Senior monitoring, evaluation and learning - delegate

Purpose

The American Red Cross (ARC) seeks an experienced manager with an extensive background and strong technical skills in Monitoring and Evaluation and Knowledge Management, to lead and oversee the Quality and Learning unit of the Haiti Delegation.
This is a full time position for a minimum of 366 days with the possibility of extension. This is an unaccompanied post. The American Red Cross (ARC) is planning to implement several new programs in Haiti over the coming 2-3 years. The flagship program is the Integrated Neighborhood Approach (“LAMIKA”), an urban development program incorporating housing, public infrastructure (alleys, drainage, ravine rehabilitation, etc.), public buildings, health, disaster risk reduction (DRR), water and sanitation (WATSAN) and livelihoods. The activities in each of these sectors will be implemented in a community participatory approach.

The other major project is the Integrated Health/DRR/WATSAN project. This project will use an innovative approach to integrate standard Red Cross community-based activities, including community-based health and first aid (CBHFA), community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR), and WATSAN. This project will be implemented in partnership and close cooperation with the Haitian Red Cross. Other directly-implemented projects include DRR activities and the construction of a community disaster management center, Cholera prevention and treatment, HIV prevention for at risk youth, transitioning health activities from camp to neighborhood, some ongoing emergency DRR in informal settlements and some other WATSAN activities.Finally, the ARC is implementing important, large-scale health, WATSAN and construction projects through implementing partners.

ARC monitoring and evaluation

The oversight and strategy for Monitoring and Evaluation activities for ARC international programs are managed by a Headquarters-based (NHQ) M&E Unit, which includes an M&E advisor and an M&E Analyst dedicated to supporting the Haiti Program. The functions of the NHQ M&E Unit include setting standards:

• Leading the development of tools, guidance and training materials; providing technical assistance on project design, M&E plans and M&E budgets;
• Supervising and at times directly managing M&E-related activities.
• Provides technical guidance and support to the Haiti Q&L Unit across the entire range of activities that the Q&L Unit performs.
• In particular, the NHQ M&E Advisor works closely with, and serves as the primary technical resource to the Haiti Senior MEL Delegate.
• Finally, there are some M&E-related activities in Haiti that are directly managed by the NHQ M&E Unit, such as sector meta-evaluations, program-level evaluations and formative research.

Quality and learning unit

The primary goal of the Quality and Learning (Q&L) Unit—which is based in Port au Prince, Haiti—is to provide the ARC Haiti Delegation with the tools, oversight and technical guidance necessary to assure that projects and programs are designed, implemented, monitored and evaluated to high standards of quality, that data is captured to inform decision-making and that lessons are learned and used to inform future programming. The work of the Q&L Unit is centered on five key activities:

• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Information and Reporting
• Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning
• MIS (Management Information System) and GIS (Geographic Information System)
• Accountability to Beneficiaries

The Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Delegate will be responsible for managing the Q&L Unit, which comprises two expatriate delegates (Monitoring & Evaluation Delegate, Information & Reporting Delegate) and 10 national staff. The Senior MEL Delegate reports directly to the Country Representative and is a member of the Senior Management Team in Haiti.

Responsibilities

Q&L Unit management

• Serve as line manager of all staff working in the Quality and Learning Unit, and recruit, manage and train Q&L staff
• Manage the Q&L Unit budget
• Transfer relevant knowledge and skills to the Q&L team through on-the-job coaching
Technical input, assistance and supervision (Q&L Unit)
• Support Senior Management in the strategic planning process
• Provide technical input in the development and review of project and program proposals
• Provide technical assistance to Sector Leads in the development of project and program M&E plans and in the budgeting of M&E activities
• Provide technical support (or serve as technical lead) in the planning and implementation of all budgeted M&E activities not manage d by NHQ M&E Unit
• Facilitate the gathering of information needed to fulfill regular reporting requirements and provide oversight on internal and external reporting products
• Organize and contribute to training sessions related to M&E, cross-cutting themes and systems that enhance program efficiency and effectiveness
• Design and oversee internal surveys related to staff satisfaction and other management issues

Quality control (Q&L Unit)

• Ensure that M&E activities implemented by the Haiti Delegation and by implementing partners follow commonly-accepted best practice and reach the highest levels of quality possible in design, implementation, analysis and reporting
• Ensure the quality of all information gathered and used to inform the design and ongoing management of all projects and programs in Haiti and reported to external parties
• Develop new processes and tools—and review and analyze existing ones—in order to strengthen program management, M&E planning, data collection, analysis and reporting in coordination with the NHQ M&E Unit to ensure sharing and common standards
• Support the design and coordination of internal program reviews, including NHQ technical staff and senior management field visits
• Design and oversee regular data quality audits

Monitoring & database (Q&L Unit)

• Manage the provision of technical assistance to Sector Leads in the monitoring of results, process and client satisfaction for all sector projects
• Liaise with implementing partners in order to assure that monitoring systems are well-designed and monitoring data are shared with the American Red Cross on a regular basis
• Develop and manage a Management Information System (MIS) database to support data collection, analysis and reporting needs
• Manage the collection, processing, analysis and use of geo-tagged data, and assure that geo-tagged data is incorporated effectively in the MIS database

Evaluative activities (Q&L Unit)

• Serve as technical lead in the design of evaluative activities (baseline/endline surveys, midterms reviews, project evaluations, program evaluations, etc.) and works with Sector Leads to draft and review Terms of Reference
• Work with Sector Leads to ensure that the recruitment and management of external consultants for evaluative activities meet quality standards, and taking the lead as required and agreed
• Assure the quality of data collection and analysis performed for all evaluative activities
• Provide technical comments on draft reports from evaluative activities and manages the input from Sector Leads and other Haiti staff as appropriate
• Manage oversight of implementing partners on the design and management of evaluative activities and on the recruitment of external consultants

Knowledge management & Organizational learning (Q&L Unit)

• Ensure that lessons learned from evaluative activities are integrated into the knowledge base of the Haiti Delegation, are shared with Sector Leads and Senior Management on a regular basis and are used to inform decision-making concerning ongoing and future projects/programs
• Conduct regular reporting and review sessions with Sector Leads and Senior Management to flag issues for resolution and to promote cross-sectorial learning and sharing of good practice

Qualifications

• Demonstrated, substantive experience (at least seven years) in a field-based senior management and/or senior advisor position—responsible for Monitoring and Evaluation and Knowledge Management at the national level—for a humanitarian or development organization working in developing countries (preferably in a post-disaster context)
• Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s preferred.
• Demonstrated experience in designing and assuring the quality of logical frameworks and Monitoring and Evaluation plans and budgets for large-scale, multi-sectorial, multi-million USD national programs
• Demonstrated experience in designing and personally leading project and program evaluations (i.e. working as the evaluator, as opposed to managing consultants)
• Demonstrated experience in drafting terms of reference for external evaluations and in recruiting and managing external consultants for evaluative activities (baseline/endline surveys, project evaluations, program evaluations, meta-evaluations, etc.)
• Demonstrated expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research methods (including surveys with multistage complex designs, focus group discussions, case studies, formative research, etc.); experience with quality assurance systems an advantage
• Experience in managing diverse partnerships, including with parallel funders, implementing agencies, governments authorities and local partners
• Experience in team management (including recruiting, training, mentoring and managing staff); experience with project management an advantage
• Experience in designing and managing systems that strengthen cross-sectorial knowledge sharing and organizational-wide learning
• Experience in designing and managing management information system (MIS) databases, preferably with systems that incorporated geo-tagged data; experience in managing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) an advantage
• Experience in designing and leading training sessions on M&E-related material
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

Language requirements

 Fluency in English required, fluency in French an advantage