Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer- Caracas, Venezuela/National Position

****APPLICATION SUBMISSIONS IN SPANISH OR ENGLISH ARE WELCOMED/SE ACEPTAN SOLICITUDES EN ESPAÑOL O INGLÉS

About Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.
The Program 
Mercy Corps has been operating in Venezuela since 2018 implementing humanitarian and development programs, with special emphasis on water, sanitation and hygiene, health, protection, food security, and nutrition, and plays a key role in the collection, analysis, and dissemination of information relevant to the humanitarian community in the country. The team is expanding its programs at the country level and expanding its team at the country level to implement quality programs with the required attention.

MC believes that solid monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) contributes to improving the quality, performance, results and impact of programs, furthering the mission of MC VZLA, and increasing accountability to program stakeholders. MEL practices in all stages of the program management cycle are a tool that allows MC VZLA to assess the proper implementation of all its programs and the results that will be achieved in relation to the Country Strategy
The  Position 
The Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Officer will lead the MC VZLA MEL program team and oversee the work with our local partner organizations to ensure quality data collection for the programme. The Senior MEL Officer will be responsible for supporting the portfolio of all national programs in Venezuela and being the point of contact with the regional MEL leader for the Region. He/she will oversee that the tools and processes for monitoring performance and reporting results across the entire program are in place, effectively implemented, and well synchronized between program sites. The MEL Senior Officer will be a leading member of the program team's learning and reflection processes, allowing discussion and feedback from the beneficiaries of the projects carried out in the national environment.

To ensure smooth delivery of all program activities and proper monitoring and evaluation throughout program development, design and delivery, the Senior MEL Officer should use MC monitoring and evaluation tools. VZLA, as well as conform to donor MEL requirements, if necessary. In addition, the MEL officer will lead the implementation of the MC VZLA Community Accountability Reporting Mechanism (CARM).

Essential Job Responsibilities

STRATEGY AND VISION

• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment in which alternative viewpoints are welcome.
• Prioritize and organize actions and resources to achieve objectives and contribute to the national country strategy.
• Contribute to the MEL strategy through the technical strengthening of field teams and inter-organizational coordination, promoting good practices and compliance with MEL procedures.
• Ensure the quality of the data in the programs that are carried out.

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

• Supervise compliance with the minimum MEL standards required by donors.
• Lead the implementation and verification of compliance with the organization's MEL and CARM policy.
• Lead and implement training for both the MC team and its partners in organizational MEL and CARM policies, clarifying their relevance within the program cycle and the roles and responsibilities of each one.
• Create and validate the MEL plan of the projects and/or programs.
• Assist jointly with the Country Leadership Team, in presenting proposals and reports.
• Provide operational and technical support in realizing and analyzing data in diagnoses and needs assessment.
• Identify gaps in the technical capacities of the monitoring, evaluation and learning teams to propose improvement plans and capacity building.
• Manage statistics, Excel tables, graphs, simple random sampling calculations, strategy charts and monitoring boards for program management.
• Manage the data systems related to the fulfillment of indicators.
• Ensure that information is appropriately shared with other organizations operating in the same geographic areas to develop synergies, avoid duplication of beneficiaries, and maximize outreach and coverage of the needs of affected populations.
• Ensure that the information presented to donors, internally in MC and towards other actors, complies with the organization's and donors' standards.
• Prepare, review and analyze various types of reports to donors and other key stakeholders.
• Systematize findings and indicator data to support the preparation of reports for the parent company of MC, and the respective donor.
• Facilitate and promote the analysis of the results of the advanced programs.
• Support in the execution of knowledge products such as baseline and output line reports, post-distribution analysis and final evaluations (both the management of the databases and the supervision of compliance with execution times, sample sizes and data quality).
• Support developing and creating guidelines and standard processes that guarantee compliance with MC VZLA and donor standards related to follow-up, monitoring and evaluation of programs.
• When the organization deals with a humanitarian emergency project, it will support the execution of the emergency as necessary.

TEAM MANAGEMENT

• Support the training of the programmatic team, partners, and people who apply tools (surveys, etc.), systematize, carry out quality controls and feed the information into the databases.
• Be the point of contact with the MEL regional leader for the Region
• Participate in inter-institutional meetings to support coordination and communication on tools, and processes and to share good practices and harmonize tools
• Support M&E teams of partner organizations by developing tools and resources to improve performance and achieve objectives.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations, and provide constructive feedback formally and informally with regular one-on-one meetings and performance reviews.
• Maintain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive for excellence.
• Guide and direct team members as needed.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND COMPLIANCE

• Ensure compliance with the rules of donors and MC Global.
• Draft and/or review the scope of work to hire and manage any IT technical consultant, including the review of technical effectiveness and contract budget.

INFLUENCE AND REPRESENTATION

• Identify, build, and manage collaborative alliances with partners, grantees, donors, local governments, and other stakeholders.
• Communicate effectively to ensure that the general objectives of the area and the obligations of donors are met.

SECURITY

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies determined by the countries' leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

**Supervisory Responsibilities
**MEL Officer
Accountability

Reports Directly To: Team Leader
Works Directly With: The Team Leader, Medical Director, Programs Team, and coordinators in the field and the areas of operations of MC VZLA to coordinate logistics, service contracting for MEL activities and products.

**Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders
**
Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
Minimum Qualifications & Transferable Skills

• Relevant University Degree in social or administrative areas.
• Postgraduate studies related to the position (Desirable).
• A minimum of five (5) years of specific work experience implementing MEL systems for emergency, transition and development programs with international cooperation (USAID, BPRM, EU, GAC, United Nations, European Commission, ECHO, among others)
• Knowledge and experience of MEL through qualitative and quantitative methods, as well as analytical and synthesis capacity
• Knowledge of database structures, obtaining descriptive and inferential statistics and technology for data collection with mobile devices
• Ability to manage computer systems such as advanced Excel and other data management mechanisms is mandatory.
• Knowledge and experience in the use of tools for the generation of interactive graphics (dashboards) (Power BI, Tableau, Google Data Studio), desirable
• Experience in designing and programming information systems and primary data collection tools is mandatory.
• Experience in implementing MEL systems to portfolios with programmatic diversity in humanitarian, social and productive issues
• Knowledge of the problems of both the impacts of migration, disasters and poverty, as well as the humanitarian sectors
• Fluency in the English language is desirable.
• Knowledge of Sphere standards and other training in humanitarian response is preferred.

**Success Factors
**
The MEL Senior Officer is a proactive and autonomous person. Rigorous at the technical level and, at the same time, flexible and creative in solving problems given by changing contexts and needs. The MEL Senior Officer is organized, disciplined, purposeful and efficient, constantly committed to learning, and systematizes and takes into account lessons learned to improve results.It has coordination skills and can transfer knowledge with diverse multidisciplinary teams.
Possesses excellent oral and written communication skills and team management and coordination skills. It can accept constructive criticism with flexibility and empathy and recognizes his weaknesses, relying on the work team. It is committed to eradicating those unfair conditions to which the most vulnerable are subjected. It has vision and commitment for a medium/long term relationship with MC VZLA. Maintains positive and constructive personal relationships with colleagues and has a good sense of humor. Availability to travel and support activities in other areas of the country.
**Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
**
The position is based in Caracas, Venezuela and will require occasional travel to support country programs, which may include travel to insecure locations where freedom of movement is limited and areas where amenities are limited. Housing for this role is in individual housing and staff will have access to good medical services.

**Ongoing Learning
**
In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development.

**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 and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme.** 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.