Democratic Republic of the Congo: Program Manager II - MEAL Coordinator, Kinshasa, DRC

Background:

Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.

Catholic Relief Services is an international non-governmental organization supporting relief and development work in over 99 countries around the world. CRS programs assist persons on the basis of need, regardless of creed, ethnicity or nationality. CRS works through local church and non-church partners to implement its programs, therefore, strengthening and building the capacity of these partner organizations is fundamental to programs in every country in which CRS operates.

CRS has operated in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since 1961, successfully implementing programs in health; agriculture livelihoods; emergency; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); education; protection; and peacebuilding throughout the country. The DRC FY16 budget was nearly 24 million USD. CRS DRC currently has over 160 national and 15 international staff operating out of a national office in Kinshasa and sub-offices in Goma, Bukavu, Lodja, Kananga and Lubumbashi, Kalemie, Ango and Dungu. Further, CRS DRC is one of CRS’ top ten country programs with the integration of CRS e-Valuate, being a pilot CP for the agriculture value chain solution, and having invested early in capacity building for MEAL and IT Officers to ensure they have the technical capacity to support the integration of ICT4D solutions for MEAL in the coming years.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is one of the most populous, vast and resource rich countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Decades of mismanagement, neglected infrastructure, corruption and conflict involving seven national armies over the course of 15 years have left the Congo with an 80 percent poverty rate, an annual per capita income of just over $120, inadequate social and health services, and weak governmental institutions.

Job Description:

The purpose of this position is to manage, strengthen, and provide strategic direction to the DRC Country Program MEAL system, ensuring cross-learning in MEAL among projects, and to build capacity of MEAL staff. The MEAL Coordinator will be responsible for supervising MEAL activities, particularly during times of emergency, and assessments required for proposal development. The MEAL Program Coordinator will work closely with CRS program teams and partner staff to develop high quality monitoring systems and tools which address indicators set out in project proposals. He/she will ensure that learning from projects is systematically captured and used throughout the country program. He/she will also take learning needs into account, and develop and conduct capacity building for MEAL and program staff, with support of the DCR, the HoP and the RTA for M&E.

The MEAL Coordinator is expected to have a high level of self-initiative and use critical thinking skills to identify and fill gaps. The MEAL Coordinator will also work closely with the Head of Programs (HoP) to ensure that the DRC program complies with the agency’s regional and global MEAL systems and standards. The MEAL Coordinator should have the ability to, work sensitively and positively with programming teams and promote a learning environment – success of the post relies on this.

Specific Responsibilities:

1. MEAL Design, MEAL Compliance with Policies & Procedures and Donor Requirements

· Ensure that the DRC Country Program MEAL systems are in compliance with CRS’ global and regional policies, procedures, standards, and strategic initiatives

· Provide strategic direction for the development and maintenance of MEAL systems, and the roll-out of new initiatives

· Support Program Managers and MEAL team/working group members in the design and implementation of assessments, gender analysis, stakeholder analysis, organizational capacity assessments, and other pre-program data collection and analysis

· Provide strategic high level feedback, analysis and interpretation throughout the proposal development process

· Ensure the consistency of tools and indicators across all offices, sectors, and programs as appropriate, maintaining a bank of key program indicators

· Support programming staff to incorporate participatory methods into community level M&E systems and tools

· Collect and analyze lessons learned and best practices from previous and ongoing programs capturing the impact of activities, and ensure that these are incorporated into the design of new projects

· Leverage lessons learned, best practices, program data, evaluations, and other information to generate donor communication pieces, proposal annexes, success stories, case studies, and other high-quality, results-based documentation

· Ensure that all programs comply with the CRS Policies and Procedures for accountability

· Work with senior management to identify and pursue strategic opportunities for program development, expansion, etc.

1. MEAL Implementation

· Lead emergency real-time evaluations, internal end-of-project evaluations, needs assessments, baselines, impact studies, case studies, and other evaluation efforts

· Lead project monitoring design initiatives including: tool design, data collection processes, and analysis methods using the SMILER method

· Develop and review Results Frameworks, ProFrames, M&E Plans, and Analysis Plans

· Manage agency driven MEAL inquiries, requirements i.e. end of year beneficiary counts, etc.

· Contribute to donor proposals and reports, through high quality analysis of reports and interpretation of data

· Support the MEAL team in strategically preparing and reviewing MEAL calendars

· Support project MEAL staff in the development of MEAL operation manuals to ensure that they are complete, up-to-date, high quality, and contain tools, data flow maps, and analysis plans that address all information needed for program quality and donor reporting

· Support learning-to-action events and reflection sessions to systematically analyze data for programmatic use, and to document and incorporate lessons learned into program design and implementation

· Ensure that MEAL and program teams regularly review and accordingly adjust MEAL plans and tools in the light of changes and needs in the field context based on monitoring data and reflection sessions

· Ensure that transparent high quality accountability mechanisms are in place for all programs and are regularly monitored and evaluated

· Ensure that beneficiary feedback is adequately captured, addressed, analyzed, and utilized by program teams

· Lead CRS teams in conducting internal impact and sustainability evaluations, and supporting external impact and sustainability evaluations

1. Capacity Strengthening

· Lead the CRS DRC MEAL Community of Practice to share learning, resources, and support across offices

· Implement and manage the CRS Partnership Scorecard initiative for the DRC country program

· Develop and co-facilitate MEAL workshops and modules for staff and partners to share country program, regional, and global MEAL tools, processes, and best practices to cultivate a culture of learning

· Conduct orientations for new MEAL and program staff on CRS systems and key MEAL resources

· Provide mentoring/accompaniment to CRS and partner staff to increase capacity and to achieve annual performance and development plans

· Remain updated with developments among the CRS MEAL community and Policies and Procedures, and ensure that the DRC MEAL team is applying CRS MEAL guidance and policies appropriately and in a timely manner

· Conduct field monitoring visits events frequently with project teams and implementing partners

· Provide feedback to senior project and MEAL staff to improve the overall MEAL system and ensure quality implementation of MEAL activities

1. ICT for MEAL

· Support MEAL and programming teams to develop strong project tracking, record keeping and filing methodologies for all activities

· Work with MEAL and IT staff to maximize the value and utility of ICT4MEAL initiatives and/or the roll out of similar initiatives

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: Deputy Country Representative for Programs, Head of Programs Eastern DRC, Unit Heads (Health, Agriculture, etc.), Project Managers, Project M&E Officers, Central Africa Regional Team, CRS M&E Community of Practice

External: Donors, international and local partners, Caritas, Justice Development & Peace Commission, program beneficiaries

Person Qualifications:

· Master’s degree in a field related to international development

· At least five years of MEAL and two years of managerial experience with an NGO (experience with INGO preferred); in addition to significant MEAL experience

· Experience working with large donors i.e.: USAID, DfID, EU, UNICEF, Pooled Fund

· Familiarity with principles and current approaches to MEAL of development programs using both quantitative and qualitative methods, especially those of USAID

· Experience establishing and implementing participatory MEAL systems

· Proficiency in database development/management, SPSS, EPI-Info, Access, Excel and skills in analyzing, interpreting and communicating information to various stakeholders

· Experience using ICT for data collection

· Significant experience in conducting quantitative and qualitative assessments and surveys (including sound understanding of sampling issues)

· Experience using gender sensitive indicators

· Previous experience with leading and managing studies and consultants

· Experience with facilitation, capacity strengthening and partnership building, with the capacity to empower staff through opportunities for growth & development

· Ability to plan and communicate strategically to ensure MEAL coordination, learning and capacity building across all projects

· Supervisory experience and management and team building skills

· Excellent planning and organization skills

· Flexibility to work both in a team and independently

· Cultural sensitivity, patience and flexibility

· Demonstrated personal accountability and driven to serve others

· Fluency in both English and French (written and spoken)

· Excellent oral and written communication skills, ability to work well with people, good judgment and commitment to CRS’ mission

· Willingness to travel

Agency-wide Competencies (specific for this position):

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results. The following are specific to this position:

· Serves with Integrity

· Develops Constructive Relationships

· Models Stewardship

Key MEAL Competencies (specific for this position):

· MEAL in Design: Developing project-level Theories of Change, Results Frameworks, Proframes, related MEAL system tools and components, and accompanying MEAL narratives.

· Monitoring: Implementing monitoring activities, including timely collection of quality data, set up and maintenance of databases, facilitation of participatory reflection on monitoring results, and submission of timely progress reports.

· Evaluation: Supporting project and program evaluations and reviews by ensuring the quality of evaluation methods, tools, and data and facilitating the use of evaluation results to inform decision-making and enhance learning

· Accountability: Improving our accountability to a range of stakeholders through increased participation, transparent communication, responsive feedback mechanisms and adherence to internal and external quality standards and requirements.

· Learning: Promoting excellent knowledge management and collaborative learning processes at the project, program and institutional levels, generating robust evidence for project and programmatic learning that leads to action, decision-making and influence.

· Analysis and Critical Thinking: Engaging with data, challenging biases and assumptions, posing thoughtful questions, pursuing deeper understanding of evidence through reflection and perspective-taking, and making informed programming decisions.

· ICT for MEAL: Applying knowledge on information and communication technologies (ICT), both hardware and software, for opportune and accurate data collection, database management, conducting

Supervisory Responsibilities:

Deputy MEAL Coordinator for M&E

Deputy MEAL Coordinator for ICT for MEAL

Travel:

The position is based in Kinshasa with in-country travel required up to 50% to support sub-office programming.

CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

EOE

Apply online: http://bit.ly/2cLGxRG