Emergency Surge Team, MEAL Coordinator At International Rescue Committee

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC works with people forced to flee from war, conflict and disaster and the host communities which support them, as well as those who remain within their homes and communities. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

IRC’s Emergencies & Humanitarian Action Unit

The IRC’s Emergencies & Humanitarian Action Unit (EHAU) is responsible for IRC’s global emergency preparedness and response activities. The mission of the EHAU is to expand and improve IRC’s ability to help affected communities survive in acute emergencies and hard to reach contexts by investing in people, systems, and solutions to sophisticated humanitarian challenges. The EHAU team achieves this mission through ongoing thorough risk analysis, investing in capacity strengthening of frontline humanitarians, partnership with local actors, offering collaborative support and technical assistance to teams working in emergencies and hard to reach places, and deploying and supporting world class emergency response staff as they help people affected by acute crisis situations.

Job Overview/Summary

External Emergency Roster Staff are deployed to support either existing country programs in their emergency response, or to initiate a new program in a crisis zone. The overall responsibility of the team is to rapidly and effectively design, develop and manage the IRC’s on-site humanitarian response to meet the immediate needs of the affected population. Members of the Emergency Roster are also responsible for supporting the transfer of responsibilities and knowledge to the long-term staff, ensuring the continuity of IRC programming and operations.

The Emergency Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Coordinator will deploy to provide leadership and management oversight to develop and achieve MEAL commitments. This position is responsible for ensuring that data and learning are applied towards continuous improvements in emergency response program quality and evidence-based program design through the building and use of monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and data management systems. This position provides technical assistance, facilitates capacity sharing, and ensures ongoing mentoring and training in MEAL concepts for IRC and partner staff.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Technical Oversight

• Provide MEAL technical assistance to program teams during the design and inception stages, including support with logframes, indicator selection and measurement methodologies, and the development of M&E plans and tools.
• Develop a MEAL budget and staffing structure for all projects that is responsive to planned activities and data requirements.
• Ensure the effective set-up and use of data platforms to ensure effective data collection, management and presentation.
• Provide technical leadership for the design, method, and conduct of surveys such as baseline and endline, and the commission of evaluations and surveys as required in coordination with program coordinators, technical advisors, and external partners.
• Lead the expansion of standard mobile data technology and online dashboards to enhance timeliness and quality of data collection, analysis, and visualization.
• Provide technical leadership to external accountability commitments through the implementation of sound accountability, client feedback, safeguarding, and response mechanisms based on regional standards and expectations.
• Other duties as assigned by the supervisor to enable and develop IRC programs.

Strategic Leadership

• Establish and drive common strategies and approaches to MEAL that reflect and contextualize the IRC and Emergency and Humanitarian Action Strategy.
• Develop, coordinate and strengthen capacity sharing partnerships with MEAL counterparts of partner agencies, local organizations, and government as required.
• Shape and implement MEAL systems and approaches that meet IRC standards and practices, are responsive to program needs, and enable accountability to clients, partners, and donors.
• Lead all aspects of MEAL functions across multiple sectors to ensure coordination and communication between sector leads for an effective and integrated emergency response
• Reinforce integration of cross-sectoral priorities in MEAL, including gender, protection, safeguarding, disaster risk reduction, Diversity-Equality-Inclusion and Do No Harm.
• Champion an organizational culture where data is routinely used for evidence-based decision making and program adaptation.
• Represent and coordinate with other agencies, local governments, partners, donors and other stakeholders to promote delivery of best practice humanitarian assistance.

Staff Management and Development

• Support with recruitment to establish an efficient and responsive staffing structure for the MEAL team in new country emergencies, which considers diversity, a balanced workload and optimal ways of working to support a large multi-sector program.
• Supervise the MEAL team across multiple sectors and geographical areas, in new country responses. Champion a positive working environment for professional development and foster an inclusive and respectful team climate.
• Coach, train, supervise, and mentor MEAL department staff. Promote the growth and development of the team. Assess proficiencies and develop and lead a targeted learning and training strategy.
• Develop and implement remote management capacity building approaches to build the strengths of the MEAL team.
• Provide a comprehensive handover to successor, including ensuring transfer of all related documentation, program monitoring data and staff performance information.

Key Working Relationships

Position reports to: Senior Technical Advisor MEAL in Emergencies

Position directly supervises: n/a

Works closely with: Quality in Emergencies team, Regional Emergency Directors, Regional Measurement for Action Coordinators, country office team, sector and MEAL coordinators.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Ability to commit to deployment within 72 hours of notification of assignment for up to 12 weeks
• A university degree in a relevant subject area (statistics, data management, social sciences, public health, economic development) or related experience.
• A minimum of 5 years of work experience within MEAL-related functions in diverse humanitarian contexts.
• Experience developing collaborative relationships with partner organizations to coordinate and/or support capacity strengthening around their MEAL activities.
• Experience leading data collection and analysis for multi-sector and multi-donor funded humanitarian programs.
• Excellent understanding of a range of quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods required.
• Proficiency and experience with mobile data collection software such as Kobo, CommCare, and ODK Collect is essential, as well as proficiency with Microsoft Excel. Proficiency with SPSS, STATA, or other similar software desirable.
• Knowledge of Tableau, PowerBI, or GIS software are additional assets.
• Demonstrated ability to develop functional and user-friendly systems to utilize routine and survey data in program quality improvement and evidence-based decision-making.
• A strong understanding of accountability mechanisms and proven ability to build responsive client feedback systems is a distinct advantage.
• Leadership experience and demonstrated ability to transfer knowledge to diverse audiences through training, mentoring and communication of findings.
• Excellent verbal and written data presentation and reporting skills. Able to interpret data and communicate complex analysis to external audiences in a concise and easy to understand manner.
• Fluency in written & spoken English as well as one other IRC core language (French, Spanish, or Arabic) required. Proficiency in multiple languages a plus.

COMPETENCIES

• Strong cross-cultural communication skills and comfortable working as part of a diverse team. Sensitive to interpersonal differences and a range of viewpoints.
• Excellent advance planning and organizational skills. Able to effectively prioritize and follow multiple activities simultaneously.
• Analytical, strategic, and eager to develop solutions to sophisticated challenges.
• Flexible and innovative. Able to adapt plans and pivot approaches in response to changes in context.
• Proactive, reliable, and able to work independently in a fast-paced environment.

EHAU strives to build a diverse and inclusive team at all levels who as individuals, and as a group, embody our culture statement creating a working environment characterized by critical reflection, power sharing, debate, and objectivity for us to achieve our aspirations as a unit and deliver the best possible services to our clients.

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability and Equality. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation

Narrowing the Gender Gap: The International Rescue Committee is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including flexible hours (when possible), maternity leave, transportation support, and gender-sensitive security protocols.