Vacancy title:
Program Manager (PM) II, DFSA MEAL Manager

Jobs at:
Catholic Relief Services

Deadline of this Job:
22nd February, 2017

Duty Station:
Kampala, Uganda

Job details:
Reports to: DFSA Chief of Party

About US:
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in an international non-profit organization that carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners’ people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.

About USAID FFP Project:
CRS will be submitting a proposal in response to the 2017 USAID Food for Peace (FFP) Development Food Security Activities (DFSA) Request for Applications (RFA). CRS Uganda will serve as the prime on the application and will develop the proposal in consortium with other international non-governmental organizations, local implementing partners and international/national research institutions. The proposed program will involve a multi-sectoral response to addressing food insecurity and malnutrition in Karamoja sub-region in northern Uganda. The estimated timeframe for this program is 2017-2022.

Job Summary: The Program Manager (PM) II, DFSA MEAL Manager will design, manage, strengthen and provide strategic direction to the Uganda DFSA’s MEAL system, ensuring cross-learning in MEAL among Uganda-based projects, as well as collaborating on learning across CRS’ food security and nutrition projects in the Horn of Africa and collaborating with MEAL counterparts on learning across DFSA initiatives within Uganda.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:
Strategy and Design:
• Provide strategic high level feedback, analysis and interpretation throughout the program startup and implementation processes.
• Ensure that the DFSA MEAL systems are in compliance with CRS’ global and regional policies, procedures, standards and strategic initiatives, and USAID/FFP MEAL and Reporting Policies and guidance.
• Provide strategic direction for the development and maintenance of MEAL systems and the roll-out of new initiatives.
• Support the project team and MEAL team in the design and implementation of assessments, gender analysis, stakeholder analysis, organizational capacity assessments and other pre-program data collection and analysis.
• Ensure the consistency of indicators and tools across all partners, sectors, and programs as appropriate, maintaining a bank of key program indicators.
• Support programming staff to incorporate participatory methods into community level MEAL systems and tools.
• The incumbent will collect and analyze lessons learned and best practices from previous and ongoing programs capturing the impact of activities to ensure they feed into the DFSA strategy as appropriate.
• Leverage lessons learned, best practices, program data, evaluations and other information to generate donor communication pieces, proposal annexes, success stories, case studies and other high-quality, results-based documentation.
MEAL Implementation:
• Lead mandated evaluations, needs assessments, annual surveys, case studies and other research efforts.
• Develop DFSA MEAL operating manual using SMILER coaching methodology to ensure complete, up-to-date, high quality MEAL system, containing essential data collection tools, data flow maps and analysis plans to address need to know information for program quality and donor reporting.
• Manage agency level MEAL requirements (e.g. annual data quality assessments, beneficiary count reporting and MEAL Policies and Procedures self-assessments).
• Significantly contribute to donor reports through high quality project data interpretation and report inputs.
• Lead the project MEAL team to strategically prepare and review MEAL calendars and work plans.
• Support learning-to-action events and reflection sessions to systematically analyze data to promote adaptive management and to document and incorporate lessons learned into program design and implementation.
• Ensure MEAL and program teams regularly review and adjust MEAL plans and tools as needed by the project context.
• Ensure that transparent high quality accountability mechanisms, including beneficiary feedback and response mechanisms, are in place for the DFSA and are regularly discussed at the appropriate level with necessary responses and feedback documented.
• Ensure that beneficiary feedback is adequately captured, addressed, analyzed and used by program team.
Capacity Strengthening:
• Collaborate with the Uganda Country Program MEAL Manager on the Uganda MEAL Community of Practice to share learning, resources, and support across offices.
• Develop and co-facilitate MEAL workshops and modules for staff and partners to share country program, regional and global MEAL tools, processes and best practices to cultivate a culture of learning.
• Carry out orientations for new DFSA program staff on CRS systems and key MEAL resources.
• Provide mentoring to CRS and partner DFSA staff to increase capacity and to achieve annual performance and development plans.
• Remain updated with developments among the CRS MEAL community and worldwide MEAL trends and resources to ensure the DFSA MEAL team is applying CRS MEAL guidance and policies appropriately and in a timely manner.
• Carry out field monitoring visits events frequently with project teams and implementing partners.
• Send timely feedback to senior DFSA program and MEAL staff to improve the overall MEAL system and ensure quality implementation of MEAL activities.
ICT for MEAL:
• Support the DFSA MEAL and program team to develop strong project tracking, record keeping and filing methodologies for all activities
• Work closely with MEAL and IT staff to maximize the value and utility of ICT4D in MEAL initiatives.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
• The ideal candidate for the Program Manager (PM) II, DFSA MEAL Manager job placement must hold a Master’s degree in economics, agricultural economics, statistics, bio-statistics, nutrition or other relevant subject with strong quantitative background.
• A minimum of eight years’ experience working in a development setting preferably with an international NGO, with at least six years of experience progressively increasing MEAL responsibility in international development projects and at least two years of experience as a supervisor; Title II and ICT4D experience preferred. The candidate must have experience in leading the M&E of a large project.
• Previous exposure and experience working with large donors, USAID/FFP and/or USAID/FTF preferred.
• Strong conceptual knowledge about theories of change, logic model, food and nutrition security indicators, M&E plan, data quality assurance, data utilization and gender integration into M&E.
• Significant experience and expertise in developing and operationalizing a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation plan; familiarity with FFP M&E and Reporting Policy and Guidance for the components of an M&E plan.
• Demonstrated expertise and experience in developing and operationalizing routine monitoring system designed to track both output and outcome indicators from project design to implementation (including work with results frameworks and theories of change) as well as building staff capacity to utilize systems; experience with participatory MEAL system required.
• Strong quantitative background and demonstrated expertise in designing annual monitoring surveys including probabilistic sampling strategy and estimating sample size, developing appropriate weights and analyze quantitative data; including previous experience with leading and managing studies and consultants.
• Demonstrated expertise in designing qualitative studies, in-depth knowledge about qualitative sampling and experienced in using interview and interactive tools to generate qualitative information and analysis.
• Experienced in developing data quality assurance strategies, data management and data visualization; including proficiency in database development/management, SPSS, Stata, EPI-Info, Access, Excel and skills in analyzing, interpreting and communicating information to various stakeholders.
• Demonstrated expertise and experience in data utilization strategies and can creatively think about active data sharing techniques.
• Agency-Wide Competences (for all CRS Staff): Serves with Integrity, Models Stewardship, Cultivates Constructive Relationships, Promotes Learning

Program Manager Competencies: These are rooted in the mission, values and principles of CRS and used by each program manager to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results.
• Sets clear goals and manages toward them
• Collaborates effectively with staff and stakeholders
• Manages financial resources with integrity
• Applies program quality standards to project design and organizational learning
Key MEAL Competencies (specific for this position)
• MEAL in Design: Developing project-level Theories of Change, Results Frameworks, Proframes, related MEAL system tools and components, and accompanying MEAL narratives.
• Monitoring: Implementing monitoring activities, including timely collection of quality data, set up and maintenance of databases, facilitation of participatory reflection on monitoring results, and submission of timely progress reports.
• Evaluation: Supporting project and program evaluations and reviews by ensuring the quality of evaluation methods, tools, and data and facilitating the use of evaluation results to inform decision-making and enhance learning
• Accountability: Improving our accountability to a range of stakeholders through increased participation, transparent communication, responsive feedback mechanisms and adherence to internal and external quality standards and requirements.
• Learning: Promoting excellent knowledge management and collaborative learning processes at the project, program and institutional levels, generating robust evidence for project and programmatic learning that leads to action, decision-making and influence.
• Analysis and Critical Thinking: Engaging with data, challenging biases and assumptions, posing thoughtful questions, pursuing deeper understanding of evidence through reflection and perspective-taking, and making informed programming decisions.
• ICT for MEAL: Applying knowledge on information and communication technologies (ICT), both hardware and software, for opportune and accurate data collection, database management.

Job application procedure
All suitably qualified and interested candidates are encouraged to send a cover letter, updated CV and three work references (names and contact information only) to ug_recruitment@crs.org