Regional MEAL Specialist, Asia (Homebased in Asia) At Save the Children

The Opportunity

As a critical member of the Asia Regional Programme Quality, Evidence, and Impact team, you will be responsible for the provision of MEAL support to Save the Children Offices in APAC (including Country Offices, Member Offices, and member-run Country offices) across APAC, focusing on Save the Children’s full spectrum mandate of development and humanitarian programming. You will be a Member of the MEAL Team of professionals in the Region requiring a high level of technical and emotional competency. You will specifically provide MEAL and regional representation; functions for the regional office; support and advice for country offices; capacity building across the region.

Key Responsibilities

MEAL Technical Leadership and Regional Representation

• Provide technical leadership on nurturing the culture of Quality Benchmarks (QBs) and learning in COs MEAL systems, as a critical component that ensures program quality.
• Analyze the QBs and socialize the findings with CO, ARO TAs, and MEAL teams to encourage the culture of uptake of the findings.
• Steer the effective and impactful coordination, collaboration, training, and mentoring of MEAL staff in COs. This will include analysis of the data and presentation for internal and external stakeholders.
• Represent the region and provide technical expertise to movement-wide initiatives through participation in global Technical Working Groups and communities of practice such as the MEAL (Monitoring Evaluation Accountability Learning) Humanitarian Technical Working Group (HTWG), and implementation processes, Technology Community of Practice.
• Support the Sr. Advisor MEAL with regional analysis and communications demonstrating the quality and impact of our work across the region, drawing on a variety of evidence sources including the Global Results Framework, PRIME, and program evaluations.

Regional MEAL functions

• Support MEAL aspects of proposal development and donor reporting for key regional programs and opportunities.
• Lead the operationalization of SCI’s MEAL standards, processes, and systems across APAC
• Develop and implement a regional lessons-learned database, including the facilitation of sharing of recommendations and lessons learned from evaluations and other learning initiatives
• Champion child-focused outcomes-based programming, drawing on qualitative evidence, rather than just quantitative numbering of deliveries.

Knowledge Management

• Lead knowledge exchange and learning across the region through continued implementation, uplift, and evolution of the Learning Countries Initiative, COPs and other activities
• Provide knowledge and data management guidance to COs
• Lead and support the continued implementation and updating and tracking of the Regional REL Agenda and Country Learning Agendas
• Work with RMU and TA on addressing REL gaps
• Work with TA, New Business Development (NBD) and ACCM to develop and report on Impact Stories and lessons
• Develop strategies and plans to improve evidence literacy of non-technical staff

Capacity building and Technical MEAL support for COs:

• Design and implement a capacity-building strategy on QBs, learning, and knowledge management to the COs (considering training, mentoring, and coaching) to build the knowledge of, and commitment
• Monitoring and evaluation systems and mechanisms including MEAL plans and budgets, MEAL Indicator Reference Sheets, data collection and use, data for decision making and organizational learning, output/outcome trackers
• Effective monitoring, tracking, and reporting systems, tools and templates that (a) enable and enhance regular monitoring of outputs and program quality across regional and country programmes, (b) generate quality evidence at various programme levels
• Develop context-specific capacity building materials by contextualising global and/or national tools.
• Support CO on MEAL resourcing requirements and staffing structures.
• Monitoring and evaluating operational quality, using the Quality Framework essential standards, procedures, guidelines and tools
• Roll-out and support COs with the uptake and use of MEAL-related components in PRIME
• Support TA and COs with the Global Results Framework and global thematic Indicator lists in PRIME and other applications
• Country annual planning and reporting processes, including assisting country offices effectively utilise reporting tools to articulating impact
• Work with the Humanitarian MEAL Advisor to ensure effective humanitarian MEAL processes and mechanisms are in place, including supporting set-up and ongoing technical support of the Output Tracker for humanitarian responses.

KEY COMPETENCIES

Generic technical competencies:

• Promotes the rights of children in own work and in work with colleagues and peers
• Displays a commitment to the safe, meaningful and ethical participation of all children
• Builds the understanding and capacity of others in child participation
• Promotes an enabling environment for participation, and accountability to children
• Demonstrates an understanding of how to include the voice of children in programme and advocacy work
• Influences others to adopt good practices in relation to safeguarding
• Displays a commitment to ensuring everything we do considers the most deprived and marginalised children

Child Rights Governance technical competencies:

• Ensures interventions respond to child rights priorities identified by children
• Champions child rights and accountability to children as core operational considerations in both humanitarian responses and development programs.
• Ensures that programmes promote children’s voices
• Supports others to optimise opportunities to amplify children’s voices in the public sphere
• Provides guidance on promoting advocacy designed and conducted by children
• Applies child sensitive social accountability principles in designing and implementing programme

Behavioural competencies:

• Leading and inspiring others: Demonstrates leadership in all our work, embodies our values, and articulates a compelling vision to inspire others to achieve our goals for children.
• Applying technical and professional expertise: Applies the required technical and professional expertise to the highest standards; promotes and shares best practice within and outside the organisation.
• Working effectively with others: Works collaboratively to achieve shared goals and thrives on diversity of people and perspectives; knows when to lead and when to follow and how to ensure effective cross-boundary working

The Organisation

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

Application Information

If you are interested in this position, please complete this short questionnaire: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RE_Jobs and submit your cover letter and up-to-date CV as a single document in our job portal. Please include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations to complete the application process.

A copy of the full role profile can be found at www.savethechildren.net/careers

Closing Date for Application: 18 Dec 2022

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.