MONITORING AND EVALUATION LEAD – USAID NAWIRI, MERCY CORPS KENYA

Programs Nairobi, Kenya

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Description

Location: Nairobi, Kenya 
Position Status: Full-time 
About Mercy Corps 
Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse, and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.
 
Program / Department Summary 
Nawiri is an eight-year USAID-Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA) funded program implemented by a consortium of international and national partners led by Mercy Corps. The goal of the program is to reduce persistent acute malnutrition in the two counties of Turkana and Samburu in northern Kenya. Nawiri has just started its fifth year of implementation which included two and half years of operational research which informed the design of the programs.
Nawiri is a multi-sectoral program that integrates resilient livelihoods, access to improved water, health and sanitation services, strengthening community health systems, conflict and natural resource management, strengthening community and government institutions and systems amongst others.
General Position Summary 
The Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Lead will provide technical expertise and leadership to generate and analyze quality evidence and data through monitoring, assessments, and evaluations; ensuring that systems and processes are in compliance with BHA’s regulations. S/he is responsible for ensuring data is accurate, available in a timely manner through our interactive dashboard and presented in a way that is useable by program teams.
As part of the Program Performance and Learning (PPL) Team, in collaboration with the Strategic Learning Lead, and as a critical member of the Nawiri Management Team, s/he will play a key role in building an open culture which promotes and encourages use of evidence to inform decision making and adaptive programming. The M&E Lead also oversees and supports the M&E teams from each of the consortium partners.
Essential Job Responsibilities
SAFEGUARDING RESPONSIBILITIES  
  • Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work 
  • Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members 
  • Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g. Integrity Hotline and other options 
 
M&E MANAGEMENT AND TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP
  • Oversee and revise as necessary implementation of strategic M&E documents, including the M&E Plan, MEL Tech plan, learning agenda, theory of change, performance indicator reference sheets, logframe, indicator performance tracking table, data protection standard operating procedures, and sex and age disaggregation plans.
  • Develop the MEL strategy, outlining the necessary systems improvements and trainings to implement the system. Oversee and revise as necessary all principal M&E system components in light of MEL data automation work, including protocols and data flows for monitoring and evaluations, data and information management, M&E budgets, staffing, competency building and technology systems.
  • Oversee the implementation of participant-based surveys, including the scope of work, sampling strategies, questionnaires, analysis plans, statistical processing and analysis.
  • In close collaboration with the Strategic Learning Advisor, promote collaboration, learning and adaptation (CLA) through intentional and routine periodic learning initiatives sessions to share, discuss and use monitoring data, document and disseminate lessons learned and evaluation findings, support program management to conduct program improvements informed by data.
  • Ensure the RFSA adheres to the USAID Policy & Guidance and the Mercy Corps M&E Policy and Record Management & Retention Policy.
DATA AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
  • Oversee the continuous improvement, management, and strategic alignment of the Nawiri information management/MEL Data system, including processes and technology solutions for data collection (e.g. CommCare), storage/processing (e.g. Microsoft Azure), analysis/visualization (e.g. Microsoft Power BI, MaxQDA GIS), and reporting for all activity indicators and additional data needs for learning, adaptation and reporting.
  • Oversee growth in data automation and efficiency gains in MEL Data Systems/information management.
  • Ensure information management/MEL Data systems follow and align with MEL data standards and data standardization principles established within Mercy Corps
  • Design and implement data flows that strategically align indicator definitions, data collection tools, databases and sampling frames to ensure traceable, timely, comprehensive, high-quality and demand-responsive data collection, processing, and analysis in compliance with USAID and Mercy Corps requirements.
  • Ensure data quality in all aspects of M&E, by conducting periodic DQAs, and integrating corrections and remedies as necessary, to align with Mercy Corps’ and USAID data protection and M&E standards.
  • Ensure appropriate levels of timely reporting through Mercy Corps and USAID required systems, including TolaData.
  • Participate in regional and global Communities of Practice, share Nawiri best practice and lessons learned to promote organizational learning.
M&E TEAM MANAGEMENT AND CAPACITY BUILDING
  • Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect, accountability and clearly communicated expectations where team members strive and are equipped with the resources to achieve excellence.
  • Develop and oversee the implementation of a career development strategy for M&E and partner staff, that promotes M&E competencies and a culture of learning through systematic analysis and reflection of program data.
  • Actively provide mentorship and training to program and M&E teams to improve their competencies in quantitative methods, information management, critical thinking, data communication, problem solving, facilitation and data literacy 
  • Identify agency-wide learning opportunities for the MEL team, and train teams in appropriate methods for data collection methods, including surveys, focus group discussion and key informant interviews and lead data collection in participating communities as needed. 
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL COORDINATION AND REPRESENTATION
  • Represent Mercy Corps in M&E forums with the broader humanitarian and development community.
  • Develop positive working relationships and coordinate/collaborate with partner organizations and international and national agencies active in the target areas.
  • Conduct due diligence of partner M&E systems and processes, including data collection, processing, analysis and reporting, and organize periodic workshops and sharing sessions, ensuring that they are equipped with adequate resources and systems to contribute rigorous data to the overall program.
  • Collaborate closely with the Strategic Learning Advisor, HQ- or region-based M&E and research teams, lead and/or collaborate with external evaluators on the design and roll out of the program baseline and evaluations, while setting up effective systems for learning.
Supervisory Responsibility: USAID Nawiri M&E Team
Accountability 
  • Reports Directly To: Program Performance and Learning Director 
  • Works Directly With: Nawiri team, Kenya country team, Regional and global technical resources and quality team members, Evidence and Learning team unit members, and Media and Communications teams
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 Qualifications and Transferable Skills 
  • MA/S or equivalent experience in a quantitative field (economics, agricultural/ development economics, statistics, biostatistics, nutrition, applied sociology, anthropology, or other relevant field) with significant training in quantitative methods.
  • At least seven years (10 years + if only undergraduate degree) of relevant experience leading the M&E of multi-year development or resilience awards. The candidate must have experience leading an M&E team of a large, integrated program at least five of which must be based in country programs.
  • Strong conceptual knowledge about theories of change, logic models, food and nutrition security indicators, M&E plans, data quality assurance, mobile data collection, data utilization, and resilience, gender and youth integration into M&E.
  • Demonstrated experience and expertise in developing and operationalizing a comprehensive Activity Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan (AMELP).
  • Strong quantitative background and demonstrated expertise in designing annual monitoring surveys including probabilistic sampling strategy and estimating sample size, developing appropriate weights, and analyzing quantitative data.
  • Demonstrated experience in participatory community governance, advocacy, capacity and leadership development, and/or management and use of grassroots level-generated data.
  • Experienced in developing data quality assurance strategies, data management, and data visualization.
  • Demonstrated expertise and experience in data utilization strategies and can creatively think about active data sharing techniques.
  • Prior experience with USAID M&E frameworks, and in-depth understanding of food security programming required.
  • Experience supporting partner organizations to ensure quality of their M&E systems.
  • Demonstrated experience in aligning information management/MEL data systems to meet the needs of strategic data-driven decision making
  • Excellent skills in software solutions and platforms for data collection, storage, processing, analysis and visualization, such as MS Office, XLS forms, Open Data Kit (ODK), CommCare, Stata, R, MaxQDA, and/or Power BI. 
  • Willingness/ability to travel and work in contexts with challenging conditions
  • Knowledge and understanding of Kenya, particularly the ASAL counties, highly preferred. 
  • Fluent English required, Swahili preferred.
Success Factors: 
The Monitoring and Evaluation Lead is a critical role in the Nawiri Management Team. S/he is expected to be a transparent and inclusive leader, who can bring a creative and solutions focused lens to a highly complex program. S/he will have a proven ability to learn quickly, multi-task, prioritise, take initiative, be accountable for results and understand the larger strategic picture whilst focusing on the details. The position requires deep technical understanding of quantitative data, however success is contingent on the individual’s leadership style, openness and flexibility to respond to the team’s needs. It is essential that the Monitoring and Evaluation Lead possesses excellent communication and team building skills, ensuring that s/he inspires a collective learning culture, where team members are regularly using evidence to inform programming.
The most successful Mercy Corps team members have a commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions 
The Monitoring and Evaluation Lead is based in Nairobi with 50%+ travel to implementation areas. The location is accompanied and secure. Housing is individual accommodation with unlimited freedom of movement beyond the house/office. There are numerous international schools in Kenya. Staff have a relatively high degree of access to health and utility services (hospitals, clinics, electricity, water, etc). This position requires frequent travel by road and air to field offices in less secure environments, where basic amenities are lacking (no running water, and limited electricity without generators). This position is not eligible for hardship and/or R&R benefits.
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.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 
Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.
We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.
 
Equal Employment Opportunity 
Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.
We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.
 
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. By applying for this role an applicant confirms that they have not previously violated an employer’s sexual misconduct, sexual exploitation and abuse, child safeguarding or trafficking policy. 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 the mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning 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]).
 

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