Level 3:  the role holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work in country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process of staff.

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Emergency MEAL Officer takes the overall responsibility of operationalizing the MEAL system and SCI MEAL approach in emergency programmes.  The post-holder will be expected to lead on MEAL in implementation including monitoring of program quality, rolling out accountability initiatives, supporting program evaluations and leading on area MEAL budgeting. S/he will be expected to lead MEAL capacity building of emergency programme staff and partners.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to:  MEAL Coordinator

Dimensions:  Due to political unrest in Burundi high numbers of refugees escaping into neighbouring countries of DRC, Uganda, Rwanda & Tanzania. The current Burundian refugee population in Tanzania is over 175,000 of which over 50% are children. SCI is implementing a child protection, education and youth empowerment/ livelihoods programme in refugee camps and wishes to scale up the response.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Together with the MEAL Team and in collaboration with the Programme Managers and partners, the MEAL Officer will be responsible for establishing and promoting the use of MEAL systems to ensure that the  Emergency team  and Regional Office:

• Is informed on the extent to which both the emergency response and development interventions are affecting the lives of the targeted populations.
• Receives regular, timely and context-specific, meaningful feedback from our community members (who are or are not targeted by our interventions) partners, staff and that feedback effectively informs and signals areas where strategic attention is required.
• There is evidence-based knowledge on the positive and negative impact that both the emergency response and development interventions are having over the communities where SCI works

Program Monitoring, Assessments, Evaluations and Reporting

• Lead the MEAL team in supporting  the  emergency programmes, regional  office in measuring achievement and progress toward program goals and results as well as development of MEAL systems for all projects;
• Develop and maintain the Indicator Performance Tracking Tool and Output tracker per award and  the entire project providing updates on a monthly basis
• Lead roll out of a robust accountability strategy, and MEAL systems and processes to measure achievement and progress towards achieving project objectives/outcomes and results/outputs against indicators (indicator performance tracker tables, quality checklists, etc.).
• Lead monitoring of program quality using quality bench marks and ensure that findings are shared with relevant stakeholders and explicitly fed back into programme decision making, incorporating accountability and learning. 
• Ensure implementation and integration of regular monitoring systems in the area programme and at various levels of programme implementation (monitoring of inputs, outputs, outcomes, etc.);
• Contribute to child-focused and child-led programme implementation, by ensuring children’s participation, reporting back to children, and child-led M&E in the area;
• Maintain a tracker of all program improvement actions bringing to the attention of the area SMT key program improvement issues that need action and appropriately sharing them with the MEAL Manager in the region Office.
• Support internal and external program/project evaluations as necessary and ensure establishment of  project baseline data for all projects;
• Lead the management of information systems and roll out of mobile data collection;
• Lead compilation of data and reporting on, SCI global indicators and total reach reports

Partner Management

• Contribute to identify the capacity of present and potential partners in quality programming and ensure that MEAL support is provided;
• Ensure that MEAL aspects of programmes implemented by existing partners are enforced.

Accountability and Organisational Learning

• Support the MEAL Manager with learning activities.  For instance, support planning of program Review workshops, prepare lessons learnt reports;
• Ensure participation of beneficiaries and children in monitoring and evaluating Save the Children development/emergency projects and programmes. This includes roll out of Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM);
• Ensure accountability systems are established engaging beneficiaries and stakeholders in evaluations, impact assessments and research.

Representation and Advocacy

• Ensure that Save the Children's work is coordinated with efforts of other agencies and government, and support Interagency Coordination forums, advocating for the specific needs of children.  Participate in Interagency coordinated joint MEAL activities (for instance, inter-agency RTEs);
• Contribute to communications and media work as required, including verifying and ensuring the relevancy of case studies and programme success stories.

Staff Management, Mentorship, and Development

• Ensure that all staff understand and are able to perform their role in both emergency and development contexts;
• Building capacity and knowledge of staff and partners on MEAL systems, strengthening organisational knowledge and understanding of effective programming through networking, experience sharing and searching for innovative ideas;
• Identify training needs of staff in respect to applying monitoring plans/tools; collect, analysis and report on findings periodically and conduct trainings to address the capacity gaps;
• Support the development of an organisational culture that reflects our dual mandate values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity and innovation, and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent customer service for our members and donors.  

COMPETENCIES AND BEHAVIOURS (our Values in Practice)

Applying Technical and Professional Expertise:

• Makes decisions based on professional expertise and experience without deferring unnecessarily to others
• Shares knowledge and best practice on technical solutions so that others can make best use of that expertise
• Actively seeks new ways to develop the application of technical and professional standards within the team

• Gives regular positive and constructive feedback to others
• Identifies clear development needs and development
• plans through regular constructive reviews of their own performance (and their team’s where appropriate)
• Creates space for others to learn and provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments when people are ready for them
• Coaches others to learn from their experiences on the job and to use the resources available to them

Problem Solving and Decision Making:

• Gathers the right information and uses critical thinking to make effective and timely decisions
• Knows when to involve others in a decision
• Demonstrates awareness of the wider external influences that impact on decision making
• Analyses and exercises judgment in challenging situations in the absence of specific guidance or knowledge of the full facts
• Evaluates the opportunities and risks of each idea and solution to make informed strategic decisions

• Actively listens to new and different perspectives and experiences of those they work with
• Proactively supports team members and trusts their capabilities
• Demonstrates understanding of their skills and how they complement those of others within diverse teams and groups
• Clarifies their role and responsibilities within the team to maximise impact

• Delivers timely and appropriate results using available resources
• Takes responsibility for their work and its impact on others
• Plans, prioritises and performs tasks well without needing direct supervision
• Understands the link between their work and the organisation’s objectives

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• A degree in an area of social development or equivalent.
• Minimum three years practical experience in M&E system coordination/implementation in a large international non-governmental organisation or other international relief/development body;
• Demonstrable track record in data tracking and evaluation, with the ability to support staff and partners on M&E methodology and analyse and disseminate complex information to a range of stakeholder audiences;
• Well-developed research, analytical (qualitative and quantitative), documentation and  report-writing and skills, with particular competency in participatory research methods;
• Ability to write clear and well-argued assessment and project reports. A high level of written and spoken English
• Computer literacy, particularly in Word, Excel, Statistical Packages and PowerPoint;
• Excellent planning, coordination, and reporting skills, with the ability to organise a substantial workload comprised of complex, diverse tasks and responsibilities;
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills in English, with experience working in multicultural, multi location, values driven teams;
• Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies
• Commitment to and understanding of Save the Children International’s aims, values and principles
• Information Communication Technology literate