Partnerships and MEL Lead -Moroto

The Program

Present in Uganda since 2006, Mercy Corps Uganda’s aim is to catalyze change through the Ugandan private sector, civil society, and government to create resilient, economically inclusive, healthy, and secure communities by 1) strengthening market systems that enable inclusive growth and resilience; 2) strengthening governance; 3) promoting health and nutrition outcomes; and 4) meeting the immediate needs of refugees and host communities while strengthening market systems and resilience capacities.

The USAID-funded Securing Peace and Promoting Prosperity in Karamoja (EKISIL) is implemented by Mercy Corps and partners in the following four districts of Karamoja: Abim, Kaabong, Kotido and Moroto. EKISIL is a conflict mitigation and management project that uses a people-to-people approach (P2P) that brings groups together across divisions to address underlying social, economic, ecological, and governance issues at risk of fueling conflict in the Karamoja region. This is achieved through three interlinked objectives that address root causes of inter-ethnic conflict and promote reconciliation, empower local capacities to prevent and manage conflicts, and address emerging conflicts related to land.

The Position

The Partnerships & Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (PMEL) Lead is a key position in the Securing Peace and Promoting Prosperity in Karamoja Activity (EKISIL) team, reporting to the Chief of Party – EKISIL program, but working closely with the Country MEL Manager in upholding quality programming. S/he will continue to strengthen a coordinated EKISIL MEL system: facilitating the design, set-up and implementation of standard monitoring and evaluating processes in collaboration with program managers and in alignment with Mercy Corps’ global MEL policy and minimum standards. S/he will be responsible for information management, using standard Mercy Corps systems such as Tola and Ona. The PMEL Lead will ensure that information collected is 1) reflected on; 2) used to make effective and evidence-based programmatic decisions; and 3) incorporated consistently for high-quality reports and proposal development. S/he will be responsible for fostering a culture of reflection and adaptive management and will lead in strengthening the collaboration, coordination, and capacity development of the staff and partners. Supporting in developing institutional development plans for the local partners.

Essential Responsibilities

MEL SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

• Strengthen the EKISIL MEL system with utility and program quality in mind, providing program teams with real-time data and learning that can inform adaptive management.
• Support program teams to ensure high quality MEL processes exist and are supported throughout the program cycle:
• Lead in designing data collection tools, executing data collection activities, and providing guidance on analysis, and visualization to inform adaptive management.
• Coordinate with Country MEL Manager and program teams to document challenges with MEL processes and provide leadership to improve them.
• Conduct internal periodic data quality assessments and collaborate with the Chief of Party to address shortfalls in MEL that affects program implementation.

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT & REPORTING

• Collect, analyze and validate data on performance indicators for all programs.
• Manage Tola, ensuring that program teams are capturing results in Mercy Corps internal indicator tracking software and utilizing them for reviews /decisions to improve program quality.
• Oversee MEL contributions to programmatic reporting (weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, final etc).
• Support partners in communicating their impact by reviewing programmatic reports, providing feedback and support for them to improve.
• Support the program team to generate high-quality, timely and accurate reports for donors.

LEARNING

• Develop and oversee the program level learning plan /agendas and development of success stories.
• Design and oversee programmatic assessments, CLA activities contributing to overall learning and evidence.
• Contribute to and facilitate quarterly and ad hoc learning workshops.

TEAM MANAGEMENT

• Develop the capacity of the team on the MEL systems, procedures and tools, data management, community ability and learning.
• Conduct a needs assessment and develop a subsequent MEL training plan for relevant partners.
• Assist team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance & reach objectives.
• Strengthen the capacity of the Learning and Documentation Officer to improve his/her ability to analyze and represent impact to donors, government, partners, and communities.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations, and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on one and performance reviews to the program team.
• Foster a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Disseminate program reflections, learning and recommendations to team members, partners and other relevant audiences.

PARTNERSHIP MANAGEMENT

• Organize and maintain an up-to date filing system on active civil society organizations and media in Karamoja, partners, sectors, programs and projects.
• Support with identification of capacity gaps and put together capacity building plans
• Build the capacity of local partner organizations through ongoing training and support on MEL tools and data management, donor reporting, donor requirements, technical programming areas and context analysis.

Supervisory Responsibility

Learning and Documentation Officer.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Chief of Party

Works Directly With: EKISIL Program Team, Country MEL Manager, Senior Program Development and Quality Manager, Senior CARM Officer and CARM Assistant, Subawards, Finance, HR & Operations Teams, partner staff

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy 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 field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in M&E, management, statistics, economics, social science or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in the areas of program development and monitoring and evaluation, including relevant experience building and managing an M&E system and team, relevant experience supervising data collection and data validation exercises, and building staff capacity.
• Must have extensive experience working NGOs and key donors, preferably USAID.
• High degree of computer literacy required including proficiency in the following packages: Excel, Word. and Open Data Kit/Kobo Toolbox/Ona. Statistical software experience is an advantage.
• Extensive experience with mixed-methods data collection, entry, verification, analysis, and reporting.
• Proven leadership, training, and capacity building experience.
• Fluency in written and oral English.
• Ability to produce clear and concise documentation.
• Ability to manage and meet deadlines and work independently on multiple priorities

Success Factors

The PMEL Manager is a bright, energetic, and hard-working leader who is eager to learn. S/he will have a demonstrated passion for development work and for building capacity of their teams. They will be detail oriented, and a strategic thinker, able to produce high-quality work independently. They will be an excellent communicator, multi-tasker and experienced with operating under ambiguity. S/he will be creative and flexible, encouraging innovative solutions while still adhering to crucial systems, processes, and protocols. They will strictly follow Mercy Corps Uganda security procedures and will hold themselves to a high standard when making decisions and managing resources efficiently and will stand out as a role model for Mercy Corps’ values.

Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Moroto, Uganda with frequent travels to Abim, Kaabong and Kotido.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving 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 Opportunity

Mercy 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 and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. 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 elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

Disclaimer: This job description isNOTan exhaustive list of the skills, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

To Apply:

Interested applicants must submit their Cover Letter & CV saved in 1 document as  PDF of no more than 5 pages by 11th November 2022.

Please note that any application submitted that does not follow the above instructions will be automatically discarded.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Mercy Corps does not charge any fees at any stage of the recruitment process.