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 collaborate to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.

Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps implements a variety of programming throughout the Middle East, and it continues to respond to humanitarian, development and peacebuilding needs across Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Yemen by forging meaningful and trusted partnerships and designing impactful programming. The country programs face humanitarian crises and significant development challenges, and operate in fragile and conflict-affected areas, displacement settings, emergency responses, as well as more stable developed settings. Mercy Corps’ focus in the Middle East has been in promoting good governance and conflict resolution, enhancing resilience, supporting market systems development, as well as gender and inclusion, and youth employment. Mercy Corps investment in thought leadership, continual learning, and adaptive programming allows us to make changes that are essential in a fluid context, with significant ambitions to learning and sharing through building an evidence base, investment in program performance and quality, including MEL and additional specific research, to enhance adaptive and responsive programming in the Middle East.

General Position Summary

Mercy Corps is looking for a highly qualified and dynamic Regional MEL Advisor to join the Middle East Regional Team within the Program Performance and Quality (PaQ) Unit of the region, to work under the leadership of the PAQ Advisor, with expertise and extensive work experience in Programme Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL). S/he will support the country teams to design and implement sound MEL systems, assist with the rollout of MEL Policy Standards, use data for decision making and build skills and capacity of the country teams on essential MEL skills as needed. The Middle East Regional MEL Advisor will also support country teams to design, develop program MEL frameworks(Incl. MEL Plans, logframes, indicators), systems and tools, including application of appropriate mobile technologies, such as Ona, CommCare, PowerBi and others. As the Regional MEL Advisor s/he will engage and provide technical support on internal and external program evaluations, learning agendas, research studies and reviews, working closely with the country, regional and HQ level PAQ and Program leads. Building the MEL capacity of country programs is one of the major focus areas of this role. The Middle East Region MEL Advisor will help identify best practices in MEL, link country MEL teams through an effective community of practice and drive learning across the region, leveraging knowledge from the rest of the organization. The Regional MEL Advisor will need to engage with field leadership to nurture and help develop an effective, impact-driven leadership culture.

Essential Job Responsibilities

(50%) Assess and improve MEL and program performance related practices at the regional and  country level.

Strengthen Strategic Focus for MEL in the Region

●        Develop a Regional MEL Workplan by working closely with country, regional and HQ counterparts, to align with regional priorities, regional PaQ strategy, and agency strategy, clearly reflecting both short term and long term priorities.

●        Support the roll out of the global Mercy Corps MEL Policy in the Middle East by working closely with the country teams  to assess their MEL structure and practices and recommend improvements in alignment of Mercy Corps Global MEL standards. Support recruitment and onboarding for the new program and MEL staff (esp. MEL, program managers, and country leaders), including MEL Policy, the DIG, various MEL Tools and systems.

●        Engage in the identification, refinement, and application of key performance indicators for the global and regional strategies and support country teams in the translation of these into country portfolios, leveraging planned data collection activities and providing technical guidance to ensure consistency across the region.

Provide Capacity Strengthening efforts for Quality MEL

●        Work with country team relevant leadership teams to identify staff MEL capacity and learning needs through a comprehensive assessment of existing and needed resources, and use the results of the assessment to develop a comprehensive short- and long-term capacity building  activities. Build MEL teams capacity and skills in key MEL areas, through provision of remote, in-person and on-the-job training.

●        Participate in the recruitment of senior MEL positions within the countries and programs in the region and provide onboarding support to the new hires. Help countries to identify candidates for  short-term assignments and gap-filling on need base.

●        Work with respective country teams as needed, providing technical support on core MEL tasks through the data lifecycle, including planning, implementation, close out. This entails but not limited to support with development and refinement of program logic models, theories of change, indicators, MEL plans, research and learning agendas, IPTT, MEL tools and mechanisms, providing oversight for data collection, analysis, data visualization and reporting processes and products, and promoting use of data for decision making.

●        Conduct Data Quality Assessments as needed to support countries to improve the quality and accuracy of MEL data.

●        Coordinate MEL support for country teams as needed with HQ teams like Technical Support Unit (TSU), PaQ and Tech for Development (TD).

●        Promote use of Mercy Corps’ internal software for monitoring program indicators (TolaData) by the program teams, encouraging timely reporting of programmatic progress against the set targets. Work closely with the country leadership, as well as the Deputy Regional Director and the PAQ Advisor to elevate challenges and engage support in a timely manner to address identified challenges.

(30%) Support initiatives that strengthen adaptive management and program learning.

Support Effective Use of Mobile Technologies for MEL:

●        Closely work with the country offices to roll out Mercy Corps MEL and mobile technologies, oversee their implementation and provide training to teams as necessary.

●        Working closely with the HQ MEL team, support the countries to procure and effectively use Mercy Corps recommended mobile technology platforms, including ComCare, PowerBi and others. Identify training and learning needs on those key technologies, oversee that staff have access to relevant training programs (internal and external).

Promote Quality in Program Evaluations

●        Conduct and provide technical inputs and oversight on program reviews, evaluations, studies to ensure quality products by reviewing methodologies, tools of evaluations and studies’ products.  This may include supporting the teams to develop a Scope of Work, reviewing study methodologies and tools at the inception phase and review drafts evaluations, baseline endline reports to ensure quality of data analysis and writings. Provide feedback and technical support to address quality issues by closely working with country teams and evaluations consultants.

●        Support country teams as needed in the identification and recruitment of external consultants and/or firms (via the Global MER MSA or other channels) with relevant experience and expertise in the region. This may include involvement in the administrative steps for recruitment and liaising with global focal points, grading submitted bids, contributing to interview guides and participating in interviews.

●        The MEL Advisor may also be expected to provide technical feedback on deliverables and insights throughout the process, as well as support country teams in capturing feedback on external consultants after their engagement with MC.

Promote Use of Data for Decision Making/Program Learning

●        Work closely with the teams to develop program Learning Plans, aligned with the program’s overall Theory of Change, MEL interventions, and country-level and regional research and learning priorities.

●        Support the implementation of organizational learning events, such as annual strategy reporting, including participant count, portfolio reviews and others as they may come.

●        Design, lead and provide support to country MEL and Program leads to integrate routine program data in decision making. This may include designing and facilitating quarterly program reviews, pause and reflection sessions, sensemaking workshops.

●        Encourage documentation and facilitate evidence based learning across the region on MEL best practice, and linking the region to the global learning initiatives..

●        Organize and manage a regional MEL Community of Practice (CoP) and  regional learning events (virtual and in person).  Promote documentation and dissemination of learning and best practices sharing across the countries within the Middle East Region. Support knowledge management efforts and encourage  the effective utilization of evidence and learning for adaptive management practices and designing resource mobilization efforts.

(20%) Strengthen accuracy and availability of quality data for programmatic MEL

Increase Efficiencies in Data Management

●        Identify opportunities for data flow automation, working closely with the countries and programs both in emergency and development settings. Link those to Mercy Corps HQ team, oversee the roll out by providing technical support as needed, and follow up on effectiveness and any needed adaptations of automated systems.

Increase Visibility and Use of Program Data

●        Working closely with the HQ MEL team, develop regional dashboards on program performance, and make those visible to country and regional leadership, identifying areas where additional support and oversight might be required.

●        Support and participate in initiatives leading to agency strategy measurement, initiate write up of sections related to the Middle East Performance, using the data in the agency’s proprietary software - TolaData.

Organizational Learning

As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient, and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Accountability To Participants

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our participants and to international standards, guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Supervisory Responsibility Currently None.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Regional PaQ Advisor

Works Directly With: Regional Team, DRD, HQ and Country Office MEL Teams, Research Team, Crisis Analytics Teams

Knowledge and Experience

Technical knowledge

●        BA in international development or other relevant social science (MA preferred).

●        3 to 5 years of experience working in international relief and development programs, with at least 5 years focused on providing MEL technical support to field programs, and at least 4 years working overseas preferred.

●        At least 2 years of hands-on experience in designing and leading program learning activities in programs that address complex developmental issues is required.

●        Prior hands-on experience with writing MEL sections of proposals, including MEL narrative sections, MEL plans, Learning plans, MEL Technologies plans, MEL budgets, staffing plans.

●        Strong familiarity with international development and humanitarian donor requirements for monitoring, evaluation, and learning,, including USAID, BHA, FCDO and EU and others.

●        Strong knowledge of and prior experience in participating or leading program evaluations, including designing Scopes of Work, commissioning evaluations with partners and consultants, conducting evaluations with program teams. Knowledge of program evaluation, design, and methodologies (quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods), and data collection and analysis tools and approaches.

●        Experience with data management, analysis and visualization using Excel, Access, and advanced data analysis and visualization packages, as well as mobile data collection platforms. Proven experience in ODK, Ona, ComCare, PowerBi and similar tools, strong familiarity with STATA or SPSS, MAXQDA or Atlas.ti or equivalent packages strongly encouraged. Knowledge of additional software and technical skills (databases, GIS,) are a plus.

●        Experience designing practical and effective monitoring systems, including data and database management systems.

●        Experience in training and capacity-building (in person and remotely) and fostering a collaborative relationship across multidisciplinary field teams and management,

●        Strong communication skills; able to work remotely with a geographically dispersed team.

●        Fluent in English, Arabic language skills strongly preferred.

Success Factors

The regional MEL Advisor will demonstrate a winning record of accomplishment in program Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, and bring flexibility, creativity, and enthusiasm to every project s/he undertakes. The candidate will have a deep commitment to programmatic excellence and will be leading and driving the Middle East MEL workstream along with championing our agency-wide and regional-level commitment to evidence-based decision-making. They must have change management skills and the ability to multitask, set priorities, pay attention to detail, and work under tight deadlines within complex team environments. This position requires strong interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills, and a level of emotional intelligence proficiency that quickly builds and maintains productive relationships across teams. Being aware and sensitive to international development issues in the Middle East and diverse cultures is critical.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position will be based in Amman or Beirut, with periodic visits in the region up to 30% travel. Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values always and in all in-country venues.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

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

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

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 is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.