Uganda: Senior MEL Officer

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions
into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Working in Uganda since 2006, Mercy Corps has applied market-driven solutions to communities across the country, equipping individuals and households with the knowledge, skills and confidence to generate improvements in their access to markets, livelihoods, health, nutrition, and security, in order to improve their overall resilience. Our programs focus on:

● Strengthening market systems to enable inclusive economic growth and resilience

● Strengthening governance structures, to prioritise and advocate for community needs, making informed decisions, and allocating resources in a participatory, transparent and accountable manner

● Building institutional capacity to enable communities to attain better health, nutrition and sexual reproductive health outcomes

● Meeting the immediate needs of refugees and hosting communities, while strengthening market systems and resilience capacities

Throughout our programs we ensure we focus on women and youth, building resilience to climate change, designing for impact and scale, and ensuring we take a conflict sensitive approach to do no harm. In 2018, Mercy Corps had programming in 26 districts across the northern agro-pastoral and pastoral regions bordering South Sudan and Kenya, and into central Uganda including major urban areas such as Kampala, and has improved the wellbeing of over 1 million Ugandans.

The Mercy Corps Uganda team consists of around 300 members, across 10 offices in Central and Northern Uganda.

Program Summary

Mercy Corps Uganda has secured funding from BPRM in a consortium with the International Rescue Committee (IRC, as lead agency) and Young African Refugees for Integral Development (YARID) to implement a 34 month program entitled “Enhancing the Resilience of Urban Refugees and Vulnerable Host Communities in Kampala through an integrated Protection and Livelihoods Approach”. The program will focus on improving protection outcomes for urban refugees - including increasing access to information and support needs for the most vulnerable refugees and host community members (case management, legal advice, health services) - as well as increasing livelihood options, market linkages and income for these groups. As a cross-cutting theme - capacity building will be provided to local refugee-led organisations to ensure that they have improved ability to respond to protection and livelihood needs within their communities, and to increase their presence in dialogue around the comprehensive refugee response framework. Mercy Corps will lead on the livelihood component of this program, which includes activities such as basic need cash transfer grants for three months for 600 households, micro-entreprise development grants for 300 entrepreneurs, development of structured apprenticeships that lead to employment for 225 individuals, harnessing ICT skills to improve employability and employment and to leverage social networks for information and opportunity exchange, and business mentoring. MC will work closely with IRC and YARID to ensure the different components of the program work together effectively to reach the desired impact.

General Position Summary

The MEL Senior Officer will contribute to the quality assurance of program implementation and ensure that the program is meeting its deliverables, as well as developing tools and reports to demonstrate the impact and results of program implementation. S/he will develop and maintain data management systems. The MEL Senior Officer is responsible for supporting Mercy Corps staff to regularly collect, enter, verify, and analyze data and work with the MEL team to make timely adjustments to measure the impact of Mercy Corps’ programs and to ensure M&E data is accurately incorporated into all organizational reports and information products. S/he will ensure the collection and analysis of useful, timely and actionable information for managers and decision-makers, and contribute to the frequent review, reflection and key learning processes to improve performance.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Monitoring and Evaluation

● Work with program teams, partners and M&E focal points to integrate M&E into ongoing project planning and implementation systems and ensure adherence to Mercy Corps M&E minimum standards;

● Assist with the development of appropriate monitoring, tracking and reporting systems, tools and templates that enhance monitoring of project outputs and quality, generate quality evidence on project impact and promote and ensure use of data for decision-making processes;

● Assist the program team to develop and promote the use of standard indicators, tools and forms (as appropriate) and M&E practices across the project and coordinate the collection of information required for country-level management;

● Coordinate assessments and evaluations;

● Ensure that monitoring plans are developed for the program and ensure that regular monitoring visits are conducted by MEL staff to the different project locations, ensure that minimum standards are being met, and that reports are shared with the program teams;

● Work with partners and program team to gather success stories and anecdotal evidence of program impact to share for outreach and with donors.

Data Analysis and Reporting

● Work as part of a broader team to design, facilitate and support data collection and analysis systems including baseline, annual, and end line surveys, regular monitoring, data collection and analysis, feedback and reporting;

● Generate data reports (tables/graphs/reports) from the database at regular intervals, ensuring reports/information are available for program implementation staff as required;

● Facilitate data analysis with program implementation team as requested;

● Conduct regular field visits to ensure all elements of the data system are being utilized effectively, assessing and identifying breakdowns and areas that require clarifications and improvements;

● Coordinate with field team and partners to implement system corrections and adjustments, solving operational issues and documenting actions taken and next steps;

● Work with program teams to ensure data analysis and reports are integrated into programmatic decision making to improve impact of the program;

● Contribute to monthly reports and other ad hoc reports to meet donor and internal requirements;

● Report program achievements on TOLA, Activity Info, and other relevant reporting mechanisms.

Capacity Building

● Conduct a needs assessment for the partners and determine a M&E training plan and tools to support staff;

● Conduct a needs assessment for coaches and implement an induction on M&E and a training plan to inform coaches about the importance of M&E and how information feeds into the program;

● Develop training material and implement training plan based on the assessment needs and gaps of partners and M&E focal persons;

● Build the capacity of all relevant team members to develop and maintain a robust M&E system;

● Review partner reports and provide feedback and comments to improve reporting quality;

● Adapt existing protocols and plans to mentor and coach colleagues to build their capacity to enable them to develop high quality reports.

Database Management

● Develop and manage a program database that improves Mercy Corps’ ability to inform program implementation, analyze data, and represent impact to key stakeholders;

● Contribute to understanding of and support for mobile data collection hardware and software, including tools such as Commcare, Tableau, PowerBI etc;

● Ensure all relevant program staff are able to utilize the database to analyze program information and results;

● Design, adapt and maintain the database in conjunction with the MEL team to match strategic program or implementation changes;

● Review data being collected in order to locate and fix problems with data entry or integrity;

● Document database contents, protocols and update manuals for smooth functioning of the data management system;

● Manage regular synchronizations of data;

● Troubleshoot front and back end issues with the database, including any synchronization issues with field-level data entry.

Accountability

● Coordinate with the team to build systems that promote beneficiary accountability by ensuring that communities participate in initial assessments and program design;

● Coordinate with program teams to ensure that communities are informed about our programs and what we do, are aware of their entitlements, are comfortable to give feedback and that feedback is used to improve the quality of our programs

● Ensure that Mercy Corps’ Community Feedback and Accountability Mechanism is clearly communicated to project beneficiaries, and that the hotline numbers are visible to end beneficiaries throughout the program.

● Ensure all activities are gender sensitive and follow Mercy Corps’ Gender Equity Policy;

● Apply Do No Harm standards to ensure activities do not have detrimental effects on vulnerable communities;

● Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and not jeopardize its humanitarian mission;

● Other assigned tasks, as necessary.

Knowledge and Experience

● BA/S or equivalent, preferable in social sciences, business administration, public administration, international development or other relevant disciplines;

● 3-4 years M&E and/or other relevant experience;

● Fluent in both spoken and written English; Fluency in local languages in program target areas is a significant advantage

● Previous experience working with international and/or local NGOs;

● Advanced computer skills and experience developing data management systems including ONA/KoBo/ODK are required;

● Extensive experience in field survey/data collection techniques, data entry, data verification, management and analysis;

● Strong team coordination, listening, and consensus building skills.

How to apply: Submit your application through email to ug-mcjobs@mercycorps.org addressed to the Human Resource Director, Mercy Corps Uganda. Include a cover letter clearly stating your salary requirements, CV (with 3 referees), and copies of academic qualifications/certificates. Deadline for Submission: Close of business on Friday 11^th October 2019. Subject of email/envelope should include the position you are applying for. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted by Mercy Corps. Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer; qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.