Organization: Catholic Relief Services
Country: Guatemala
Closing date: 01 Jun 2017
Title: Technical Advisor II, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL), Communities Building Peace Together – Guatemala
Dept/Location: Quetzaltenango/Guatemala City
Band: D
Reports To: Chief of Party
FLSA: Exempt
THIS POSITION IS CONTINGENT UPON FUNDING
About CRS:
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) 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. CRS offers competitive salaries and benefits, commensurate with other INGOs and private sector development organizations priming highly technical development programs.
Background:
Catholic Relief Services (CRS)/Guatemala anticipates submitting a proposal in response to a USAID Request for Applications (RFA) that focuses on reducing social conflict and violence and improve social cohesion in Guatemala’s Highlands Region. CRS/Guatemala expects to serve as the prime on the application and will develop the proposal in consortium with other non-governmental organizations and local implementing partners.
CRS/Guatemala seeks a qualified candidate for a Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Technical Advisor position to provide oversight to all monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning activities for the anticipated USAID-funded Communities Building Peace Together (CBPT) project*.* The project will address a wide range of potential types of conflict, with a design that is intentionally flexible and community-driven, allowing communities to identify which conflict issues to address and participate in. The project will establish inclusive community-led engagement, dialogue, and mapping to identify, prioritize, and develop action plans to address sources of and increase resilience to social conflict; will build partnerships between communities and external entities to implement plans prioritized by the communities; and strengthen Government of Guatemala (GOG) and non-governmental capacity to participate in managing, responding to, and resolving local conflicts.
Job Summary:
The Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Technical Advisor will provide overall leadership, direction and management for the project’s MEAL strategy. The MEAL Technical Advisor will develop and manage a robust MEAL strategy that will document the implementation of the community peacebuilding process and monitor CBPT progress towards work plan milestones, including data analysis to provide recommendations for improved project implementation. The MEAL Technical Advisor will train and mentor CRS and partner organization MEAL staff. S/he will supervise field staff charged with supporting the project’s MEAL systems and will work closely with partner organizations to strengthen their MEAL systems to ensure timely information collection, consolidation, analysis, reporting, and dissemination.
Primary Responsibilities:
Support Project MEAL System Design:
- Develop and manage a MEAL strategy that documents the implementation of the community peacebuilding process and monitor CBPT progress toward work plan targets and milestones.
- Review partner organization M&E plans as required; advise partner organizations on the development of indicators, data collection methodologies, data quality assurance, and indicator reporting.
Lead Project Monitoring and Evaluation:
- Coordinate timely information consolidation, analysis and information dissemination from the community, technical, and CRS and partner organization management levels.
- Coordinate the collection, review and delivery of M&E information from partner organizations.
- Coordinate technical, human, and financial resources to ensure the implementation of the project monitoring system at the community, partner and CRS levels and according to the project’s DIP and MEAL operating manual as per MEAL policies and procedures and donor MEAL requirements.
- Support the development and maintain a MEAL operating manual for the project to facilitate timely evidence-based analysis and ensure the availability of project data to feed into management decisions to support adaptive management strategies.
- Coordinate field monitoring activities for the project, so that the project produces high quality data to monitor project advances.
- Promote CRS MEAL and ICT4D policies and procedures among all project staff, including CRS and partner organization staff, so that the project produces high quality data to monitor project advances.
- Ensure quality management (and archiving) of monitoring and evaluation data.
- Develop, in coordination with the Country Program M&E Manager, terms of reference (TOR) for studies and scope of work (SOW) for consultants to conduct external special studies, reviews and the project evaluation, in line with the necessary level of technical rigor as per donor and MEAL policies and procedures.
- Work closely with an external evaluation team to design and carry out a comprehensive impact evaluation.
- Coordinate administrative and logistical processes of evaluations and reviews for the CBPT project.
Support an Environment of Learning and Accountability with the Project
- Develop and lead knowledge management processes to document the efficacy of community peacebuilding efforts.
- Support the regular review of project progress via Learning to Action Discussions (LADs).
- Contribute to work plans, donor reports, success stories, and other deliverables.
Manage the Project MEAL Budget:
- Oversee the implementation of the annual planned and approved project MEAL budget, for both CRS and partner organization(s).
MEAL Project Staff Supervision and Partner Organization Capacity Strengthening:
- Manage project MEAL staff and provide supervision and follow up for MEAL staff performance
- Responsible for MEAL staff professional development through accompaniment, trainings, technical assistance
- Responsible for conducting performance evaluations and coaching sessions for all project MEAL staff under his/her supervision
- Provide training and guidance to CRS MEAL staff and partner organizations
Qualifications and Skills:
- Minimum of a Master’s Degree in Social Sciences / Economics / Statistics or another relevant field.
- At least 8 years of increasing management responsibility in monitoring and evaluation of international development programs, specifically those featuring indicators of social cohesion, citizen security, gender equity, conflict management, and governance.
- Demonstrated experience in the design, management, and implementation of monitoring and evaluation programs for similar-sized international donor-supported programs. USAID experience preferred.
- Previous experience in Guatemala preferred, especially experience engaging with and working with indigenous and/or vulnerable populations in the Western Highlands.
- Demonstrated skills building and maintaining relationships with host governments, donors, other donor-funded projects and stakeholders, local organizations, and partners
- Ability to proactively identify and resolve problems in a timely manner and meet challenges with resourcefulness
- Ability to prioritize work, multi-task and meet deadlines
- Cultural sensitivity, patience and flexibility.
- Excellent organization and planning skills, detail-oriented, and self-motivated
- Excellent demonstrated interpersonal, management, supervision, and negotiation skills
- Strong oral and written communication skills
- Fluency in Spanish and English required. Fluency in one or more indigenous languages preferred.
- Regular travel within the Western Highlands is required
- Driver’s license required.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite, including Word, Excel and Outlook required. Experience with a variety of software applications for data collection, organization, storage, analysis and visualization strongly preferred.
MEAL Competencies:
- Monitoring: Use of participatory quantitative and qualitative methods for monitoring and evaluation; design of survey instruments and knowledge of sampling methodologies; appropriate data analysis methodologies; and MEAL report writing skills
- Information Systems and Data Management: Experience developing and managing information systems capable of handling large datasets for MEAL purposes; experience managing MEAL reporting requirements; previous experience with database development and management, as well as experience using mapping (e.g., Arc-GIS etc.), and statistical analysis software (SPSS, EpiInfo, STATA, SAS, or similar) preferred
- Evaluation: Proven track record developing project-level theories of change, results frameworks, ProFrames, logframes and other tools for logical program design, related MEAL system tools and competencies, and accompanying MEAL narratives.
- Accountability: Improving accountability to a range of stakeholders through increased participation, transparent communication, responsive feedback mechanisms, and adherence to internal and external quality standards and requirements, as well as demonstrated experience in participatory community data collection
- 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 & 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 analyses, and making information easily accessible. This includes mobile data collection and related data management and analysis tasks.
Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff): 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.
- Serves with Integrity
- Models Stewardship
- Cultivates Constructive Relationships
- Promotes Learning
Disclaimer Clause: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skills, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position. This position is conditional upon award of funding and donor prior approval of candidate.
CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
THIS POSITION IS CONTINGENT UPON FUNDING
EOE
How to apply:
Apply online- https://www5.apply2jobs.com/CRS/ProfExt/index.cfm?fuseaction=mExternal.showJob&RID=3565&CurrentPage=1
