Kenya: Regional Measurement Action Coordinator

Requisition ID: req986

Job Title: Regional Measurement Action Coordinator

Sector: Program Administration

Employment Category: Fixed Term

Employment Type: Full-Time

Location: Kenya-Nairobi

Job Description

IRC Summary: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is among the world's leading humanitarian relief and development organizations. For 80 years, the IRC has been at the forefront of every major humanitarian initiative to assist people uprooted by war, persecution, or civil conflict. IRC staff go to the toughest places, implement both immediate response and long lasting programs, and conduct the type of applied research and advocacy the aid community needs to continually push itself to find better solutions for people. In all its country programs and in the US, IRC teams partner with local governments and others to achieve outcomes related to people's health, education, safety, power and economic well-being.

The IRC recognized several years ago that while our focus on impact evaluations and research had put us on the cutting edge among NGOs for assessing contribution to impact, support to country programs on routine monitoring and use of data for decision making was not as strong as needed. As the IRC developed a new five-year (2015-2020) strategy, more systematic methods for tracking progress on achieving global outcomes had to be developed. In response to this, the IRC has developed a new measurement strategy based on three pillars: efficiency, data and learning and organizational systems. The Regional Measurement Action Coordinator will support the implementation of this strategy, with the goal of strengthening IRC's ability to use data to understand and improve its results.

Job Overview: This position sits within the Great Lakes Regional Unit at the International Programs Department, reporting to the Deputy Regional Director. The main task of the position is to support in-country measurement and learning staff in their efforts to ensure that program data are of high quality and used effectively for decision making, as well as that these efforts are aligned with IRC's global vision and delivery plans for measurement.

The scope of the job includes both coordination and technical responsibilities contributing directly to the achievement of IRC's measurement and overall effectiveness goals, particularly those integrated within the individual countries' Strategic Action Plans. It also includes supporting the regional management in better understanding country and regional performance and in using data to inform decision making.

The selected candidate will be a professional with experience in a variety of operational contexts and able to work across multiple technical areas. She/he will understand the challenges to effective measurement both technically and operationally and be able to collaborate with a diverse group of colleagues to develop and implement a common set of measurement standard guidelines and best practices that can contribute to making the IRC an outcome focused organization. This role will contribute to the implementation, throughout the countries in the region, of key aspects of the measurement strategy and delivery plan.

Major Responsibilities:

• Provide hands-on technical assistance to country programs by ensuring that key staff delivers on their measurement commitments as agreed in the Strategy Action Plans and in comformity and alignment with IRC's global vision and delivery plans for measurement. This means:

o Providing support throughout the program cycle and ensuring measurement data quality across the region. o Building the measurement skills of in-country staff through hands-on efforts in facilitating their learning-by-doing. o Attending to specific measurement related technical assistance requests from in-county staff and delivering according to agreed upon service levels. o Brokering between in-country measurement staff and other technical staff across the organization to ensure that country needs and feedback are properly and timely addressed. o Assisting in-country measurement and learning staff in the implementation and maintenance of the processes and routines that can ensure that a minimum set of standardized indicators (as per IRC's "measurement standards" packages) are tracked for the same kinds of interventions within and across countries in the region, leading to meaningful aggregations and potential benchmarking opportunities. o Ensuring appropriate data quality through independent and systematic data auditing, as well as through the supporting of in-country measurement and learning staff in establishing and following processes and procedures that are conducive to continuous improvements in data quality. o Supporting IRC's management in their efforts to use measurement data for decision making by working closely with in-country measurement and learning staff and with the headquarters Measurement Unit.

• Collaborate with in-country measurement and learning staff, in coordination with Country Directors, Deputy Directors of Programmes, Grant Coordinators and the Deputy Regional Director, in the development, implementation, and updating of measurement priorities included in the Strategy Action Plans, that are also consistent with IRC's global vision and delivery plans for measurement.
• Coordinate and keep track of all regional and in-country evaluation efforts (as requested by donors and/or as developed by program staff) to inform and obtain guidance and support from IRC's Research, Evaluation, and Learning Unit. This aims at ensuring consistency in the approach and results of such evaluations.
• Support in-country DDPs and senior measurement and learning staff in the hiring of measurement and learning staff.
• Coordinate the M&E of multi-country programs in the region by ensuring, working together with Technical Advisors, that a consistent approach is used that enables cross-cutting consolidation, analysis, and reporting to all stakeholders involved.
• Actively participate and contribute into the efforts of headquarter's Measurement Unit, particularly into the Measurement Core Implementation Team.

Key Working Relationships: Position reports to: Deputy Regional Director Position directly supervises: None Technically coordinates: Country M&E Coordinators, and other measurement and learning staff as needed Other Internal and/or external contacts: Country Directors, Deputy Directors of Programs, other Regional Measurement Coordinators, and Technical Advisors, IT team, ICT4P Team, Awards Management Unit, Global Partnerships and Philanthropy, Research, Evaluation and Learning team.

Job Requirements: Essential qualifications, skills and experience

• Advanced degree in relevant field such as economics, statistics, international development, public policy, or other social sciences.
• Minimum seven years of experience designing, implementing, and supporting M&E frameworks and results, with extensive experience supporting field-based M&E design and reporting, as well as working with major international donors on M&E related aspects. Extensive experience in developing baseline research, logic models, data collection and analysis, mid-term evaluations, outcome evaluations, and in mentoring and teaching-by-doing other M&E staff.
• Experience with the challenges of effective monitoring in the field, including cultural, gender, and access considerations with the aim of enhancing project learning, quality, and data-driven decision making.
• Proven ability to operate in a complex organization, across functions and projects, on own initiative and collaboratively as part of diverse teams, including project management experience.
• Excellent communication skills, including solid writing skills and the ability to plan for and prepare strategic communications.
• Good understanding of basic ICT principles and the logic of data collection and management systems.
• Strong computer skills: proficiency with MS Office - especially MS Excel. Knowledge of ArcGIS, Kobo ToolBox, CommCare, MS PowerBI, as well as other software used in qualitative and quantitative M&E would be solid assets.
• Willingness and ability to travel up to 40% of time.
• Fluency in English and good working knowledge of French.

Highly desirable

• Experience with direct program implementation in emergency and low-resource contexts.
• Experience rolling out organizational initiatives, particularly related to monitoring and evaluation.

The chosen candidate will be a proven team player able to work with multi-cultural teams and under tight deadlines.

Working Environment: Standard office environment

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional 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, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

IRC et les employés de IRC doivent adhérer aux valeurs et principes contenus dans le IRC WAY (normes de conduite professionnelle). Ce sont l'Intégrité, le Service, et la Responsabilité. En conformité avec ces valeurs, IRC opère et fait respecter les politiques sur la protection des bénéficiaires contre l'exploitation et les abus, la protection de l'enfant, le harcèlement sur les lieux de travail, l'intégrité financière, et les représailles.

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