Consultant - Outcome Tracker and Data Processing - Remote

Background:
Mercy Corps NW conducts regular small business training for entrepreneurs out of our Portland and SW Washington offices. The Portland office serves over 1,000 entrepreneurs annually. Small business education is an integral part of our economic development programming.

In April of 2023, MCNW’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager, transitioned to another role within Mercy Corps. Given MCNW’s scale down of programming, MCNW decided not to replace the role in a full-time capacity. Instead, MCNW converted one program team member with a strong data process understanding to a hybrid Data and Program Coordinator role (e.g. Sr. Education Coordinator and Data Officer).  This person will be the primary data/monitoring team member for MCNW going forward. The Sr. Education Coordinator and Data Officer also will be the consultant’s primary point of contact at MCNW for all data issues.

For approximately 15 years, MCNW has used Outcome Tracker (OT) as its primary relational database for all its programs and projects.  MCNW continues to track most of MCNW’s data in it with manual uploads to other platforms and MCNW’s Drupal website, which is the front end for collecting client information and forms.  To date, the MEL Manager has been the primary expert and user of the database.  Prior to the position departure, the MEL Manager trained several program team members in data processing and extracting data from OT for reporting.  However, the team's understanding of OT is limited.

Summary of MCNW’s MEL Needs and Timeframe: Given MCNW sunsetting of programs and a lack of full-time MEL Manager going forward, MCNW will need the consultant to perform different functions depending on the timeframe and the needs of program teams at that time.  Phase 1: May- October of 2023,  this will be when MCNW will have the Sr. Education Coordinator and Data Officer supporting the team and their data needs on a part time basis. During this time, the Sr. Education Coordinator and Data Officer will need support from the Consultant on technical matters or will require a sounding board on how best to complete a task.  Phase 2:  November 2023-December 2024 and beyond.  This will be a period in which MCNW will have fewer projects being implemented and completed.  MCNW anticipates no longer having the Sr. Educational Coordinator and Data Officer in place and the Consultant is expected to interact directly with program managers to help them or complete tasks for them. This contract is primarily for Phase 1 activities and the start of Phase 2 scenario.

**Purpose / Project Description:
**Hire data consulting firm to handle Outcome Tracker requests or data related issues from program teams. Consult on form creation and updates. Provide other data processing problem solving. Provide Power BI Dashboards as needed for program managers to summarize achievements.

Objectives: Be trained on current processes, along with the Sr. Education Coordinator and Data Officer, by the previous Senior MEL Data Officer. Provide solutions to Outcome Tracker and data issues/queries.  Eventually, retire the Outcome Tracker system for MCNW Programs.

Deliverables:

• Up to 240 hours of consulting and training
• Consultant will receive training from previous Senior MEL Data Officer
  • Overview of MCNW data and monitoring process and provide onboarding to MCNW systems and overall data needs
• Be a technical resource and sounding board for the primary point of contact, the MCNW Sr. Education Coordination and Data Officer
  • Consultant will provide training or instructions to Data Officer when needed
  • Provide technical assistance when asked regarding MCNW dataflows and datasets
• Troubleshooting Outcome Tracker
  • Dataflows and Datasets
  • Structuring queries
• Serve as support to Sr. Education Coordination and Data Officer, ensuring the sending and receiving of data between various database platforms (Outcome Tracker, DownHomeLoans, Power BI, etc.)
• Quality checks of data prior to submitting donor reports (quarterly reporting months July and October)
  • Assist with resolving errors and data review as requested
  • Troubleshoot data query errors
  • Review numbers
  • Assisting with capital infusions
• Program 90 day close out (July- August)
  • TOLA updates, pulling data from other locations and uploading data
  • Assist with review of MCNW’s TOLA dataset, which is needed to create MCNW’s annual beneficiary count
• Maintain Power BI Dashboards summarizing program performance
  • Fix errors and/or datasets and dataflow
  • Add or update dashboards as needed
• Adapting or update existing web based forms for Program Managers as needed
  • Provide support on Drupal forms as needed. (e.g., hiding questions on forms, updating conditional logic, managing data as roles wind-down)
  • Retire online forms and store data as per MCNW requirements when closing down programs
• Retiring Outcome Tracker
  • Pulling data from OT for record retention
  • Delete remaining data from OT

Knowledge and Experience

We will consider any combination of relevant work experience, volunteering, education, and transferable skills as qualifying unless an item or section is labeled required.

• 5-10 years of experience in relevant technical field
• BA or equivalent experience, preferable in business administration, public administration or international development
• 3+ years M&E experience
• Strong computer literacy with a knowledge of MS Office applications; experience in Excel, Power Query, Power Automate, Power BI, and SharePoint is preferred
• 2+ years’ experience designing, developing, and managing relational databases; experience with VistaShare Outcome Tracker is required
• Relevant experience in field survey/data collection techniques, data entry, data verification, and analysis beneficial

Success Factors

• An excellent communicator, multi-tasker
• Works well in a team environment and is productive and efficient independently
• Able to work in ambiguous situations
• Be a tolerant and flexible individual able to work in difficult and stressful environments and follow procedures
• Be a strategic thinker, have strong skills in design, monitoring and evaluation of development programs
• Can work under pressure and meet tight deadlines if needed

Timeframe / Schedule: Start date approximately May 15 through approximately December 31, 2023. The schedule will be approximately 40 hours a month, sometimes less or more depending on reporting months.

The Consultant will be managed by: Operation Manager

The Consultant will work closely with:  Sr. Education coordinator /Data Officer

**Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
**Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives. We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

**Equal Employment Opportunity
**We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

**Safeguarding & Ethics
**Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our stakeholders and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.