Early Childhood Development Monitoring and Evaluation Senior Officer - Erbil

Job Description

Background:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) 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, the IRC offers lifesaving 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, the IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted by conflict or disaster. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

The IRC Iraq program was established in 2003 and is currently providing humanitarian assistance in the sectors of child protection, women’s protection and empowerment, protection and rule of law, early childhood development, cash, livelihoods, and governance. The IRC Iraq’s main office is based in Erbil, with field offices in Baghdad, Ninewa, Salah al-Din, Kirkuk, and Anbar.

In Iraq, high-quality Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs have the potential to provide the foundation for children future academic success, health, prosperity, and wellbeing. A large body of scientific evidence emphasizes the need for increased investment in early childhood, particularly for children experiencing conflict, crisis, and displacement; these children are extremely vulnerable to the long-lasting effects that prolonged stress has on the developing brain.

In December 2017, Sesame Workshop and the IRC were awarded the MacArthur Foundation’s inaugural 100&Change grant to make real progress toward solving a critical problem of our time. With the extraordinary investment of $100 million, our partnership will transform the language, early reading, math, and social-emotional skills of a generation of children ages 0-8 affected by the Syrian war. Focusing on children in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria over the next five years, the plan combines the depth of in-person services, reaching 1.5 million children, with the breadth of mass media, reaching 9.4 million children. For more information, please visit: http://refugee.sesameinternational.org/.

Job Overview/Summary:

The ECD Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Officer will be leading the M&E data collection, data quality checks, compiling M&E reports, and supervising a M&E assistant, under the supervision of the ECD Research, Monitoring, and Learning (RMEL) Manager. The Senior M&E Officer will collaborate with the Iraq ECD Research, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (RMEL) Manager and the Regional Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Manager to implement all aspects of the Ahlan Simsim project M&E plan. The ideal candidate will have demonstrated experience in M&E and managing teams to product high quality M&E data. The ideal candidate must also have excellent communication and collaboration skills as ECD activities are integrated into IRC’s activities in other sectors. Therefore coordinating M&E planning, data collection, and sharing of M&E data with the other relevant IRC teams is an essential part of the ECD Senior M&E Officer’s role. Senior M&E Officer must be highly organized, detail-oriented, flexible, and proactive, with demonstrated experienced in designing and successfully implementing written work plans for M&E, as well as revising plans as needed to adjust to a dynamic context

Main Responsibilities:

Planning and Management

- Contribute to written work plans and data flow diagrams for M&E data collection, reporting, learning meetings, and data quality assessments; - Contribute to communicating M&E plans and results to the Iraq ECD team and IRC partners; - Manage day-to-day tasks, annual goal setting and performance review, and professional development of M&E Assistant; - In collaboration with the ECD RMEL Manager, proactively coordinate with program staff from IRC’s teams, as well as IRC Iraq partners, to ensure that M&E data collection and reporting are aligned with activity implementation schedules. Adjust research and M&E work plan as needed to align with any changes in activity schedules; - Travel on a frequent basis to Mosul and other locations for staff research and M&E training, management of research and M&E data collection, data quality assessments, and other tasks as needed; depending on activity schedule, travel frequency may change throughout the year (sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly). - 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; - In all M&E activities, follow IRC’s Monitoring for Action standards for data quality, information management, and use of data for programmatic decision making; - Adhere to and act in accordance with the IRC Global HR Policies and Procedures.

Data Collection and Information Management

- Train ECD M&E staff and IRC Iraq program staff on M&E data collection tools (using CommCare software) and processes; - Manage M&E data collection processes in the field on a daily basis, to ensure that M&E data collection is accurate, complete, timely, and standardized according to the Ahlan Simsim M&E plan; - Manage regular data quality assessments according to process agreed upon with ECD RMEL Manager. If any mistakes are found in data, report them to the ECD RMEL Manager and contribute to correcting the data as needed; - Update ECD RMEL Manager on any challenges in M&E data collection or feedback from field teams on data collection tools and processes; - Contribute to design and management of the ECD information management system.

Analysis, Reporting, and Learning

- Conduct analysis of ECD M&E data, aggregating data from ECD activities across sectors in Iraq, using Excel, Stata, or other similar data analysis software; - Create monthly reports of M&E data and indicators to share with Regional Ahlan Simsim team and Iraq ECD team, as well as bi-annual reports of M&E data for donor reporting; - In collaboration with ECD RMEL Manager, ensure that all M&E numbers in IRC internal reports, donor reports, and the Ahlan Simsim PowerBI dashboard are accurate and consistent; - Contribute to organizing regularly learning meetings with IRC program and partner staff, to share M&E data.

Key Working Relationships:

- Position Reports to: IRC Iraq ECD RMEL Manager - Position directly supervises: a M&E Assistant: enumerators/data collectors. - Other Internal and/or external contacts:

o Internal: The position closely works with the RMEL Manager, ECD IMO, ECD managers and officers to communicate M&E plans, activities, and results, and coordinate M&E data collection with activity implementation.

Qualifications

Job Requirements:

- Bachelor degree in International Development, Computer Science, Statistics, Social Sciences, Industrial Engineering, Business administration or related field. - At least 3 years of relevant work experience in M&E. - At least 1 year of people management experience. - Experience in developing quantitative and qualitative data collection tools for research and M&E (e.g. surveys, structured observations, focus group discussions). - Experience and knowledge in analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. - Strong computer literacy, including proficiency in Microsoft Office (Excel, Access, Word, PowerPoint) - Experience managing and conducting electronic data collection, using ODK or ODK-based softwares (ONA, KOBO), Commcare, CSPro, or other similar tools. - Excellent data cleaning and analysis skills using Excel, Stata, or other similar software. - Excellent interpersonal communication and problem-solving skills, creativity and flexibility. - Strong ability to work independently, organize work, meet deadlines, maintain composure, prioritize work under pressure, coordinate multiple tasks and maintain attention to detail. - Personal qualities: works well in and promotes teamwork, comfortable in a multi-cultural environment, flexible, sense of humor, ability to work across various teams and stakeholders, and able to handle pressure well. - Fluency in Arabic and English, written and oral.

Preferred:

- Experience using Commcare for data collection; - Experience in training and building capacity of teams; - Experience in M&E related to education and/or early childhood development (including collecting data from young children).

Working Environment:

The position will be based in Erbil, Iraq with frequent travel to field sites.

Standards of Professional Conduct:

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.

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 maternity leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances. Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

Attention Returning 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, IRC has introduced an attractive remuneration package. The package includes competitive compensation, return flight to post, shipping allowance, temporary housing and a relocation allowance. Certain restrictions may apply.

Notice to all Job Seekers

IRC implements an equal employment opportunity policy and our recruitment process is based on merit.

Applicants and/or successful interview candidates (both internal and external) are not required to pay any fees at any stage of the recruitment process.

If anyone asks you for any financial or non-financial favors to help you secure a job at IRC, kindly report to [email protected].

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