Location: Any country in Africa, the Middle East, or the Americas which has a Mercy Corps Country office.

Work Location: This is a remote position; employee will work from their home.

Position Status Full-time, Regular - 14 months

Salary: US: Starting salary for this role will be $64,000 to commensurate on experience, based on local benchmark for candidates outside of the United States

Candidates must currently reside in and hold a passport from the country in which they reside or prove that they have the legal right to live and work in that country for the entire 14-month period they are engaged as the Senior Analytics Officer for this project.

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse, and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

The Program / Department / Team

Mercy Corps works to alleviate poverty, suffering, and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities. The agency operates programs in over 40 countries around the world. The Program Performance and Quality Unit (PaQ), which sits in the Programs Department, supports effective, efficient and equitable program performance through a culture of quality management, to achieve results for those who matter most - our program participants. PaQ consists of the following teams and functions: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL); Strategic Leadership; Program Standards; and Infrastructure. These teams are grouped together under PaQ because they focus on improving cross-cutting program and portfolio performance, regardless of technical sector, desired program outcomes, or context, and because they are central to Mercy Corps’ desire to improve program performance and quality through Standards, Service, and Evidence.

The MEL Team of Mercy Corps supports both foundational and cutting-edge adaptive management approaches with design, monitoring, evaluation and learning functions as key processes and benchmarks to ensure evidence-based decision making for quality program implementation. The MEL Team’s work ranges from provision of technical MEL support to programs, integration of MEL technologies, implementation of learning mechanisms and platforms, implementation and support with data quality assessments, support with agency-level reporting and others. A major focus area of the MEL team is the promotion of, and support to Mercy Corps’ MEL and Program Management policies. The team works across a wide spectrum of stakeholders both internal and external to Mercy Corps, as well as diverse technical program approaches and sectors.

The Position

The position will be funded for 14 months of an 18-month project focused on creating a toolkit intended to outline how teams can integrate reduced access analytical methods (RAAM) into their MEL systems. Examples of RAAM currently conducted by Mercy Corps include qualitative methods such as rumor tracking, conflict mapping, and geolocating photos as well as quantitative approaches which include developing predictive models that identify contextualized indicators of market health.

The process will begin with a systematic review of RAAM and remote monitoring methods, templates, and tools within Mercy Corps as well as peer organizations. This review will inform the development of the toolkit. The toolkit will guide organizations on how to establish and integrate RAAM into MEL systems and use analysis to supplement learning, and the structures, behaviors, and activities that teams can use to ensure the programs learn from and make decisions based on analysis findings.

The toolkit is expected to include two primary components:

Options for RAAM and tools to help programs identify the appropriate methods for their need and tools to help teams conduct RAAM that is effectively integrated into MEL systems.
The learning process of how to use that analysis and/or publicly available analysis to inform program learning and decision-making.

The toolkit is targeted to serve the needs of implementing organizations who are looking to increase their analytical capacities to identify their monitoring gaps, potential methods they can utilize to supplement existing systems, and provide them the tools to hire staff and conduct analysis in a safe, ethical manner. The toolkit will additionally build on existing guidance from Mercy Corps’ MEL and Program Management Policies to provide guidance and tools to organizations who are not necessarily looking to create analytics capacity in house but are looking to bolster learning from internal or publicly available analysis through structures, roles and responsibilities, and discrete data review activities. Upon completion of the draft toolkit, it will be piloted, evaluated, and iteratively developed.

Essential Responsibilities

The Senior Analytics Officer position is a project-funded position. The project is financed by the U.S. Government (United States Agency for International Development - Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance). They will assist the Sr. Remote MEL Advisor in developing and disseminating a toolkit for programs to develop more robust MEL practices in reduced access environments by integrating analytic methods, existing analytic resources, and remote monitoring methods.

Development of the toolkit begins with identifying, categorizing, reviewing, and documenting lessons learned from the use of existing methods and practices by Mercy Corps and other partner agencies. Once completed, this review will be disseminated, training webinars conducted, and videos to be used by country-based practitioners created. This work may involve interacting with country-level MEL staff, program managers and country and regional leadership.

Once the toolkit has been drafted, it will be piloted in several countries. The Senior Analytics Officer will support pilots with the goal of improving the efficacy of the toolkit with program teams. Pilots will include engagement with country-level MEL staff, program managers and country and regional leadership, assessment of the current state of MEL and training staff in each country in adopting practices outlined in the toolkit. They might also be asked to help with collection and analysis of observational monitoring information, conducting follow-up interviews for the formative evaluation, drafting case studies, providing technical analytics support when appropriate, and working with the Remote MEL Advisor to prepare materials for data review activities, meetings, and events.

Draft Toolkit for Reduced Access MEL and Program Performance Related Practices

Assist with review of reduced access MEL approaches focusing especially, though not exclusively, on advanced analytics methods and how these are used.
Assist with collecting and refining the toolkit resources
Integrate feedback to ensure it meets the needs of stakeholders
Draft portions of the toolkit dealing with analytic methods and processes
Work with Pilot teams to assess the pilot project needs and approaches
Assist with the Management of pilots
Facilitate data review activities with pilot program teams
Support pilot country teams both remotely and in country on implementing their Action Plan, topics ranging from data collection, management, and analysis.
Contribute to small-scale formative evaluations of pilot activities

Communication with Technical Groups, Country-Based Teams, And Donor

Contribute to content of program progress reports (donor facing).
Assist donor and technical teams while they develop, pilot, and disseminate Reduced Access Analysis for Monitoring and Adaptive Management toolkit
Prepare materials for data review activities, meetings, and events

**Assess and Improve M&E and Program Performance Related Practices for Pilot
**

Conduct - and assist pilot (field-based) teams with - analysis of data from the pilots
Lead development of case studies from the pilots
Assist with the MEL/Program Performance gap assessments covering specific M&E activities and practices, and a review of tools and documents.
Help pilot country teams develop individualized action plans to improve data management practice

Supervisory Responsibility

The Senior Analytics Officer has no supervisory responsibility.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Sr. Remote MEL Advisor

Works Directly With: Reduced Access Working Group, Crisis Analytics Team, Technology for Development Team, Pilot Country/program teams.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

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

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

Required

Experience working across multiple stakeholders with proven success.
At least 4 years of experience working on projects similar to that described in this position description, such as projects with a heavy focus on remote data collection and validation, conflict mapping, context analysis, and/or forecasting.
At least 1 demonstrated example of experience developing or contributing to toolkits or technical resources that led to tangible change.
Experienced in training remotely.
Experience fostering a collaborative relationship with geographically dispersed practitioners and management, including those in remote locations.
Experience with data collection softwares typically used in international development and relief program settings, especially Ona and CommCare. Strong understanding of data collection form development and management.
Experience with data analysis and visualization software, especially Stata and Power BI.
Strong communication skills; able to work remotely with a geographically dispersed team.
Working proficiency in English or Arabic is required.
Demonstrated ability to collaborate closely with a broad range of stakeholders in different geographic locations, experience with remote management or monitoring a plus;
Proven experience remote management and in remote data collection and data management.
Active knowledge of humanitarian standards and codes, including SPHERE, HAP is an asset;

Preferred

At least 2 demonstrated examples of experience working on projects that designed and/or implemented methods for remote data validation.
At least 1 demonstrated example of experience applying one, or more, advanced analytics method(s) in a reduced access environment (eg. rumor tracking, conflict mapping, geolocating photos, predictive modeling, and/or other methods not outlined in this document).
Demonstrated skill with facilitating adaptive management, assessments, indicator selection, and M&E planning is preferred.
Experience with statistical programming in Python or R.
Technical skills in other data technologies, especially cloud/on-prem databases, mobile technology, GIS, or qualitative analysis platforms.
Working proficiency in French and/or Spanish.

Success Factors

The successful candidate should have very strong analytic skills and have experience applying these skills to both quantitative and qualitative data in the context of emergency and development programs like those that Mercy Corps implements. They should have experience applying a variety of software applications for the analysis and visual presentation of these data in a programmatic meaningful way.

They should have the communication and time management skills needed to work collaboratively with diverse teams located throughout the globe, and the ability to work independently in addition to being committed to transfer analytic skills and competencies to those with whom they work.

To successfully conduct and learn from the pilots, the candidate must also have good listening and note-taking skills and be comfortable with persistent check-ins.

Any skills you have gained through education, volunteer, work, or life experience that are relevant for the position will be considered. Be sure to fully explain transferable skills and success factors and how they apply to this position in your cover letter.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based remotely and can accommodate applicants based in any country in Africa, the Middle East, or the Americas which has a Mercy Corps Country office. The candidate must have a suitable environment for working remotely including physical space and a reliable internet connection. Mercy Corps will not provide resources for relocation to/from or within a country nor will it provide any benefits other than those specified in this position description.

Women, minority groups, people with different abilities are highly encouraged to apply. Captioning, assistive, and inclusive workspace accommodations are available at Mercy Corps offices.

Physical Requirements: This is largely a sedentary position that requires the ability to speak, hear/read (captioning available), see, and lift small objects up to 5 lbs.

Travel: International travel for 1-2 weeks with at least one-month prior notice may be required and may include travel to support programs in fragile and/or conflict-prone zone.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps’ policies, procedures, and values at all times 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 and have signed on to the . 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 e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

Covid-19 Vaccine Policy for US-Based Employees

Mercy Corps has determined that, in an effort to protect the health, safety, and well-being of all Mercy Corps employees working in the United States, all U.S.-based employees must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, regardless of prior COVID-19 infection status. This policy is necessary to ensure not only the safety of our workforce, but the ongoing functionality of the organization.

This policy will be revised as needed to comply with federal, state, and local requirements, and to respond to changing guidance from public health authorities.

For new employees this requirement goes into effect within 10 business days of employment. Team members that travel are expected to comply with host-country requirements, including vaccinations. Failure to comply may impact your employment. Proof of vaccination or exemption must be provided.