to address any emergent issues, and inconsistency between TolaData and IDAA

TECHNICAL SUPPORT TO PROGRAMS

Cost Efficiency and cost-effectiveness analysis:

• Work closely with the Sr Advisor, MEL, support country engagement, VfM/cost efficiency kick off processes, data organization, data analysis and report writing efforts.
• Facilitate segments of trainings on VfM and cost efficiency analysis using the Mercy Corps VfM training materials.
• Gather feedback on the VfM training content, work with the Sr MEL Advisor to address the feedback, review and strengthen training content, exercises, templates as required.

• Final Internal Performance Reviews: Co-lead, with the Director of Strategy Measurement and Senior MEL Advisor, the FIPR Work, including:
  • capacity building for various country teams to use the tools
  • Track the FIPR pipeline and deliverables
  • Lead FIPR work for programs as needed

MEL Policy:

• Co-lead development of support material, exercises, examples, templates for Mercy Corps MEL policy standards coordinating with the rest of the MEL Team, regional and country level counterparts as assigned and needed.
• Support county offices in program monitoring, evaluation, and learning plans, database configuration, dashboard development, learning plans, as well as guidance on quantitative and qualitative monitoring, assessments, and evaluation methods and tools that are grounded on program experience and best practices as assigned and needed

PROPOSAL WRITING

Develop MEL section for small to medium-sized grant proposals, including development of logframe indicators and MEL budget.

ORGANIZATIONAL OUTCOME MEASUREMENT (OOM)

• Support the revision of Outcome Area Hub by working closely with the Director of Strategy Measurement, TRaQ counterpart and Evidence Use team
• Support the Director of Strategy Measurement and MEL Advisor, Program Learning, in facilitating session on OOM and participant count sense making and dissemination.

Supervisory Responsibility

None

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Senior MEL Advisor

Works Directly With: HQ MEL team, Regional Advisors, Country MEL focal points.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• Bachelor's in a relevant social science, international development, data science, economics, or other relevant field.
• At least 5 years of direct professional experience in international development and/or humanitarian response field, with experience managing qualitative and/or quantitative studies and/or M&E field teams and working directly with program implementation teams.
• 5 years of M&E experience with the proven use of program technology, preferably with a solid understanding of both agency-level software systems and field program level solutions.
• Experience with theoretical and practical background in M&E systems and knowledge of qualitative and quantitative methodologies and techniques required.
• Experience in using digital tools for data collection (e.g. Ona, CommCare), data visualizations (e.g. Power BI) and cost analysis software (e.g. Dioptra
• Experience in conducting evaluations and knowledge of OECD criteria
• Excellent written/spoken English skills are required.
• Verbal and reading proficiency in French, Spanish, or Arabic is desired.

Success Factors 

Candidates should possess excellent writing skills and be able to clearly articulate key messages for diverse audiences and stakeholders. Strong organizational, communication, and presentation skills are essential, along with experience in leading or facilitating training sessions, learning events, and design workshops with field teams. Exceptional analytical and problem-solving abilities are required, with experience in statistical analysis and, preferably, qualitative data analysis. Additionally, candidates should have the capability to effectively summarize and generalize findings from both qualitative and quantitative data.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

This position requires up to 30% travel to support country programs, which may include travel to insecure locations where freedom of movement is limited and areas where amenities are limited. Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/short term assignment to a field posting. Staff 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.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Team Engagement and Effectiveness 

Achieving our mission starts with how we build our team and collaborate. By bringing together individuals with a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, we strengthen our ability to solve complex challenges and drive innovation. We foster a culture of trust and respect, where every team member is valued for their contributions, empowered to reach their full potential, and motivated to do their best work.

We recognize that building a strong and effective team is an ongoing process, and we remain committed to learning, improving, and growing together.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected under applicable law.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct eLearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline ([email protected]).