MEAL Manager

TITLE: Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Manager

TEAM/PROGRAMME: REALM LOCATION: Kabul
GRADE: 2 CONTRACT LENGTH: Fixed Term

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:
Level 3: the post 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 country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE:
The MEAL Manager, under the guidance of the Head of REALM will lead the development and implementation of MEAL system for all Field offices (FO) Projects in Afghanistan Country Office. The position will collaborate closely with MEAL Coordinators at field office and implementation teams to ensure that these systems align with Save the Children’s MEAL strategies and frameworks.

The MEAL Manager will provide support to conduct project baselines, midterm and evaluations, as well as oversee MEAL budgeting and recruitment processes. The MEAL Manager will provide support to PRIME and ensure timely and accurate consolidation of output tracking and performance reports. The role will also support the Head of MEAL and Research in the MEAL components of proposal development. The MEAL Manager will provide technical guidance to the Information Management team on secure data management systems and practices. The position will support the PDQ Director and Head of REALM in Country Office level reporting processes, including KPI, CSP, TR and other required reports through PRIME system. The MEAL Manager will also provide leadership and technical support to FO MEAL Coordinators to assess the MEAL capacity of staff from both Save the Children and partner organizations and identify opportunities to strengthen their capacity.

SCOPE OF ROLE:
Reports to: Head of REALM
Staff reporting to this post: MEAL Coordinator at FO, MEAL Coordinator (MIS)

Role Dimensions: The role will work closely with the Research, Evidence and Learning Specialist, TAs and the Area MEAL staff in delivering the project deliverables.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY :
Under the direct supervision of Head of REALM and with support from MEAL and PDQ staff, the MEAL Manager will be responsible for:

CO MEAL System Design and Support for Implementation

• Lead on the development and roll-out of an organisational MEAL strategy and approaches across Save the Children Afghanistan’s humanitarian and longer-term development programming, in line with Country Strategic Plan and Save the Children International MEAL requirements;
• Ensure that the Country Office (CO) MEAL framework is in place and well communicated to, and appropriated by all programme staff;
• Support CO on the roll-out of MIS system and provide technical support to MIS staff to ensure that the MIS system is applied in all projects;
• Ensure systems for tracking action plans derived from quality benchmark monitoring and feedback response mechanisms are in place and well-functioning;
• Set up a central MEAL work plan and budget, ensuring that the latter is resourced through donor funding;
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• Ensures establishment of key indicators for each sector and tracking of data across projects to establish the broader impact on children from all interventions.
• Work closely with the Programme Operations team to extract support for ensuring functioning of independent MEAL system to track project implementation leading to enhanced quality, accountability, management and impact, including feeding into new proposal development and sharing lessons learned.
• Oversee the design and implementation of accountability mechanisms at field level, such as complaints response mechanisms – working on community assessment, design, implementation, review etc.
• Ensure effective use of PRIME and timely, accurate consolidation of output tracking and performance reports.

Accountability & Participation

• Ensuring accountability to children/communities in SCI programing through establishing systems for information sharing, participation and feedback handling and ensure that all projects and program are using these CO level processes and systems.
• Support Head of REALM to ensure that all staff at all levels, including senior managers and directors, fully understand and promote accountability in general and to children in particular, through training and coaching.
• Contribute to improvements in existing policies and procedures to enhance effective accountability mechanisms.
• Training on staff, partners and stakeholders in Accountability, core humanitarian standard (CHS), Sphere standards.
• Ensure that activities are carried out to raise awareness of prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse and handling of serious complaints in line with child safeguarding policy.
• Regularly sharing the Accountability information with all relevant staffs and information are using by NBD and project staffs during new proposal development.
Programme Design and MEAL Resources

• Ensure that MEAL is an integral part of the programme design stage and features in all proposal development.
• Support fundraising efforts, including logframe development, drafting narrative MEAL sections, and review to ensure MEAL activities and costs are adequately covered.
• Develop standard guidance for incorporation of MEAL costs into proposals in specific responses
• Ensure that MEAL resources are included in proposal development as per the MEAL Budgeting benchmark and work creatively to secure funding from diverse sources, to ensure that MEAL is integrated into emergency and development programmes in a sustainable way.
• Responsible for effectively managing the MEAL budget.

Internal and external Reporting
• Responsible to ensure that the organisation delivers on all internal SCI MEAL requirements in a timely manner and with high quality information, including reporting on SCI global indicators, KPI Reporting, Country Annual Reporting through PRIME etc.
• Develop systems to ensure monitoring of child participation, gender equity, integration, and other programme quality indicators, as relevant and required.
• Ensure that the MEAL team oversees a clear system of feedback and response from key
stakeholders, particularly children, and presents the information to senior management for decision making purposes.

Staff Management, Mentorship, and Development
• Identify training needs of staff and conduct training to address the capacity gaps, in collaboration with their line-manager (the field manager of their duty station) and the human resources department.
• Line manage the indicated MEAL team members as required, consistent with SCI HR policy and
MEAL Framework.
• Creating a shared understanding of MEAL framework and systems in Afghanistan; this requires creating cohesion with the field MEAL staff working in different provinces.
• Identify learning and training opportunities for MEAL and other staff and act as a mentor and role model for less experienced staff.
• Conduct training and awareness raising activities for operations and programme technical staff at
field and country-office level regarding MEAL priorities and quality standards.

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)
Accountability:
• holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.
Ambition:
• sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.
Collaboration:
• builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
• values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.
Creativity:
• develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• willing to take disciplined risks.
Integrity:
• honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential
• BA or BSc in a relevant subject or equivalent field experience in the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) function.
• At least 5 years of experience in MEAL, in an humanitarian or fragile states context.
• Demonstrated skills setting up and rolling out MEAL systems.
• Strong experience in information management systems.
• Experience of, and commitment to working through systems of community participation and accountability.
• Previous experience of managing a team, capacity to supervise, train and coach staff
• Demonstrated strong monitoring and evaluation skills, including planning/participating in evaluations.
• Ability to work both in an advisory and a hands on implementation capacity.
• Ability to write clear and well-argued assessment and project reports.
• Politically and culturally sensitive with qualities of patience, tact and diplomacy.
• Excellent communication skills; Excellent written and spoken English .
• The capacity and willingness to be flexible and accommodating in difficult and sometimes insecure
working circumstances.
• Commitment to the aims and principles of SC. In particular, a good understanding of the SC
mandate and commitment to child participation.
Desirable
• Prior experience with Save the Children International highly desired.
• Experience in both implementation and design desirable.
• Good understanding on the main local languages is desired (Pashto and Dari).

Additional job responsibilities
The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities
The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and
Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:
We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks,
reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Health and Safety
The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies
and procedures

Organization context

The Organization
We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard. We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:
· No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
· All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
· Violence against children is no longer tolerated
We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children.We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.
Application Information:
Please apply using a cover letter and up-to-date CV as a single document. Please also include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at www.savethechildren.net/jobs We need to keep children safe so our selection process reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.