Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, Learning (MEAL) Specialist – Anticipatory Humanitarian Action 17 views

Title: Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, Learning (MEAL) Specialist – Anticipatory Humanitarian Action

Location: Addis Ababa

Employment Category: G1

Salary: As per organization Salary Scale

Reporting To: Program Development and Grant Manager

Contract Duration: Twelve Months (12)

Posting date: January 23, 2025

Required Employee: 1

INTRODUCTION

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC), an international non-governmental organization (NGO), has been providing relief and development services in the Horn of Africa since 1997. DRC promotes and supports solutions to the problems faced by refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs), and migrants. The organization has offices across the region and has been operational in Ethiopia since 2009. With funding from bilateral and multilateral donors, DRC is currently implementing a range of activities across Ethiopia, including WASH and shelter provision, child and youth protection, gender-based violence response, awareness-raising of migration risks, protection monitoring of migration routes, and livelihoods support for returning migrants or those at-risk of migration.

OVERALL PURPOSE OF THE ROLE:

The AHEAD MEAL Specialist will lead in the generation of a robust evidence base for DRC Ethiopia’s Anticipatory Action and Emergency Response activities, in particular the AHEAD Project which will inform advocacy and communications activities intended to raise the profile of AHEAD and anticipatory action programming focused on conflict-induced displacement in Ethiopia, the East Africa and Great Lakes (EAGL) region, and globally. The MEAL activities will include needs assessments and analysis, routine output monitoring, quantitative and qualitative data collection with target communities, the facilitation of learning reviews with project staff, maintenance of project community feedback channels, the production of audio-visual content following the provision of related training, and the production of key activation-based and periodic MEAL reports using provided templates.

Responsibilities and tasks

Needs and trends analysis and monitoring

• Continuously monitor and analyze secondary data relating to emerging crises and consolidate summary reports
• Provide MEAL support to rapid needs assessments, rapid protection assessments and other analyses to inform emergency preparedness and response, including tool development, data collection, analysis and reporting, as well as data visualization.

Output monitoring

• Lead in the consolidation and review of Means of Verification (MoV) documentation, and enter aggregated output values in the project Indicator Tracking Table (ITT)

Quantitative data collection

• Translation of quant tools provided by HQ
• Training of enumerators
• Supervision of quant data collection (phone-based or in-person)
• Support with preliminary data cleaning/translation for selected response categories

Qualitative data collection

• Design, translation of qual tools (FGD + IDI/KII guides)
• Direct qual data collection (FGD + IDI/KII)
• Training on qual data collection to female data collector/s (eg Protection Specialist)
• Cleaning and analysis of qualitative data (using Taguette or other simple tagging/qual coding software)

Learning

• Facilitation of after-action reviews (post-activation), other group learning sessions
• Regularly present key MEAL findings and feedback to the DRC HQ AHEAD MEAL Specialist, DRC Ethiopia AHEAD Project Focal Point (AA Cdtr), DRC Ethiopia MEAL Manager, and when relevant to the Senior Management Team (SMT)
• Participate in and assist in internal or external evaluation processes as required, including the project midterm evaluation (MTR) as well as end line evaluation
• Support analysis, interpretation, and communication of the MEAL findings externally, in the area of responsibility.

Audio-visual content

• Capture audio-visual content in alignment with standards provided through training delivered by DRC HQ

Community feedback

• Support the implementation of the different mechanisms for community engagement and feedback in monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning in the area of responsibility.
• Support the implementation of DRC’s Community Feedback Mechanism.
• Register and follow up on complaints as assigned by the managers and process complaints in a timely, safe, and accountable manner.

Compliance (data handling, adherence to DRC standards)

• Apply DRC guidance with respect to data handling to ensure GDPR compliance
• Apply accountability and ethical frameworks and principles, including CHS, in line with DRC standards
• Adhere to DRC’s Code of Conduct and act in accordance with DRC’s protection referral protocols and SOPs

Key outputs (production of MEAL outputs using provided templates)

• Post-activation report
• Periodic lessons learned report
• Periodic case studies report
• Audio-visual content: photographs with captions; small video interviews with translated subtitles to English
• Production and maintenance of AHEAD-specific community feedback and complaints dashboard
• Assessment reports
• Perform other duties as directed by the AHEAD MEAL Specialist, Ethiopia Anticipatory Action Coordinator and Head of Programme

All DRC roles require the post-holder to master

DRC’s core competencies:

• Striving for excellence: You focus on reaching results while ensuring an efficient process.
• Collaborating: You involve relevant parties and encourage feedback.
• Taking the lead: You take ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation.
• Communicating: You listen and speak effectively and honestly.
• Demonstrating integrity: You act in line with our vision and values.

Experience and technical competencies: (include years of experience)

• At least four (4) years of INGO experience, of which at least two (2) years’ experience directly on grants management
• Strong analytical, and writing skills.
• Demonstrated ability with project grants management, including project design, budget preparation, expenditure tracking, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting.
• Demonstrated experiences in fundraising.
• Proven commitment to accountable practices and knowledgeable of quality assurance systems
• Good communicator and proven diplomacy with all types of stakeholders
• Experience of managing budgets and multiple donor contracts, particularly with ECHO, DANIDA, UNHCR, BRPM, and UNICEF.
• Fluent and articulate in spoken and written English.
• Ability to work independently, but also coordinate effectively as part of a team.
• Strong computer skills (MS Word, Excel, Outlook and Power Point).

Ability and willingness to work and live in diverse, challenging and potentially unstable environments.

EDUCATION: (include certificates, licenses, etc.)

• Bachelor degree in a relevant field.

LANGUAGE: (indicate fluency level)

• English (proficient in both writing and speaking)
• Knowledge of other local languages an asset.