Back Country MEL Manager

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. Department Summary Mercy Corps has been operational in the Central African Republic (CAR) since September 2007. With offices in Bangui, Bouar, Bambari, Berberati and Bangassou, Mercy Corps works to integrate short-term humanitarian assistance with programs to strengthen community resilience and support market-led economic development, with a cross-cutting accent on governance and gender. Mercy Corps takes a sustainable approach to its programming, seeking to change behaviors and create institutions to foster long-term development in the sectors of protection and gender-based violence, civil society capacity building, water/sanitation, social cohesion, and socioeconomic activities. Funding has come from a range of donors including USAID, the European Commission, OFDA, UNICEF, OCHA, AFD and private foundations. By addressing a number of overlapping and associated needs within a wide range of sectors, Mercy Corps CAR takes an integrated approach to ensure the greatest possible impact The Position The MEL Manager, under the supervision of the Program Director, will work closely with Program Managers in implementing programs in line with the Mercy Corps CAR country strategy. It supports this portfolio with a growing team of support and quality staff, working closely with program teams and across departments to continually improve the quality of implementation. By building the capacity of program team members and helping them improve capitalization, reflection and adaptation of lessons learned, quality of reporting and compliance with donor and Mercy Corps minimum project management standards; this supporting role brings immense benefits to the entire team. General Position Summary The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager is a key position within Mercy Corps. He/she is responsible for managing, monitoring, and evaluating cross-cutting programmatic information, ensuring that the information collected is captured, used to improve ongoing programs, and incorporated into consistent quality reports and proposals. The MEL Manager will be responsible for developing (in partnership with program staff), coordinating, maintaining, and continuously improving the MEL system at the country level, as well as training MEL staff in each office or program. In addition, the position is responsible for ensuring that all programs meet the minimum standards of the Mercy Corps Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Policy. This will be achieved through staff capacity building and training. Essential Job Responsibilities Strategy & Vision

• Develop and/or update the country's MEL strategy, provide leadership to field offices in the development of individual program-level MEL systems that inform and improve each program, as well as feed into the broader country-level MEL system and country operational strategy.
  • Lead and develop an in-country MEL team to develop and maintain a system that improves the country's ability to analyze and represent impact to donors, government, fellow agencies, and the communities themselves.
  • Work closely with the Headquarters Program Performance and Quality team in the development and in-country deployment of Mercy Corps minimum standards ATS policy guides.
  • Work closely with the CARM team in the development and implementation of the CARM process (community accountability reporting mechanism).
  • Participate in national strategic thinking sessions. Program Management
    • Lead and/or participate in the design of logical frameworks, implementation and revision of indicators for new programs and as needed for existing programs.
    • Work with MEL staff, program managers to promote a culture of adaptive management, and evidence gathering.
    • Leads program quality review processes, including quality of implementation, adherence to MEL minimum standards, quality of MEL data collection and analysis, periodic program retreat meetings.
    • Utilize existing MC resources to train MEL and program teams in monitoring and evaluation and in writing analytical reports for decision-making.
    • Build the capacity of all relevant team members to develop and maintain an excellent MEL system, including training on TolaData (a digital tool developed by MC for tracking program indicators) and periodic reflection and analysis of program monitoring data to disseminate learning.
    • Conduct regular visits to the project site to provide hands-on training to field staff on how to capture and organize information for accurate documentation and reporting.
    • Develop plans to coach and mentor staff to build their capacity to develop excellent reports and other MEL materials.