MEAL Coordinator

Category: Development/UN/NGOs
Position: MEAL Coordinator
Location:  Aden, Yemen
Reports to:  Deputy Area Manager
Supervises to: MEAL Assistant and MEAL Officers
Reference: HR-21- 76
Contract:  Full time position
Duration: 12 months (renewable based on fund availability and performance)
Note: This position is opened for Yemeni National only

ABOUT RI:
Relief International is a leading non-profit organization working in roughly 20 countries to relieve poverty, ensure well-being and advance dignity. We specialize in fragile settings, responding to natural disasters, humanitarian crises and chronic poverty. Relief International combines humanitarian and development approaches to provide immediate services while laying the groundwork for long-term impact. Our signature approach — which we call the RI Way—emphasizes local participation, an integration of services, strategic partnerships and a focus on civic skills. In this way, we empower communities to find, design and implement the solutions that work best for them.

Job Overview/Summary:
The MEAL Coordinator contributes to overall program quality through the coordination, and implementation of enhanced monitoring and evaluation, accountability, and learning strategies; the emphasis is on streamlining processes and tools for efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability throughout the project cycle across all RI projects being implemented at Area office level. Under the supervision of the direct supervision of the Deputy Area Manager with technical support from the RI Yemen Country MEAL Technical Adviser, the MEAL Coordinator will ensure all projects have suitable monitoring and evaluation systems, and regularly review and maintain the systems. The MEAL Coordinator will also be responsible to incorporate relevant program indicators into the projects M&E systems that enables to measure the contribution of individual projects in achieving program objectives. The major purposes and objective of the MEAL Coordinator is to provide hands on field level technical support, supervision, guidance and oversight to the core Program Managers, project MEAL staff and the Area Management team in establishing robust project MEAL systems. The position holder has the role of supervising MEAL Officers/Assistants. As a result, s/he is primarily responsible for building MEAL staff capacity through organizing trainings, mentoring, coaching and supervision. Together with the MEAL TA, S/he technically supports RI Yemen to meet the MEAL Objectives and standards set out in the Annual Strategic Plan and in all our projects

Major Responsibilities

Program/project design and learning (25% of time)

• Participate in program/ project design specially in developing logframes
• Responsible for ensuring detailed and feasible project monitoring plans are developed This include: i) provide an indicator matrix, ii) consider ethical and safe collection and storage of data, iii) consider data quality audits, vi) consider storing, protecting and sharing project documents
• Accountable for working with MEAL Officers to make sure all projects have tested standard monitoring tools that capture both program activity and indicators progresses.
• Responsible for making sure all projects have accountability mechanisms up and running
• Responsible for working with program/project managers and support to determine which monitoring activities will take place and which data collection methods will be used to ensure their adequacy and appropriateness.
• Accountable for conducting and documenting end of project learning reviews, and sharing lessons learned and best practices, incorporating these into new project designs.
• In consultation with the MEAL TA, organize lesson sharing events like lesson bazars to fertilize learning among different projects and/or sectors
• Responsible for identifying, documenting, storing, and sharing lessons learned that have implications for refinement of best programmatic practice.

Monitoring and evaluation (25% of time)

• Responsible for facilitating the preparations of monthly/annul project activity plans including MEAL plans
• Accountable for working with MEAL staff to determine which monitoring activities will take place and which data collection methods to use
• Accountable for working with MEAL staff to ensure that the project work plans include monitoring activities (or that a stand-alone monitoring work plan is in place), is up-to date and progress tracked.
• Responsible for working with MEAL Officers and project staff to develop, translate, pilot, and finalize data collection tools as needed.
• Responsible for design survey data collection tools and methodologies.
• Responsible for following up with projects MEAL officers to ensure data is collected and entered into IPTT/LogAlto on a regular basis.
• Responsible for working with project staff to provide MEAL inputs for reports written during project implementation.
• Responsible for conducting data quality audits of project data to identify and resolve systemic problems affecting data quality.
• Accountable for documenting findings from data quality audits and store in project files to ensure collective and sustainable access.
• Responsible for conducting reflective practice forums at field office/ project level and compile lessons from project implementation processes.

Information management and reporting (20% of time)

• Responsible for providing MEAL inputs for regular analysis and action planning meetings to (1) compare data against project milestones, targets, and quality expectations across project sites; (2) identify issues requiring concerned staff attention.
• Responsible for extracting lessons learned from projects, systematically document and make easily accessible to staff.
• Accountable for supporting MEAL staff in ensuring all projects have downward/ forward accountability mechanisms and functional.
• Support MEAL Officers to ensure that data is collected and entered into databases and/or tracking sheets, and/or the data platform on a regular basis.

Staff capacity building (25% of time)

• Accountable for preparing MEAL staff mentoring coaching plans and implement accordingly.
• Responsible for training staff in data collection methods, management, analysis, and how to use data for decision making.
• Accountable for recruitment of MEAL staff, enumerators, and HR onboarding.
• Responsible for providing consistent, supportive supervision to strengthen staff performance as necessary to meet monitoring objectives.

Key Working Relationships:
Position Reports to: Deputy Area Manager
Position directly supervises: Project MEAL Officers/Assistants
Close working relationship and collaboration: MEAL TA, PMs, AMs, Awards and Grants 

QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS:

• Bachelor degree is a must / Master’s degree is preferred in Development, Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, Business Administration, or relevant fields is required.
• More than 5 years’ work experience in MEAL supervisory positions with progressive responsibilities for an international NGO.
• Good experience in reporting and MEAL technical support , including project design, surveys, data analysis, etc., preferably for projects funded by multiple public donors
• Coordinate meetings and share information with external stakeholders.
• Experience with successful business development activities capturing public and/or private donor funding.
• Excellent English writing and spoken skills.
• Experience managing teams and resources
• Staff management experience and abilities that are conducive to a learning environment.
• Experience using SPSS, Data Management and Analysis applications, MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information and budget management systems, and knowledge sharing networks.

RI Values
We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence as well as “Do No Harm.” We value: 

• Integrity
• Adaptability
• Collaboration
• Inclusivity
• Sustainability