Cash Assistance MEL Coordinator (Applications will only be accepted if submitted through the URL link provided below)

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.

Mercy Corps has been present in the Middle East since the 1980s and currently works in Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq. Working in Lebanon since 1993, Mercy Corps is committed to generating positive opportunities for women, men, boys and girls from Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian communities, with a strong focus on engaging youth.  Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping build secure, productive and just communities. Our programs focus on four sectors:  Economic Opportunities, Governance and Social Stability, Youth and Humanitarian interventions. The Mercy Corps Lebanon team consists of over 150 staff working across four offices throughout Mount Lebanon, South Lebanon, Tripoli and the Bekaa.

Program Summary

Mercy Corps will oversee the Multipurpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) programmes across the country, serving Lebanon’s most vulnerable households affected by the multiple crises in Lebanon, and that are not served by other cash actors to help them meet their basic needs. Building on analysis from our in-house Lebanon Crisis Analytics Team (LCAT) to identify targeted areas in Bekaa and Baalbek El-Hermel, Mercy Corps will employ vulnerability-based targeting to select households for assistance. In order to facilitate an exit strategy from cash assistance, Mercy Corps will also apply a referral mechanism with other key actors in targeted areas, particularly livelihoods programming for those eligible as well as social safety nets. In addition, Mercy Corps will pair the cash assistance and provide referrals with relevant analysis from LCAT to inform both the action and the broader humanitarian community. Together this will achieve the principal objective of reducing economic suffering and protection risks.

General Position Summary

The cash assistance MEL Coordinator will oversee the development, implementation and quality assurance of all SAFER program’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) activities. This will include ensuring the quality of the program’s MEL activities, information management via the programs reporting system (which may be tied with Mercy Corps’ proprietary TOLA systems), and geographic information systems (GIS), where applicable. In the event of an emergency response, the cash MEL coordinator will also act as the MEL response lead and will think of how the program can and should measure outcome oriented results so the program can speak to larger level results

The Cash Assistance MEL Coordinator’s role is to also oversee and ensure coordination of the various technical areas across the MEL staff of the program, and other relevant program staff and components.

The Cash Assistance MEL Coordinator is responsible for leading the systems, strategy, and actualization of the recruitment, onboarding, development, and supervision of the MEL team, ensuring they have the skills needed to perform their roles at a high level, and have opportunities for growth within and outside the team. They will support the team with adequate professional development opportunities such as training on MEL and MEL technologies.

The Cash Assistance MEL Coordinator will oversee programmatic learning agendas, research, and evaluations. They will lead on developing a clear MEL workplan for the program. They will also ensure that data is available at key decision-making moments and will promote use of the data for learning and adaptive management practices at all levels of decision making. The Cash Assistance MEL Coordinator will be responsible in ensuring data privacy, data security and data quality requirements are met for MEL data, overseeing DQAs and making appropriate systemic adjustments as needed. The Cash Assistance MEL Coordinator will identify opportunities for deeper learning and working closely with the program team to support knowledge generation and sharing.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Monitoring & Evaluation

• • Ensure the maintenance and update of an adequate MEL system, including all tools and data collection processes for program activities;
  • Ensure the maintenance and update of the Cash MEL Plan and SoP using existing Mercy Corps resources and developing new ones, that include clear step by step guidance, processes, roles and responsibilities on all relevant MEL activities;
  • Coordinate the maintenance and update of databases, dashboards, data flows, and tool matrices in accordance with MC and global best practices;
  • Coordinate MEL activities and MEL teams’ workplan, including data collection processes and strategies, data analysis and report writing;
  • Coordinate the work of all contractors/enumerators involved in data collection activities and review their standards for data collection;
  • Supervise the day-to-day work and train MEL project team members and partners on their MEL responsibilities;
  • In the event of an emergency response, the cash MEL coordinator will also act as the MEL response lead and be the main focal point for all monitoring and evaluation efforts including, verification processes, post distribution monitoring, market monitoring..
  • Act as the MEL focal point for MC Lebanon’s cash and humanitarian portfolio, including contributing to the development of standardized tools for this sector, reporting on portfolio-level achievements, actively contributing to MCL MEL community of practice, and collaborating on the MEL design for the program proposals.
  • Address any other task assigned by the Program Manager;

Research & Learning

• • Coordinate the maintenance, roll out and use of the cash program learning agenda with the program team and the PaQ team as well as Mercy Corps’ senior management and the LCAT team;
  • Ensure that lessons learned throughout the project are captured and communicated to internal and external stakeholders through appropriate channels; and facilitate learning sessions as needed;

Data Management, Analysis, Reporting, and Integration of Data into Decision Making

• • Coordinate the collection, analysis and reporting of program data to ensure accurate reporting on key program indicators and actively contribute to program reporting for MEL sections.
  • Coordinate data collection and maintenance analysis systems including post-distribution monitoring results and end-of program analysis;
  • Maintain existing program data and information management systems for program data, including by maintaining the program PowerBi Dashboard and ensuring reports/information are available for program implementation staff as required;
  • Work closely with the Program Manager to ensure data analysis and reports are integrated into programmatic decision making to improve impact of the program;
  • Ensure reporting of program achievements on TOLA, Activity Info, and other relevant reporting mechanisms;

Team Management

• • Supervise the work of the cash program MEL team and assist team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance and reach objectives;
  • Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on ones and performance reviews;
  • Contribute to creating and sustaining a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence;
  • Hire, orient and lead MEL team members as necessary;

Capacity Building

• Coordinate the capacity building of MEL team members in coordination with the PaQ team, including by delivering of MEL trainings for teammates and enumerators on data collection and data analysis tools;
• Coordinate the production of a needs assessment for the implementing partners and determine a M&E training plan and tools to support staff;
• Contribute to building the capacity of all relevant MEL team members to develop and maintain a robust M&E system, deepen understanding of their roles and assist with career development;
• Review partner reports and provide feedback and comments to improve reporting quality;

Accountability

• Coordinate with the program’s Community Accountability and Reporting Mechanism (CARM) team and the PaQ team to feed into systems that promote community accountability by ensuring that communities participate in initial assessments and program design;
• Coordinate with program teams to ensure that communities are informed about our programs and what we do, are aware of their entitlements, are comfortable to give feedback and that feedback is used to improve the quality of our programs;
• Ensure all activities are gender sensitive and follow Mercy Corps’ Gender Equity Policy;
• Apply Do No Harm standards to ensure activities do not have detrimental effects on vulnerable communities;
• Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and not jeopardize its humanitarian mission;
• Other assigned tasks, as necessary.

Organizational Learning 

As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Supervisory Responsibility

The Cash Assistance MEL Coordinator will line-manage two MEL Officers.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: PAQ manager

Works Directly With: Program Manager, Cash advisor, Sr. Grants Coordinator, Regional PAQ team, CARM coordinator, LCAT team

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our project participants guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging participating communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs, and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Knowledge and Experience

• • BA/S or equivalent, preferable in social sciences, business administration, public administration or international development or other relevant disciplines required. MA/S in similar relevant fields strongly preferred;
  • At least 3 to 5 years of experience building or operating MEL systems in humanitarian programs, with cash programming MEL experience being a great asset.
  • Experience working in target areas (Bekaa and Baalbek El-Hermel) is an asset;
  • Experience working with MEL for cash and voucher assistance programming is a strong asset;
  • Extensive experience with field survey/data collection techniques, data entry, data verification, and analysis;
  • Proven use of technology for MEL functions;
  • Previous experience working with international and/or local NGOs;
  • Advanced computer skills and experience developing data management systems such as Commcare/ODK/KOBO/ONA are required;
  • Advanced data visualization skills and experience using PowerBI or similar software are an asset;
  • Strong team supervision and capacity building, coordination, listening, and consensus building skills;
  • Ability to prepare clear and concise reports;
  • Ability to manage and meet deadlines and to work independently on multi-task load;
  • Excellent communication and organizational skills;
  • Fluency in written and oral English and Arabic required;
  • Experience in quantitative and qualitative research is an advantage;
  • Experience in statistics and statistical software is an advantage.

Success Factors

The successful Cash Assistance MEL Coordinator will be bright, energetic, hard-working and eager to learn.  They will take a deep personal interest in humanitarian and development assistance.  They will be attentive to detail and able to carry out assigned tasks in a timely manner and according to a very high standard of quality. They will be creative and flexible, contributing to developing and encouraging new and innovative solutions, but at the same time will not have any difficulty in adhering to systems and procedures. They will strictly follow all protocols related to safety and security, and holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Mercy Corps’ values.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct eLearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.