Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Manager

The Danish Refugee Council is currently looking for a skilled and experienced Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning Manager to join our team in Warsaw, Poland.

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is a leading protection agency whose mandate is to promote and protect durable solutions to conflict and displacement-affected populations on the basis of humanitarian principles and human rights. DRC is implementing a multi-sector response to support Ukraine refugees, IDPs, and host populations both within Ukraine and in the neighboring countries of Poland, Romania and Moldova, and wider Europe. DRC has been operating in Ukraine since 2014, following previous operations in the 1990’s and between 2007-2013. Over the years, DRC successfully maintained its presence in the government-controlled areas (GCA) and adapted its programs to provide early recovery and durable solutions to people affected by the conflict including IDPs and communities living along the contact line, as well as reduce the threats of explosive ordnance with a growing humanitarian mine action program.

Due to the ongoing conflict that began on Feb 22, DRC opened offices in Poland, Moldova and Romania to provide support to displaced populations through a partnership with civil society organizations and national NGOs, duty bearers, and other actors. DRC continues to implement in these three countries through partnerships, technical assistance, and capacity exchange, and direct implementation in some cases.

About the Job

The MEAL Manager will work closely with the Poland Area Manager and the Programme Team to coordinate and strengthen DRC Poland’s monitoring, evaluation, learning, and accountability systems. This role will have a country focus and ensures compliance with DRC procedures and guidelines within the country. He/she will be based in Warsaw, with visits to Gdynia, Krakow, Wroclaw, Lublin, Rzeszów, Przemyśl, and Medyka, and/or additional field locations in Poland, as required.

MEAL Capacities and Commitments

• Manage and strengthen DRC’s MEAL and IM teams, including recruitments, capacity building, and performance review.
• Ensure that DRC MEAL guidance is understood and adhered to, complete the annual compliance check, and ensure areas of weakness are addressed.
• Develop a MEAL strategy in line with country needs and best MEAL practices, with practical guidelines which can be used and followed by MEAL and non-MEAL specialists.
• Ensure MEAL and IM teams’ inputs feed into the country’s strategy, proposals, and reports.
• Ensure resources for MEAL are appropriately budgeted in proposals for both Area and Base offices, including by providing guidance on minimum staffing and resources required for the implementation of high-quality MEAL activities.
• In cooperation with the IM Coordinator, ensure processes and protocols for data protection, storage, sharing, and security in the area of responsibility are established, maintained, and followed.
• Liaise with the HQ Division for Effectiveness, Knowledge, and Learning to ensure compliance with all global standards.
• Foster collaborative relationships with internal and external stakeholders within the area of responsibility.
• Act as a donor focal point for MEAL components of Programmes/Projects.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the Poland Area Manager.

Results Monitoring and Programme Quality Support

• Support the creation of the project, program, and country-based log frames and M&E plans, ensuring that indicators are SMART.
• Collate all project indicators and support Programme/Project Managers to use pre-agreed indicators for core areas of work.
• Review, improve, finalize, and roll out data collection tools, such as surveys and questionnaires, and methods developed by the MEAL Team.
• Oversee and participate in quantitative and qualitative data collection activities and analysis (e.g. key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and human-interest stories).
• Guide the regular sharing of the outputs and the M&E findings with DRC staff and Implementing Partners.
• Provide suggestions for information management solutions, including design, key features, user interfaces, automatic analysis, data mining, and automated reports.
• Contribute to project kick-off, review, and close-out meetings to present on achievements and highlight cross-project components aimed at replicating good practices and strengthening synergies between projects or programs.
• In cooperation with the MEAL Specialist, provide capacity building to MEAL and non-MEAL staff of both DRC and Implementing Partners in key areas of project planning, monitoring, evaluation, accountability, qualitative and quantitative research techniques, and analysis, including advising on and/or contributing to data collection processes, analysis, and report writing.
• In cooperation with the IM Officer, train and support DRC and Implementing Partners’ staff on data management and data quality assurance.

Accountability

• Identify, plan for, implement, and strengthen different mechanisms for community engagement and feedback in monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning.
• Coordinate the design and implementation of accountability systems for DRC projects working closely with the MEAL Specialist, the Poland Area Manager, Programme/Project Managers, and Implementing Partners.
• Build the capacity of DRC and Implementing Partners’ staff to plan and implement effective accountability systems for the country’s programs and projects.
• Act as the organizational focal point on Core Humanitarian Standards, ensuring local compliance and reviews across all standards. Liaising with regional and HQ colleagues responsible for accountability, compliance, and risk management.

Evaluation, Analysis, and Learning

• Lead and contribute (as appropriate) to analysis, evaluation, and research for data-driven evidence generation and use in the area of responsibility.
• Lead internal evaluations and supervise consultants implementing external evaluations.
• In cooperation with the MEAL Specialist, ensure key M&E findings are regularly being presented to DRC staff (incl. the Senior Management Team) and Implementing Partners (as relevant).
• Support DRC’s aim for further strengthening integrated programming and actively propose ways of achieving this using MEAL findings.
• Support utilization of results for better planning and decision making; translate MEAL findings into organizational learning; plan and implement learning events/workshops and design appropriate learning products.

About You

To be successful in this role, we expect you to have a minimum of 5 years of work experience in MEAL or M&E with I/NGO in development and/or humanitarian sectors (or a research institution). Previous working experience in similar MEAL positions will be considered a strong advantage. Moreover, we expect the following:

• A Master’s degree in Social Sciences, International Development, Statistics, or another relevant field.
• At least 3 years of direct work experience managing teams.
• Experience in developing/guiding Information Management within MEAL departments.
• Knowledgeable of data gathering processes: sampling, tool design, data collection, data cleaning, data analysis, and reporting, as well as qualitative research and analytical methods.
• Excellent skills in Microsoft Office, especially in the use of Excel for drafting and sketching data assessment models.
• Experience with KoBoToolbox; knowledge of data visualization (mainly Power BI) and statistical (e.g. SPSS/R/STATA) tools as well as of ArcGIS/QGIS and NVivo (or other qualitative analysis software) will be considered an asset.
• Full professional proficiency in English; working knowledge of Polish, Ukrainian, and/or Russian will be considered an advantage.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to establish effective working relations with staff and other stakeholders.

In this position, you are expected to demonstrate DRC’ five core competencies:

• Striving for excellence: You focus on reaching results while ensuring an efficient process.
• Collaborating: You involve relevant parties and encourage feedback.
• Taking the lead: You take ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation.
• Communicating: You listen and speak effectively and honestly.
• Demonstrating integrity: You uphold and promote the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct in relation to our values and Code of Conduct, including safeguarding against sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment

We Offer

Contract length: until 31.12.2023
Band: Management, F
Base salary range: from PLN 22850 to PLN 26489 gross per month, based on experience.
Duty station: Warsaw with frequent travels to field locations (Gdynia, Krakow, Wroclaw, Lublin, Rzeszów, Przemyśl, and Medyka, and/or additional field locations in Poland, as required).
Start date: March 1st, 2023
We offer a competitive salary and benefits in accordance with the Danish Refugee Council’s Terms of Employment for national staff