Jordan: Regional Measurement Action Coordinator

Background/IRC Summary: The International Rescue Committee responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, IRC offers life-saving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in more than 40 countries and in 22 U.S. cities, IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted by conflict or disaster. IRC leads the way from harm to home.

The Syria crisis is often described as the worst humanitarian catastrophe since the end of the Cold War. Inside Syria, 7.6 million people are internally displaced and 12.2 million are in need of humanitarian assistance, with 4.8 million in hard-to-reach areas. There are 5 million Syrian refugees in neighboring countries. This is no short-term humanitarian episode. The devastating human consequences to huge numbers of people will endure for decades. The destruction of relationships, communities, livelihoods, homes and infrastructure will take years to repair.

IRC is offering a robust humanitarian response to the Syria crisis with an annual budget in excess of $140 million and a rapidly expanding portfolio, supported by more than 1,250 staff in the region. IRC is undertaking programs in Syria and the neighboring countries of Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan in the fields of health, child protection, education, women's protection and empowerment, NFI and food distribution, cash assistance, and livelihood programming. Our work in these challenging settings gives rise to some of the most pressing issues facing contemporary humanitarian action, including questions of access, security, funding and coordination.

IRC strives to have an organizational culture, and programmatic and M&E standards, systems and practices, that will increase its capacity to produce, measure and demonstrate improvements in program performance and results, internal management, and data-based decision making. The IRC has found, as have many other organizations, that data are often collected and compiled primarily to satisfy donor requirements; actually using those data to improve programming and make real-time decisions is much harder and rarer. "Monitoring and evaluation" has become synonymous with data collection and reporting; by calling this position "measurement action" rather than "M&E", the IRC is explicitly emphasizing that data are to be used, not mechanistically processed and archived, and that we need to look beyond routine monitoring to assessing the broader effects and impacts of our programming.

Job Overview/Summary: Based in the regional office in Amman, Jordan, the Regional Measurement Action Coordinator (RMAC) will provide strategic, technical and managerial leadership for the IRC's global and regional measurement efforts throughout the Middle East region. Those efforts include monitoring, evaluation, accountability, learning, and, critically, strengthening individual countries' capacity to measure and make decisions and take action based on data. This senior position requires coordinating measurement activities across countries - including providing support to in-country MEAL staff - and working with country teams to ensure that data are of high quality and used effectively for decision making.

The RMAC will supervise one other member of the regional unit, and will work in partnership with senior country leadership, program management and M&E units, as well as other regional staff such as technical advisors. S/he will liaise with IRC's headquarters in NY, office in London and the RMACs in other regions.

Major Responsibilities:

Provide thought leadership in the region and for the wider organization:

• Provide inputs into, and stay informed of, measurement developments across the organization, and ensure their contextualization to the Middle East region
• Champion an organizational culture shift from a focus on data being primarily for donor reporting or indicator calculation purposes to using data for programmatic course correction and other decisions, and p romote greater commitment to measurement among country-level senior leadership, ensuring they prioritize data use
• Maintain and promote the use of a regional repository of monitoring tools and programmatic learning, including monitoring, research and evaluation results
• Keep established regional initiatives (beneficiary counting and feedback/response) up to date and relevant, and proactively identify and action emerging initiatives that will address the region's strategic needs
• Facilitate a community of practice among all M&E technical specialists in the region
• Participate in other organizational priorities that intersect with measurement, at both regional and global levels, such as ICT4P, Partnerships, Client Responsiveness, Best Use of Resources, Innovation, Research & Development

Provide technical assistance to country programs:

• Ensure key staff in country programs know and understand global measurement commitments, and what is needed to reach them, centered firmly around Monitoring for Action
• Guide country programs to choose and realize their own appropriate M&E capacity assessments, structures, staff recruitments, methods and tools, capacity building and resources
• Provide coaching, mentoring and other types of capacity building to senior-most M&E staff in country programs
• Help country programs to develop systems and procedures that measure country program-wide performance and achievements towards outcomes, using the Outcomes & Evidence Framework core indicators and other methods as appropriate
• Review strategically important proposal logframes and M&E narratives, paying particular attention to the use of OEF core indicators
• Provide technical oversight to those country programs implementing regional beneficiary feedback & response mechanism, and more intense technical support to those designing and starting up such a mechanism
• Together with the regional ICT4P team, provide technical support to strengthen data and information management systems, using increasingly more sophisticated techniques than Excel, including improvements in data collection, storage, flow and analysis
• Together with the global COMET Support Team, support the uptake of IRC's global data platform (COMET), including the use of COMET in data analysis meetings (as per MfA standard 7)
• Together with the region's Technical Advisors, support country teams in the analysis, interpretation and presentation of data for programmatic decision making
• Support program evaluations, as needed
• Provide limited gap-filling, when necessary

Coordinate the M&E of multi-country projects

• Lead in the M&E design, implementation, reporting and final evaluation stages of multi-country projects, gaining the agreements of all country programs for mutually workable approaches
• Design the logframe and indicator-setting, measurement plans, methods and data collection tools
• Consolidate, analyze, calculate, and report on the indicators data for internal and external (donor reporting) purposes
• Represent IRC on M&E aspects of consortia, as relevant

Support country teams to understand if/how they have reached measurement expectations:

• Produce bi-annual regional beneficiary reach data and information products
• Conduct annual assessments against MfA standards
• Conduct annual assessments against regional beneficiary feedback & response mechanism standards
• Facilitate the continual measurement of COMET key performance indicators
• Together with other stakeholders, provide an independent source for measuring achievements of the Measurement Universal Expectations
• Participate in Strategy Action Plan reviews or other efforts to measure progress towards SAPs
• Provide reports to HQ and/or the Regional Office on country-level and regional progress towards MfA, COMET, UE and other M&E efforts

Human Resources Management and Development

• Coach, train, supervise and mentor direct-report staff, including communicating clear expectations, setting quarterly performance objectives, providing regular and timely positive and constructive performance feedback, and providing documented semi-annual performance reviews.
• Hold high-quality meetings with each direct report on a regular and predictable basis, at least bi-weekly.
• Provide a measurable development plan including on-the-job learning with the aim of strengthening technical capacity, exchanging knowledge within the team and providing guidance on career paths.
• Promote and monitor staff care, well-being and self-care; approve and manage all time, attendance and leave requests to ensure adequate departmental coverage.
• Look for opportunities to support staff in their career growth, where appropriate. Offer leadership support for successful adherence by staff to IRC's country and Global HR Operating Policies and Procedures.
• As part of succession plan and nationalization goals, identify, train and develop capability and capacity of a national staff to successfully transition role and responsibilities, by end of assignment.
• Maintain open and professional relations with team members, promoting a strong team spirit and providing oversight and guidance to enable staff to successfully perform in their positions.
• Model healthy work-life balance practices. Support appropriate interventions in response to identified staff care needs of both national and international staff.
• Work with regional HR staff to identify and implement recruitment and retention strategies.

Key Working Relationships

Position Reports to: Deputy Regional Director Position directly supervises: Senior Regional Monitoring & Evaluation Manager

Other Internal: Country program senior leadership and program management - primarily CDs, DDPs, Program Coordinators, M&E Coordinators

Regional office staff - primarily those in ICT4P, remote capacity building, partnerships, innovation, business development

HQ & London office staff - primarily the Organizational Measurement Director, MfA Coordinator, RMAC counterparts, Research Evaluation & Learning Unit, Technical Units (Technical Advisors and M&E specialists), Grants (pre-award and post-award)

External: Partner organizations, donors, other humanitarian actors in the region

Job Requirements:

Education

Advanced university degree in statistics, the social sciences or other fields related to measurement.

Work Experience

Minimum 7 years of professional experience in the humanitarian or development field, at least 4 years of which were in a role specialized in M&E or measurement, and some of which were in country program settings. The candidate will preferably also have some experience in country program settings, in remote monitoring, and in program implementation and management.

Demonstrated Technical Skills

• Developing and implementing M&E systems
• Doing data analysis, interpretation and presentation of findings
• Using data for decision-making in multiple technical sectors
• Thinking strategically about data
• Designing and delivering of training and mentoring engagements with staff and partners
• Knowledge of the trends and issues in international aid monitoring, evaluation, accountability, learning, knowledge management and/or measurement
• Strong oral and written communication and presentation skills

Demonstrated Managerial/Leadership Competencies

• Excellent leadership and management skills including coaching, mentoring, influencing colleagues without authority, and encouraging cross-functional collaboration and cooperation
• Excellent relationship-building, interpersonal, diplomatic and negotiating skills
• A service-oriented view of M&E/measurement towards programs
• Ability to work independently while being a strong team player
• Superior oral and written communication skills, with ability to express ideas and concepts clearly and persuasively with senior internal and external stakeholders
• Capacity to deal with high workloads and ambiguity in stressful situations
• Strong commitment to IRC's vision, mission and core values

Languages

• Professional fluency in spoken and written English
• Ability to communicate in Arabic will be a distinct advantage

Computer/Other Tech Requirements

• Full professional competency in Microsoft Office Suite, especially Word, Excel (advanced skills required), PowerPoint and Outlook
• Ability to use quantitative and/or qualitative data management and statistical analysis software

Ability to Travel

Up to 35% of the time throughout the Middle East region and to the US, UK and other parts of the world for workshops, conferences and meetings.

Working Environment

The overall security situation in Jordan is relatively calm, especially in Amman. The Jordanian government is stable, and civil unrest is largely peaceful. However, Jordan's generosity in hosting refugees from Palestine, Iraq and now Syria have created huge strains on the country's economy and infrastructure. The IRC office is in a modern professional building.

IRC is offering this post as fully accompanied for the successful candidate and accompanying dependents including: rest and relaxation leave, vacation leave, home leave, education allowance, housing, water, electricity, internet connectivity, and other generous benefits. Modern amenities (health care, international schools, etc.) are readily available.

Standards of Professional Conduct

IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way - Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Harassment-Free Workplace, Fiscal Integrity, Anti-Retaliation, Combating Trafficking in Persons and several others.

Gender Equality

IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances.

Attention Returning Jordanian or Lebanese National Candidates:

IRC strives to attract, motivate and retain qualified national staff in our programs. We strongly encourage national or returning national candidates to apply for this position. If you are a national of the country in which this position is based and are currently located outside of your home country and possess over two years of international work experience, the Middle East Region has introduced an attractive remuneration package. The package includes competitive compensation, return flight to post, shipping allowance, temporary housing and a relocation allowance.

Working Environment

The overall security situation in Jordan is relatively calm, especially in Amman. The Jordanian government is stable, and civil unrest is largely peaceful. However, Jordan's generosity in hosting refugees from Palestine, Iraq and now Syria have created huge strains on the country's economy and infrastructure. The IRC office is in a modern professional building.

IRC is offering this post as fully accompanied for the successful international candidate and accompanying dependents including: vacation leave, home leave, education allowance, housing, water, electricity, internet connectivity, and other generous benefits. Modern amenities (health care, international schools, etc.) are readily available.

IRC leading the way from harm to home.

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Please follow this link to apply: http://www.aplitrak.com/?adid=a2F0cmluYW1pbGxlci45Mzc4Mi4zODMwQGlyYy5hcGxpdHJhay5jb20