Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) Coordinator at CARE International

CARE is a global humanitarian and development leader within a worldwide movement dedicated to ending poverty. We are known everywhere for our unshakable commitment to the dignity of people. CARE vision is to seek a world of hope, tolerance and social justice, where poverty has been overcome and all people live with dignity and security. Our Mission is to work around the globe to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice. We put women and girls in the center of our work because we know that we cannot overcome poverty until all people have equal rights and opportunities. We are strongly inspired and guided by our Core Values of Transformation, Integrity, Excellence, Diversity and Equality. 

Officially registered in April 2017, CARE is in its fourth year operating in Nigeria, predominantly in the conflict affected Northeast, and in the Northwest. CARE aims to support vulnerable people who are affected by conflict, natural disasters and poverty across four key programming areas: Food and Nutrition Security and Livelihoods, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, a Life Free from Violence (Gender-based Violence Prevention and Response) and Women’s Economic Empowerment through its Flagship ‘Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) approach. Our Commitment to Nigeria people goes beyond our current humanitarian work to exploring and initiating longer-term development programs that address underlying causes of poverty and vulnerability in Nigeria. In collaboration with other stakeholders, we will initiate and support equitable and sustainable development interventions by enabling the underprivileged to realize their potential, exercise their right and strengthen linkages with broader society.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) Coordinator

Location: Abuja (FCT)
Employment Type: Full-time

Job Summary

• The Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) Coordinator will lead CARE Nigeria’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning function to enhance program learning, quality, and effectiveness.
• S/he will be responsible for providing leadership, capacity building, systems strengthening, and guidance to program staff to support quality MEAL/Knowledge Management processes, and leading initiatives to capture results, build evidence of impacts and encourage institutional learning across programs.
• S/he will lead the overall management of systems, processes, and practices across CARE Nigeria programs to promote evidence-based program design, adaptive learning, outcome focus, reflective practice, and genuine accountability to impact populations, donors, and key stakeholders.
• S/he will manage CARE Nigeria's contributions to global MEAL processes including PIIRS and other MEAL/KM, research, and Innovation initiatives.
• S/he will work closely with CARE Nigeria’s Resource Mobilisation team, Communications, and Advocacy Team, and other program management teams to disseminate organizational learning and scale up/replicate good practices.
• S/he will be responsible for effective management and capacity building of the MEAL & KM team.
• S/he is required to transfer MEAL knowledge and skill to all the units concerned including our external implementing partners to ensure consistency of the MEAL/KM throughout the organization and its partners.
• The MEAL Coordinator as the head of the MEAL and Program Quality Unit will be responsible for providing overall leadership and guidance in setting up and implementing an effective system to monitor progress, impacts, and performance.
• The MEAL Coordinator will also be providing technical assistance to CARE staff and local implementing partners specifically on indicator tracking, data collection protocols and tools, data use strategies, reporting, research, and results-based management practices.
• S/he will be responsible for contributing to strategy discussions and work plans and developing successful mechanisms for learning.
• The MEAL Coordinator will also provide technical assistance in developing CARE and partner project proposals and project design.
• The employee shall fully comply with CARE policies and procedures and should be accountable for them.

Job Responsibilities
Strengthen the Monitoring and Evaluation System:

• Lead the development, implementation, and maintenance of quality project/program MEAL system, frameworks, methodologies, tools, analysis, and reporting in line with donor requirements and CARE Nigeria and global priorities.
• Ensure integration of CARE’s common indicators (key change areas) into key MEAL outputs, including M&E plans, baseline studies, and evaluations.
• Engage with the Resource mobilization team to contribute to program design and proposal development with the development of quality results frameworks, and MEAL indicators that align with CARE’s global MEL frameworks. Guide integrating MEAL costs into proposals.
• Ensure a robust and practical MEAL system is in place to contribute to and sharpen our learning, design, and knowledge generation process and for monitoring organizational performance against program strategies and business plans.
• Coordinate management and reporting of data about programs (their progress and impacts) for sharing with internal and external stakeholders (e.g., CARE USA, donors, and the Government of Nigeria respectively). This also includes coordination with the concerned program teams and their implementing partners to conduct a preliminary round of data analysis and management.
• Support evaluation and evaluation design program with innovation and scaling approaches including cost-benefit analysis of different models.
• Lead research initiatives for the country office including the design of proposals on research and development, budgeting, reviewing documents, and approving cost expenditures within budget limits through working with finance, operations, and grant staff, and producing BVA reports, forecast and monitoring project budget expenditure, implementation planning, analyses, and reporting.
• Provide technical supervision in the writing of donor reports. In some cases, writing reports will be required.
• Support organization of the next PIIRS data cycle, in line with the 2030 measurement framework: including configuration in the online system in DHIS, maintenance of user accounts, visualization with Excel or Power BI, and reviews of steps for data aggregation, cleaning, and validation.
• Support convening dialogues and compiling feedback on the PIIRS process and system, from teams around the world.
• Provide leadership, guidance, and technical support to staff, interns, and trainees working in the areas of monitoring, evaluation knowledge management, and learning,
• Assist staff in developing tools for data collection, processing, and analysis in line with donor and CARE’s requirements, and support CARE to assess progress towards organizational objectives with an organizational monitoring process in place.
• Oversee annual reporting in line with CARE International and CARE USA requirements.
• Provide technical support to the project-based MEAL staff through regular contact, field visits, and meetings.
• Ensure that all staff at all levels fully understand and promote accountability.
• Contribute to improvements in existing policies and procedures to enhance effective accountability mechanisms.
• Ensure quality evaluation studies, including drafting consultant ToRs where necessary, provide technical support in program-level baselines, mid-term reviews, and end-line evaluations (including procurement and managing external contractors when necessary), and provide supervision to consultants and research partners.
• Contribute to the evaluation and research designs including applied research and contributions to the program and organizational impact frameworks and theories of change. Contribute to the design of advocacy evaluation frameworks and measurement of scaling initiatives

Capacity building and mentoring on Monitoring and Evaluation:

• Develop and manage the MEAL capacity strengthening program for the MEAL & PQ team, program staff, and partners; and provide coaching and training on selected topics.
• Ensure gender-sensitive, inclusive, and participatory processes across MEL components
• Support project and program teams to assess/plan M&E and data management-related processes, address training needs of project partners' staff and prepare progress reports in line with MEL processes and systems.
• Guide feedback and response mechanism

Communication and Collaboration with internal and external networks to advance organizational priorities:

• In coordination with the Communication and other CARE staff, participate in internal networks to advance CARE Nigeria’s MEAL/KM and research agendas, building relationships with qualified external consultants, universities, and research organizations to advance CARE priorities.
• Participate in relevant cross-learning working groups and theme teams at CARE and outside of CARE.
• Collaborate and coordinate with CARE USA to ensure the organizational MEAL system is well understood and reported and take part in the related community of practice.
• Undertake research including literature reviews as needed in support of knowledge products and if needed coordinate with possible research actors/organizations to strengthen CARE's collaborative relationship with them contributing to organizational objectives.

Develop, implement, and maintain effective evidence-based knowledge management systems, processes, and practices:

• Develop and implement systems for detecting, communicating, and sharing evidence and knowledge about the impacts and outcomes of CARE Nigeria’s programs and facilitate nurturing a cross-learning culture with like-minded external organizations and networks.
• Promote Knowledge generating and sharing practice by developing learning platforms and systems which support the generation and dissemination of knowledge, strengthening CARE Nigeria’s program expertise, new roles, and knowledge as a resource hub.
• Provide support to establish learning priorities and agendas, and nurture 'communities of practices that facilitate CARE Nigeria in harnessing its ‘niche’ approaches/strategies within CARE and externally.
• Strategically engage with CARE’s global internal knowledge management communities of practice and with external knowledge management communities of practice, networks, and platforms (e.g., AIN working group) and identify opportunities for showcasing CARE’s knowledge management products.
• Establish and maintain standard operating procedures and mechanisms for identifying best practices and evidence of impacts; and ensure consistent application of these through, for example, induction of new staff members, capacity-building of partners, developing systems and processes, supporting the culture of learning across the organization and at partners’ level and regular contribution to innovation and impact at scales effort.
• Develop, implement, and regularly revise the annual KM plan outlining priorities in line with key program milestones, and coordinate the development of content and materials (blogs, website posts, documents) for sharing program learning, assessments, and evaluations in coordination with the Communication and Outreach team.

Human Resource Management:

• Supervise and identify the development needs of direct reports and arrange appropriate strategies and actions for capacitating their skills and knowledge in consultation with Supervisor.
• Ensure that all administrative functions (timesheets and PAR, staff performance review) are conducted promptly.
• Ensure performance management (APAA) of direct reports; and facilitate their capacity development through training needs assessment, coaching mentoring, and other relevant activities.
• Develop and practice learning and appreciative culture in the team.
• Support and actively participate in Country office and program-level initiatives for team performance.

Resource Mobilization:

• Contribute to CARE’s resource mobilization efforts
• Other Responsibilities as Assigned

Qualifications , Skills and Experience
Required:

• Bachelor's Degree in Social Sciences, Computer Science, or other relevant fields
• Master’s Degree in relevant fields such as Knowledge Management, Research, Social Science, and Analysis, Science or equivalent; ideally with a strong focus on social research, IT, and learning, will be an added advantage.
• Strong knowledge of, and experience in using, different qualitative and quantitative research, monitoring and evaluation tools, practices, and techniques to assess project and program impact and generate knowledge management and learning.
• Demonstrated capacity in strengthening gender and inclusion across MEAL processes and systems/
• Computer skills, including knowledge of relevant software e.g., Microsoft Office 365 applications including SharePoint; (SPSS or related data analysis software would be an advantage).
• Experience working on MEAL processes in one or more of CARE's thematic areas (Humanitarian response; Food Nutrition Security Livelihood; Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights; Women’s Economic Empowerment; Gender-Based Violence, Water Sanitation, and Hygiene, and Education.
• At least 5 years of relevant experience in MEAL management role in international development programming context with demonstrated experience in both quantitative and qualitative methods.
• Excellent verbal and written language skills in English required.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, training, and facilitation skills
• Excellent experience in designing and establishing/strengthening systems for knowledge and data management.
• Very strong conceptual thinking and analytical skills
• Demonstrated people management and supervisions skills including coaching capacity development.

Desired:

• 3 years experience in setting up and managing MEAL systems across various programs and sectors.
• Experience implementing MEAL systems and requirements for the following donors: Global Affair Canada (GAC), UN Agencies, Bureau of Humanitarian Agency (BHA), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, United States Department of States (DoS).
• Experience implementing and designing programs for food nutrition security livelihood and climate change resilience, sexual reproductive health and rights, gender-based violence, water sanitation, and hygiene, and education programs

Competencies:

• Organizational skills for Information gathering and processing– Able to locate and collect data from a variety of sources and analyze and ability to synthesize complex information in concise reports for program design, program quality, and learning.
• Analytical thinking - Able to integrate information from diverse sources, often involving large amounts of data; this includes synthesizing information and summarizing it into key points for use by others.
• Creativity and innovation - Able to think creatively to encourage learning and demonstrate an adaptive style in sharing ideas and learning with others and adapt learning and processes from other geographies for use in CARE Nigeria programming Leading others to achieve results - Able to assume a leadership role in managing others to achieve excellent results and to ensure quality deliverables and MEAL products.
• Teamwork - Able to work effectively with other people within a work group and across units and line management boundaries.
• Initiative - Deals with situations and issues proactively and persistently
• Embracing and Valuing Diversity - Able to contribute effectively to a culture that positively values the diversity of people, values, and ideas within CARE Nigeria
• Innovation - Demonstrates openness to new ideas, seeks out new opportunities
• Interpersonal sensitivity and communication - Able to communicate with sensitivity and foster communication, actively listening to others which are a must in this role.
• Developing others - Able to foster the development of others by providing a supportive learning environment and providing coaching and mentoring as needed.
• Influencing - Able to generate commitment and build consensus among others and gain their support.
• Communicating and sharing ideas and information - Able to present information and express opinions confidently to internal and external audiences
• Writing - Able to communicate ideas and information in writing to ensure that information and messages are understood and have the desired impact.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply

Application Deadline  18th November, 2022.

Note

• There are individuals who may use CARE’s name and trademark in emails and on websites in an attempt to solicit fees from interested jobseekers. Please note that CARE will not request for any monetary payments from applicants at any stage of the recruitment process.
• CARE is an Equal Opportunity Employer. CARE considers all applicants on the basis of merit without prejudice to race, sexual orientation, religion, disability, age, colour, national origin, marital status, or veteran status.
• Qualified Women are strongly encouraged to apply