Accountability Coordinator

With over 70 years of experience, our focus is on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. We help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, inspired by our Christian faith.

Come join our 33,000+ staff working in nearly 100 countries and share the joy of transforming vulnerable children’s life stories!

Key Responsibilities:

JOB PURPOSE

The primary purpose of this position is to provide technical advice, and develop and manage accountability strategies, structures and systems for World Vision Ukraine Crisis Response (UCR) in Romania, in addition to supporting World Vision to meet humanitarian standards of Accountability to affected populations, mainly in its aspects related to providing information and transparency, collecting & acting on feedback & complaints, consultation, and participation. In particular, this will include establishing, overseeing, and ensuring consistent, systematic receipt, processing, and response to community feedback and complaints that come through various feedback mechanisms, such as hotlines, help desks, suggestion boxes, outreach, and other channels. The aim is to strengthen Accountability to children and communities that we serve.

The position holder will report to UCR Program Director and to the Ukraine Crisis Response (UCR) MEAL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) Manager. The role will work closely with the WV UCR Romania MEL Coordinator and field/project MEAL teams to provide technical guidance and review accountability workload. The position is essentially a champion for affected peoples' needs and rights in line with WVs' commitment to being accountable to conflict-affected people.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

Creating an enabling environment for programme accountability

• Practice personal commitment to Humanitarian Accountability (HA) by being willing to act on feedback as an opportunity to learn and improve
• Assist teams in building Accountability into annual, operations, and other plans, with adequate resources in place so that it is applied across all technical areas
• Ensure linkages between Accountability across WV UCR Romania programme streams. Facilitate open and transparent information flows between necessary WV and community stakeholders in Romania.
• Share experiences, challenges and lessons learned in Accountability with internal and external stakeholders

Developing plan and systems for Accountability

• Ensure that WV UCR in Romania Programme Accountability Standards – providing information to communities, consulting with communities, promoting participation and collecting and acting on feedback and complaints are designed based on preference and in consultation with communities and implemented and monitored in a verifiable manner.
• Support the development, adaptation, and implementation of effective accountability systems, processes and tools across the response to fit the context and improve programme quality.
• Ensure information sharing channels are established and functional continuously to provide people in need / affected population a better understanding of their rights, entitlements, registration, targeting/selection processes, access to other services, and their rights to provide feedback and the available channels.
• Develop and contextualize guidelines for accountability activities with key stakeholders, ensuring fit to programme context and due diligence to good practice

Implementation & Reporting

• Ensure important detail about the project/programme (selection criteria, entitlements, rights, processes, accessing feedback & complaints mechanisms) is available and accessible to children and communities
• Work with WV UCR in Romania MEAL team to establish processes for linking analysis of community feedback and monitoring data and ensure accountability processes are monitored and evaluated to inform changes in programming
• Advice on the process of strengthening Complaints and Response mechanisms at the community level in consultation with the affected population and key people and in adherence to Core Humanitarian Standards (Feedback and Complaints are welcomed and addressed)
• Guide the WV UCR in Romania MEAL officers to initiate community consultation sessions as required, to discuss with community stakeholders and identify critical decisions in the project's life to ensure that they are consulted.
• Provide technical support to Project Managers to adopt participatory project implementation approaches.
• Compile and submit quality reports at the WV UCR in Romania level to the MEAL manager for further consolidation and management decision making
• Review all complaints & response mechanisms (CRM) periodically to ensure systems are relevant and efficient. This will include community and partner review meetings/assessments.
• Ensure that feedback and complaints from the field are addressed and used for learning and quality improvement across the programme.
• Work closely with staff to identify and resolve issues and challenges to the implementation of programme-related accountability standards, protocols, guidelines and requirements
• Manage processes for handling sensitive complaints and breaches in Accountability promptly and appropriately
• Ensure all the feedback & complaints are responded to, and response/actions are communicated back to the communities
• Work with sector leads & portfolio/grant managers to mainstream HA at project design and implementation, including integrating accountability indicators, activities and resource allocation and providing technical input into communication material, beneficiary selection processes, planning, monitoring and evaluation, and community mobilization.
• In coordination with MEAL Manager and MEL Coordinator, ensure accountability findings are integrated with M&E findings and are presented at the program review meetings every month, and prompt critical thinking at project management & senior management level.
• Support response teams' Senior Management Teams to use HA monthly reports and feedback themes to drive decision-making for quality programming, both within programs but also across the field offices.
• Support the MEAL Manager in the establishment of UCR Monitoring Dashboard that will integrate critical indicators for UCR Strategy, specifically on Program Quality ( ex. recommendations from beneficiary accountability review fully implemented )
• Support the development of accountability guidelines, tools and resources critical to improving accountability practices.

Learning and Innovation

• Lead the development and roll-out of an organizational learning framework for Moldova that strengthens the use of programmatic data, including feedback & complaints, in project design and decision making.
• Engage community members in learning and reflection processes on Accountability
• Mine existing programmatic data and collect data where necessary to build an evidence base around World Vision's performance against the Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS).
• Coordinate CHS self-assessment process and ensure learning is applied to existing and future programmes
• Develop, package, and disseminate learning products on Accountability and CHS for the appropriate audience
• Collaborate with World Vision's broader partnership and the wider sector to explore and pilot innovations in Accountability
• Support WV UCR in Romania MEAL team to establish processes for ensuring best practices from CRM feedback themes are reflected in future proposals and programs.
• Identify and compile case studies of Community Accountability Reporting Mechanisms (CARM) best practices, success, and lessons learned in-country programs to facilitate cross-country learning.

Management, Capacity-building & Coordination

• Ensure all HA staff supervised by this position are guided, mentored, and their capacities built in order to deliver high-quality outputs
• Work closely with the HA Officers and MEAL staff to ensure they have all the required information, material, and resources for their day-to-day work.
• Ensure partner staff are trained on HA practices, tools and systems; partner capacity is built to comply and produce high-quality HA products in-line with WV & donor standards & requirements.
• Ensure all relevant WV UCR frontline & technical staff are assisted in strengthening their understanding of Humanitarian Accountability and CHS concepts & competencies.
• Develop tailored training materials and train the relevant staff and partners on effective accountability systems, including the data management process of the CRM system, information provision, consultation and participation.
• Participate in Romania Accountability-related meetings and planning.
• Ensure WV Romania is represented well in Humanitarian Accountability-related working groups (ex., CDAC, AAP, CHS Alliance) and forums in Romania.
• Coordinate closely with MEAL staff and other departments to ensure HA guidance and best practice is well aligned with WV's broader performance and quality work, share lessons learned, identify gaps in resources or support, and propose solutions.
• Sensitize community members about their right to information, to be consulted, participate and provide feedback & complaints, balanced with a responsibility to support solutions
• Coordinate closely with MEAL staff and other departments to ensure HA guidance and best practice is well aligned with WV's broader performance and quality work, share lessons learned, identify gaps in resources or support, and propose solutions.

Evaluate and improve accountability strategies

• Monitor implementation of accountability standards across the response programmes to ensure alignment with protocols, guidelines and requirements and share findings to facilitate adjusting programme interventions as necessary
• Facilitate regular meetings for reflection and learning on issues, challenges and situations related to programme accountability with MEAL staff and other relevant staff
• Evaluate the effectiveness of accountability strategies and processes with field-based staff and partners/stakeholders.
• Develop, implement and evaluate strategies and processes to address identified issues in collaboration with staff, partners and stakeholders and make necessary changes to improve practice at the response level.

Other :

• Carry out additional responsibilities and project tasks as assigned by the MEAL manager

KNOWLEDGE/QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE ROLE

Required Professional Experience

• Must have a minimum of three years of experience in MEAL, especially in emergency contexts and grant funding.

Required Education, training, license, registration, and certification

• Bachelor's degree preferably in the field of social sciences, public health, nutrition, statistics or development studies
• Thorough knowledge of writing technical HA reports is essential.
• Thorough knowledge of Sphere, Core humanitarian standards, child rights, human rights, DNH, HAP & DAC evaluation criteria is essential.
• Thorough knowledge of the humanitarian operations coordination, cluster operations, and major donor M&E requirements is essential
• Fluency in speaking English and Romanian is required
• Good report writing skills in English and information dissemination skills is required
• Detailed oriented and able to verify data quality

Preferred knowledge and qualifications

• A minimum of 2 years of experience in MEAL, especially in emergency contexts and grant funding, is critical.
• Proven experience in establishing a fully functional Accountability system for an organization supported by bilateral & multilateral international donors serving more than 100,000 beneficiaries within 12 months.
• Proven experience in leading Surveys (mixed methodologies) from the design stage to report writing.
• Proven experience in staff and partner capacity building
• Proven experience in Experience in coordinating Accountability
• Proven experience in managing and implementing Humanitarian accountability systems.
• Experience in coordinating Accountability functions at a national level for an INGO covering some of the following sectors / thematic areas is critical: Health, Cash, Food, WASH, shelter, Education, Child protection and livelihoods.

Travel and/or Work Environment Requirement

• The position requires 50% of the time in the office and 50% in the field.
• Position requires willingness and ability to continue functioning during a crisis, including during a World Vision response to a man-made or natural disaster.

Language Requirements

• Excellent written English, with fluency in speaking Romanian and English.
• Ability to write excellent quality reports in English is required.

Applicant Types Accepted:

Local Applicants Only