Project Officer Sr - MEAL

Background

CRS is seeking Senior Project Officer, MEAL candidates for an anticipated multi-county child development, care, and protection project. The overall objective of the project is to strengthen national systems that protect vulnerable children, support families, and improve early childhood development through locally led and sustainable approaches. The project will improve outcomes for vulnerable children by strengthening child protection systems, supporting families and caregivers, advancing integrated early childhood health and development, and reducing reliance on residential care.

Job Summary 

As a monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) lead for the project team in Lesotho, the Project Officer Sr will facilitate the achievement of project objectives by coordinating and reporting on all project MEAL activities and providing MEAL-related technical guidance and advice to staff and implementing partner(s) advancing Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) work serving the poor and vulnerable. The incumbent’s coordination and relationship management skills will ensure that the project applies best practices in MEAL and constantly works towards improving the impact of its benefits to those we serve.

Roles and Key Responsibilities

• Organize and lead the implementation of all assigned project MEAL activities in-country as outlined in the Work/Detailed Implementation Plan, in line with CRS program quality principles, standards and MEAL policies, procedures, and practices; donor MEAL requirements, and industry good practices.
• Ensure learning properly accompanies project activities throughout the project cycle. Support accountability through coordinating project reflection and learning activities and guiding partners in their efforts to reflect on project experiences. Analyze implementation challenges and report any inconsistencies and gaps to inform adjustments to plans and implementation schedules. 
• Lead the roll-out and implementation of the project’s feedback and response mechanism (FRM). Support actively seeking and responding to feedback from all members of targeted communities and other stakeholders as defined by the FRM. 
• Support the collection, analysis, validation, and reporting of project and milestone data through national information systems as feasible, working with government counterparts to improve data quality, completeness, timeliness, and use for decision-making.
• Coordinate and facilitate national and sub-national consultations with government and key stakeholders to identify MEAL system strengths, gaps, priorities, and opportunities for strengthening, and support the development and implementation of agreed capacity strengthening plans.
• Provide technical assistance and mentoring to government MEAL personnel and local partners to strengthen data collection, reporting, analysis, learning, and use, while promoting the integration of project-supported tools and processes into national systems over time.
• Coordinate and oversee MEAL-related working relationships with all local project stakeholders and serve as the liaison between them and the project team to mobilize local actors and promote project activities and impact. Identify and respond to key stakeholders’ information needs in MEAL activities, using a range of appropriate communication methods.
• Supervise and perform ad hoc inspections of various MEAL processes and resources at project sites to ensure timely project activities implementation and adherence to established process standards and procedures. Ensure proper tracking of resource use for project MEAL activities through periodic budget reviews and follow-up with and assistance to implementing partner.
• Support and coordinate MEAL capacity building and technical support activities to ensure assigned project MEAL activities are implemented per project guidelines and standards. Optimize partner and government participation and capacity development in the implementation of MEAL systems.
• Coordinate provision of any MEAL-related logistical and administrative support to staff and partners.
• Ensure timely, project documentation for assigned MEAL activities is complete with all required documents and is filed per agency and donor requirements. Assist with preparation of trend analysis reports and documentation of case studies and promising practices.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in International Relations or in the field of MEAL would be a plus.
• Minimum of 4 years of work experience in project support, ideally in the field of MEAL and for an NGO.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with partners, participatory action planning and community engagement.
• Staff supervision experience.
• Experience monitoring projects and collecting relevant data.
• Experience with child protection, family strengthening, family-based care, social service systems, and/or early childhood development programs and the associated monitoring, information management, reporting, and learning requirements.
• Experience with government-led monitoring and information systems and experience identifying practical approaches to strengthen system functionality, institutional capacity, data quality, and data use in low-resource settings.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities 

• Analysis and problem-solving skills with ability to make sound judgments.
• Good relationship management skills and the ability to work closely with local partners.
• Proactive, results-oriented and service-oriented mindset.
• Attention to detail, accuracy and timeliness in executing assigned responsibilities.
• Strong understanding of child protection, family strengthening, family-based care, social service systems, and/or early childhood development programs and the associated monitoring, information management, reporting, and learning requirements.
• Demonstrated understanding of government-led monitoring and information systems and experience identifying practical approaches to strengthen system functionality, institutional capacity, data quality, and data use in low-resource settings.
• Ability to effectively use MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).

Required Languages: Sesotho and English

Travel: Must be willing and able to travel up to 50%.

Supervisory Responsibilities: No

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Catholic Relief Services works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality.  Catholic Relief Services’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance, and peacebuilding.  We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

CRS welcomes candidates from the countries and regions in which we work. In the event the successful candidate is an expatriate, the anticipated duration of the assignment is informed by a term limit, based on the type and level of the job and the needs of the agency.

CRS is committed to safeguarding program participants, community members, staff and volunteers from all forms of exploitation and abuse.  The successful candidate is expected to sign and adhere to CRS´ Code of Conduct.

CRS talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to safeguarding the rights and dignity of all people - especially children and vulnerable adults - to live free from abuse and harm.

Disclaimer:  This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position. 

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

General Requirements

CRS offers are contingent on the selected candidate’s ability to legally work where the position is to be performed. Every government has a unique set of work permit eligibility requirements.  All positions requiring residence or frequent travel outside a home country must undergo and clear a pre-employment medical clearance; some work permit processes require clearing a separate government administered medical examination.

CRS prioritizes candidates who are citizens/ permanent residents of the countries where we have CRS offices.