MEL Manager

Organization Background:

Heartland Alliance International (HAI) is the global arm of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights (HA). HA is a family of organizations that has been leading anti-poverty and social justice work from its Chicago base for more than 125 years. Working with individuals, civil society and governments in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa; HAI designs, develops and implements impact-driven programming; addressing the most pressing global human rights issues and injustices confronting the world today.

Over its 15-year history, HAI’s mission is to secure the rights and well-being of marginalized people and communities. HAI envisions a world in which everyone’s fundamental human rights are respected and protected and that those whose rights have been violated are empowered to seek justice and live safe and productive lives. HAI programming in Iraq focuses on delivering psychosocial support, legal aid, violence prevention, and social cohesion to diverse vulnerable populations.

Position Overview

Reporting to the Country Director and overseeing a team of up to 5 project-based monitors and data analysts, the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager oversees the timely collection and analysis of high quality, reliable project performance data. Project managers, technical leads and the senior country team use this data to: (i) assess project progress and technical and operational quality standards, (ii) meet accountability and reporting requirements, and (iii) support innovation and technical learning. 

With an emphasis on learning, the Iraq-based Manager is the key liaison between HAI’s Chicago-based Global MEL Team and Iraq’s Country Team, ensuring HAI’s standards of excellence in MEL practices, procedures and methods are consistently and uniformly applied across the country portfolio of projects.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

New Project Design:

• Contribute to new project design and development processes; analyzing and reflecting on the project logic/theory of change based on HAI’s and other past project experiences and lessons learned.

• In coordination with the Global MEL Team, contribute to the development of new project performance measurement tools for new projects. This includes selecting indicators and developing MEL plans which are relevant, practical and proportionate to the size and complexity of the project. 

Project Implementation:

• In partnership with the appropriate Project Manager, lead and manage the work all in-country MEL personnel; providing technical guidance, training, coaching and mentoring to ensure the high quality implementation of all project-level MEL plans.

• Work closely with Project Managers and project MEL teams to ensure timely collection, analysis and visualization of project data to support project decision-making, learning and internal (PRIME Dashboard)/external reporting.  
• Oversee and facilitate the correct application of MEL best practices, methods and techniques as outlined in HAI’s Global MEL policies and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and in accordance with the specific requirements of the donor.
• In collaboration with the Global MEL Team’s MEL Monitoring Manager, implement data quality control practices. As appropriate, conduct routine and regular data quality audits and/or respond to and support the resolution of data quality issues identified by the Global MEL Monitoring Manager.
• In collaboration with the Global MEL Team’s PIMS and Analytics Manager, oversee the correct use of the online Performance Information Management System (PIMS) in Iraq.
• In coordination with the Global MEL Team, oversee and manage project baseline and endline data collection and analysis. Implement internal evaluations following principles set by the HAI MEL Policy.
• As appropriate, alert program officers/ managers, the Country Director and/or the DMEL Director on required corrective action to avoid delays in implementation, including flagging operational issues and risks requiring timely action identified from collected and analyzed performance indicator data and/or performance evaluations.
• Oversee HAI’s data management policies, SOPs and data storage protocols, ensuring all sensitive and/or confidential data collected by HAI is stored correctly and in a safe and secure location Immediately alert the DMEL Director and Country Director of any incidents involving loss or theft of data, or other breaches of confidentiality.
• As required, provide MEL training and technical assistance to HAI’s national NGO partners and collaborators.
• Review monthly progress reports and provide feedback to the respective staff.

Project Closure:

• Ensure systematic capture, of projects’ lessons learned and best practices of the different projects.

Other Duties:

• Contribute and participate in company-wide meetings and activities including the MEL Café, design meetings, kick-off meetings.
• Where appropriate, liaise with donor MEL teams. This includes participation in trainings and information sessions regarding updates/changes to donor-specific MEL requirements, practices and systems.
• Undertake other technical duties as may be assigned from time to time, in consultation with the DMEL Director.

Education and/or Experience

• Advanced (Masters/Doctorate) degree in social sciences, mathematics, statistics preferred. Applicants with an undergraduate degree and the equivalent in relevant experience (10+ years minimum) shall be considered.
• Specialized MEL professional development, training, certification and/or coursework is desirable.
• A minimum of seven (7) years of experience designing, developing and implementing project-level MEL systems
• Experience in multiple donor projects is highly desirable, specifically US government grant-funded projects.
• A minimum of three (3) years managing/leading (or similar capacity) MEL teams/MEL personnel.

Technical Experience

• Applied knowledge and understanding of results-based management and other MEL frameworks, data collection procedures and protocols including ethical considerations, statistics and data analysis, sampling protocols, and other MEL techniques and tools.  
• Demonstrated experience applying mixed methods with the understanding that specialization may be in either quantitative or qualitative methods.
• Experience developing practical, utility-based project MEL systems that capture and emphasize project-level decision-making and learning.
• Demonstrated capacity to manage large datasets including securing and safeguarding highly sensitive and confidential data.
• Sector experience in the area of human rights/humanitarian assistance is preferred (e.g. access to justice, gender equality and social inclusion, mental health, sexual and reproductive health, civil society engagement, governance).
• Competency in a range of IT tools and software including MS Office 365 Suite of software applications (e.g. Excel, Word, PowerPoint and PowerBI). Applied knowledge of specialized MEL software tools including online survey platforms, data collection/management systems, data visualization software, etc.

Other competencies:

• Ability to work and adapt to different work cultures.
• Ability to engage in virtual work.
• Experience working with international staff.
• Flexibility to adjust work plans and adapt to emergent needs. Demonstrated ability to adapt to changes in the work environment to include change management, competing demands, delays or unexpected events, and dedication to understanding the complexities of culture within HAI and in the countries in which we operate.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and relevant computer software skills with proficiency in Excel and other data management systems.
• Fluency in English and Arabic required. Fluency in French, Spanish preferred.

Language:

English is essential, Arabic and Kurdish are preferable.

Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit; use hands to handle or feel and reach with hands and arms.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; climb or balance and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.
• The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds.

Work Environment: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
• The employee is required to travel regularly to often insecure and limited-resource environments.

Please send you CV to:

https://heartlandalliance.bamboohr.com/careers/1058

 Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. If you do not hear back from us within 2 weeks, please consider your application unsuccessful.

Heartland Alliance makes all hiring and employment decisions without regard to race, creed, color, age, gender, gender identity, marital or parental status, religion, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, sexual identity, immigrant status, political affiliation or belief, ex-offender status (depending on the offense and position to be filled), unfavorable military discharge, membership in an organization whose primary purpose is the protection of civil rights or improvement of living conditions and human relations, or HIV infection, in accord with the Organization’s AIDS Policy Statement of September, 1987.