Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager - Ebola response, DRC

Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning Bunia, Congo (the Democratic Republic of)

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Description

Position pending funding approval

Location: Bunia, Ituri Province DRC

Position Status: Full-time 

Risk Level: ☐ X Level 3       ☐ Level 2       ☐ Level 1

(Level 3: Frequent contact with participants, direct contact with children, access to sensitive data, and/or high level of accountability.  

Level 2: Some contact with participants; unplanned non-direct contact with children.

Level 1: Likely to have no contact with participants or sensitive data)  

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.

Mercy Corps has been operational in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since August 2007 with a current workforce of approximately 300 national and expatriate employees. As a leading NGO in the DRC working with several local and international partners in 2025, Mercy Corps has reached more than half a million people in North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri and Kasai with integrated programmes ensuring equitable access to improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in humanitarian and development contexts; economic development and livelihoods to strengthen food security and resilience; as well as institutional capacity-building and social cohesion to foster peace and good governance.

Emergency Ebola Response Team Summary

Mercy Corps is delivering a timely, appropriate, and high-quality response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), grounded in a holistic, community-centered approach. A significant part of this response is delivered through the Integrated Ebola Response Driven by Communities (IERDC) consortium, led by Mercy Corps in partnership with local and international organizations. This consortium approach combines complementary technical expertise and extends the response's reach across affected health zones.  Mercy Corps' Ebola response is organized around the following integrated, mutually reinforcing focus areas that are all vital to stopping the Ebola outbreak and mitigating its secondary effects: 

  •  Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) and Community Surveillance: builds community trust, counters rumors and misinformation, and strengthens community-based prevention and early reporting.
  •  Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH): strengthens IPC/WASH infrastructure and hygiene promotion in health facilities and communities.
  •  Continuity of Services and Livelihoods: sustains access to essential services, livelihoods, functioning markets, and food security for vulnerable households through cash assistance and other targeted support.
  •  Safeguarding, protection, conflict-sensitivity, conflict analysis and Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI): ensure the response is safe, inclusive, and does no harm in line with Mercy Corps' humanitarian principles and locally-led commitment.

In line with Mercy Corps' humanitarian principles and commitment to local partnerships, the team ensures that interventions are delivered at scale, with impact, and in close coordination with the DRC MoH, Ebola response working groups and coordination pillars, communities, other community and international partners, and the broader humanitarian coordination system.

General Position Summary

The Ebola Response Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Manager leads the Ebola Response MEL Team and the development, implementation, and technical oversight of Mercy Corps' DRC Ebola response MEL plan, systems, and processes. The role ensures that relevant, quality data is collected, analyzed, and used to measure the reach and effectiveness of MC's Ebola response, strengthen adaptive management and decision-making, and drive strategic learning with MEL systems that can be set up and adapted quickly in a fast-moving outbreak context.

This is a supervisory role, overseeing MEL team members and working directly with program leadership, technical advisors, MEL staff across partner organizations, operations, finance, donors, and relevant coordination structures to ensure the Ebola response remains evidence-based, accountable, and adaptive. The role also leads the consortium-level MEL working group for the Ebola response.

ESSENTIAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

MEL Leadership, Design, and Management 

  •  Develop (and regularly update as needed) the Ebola response MEL Plan — including logic models (theory of change, results framework, logframe, etc.), selection of relevant indicators and methods, and an indicator performance tracking table.
  •  Establish a specific MEL workplan that outlines what key activities, data collection, data analysis, evaluations, and learning sessions will occur and when.
  •  Oversee day-to-day implementation of the MEL workplan, tracking progress against planned activities and timelines, identifying and resolving bottlenecks, and adjusting plans as program needs evolve.

MEL Technologies and Data Systems 

  •  Develop a MEL Tech Plan for the Ebola response, defining how data will be collected, managed, and analyzed using Mercy Corps' MEL Tech Suite — including CommCare for offline mobile data collection and case management, Microsoft Azure for data storage and processing, and Microsoft Power BI for data analysis, visualization, and dashboards.
  •  Ensure Ebola response programs and activities meet Mercy Corps MEL Tech requirements and standards for data collection, management, and analysis.
  •  Ensure MEL Tech systems are strategically aligned to measure the effectiveness of Ebola response interventions against key indicators and outcomes, and to support overall learning and adaptive management.
  •  Ensure programmatic dashboards are set up, managed, and meet users' needs to enable real-time reporting for fast decision-making.
  •  For Ebola response consortium activities, ensure MEL tools and data management approaches across partner organizations are standardized to allow for consistent measurement and aggregated analysis.

Monitoring and Evaluation 

  •  Conduct regular monitoring of program activities and site visits, measuring achievements and outcomes against targets.
  •  Ensure data on performance indicators is collected, analyzed, validated, and presented in consultation with technical staff.
  •  Support routine analysis to feed into Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, Final, and ad-hoc reports.
  •  Plan and lead the baseline, midterm, and final evaluations and other studies, ensuring they meet Ebola response data standards.
  •  Supervise all subcontractors involved in data collection activities, including the baseline, midterm, and final evaluation teams and other studies, holding them accountable to Ebola response data standards.

Strategic Learning 

  •  Lead development of a learning plan and agenda that outlines key learning questions and establishes regular learning sessions and after-action reviews that capture lessons learned and emerging evidence throughout the response.
  •  Ensure findings are documented and shared with internal and external stakeholders to inform adaptive management and future programming.

Consortium MEL 

  •  Lead the consortium-level MEL working group, driving internal alignment on MEL, harmonized data standards, data aggregation processes, and collective analysis across IERDC partner organizations.

Capacity Strengthening 

  •  Strengthen the MEL capacity of Mercy Corps and partner staff on monitoring, evaluation, accountability, reporting, and learning through routine training and updated guidance documents.

Ebola Response Coordination 

  •  Liaise with program leadership, technical advisors, and project-related donors on MEL-related concerns, questions, and reporting requirements.
  •  Coordinate with MEL counterparts across Ebola response working groups, pillars, and partner organizations to align data standards, reporting timelines, and shared learning priorities.

Team Management 

  •  Manage MEL team members to improve performance and achieve objectives, promoting accountability and providing regular constructive feedback through 1:1s and performance reviews.
  •  Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence and cultivate resilience and well-being under challenging situations.
  •  Directly manage MEL team members in day-to-day MEL activities and provide technical oversight of MEL functions across program offices.

Security   

  •  Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
  •  Contribute to creating a secure environment for team members.

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.

Supervisory Responsibility

Ebola Response MEL Manager will directly supervise MEL Team members as they are brought on board. This includes potential Senior MEL Officers, MEL Officers, MEL Tech Specialists, and other MEL related positions  

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Ebola Response Team leader

Works Directly With: Ebola Response Technical Advisor, Mercy Corps Program Managers and their teams, MEL focal points/teams across IERDC partner organizations, Crisis Analysis Team (CAT), Community Accountability and Reporting Mechanism (CARM) team, Operations and Finance teams, Human Resources, Global/HQ MEL and Technical teams, and relevant donors.

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 & Transferable Skills 

MEL MANAGEMENT

  •  5–7 years of experience leading MEL/MEAL, including consortium management experience.
  •  Experience in crisis or humanitarian emergency contexts, required.
  •  Experience in public health emergency response (e.g., disease outbreaks, epidemics) highly desired, including familiarity with public health surveillance and community health data systems.
  •  Experience managing MEL/MEAL systems across multiple partners or within a consortium structure, required.
  •  Knowledge of key donors — minimum 3 years of MEL experience with international donors such as ECHO, USAID/BHA, SDC, or FCDO, preferred.
  •  BA/S or equivalent in public health, business administration, public administration, or international development; MA/S in a related field preferred.

TECHNICAL 

  •  Demonstrated experience designing MEL plans and logic models (theory of change, results frameworks, logframes), indicator selection, and indicator performance tracking.
  •  Knowledge and prior experience using MEL technologies such as CommCare, Microsoft Power BI, and Microsoft Azure.
  •  Strong qualitative and quantitative data analysis skills, including intermediate statistics and the ability to summarize and draw insights from multiple data sets; experience with a qualitative analysis package such as MAXQDA preferred.
  •  Experience with GIS or other geographic information systems preferred but not required.
  •  Experience in relevant humanitarian evaluations, such as Real-Time Evaluations and After-Action Reviews.
  •  Knowledge of the Sphere Handbook / Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards, and other relevant international humanitarian standards, preferred.
  •  Understanding of Cash Transfer Programming and market monitoring, where relevant to the response.

LANGUAGES 

  •  Excellent oral and written French skills required; proficiency in English desired.

LEADERSHIP 

  •  Demonstrated experience directly supervising staff.
  •  Experience building and sustaining a respectful team culture, supporting staff resilience and well-being in high-pressure or crisis environments.
  • Proven ability to manage and provide technical oversight to staff across multiple locations or offices. 
     
Success Factors
The ideal candidate will have a strong curiosity for understanding and working effectively within the complex cultural, political, security and social environment. S/he will be an excellent communicator and a tolerant and flexible individual able to work in difficult and stressful environments while following procedures.  The successful candidate will also be focused on team-building and capacity-building of national staff; be a strategic thinker and have strong skills in designing MEL systems for humanitarian programs.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The MEL Manager position is based in Bunia, DRC: a city currently located at the epicenter of the 17th Ebola outbreak. This location is insecure. Housing is group accommodation with limited freedom of movement beyond the house/office. Team members will have limited access to medical services but access to electricity, water, etc. This position requires 30% of travel by road and plane to field offices in insecure environments.

Given the emergency context, this position requires exceptional work schedules, including evenings and weekends.
Ongoing Learning 
As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient, and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.
Team Engagement and Effectiveness

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 and is committed to ensuring equal employment opportunities for all qualified employees and applicants, regardless of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
Safeguarding & Ethics  

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that everyone we come into contact with in the course of our work, whether they are team members, community members, program participants, or others, is treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the UN Secretary-General's and IASC's Core Principles for the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and have signed the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Program. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or members of our team. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to behave professionally, respect local laws and customs, and adhere to  the policies and values of the Mercy Corps Code of Conduct at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses at the time of hiring 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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