MEAL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning)/Officer Фахівець з моніторингу, оцінки, обліку та навчання Дніпро

Дніпро

The method of planting a MEAL specialist is to work closely with partner partners and CARE teams for monitoring and evaluating results with a radical method of improving the quality of humanitarian assistance, which is hoped.

An important component of the role is institutional training for adaptation to adaptive management with the final method of improving the quality of programs and assistance, which is hoped for by the participants in the project. Through the mystic nature of CARE’s humanitarian assistance in Ukraine, its role includes a strong emphasis on the development potential of its partners-viconauts, owing to its wide knowledge of this knowledge in the mystical context.

The MEAL specialist works under the supervision of the field project coordinator. The MEAL Specialist is also closely related to the MEAL Coordinator who is based in the Coordination Office in Lviv/Kyiv.

Location: Dnipro
Duration: 12 months renewable 
Conditions: Employment contract, gross monthly salary between 1,614 Euros to 2,111 Euros depending on proven relevant experience for the post. Moving allowance of EUR600 will be provided if staff has to move from the original base.
Starting date: ASAP 

CARE INTERNATIONAL

CARE International (CI) is among the world’s largest international non-governmental humanitarian relief and development confederations. Drawing on more than 75 years of experience, through its 21 Members, as both a practitioner and thought leader, CI’s work reaches over 100 worldwide to save lives, defeat poverty countries and achieve social justice. 

CARE’s vision is to seek a world of hope, inclusion, and social justice; where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. CARE focuses heavily on women and girls, and the areas of gender equality, diversity, and inclusion are at the center of our work because we know that we cannot overcome poverty and social injustice until all people have equal rights and opportunities. We recognize that power relations between people and within systems and structures are unequal and that these are entrenched in our broader systems, structures, and institutions. 

At the core of the CI Confederation is a globally distributed Secretariat, which provides coordination and support to its Members in areas including governance, strategic planning, communications, membership development and accountability, advocacy, humanitarian response, and program development. In addition, the Secretariat represents the CI Confederation at the United Nations and the European Union, and with other external stakeholders.

Context in Ukraine

On 24th February 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marked a significant escalation to the conflict that started in 2014. It continues to profoundly impact the lives of people across the country at various levels. The front line is continuously shifting and there are areas controlled by Russian forces as well as cities under siege. Aerial attacks on military installations and critical civilian infrastructures are conducted in the whole territory of Ukraine, often resulting in collateral civilian casualties. The conflict has caused the largest population movement in Europe since World War II, with 6.24 million displaced within Ukraine and 7.68 million refugees having fled to neighboring countries. By October 26, OCHA had counted 17.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. 

Amid the upcoming winter, which is anticipated to be the worst in decades, at least one-third of the country’s energy infrastructure is damaged, leaving millions without heating and access to water. In October, the Russian Federation claimed to have annexed four Ukrainian oblasts, further increasing the challenge of access to these areas. Therefore, in addition to preparing the population for the approaching winter, an ongoing priority for the international humanitarian response is to secure access to recently liberated and recaptured areas in the East and to provide aid to previously unreachable and particularly hard-hit areas of Ukraine. 

CARE UKRAINE

As a new actor in Ukraine, CARE prioritizes a locally led response and is partnering primarily with Civil-Society Organizations (CSOs), National NGOs, local authorities, and when needed, INGOs with a longstanding presence in the country and access to hard-to -reach areas. CARE Ukraine deliberately and strategically prioritizes partnerships with local and national Women Led and Women Rights organizations (WLO’s/ WRO’s), further strengthening the Gender in Emergencies (GiE) principle and the Women Lead in Emergencies (WLiE) approach.

In the first few weeks after the escalation of the war, virtually all humanitarian aid inside Ukraine was organized and implemented by local actors. These groups (together with local authorities) remain the principal aid providers but are quickly being exhausted of funds, fuel, and physical energy. Thereby, a considerable proportion of CARE’s resources is dedicated to strengthening and supporting the capacities of local partners. 

As of November 2022, CARE Ukraine has established partnerships with twelve local/national organizations (incl. four WLO’s/WRO’s) and five international NGOs. From the more than 28 million that have been raised for Ukraine thus far, more than half is allocated to local/national partners. Through the activities that have been implemented so far, CARE Ukraine has been able to reach 550,030 people, including IDPs and affected populations in hard-to-reach areas.

While CARE Ukraine’s office is currently located in Lviv, we are continuously working on strategically expanding CARE’s presence and reach with plans to open an office in Kyiv as well as field offices in Dnipro and Odessa, covering both the East and South of the country. 

Role Objectives

The purpose of the MEAL Officer position is to work closely with the implementing partners and CARE teams to monitor and evaluate the outputs and outcomes of the intervention with the overall objective to improve the quality of the humanitarian assistance delivered. One important component of the role is institutional learning to contribute to adaptative management with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of programs and of assistance delivered to project participants. Due to the locally led nature of CARE humanitarian response in Ukraine, the role includes a strong focus on building the capacities of implementing partners while recognizing their extensive knowledge and experience on the local context. The MEAL Officer is working under the supervision of the Field Project Coordinator. The MEAL Officer will also work closely with the MEAL Coordinator, who is based in the Coordination Office in Lviv/Kyiv.  

Role Responsibilities:

1. MEAL Systems and Processes

• Develop and keep updated detailed MEAL tools such as Indicator Tracking Table and workplan for active projects in collaboration with the partners; including all agreed upon donors’ indicators and relevant CARE global indicators with clearly identified methodologies, tools and responsibilities to monitor the progress of these indicators throughout the project cycle providing specific attention to gender and women’s empowerment impact measurement indicators, systems and processes
• Participate in the MEAL session during the kick-off meeting for new projects ensuring implementing teams (CARE and partners) understand the MEAL requirements before the start of the project’s implementation
• Organize weekly calls with MEAL team from implementing partners to monitor the progress of MEAL activities, mentor, and support partners and coordinate with the relevant departments for any challenges arise.

2. MEAL Tools and Activities

• Support partners in using and archiving properly the required MEAL tools for active projects (including but not limited to baseline surveys, assessment tools, registration tools, distribution lists, surveys tools for PDM or PAM, focus group discussion, onsite quality checklist, etc.)
• Liaise with the MEAL team in Lviv and other area offices to ensure relevant MEAL tools are available in electronic form (Kobo) as required, reviewing digital forms to ensure they meet the required specifications, and requesting new forms or changes to existing forms.
• Contribute to conducting the different studies, evaluations, and research at project level that are designed to be implemented internally by CARE and partners
• Conduct data validation and data control to monitor the quality, relevance and completeness of data sets from project partners for reach data, including appropriate verification of the selection of beneficiaries, for output monitoring and outcome monitoring
• Conduct regular MEAL activities (including monitoring field visits, FGDs, KIIs) for active projects to collect outputs data, run quality checks and provide constructive feedbacks to partners and as per MEAL plan to address any ad-hoc donor requests.

3.Reporting

• Ensure template for monthly reporting are adapted for active projects and available for partners with sufficient orientation about the requirements and compliance of Means of Verification.
• Support partners to produce monthly reports to ensure timely and quality data, collection, analysis, and reporting (focusing on narrative, indicators tracking tables and 5W) and provide constructive feedback is given to partner staff with relevant follow and support provided.
• Support the Country Office MEAL team to compile MEAL inputs for interim and final donors reporting reviewing all incoming MEAL data from staff, third party monitoring (TPM) and partners

4. Accountability and Learning

• Support in reviewing monthly reports submitted by partners to grant managers in the coordination office and other reports from various stakeholders to document lessons learned and share with the Field Project Coordinator and Program Manager to contribute to adaptative management, facilitate decision making and inform program design at area and country level.
• Ensure all required documentation is properly collected and archived for active projects
• Act as a whistle-blower to raise concerns about program implementation with the Field Project Coordinator and Area Program Manager.
• Promote and ensure the establishment of the different channels of the feedback and accountability mechanisms within CARE activities, partners and communities. Share information with and collect information from them

5. Capacity building and management

• Contribute to assess the MEAL capacities of implementing partners and develop capacity building plan for each partner in coordination with the Knowledge and Capacity Development Unit to ensure that partners fully understand the function of MEAL in quality assurance and strengthen a culture of open reflection and improvement.
• Conduct regular capacity building sessions and mentoring for the Area Offices and implementing partner’s MEAL staff through mentoring, coaching and trainings to address the capacity gaps identified in running the MEAL system and activities and using the different MEAL tools

Requirements

Mandatory criteria for longlisting

• University degree or/and Master’s degree in social sciences, development, program evaluation, data science, economic policy, econometrics and operations research, or a related field
• Minimum 1 year of experience working in monitoring, evaluation, and research for NGOs or other stakeholders in the humanitarian or development sectors
• Strong written and oral Ukrainian and English skills.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis using appropriate analytical methods; design and implement quantitative and rapid qualitative appraisals, etc.

expected

• Strong ability and interest to work with local partners and building their capacities
• Understanding and demonstrating commitment to the importance of gender and youth issues in humanitarian programming
• Knowledge in management and dissemination of research findings.
• Strong skills in Excel and experience with Power BI or other data management and visualization software
• Experience with Kobo Toolbox data collection tool
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to work independently, manage time and execute tasks
• Ability to work in fast changing environment and to multi-task and context-switch effectively between different activities and teams

Accountability 

 A commitment to CARE values and CARE’s integrity framework is critical to working with CARE. Any candidate offered a job with CARE will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability: 

• Comply with CARE’s policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, code of conduct, health and safety, confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behavior protocols.
• Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within our programming area.
• Report any concerns about inappropriate behavior of a CARE staff or partner.

Safeguarding:

Children and vulnerable adults who come into contact with CARE as a result of our activities must be safeguarded to the maximum possible extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury, and any other harm. One of the ways that CARE shows this on-going commitment to safeguarding is to include a rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates. 

gender equality:

CARE is committed to meeting the standards of the CARE International Gender Policy (2019). Through this policy, CARE seeks to promote the equal realization of dignity and human rights for girls, women, boys and men in all diversities, and the elimination of poverty and injustice. Specifically, this policy seeks to improve the explicit incorporation of gender in programmatic and organizational practices. 

How to apply:

Please send your complete application package (CV, motivation letter, references) only in English to [email protected] with MEAL Officer-Dnipro as the subject of the email by no later than 9th of June 2023 . Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for the job. 

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. References will only be contacted after the interview.      

[email protected]