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. Now, and for the future.Program / Department Summary Mercy Corps’ Sudan crisis response seeks to meet the humanitarian needs of vulnerable Sudanese and other conflict-affected people across the country. Mercy Corps Sudan is recognized as a leader in market systems, agricultural, and food security and building on this experience, the MC Sudan humanitarian program will layer in resilience and other program activities where appropriate and feasible to do so. Mercy Corps is scaling up to reach upwards of 200,000 conflict affected people with multi-purpose cash assistance, targeted voucher programs, in-kind and services provision across the country. Our impact will be delivered with a focus on needs, in partnership with local actors and civil society, and embrace the safe, appropriate, and accountable use of digital systems and technologies to support the response.
The Cash Consortium of Sudan (CCS), a collaborative platform to advance a progressive vision of the potential of cash assistance to transform humanitarian response and recovery in partnership with vulnerable conflict-affected populations in Sudan. CCS is led by Mercy Corps, building on its extensive global experience as lead agency within a cash consortium, with cash coordination and breadth of technical resources. International partners include Acted, CARE, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), each of which bring strong cash and complementary technical competencies, as well as expansive operational coverage in Sudan. The CCS also includes ten Sudanese NGOs as partners in alignment with global aid sector commitments to enhance the prominence of local actors in driving humanitarian response and recovery. IMPACT is a non-implementing partner dedicated to Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning. IMPACT will support quality data systems and an objective evidence base that will be essential to CCS’ accountability and adaptive management to refine programming approaches to enhance impact as the Sudan crisis context evolves. The CCS will work closely with other consortia and actors in Sudan to deliver an effective CVA response for communities affected by the crisis.
General Position Summary
The CCS MEL Officer will support the CCS MEL Manager and the MEL focal points of each of the partner organizations in the routine implementation of the program's MEL plan. In coordination with the MEL Technology Coordinator, develop regular tools and procedures to improve data management. They will manage multiple databases and periodic reports, address information requests, support reporting and meet Mercy Corps, CCS and donor standards. Additionally, he/she supports the management and administration of consortium databases, coordination and routine management of deduplication processes with CCS partners and other Cash Working Group (CWG) organizations.The CCS MEL Officer will support the construction of strategic technical area tools such as data quality protocols, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and information systems guidelines, among others. They provide regular troubleshooting support to partners and report on early warnings related to program goals and compliance with minimum MEL standards.Essential Job Responsibilities
Strategic Vision
- Recognize opportunities for innovative actions and create an environment in which alternative points of view are welcome.
- Contribute to the MEL strategy of the CCS, ensuring the quality of the consortium's data and supporting the creation of parameters and guidelines to generate and manage databases with the highest standards. Likewise, support in the quality control of the different databases and reports generated by the consortium partners.
- Coordinate regularly with CCS partners on the management of information systems and the development of regular MEL activities, seeking to identify opportunities for improvement and innovative solutions to the challenges presented by the context.
Program Management
- Supervise compliance with the minimum MEL standards required by donors and the Secretariat team.
- Identify gaps in the technical capacities of partner organizations' MEL teams and propose improvement and capacity building plans to the CCS MEL Manager.
- Manage statistics, Excel tables, graphs, simple random sampling calculations, strategy charts and program management tracking dashboards
- Manage data systems in CommCare and CCS databases related to indicator compliance and duplicate management.
- Lead the de-duplication process ensuring that standards are implemented to avoid duplicate care within CCS, as well as serving as the focal point for the Secretariat team with other CWG organizations.
- Ensure that information is adequately shared with other organizations operating in the same geographic areas to develop synergies, avoid duplication of beneficiaries and maximize outreach and coverage of the needs of affected populations.
- Generate and share periodic referral reports for nutrition, health, protection and other services offered by partners in CCS intervention areas. Likewise, regularly follow up on the results of the referral process.
- Support the development and creation of standard operating guidelines and processes to ensure compliance with Mercy Corps and donor standards related to program monitoring and evaluation.
- Document the performance of the monitoring and evaluation processes under their responsibility and submit bi-monthly monitoring and evaluation reports to the Secretariat team.
Team Management
- Support the training and capacity building processes of the program team, partner MEL focal points, enumerators and other team members involved in CCS’ implementation.
- Support the CCS MEL Manager with calls and meeting notes with the MEL teams of the consortium partner organizations.
- Regularly support the MEL teams of consortium partner organizations by developing tools and resources to improve performance and achieve objectives
- Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback formally and informally with regular one-on-one meetings and performance reviews.
- Be proactive, with the ability to work both individually, with minimal supervision, and as part of a diverse team.
- Maintain a mutually respectful work environment where team members strive for improvement and collaboration.
Accountability to Beneficiaries Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries 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 ResponsibilityNone.
Security
- Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
- Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.
Accountability Reports Directly To: CCS MEL Manager.Works Directly With: CCS MEL Technology Coordinator and CCS partners’ MEL and programmatic national/local teams (including Mercy Corps Sudan MEL team). Accountability to Participants and StakeholdersMercy 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 projects.
Knowledge and Experience
- Professional in economics, statistics, business administration, social sciences or related fields.
- A minimum of three (3) years of work experience, at least one (1) year of specific experience implementing Monitoring and Evaluation systems through qualitative and quantitative methods and basic database management.
- Experience working for emergency, transition and development programs with international cooperation (ECHO, EU INTPA, SDC, USAID/BHA, BPRM, FCDO, GAC, United Nations, among others) is desirable.
- Proficiency with MS Office software (Outlook, Word, Excel -advanced-, PowerPoint)
- Experience in the design of primary data collection tools is mandatory (such as CommCare, Kobo, ONA, ODK etc).
- Experience using tools for the development of interactive dashboards (Power BI, Tableau, Google Data Studio) is desirable.
Success FactorsThe CCS MEL Officer is a proactive and autonomous person. Rigorous at the technical level and at the same time flexible and creative to solve problems given by changing contexts and needs. Is an organized, disciplined, proactive and efficient person, constantly committed to learning.The candidate is capable of accepting constructive feedback with flexibility and empathy. Communicates learning needs with the team, commits to personal/professional improvement plans and maintains positive and constructive personal relationships with colleagues.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions The position is based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in operational countries or on a visit to a program site. 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.
Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision. Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment.
Organizational LearningAs 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.
Diversity, Equity & InclusionAchieving 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 OpportunityMercy 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 e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.