Monitoring and Evaluation Officer

Background

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is a global, nonprofit organization that strives to share God’s love and compassion for all through relief, development and peace - www.mcc.org.

Established in 1921, MCC has almost 100 years of experience in peacebuilding, disaster response and development and has had an ongoing presence in the Middle East since the 1960s. MCC primarily works through national partnerships to improve the lives of local communities.

MCC is an equal opportunity employer, committed to employment equity. MCC values diversity and invites all qualified candidates to apply.

Start Date: As soon as possible

Benefits: Severance, medical insurance, children education benefits and vacation days

Hours: 40 hours per week (9:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday; occasional nights and weekends.

Contract: One-year contract with 3-month probation period. This can possibly be renewed based on performance and organization needs.

Synopsis:

The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer will provide support to the relief, development and peacebuilding projects in Lebanon.

Based in Beirut, the worker is primarily tasked with supporting partners with Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting (PMER). Responsibilities for this include field visits, support with proposals and reports, evaluation work, and communications. Other responsibilities for this position will include advocacy work, translation work, supporting program visits, logistics and administrative tasks for various capacity building trainings, coordinating with external stakeholders, and a willingness to support MCC’s mission in other tasks.

Qualifications (necessary skills, experience, and education):  

Education

• Bachelor’s degree required. Degree in international development, humanitarian assistance, social work or related field preferred.

Experience

• Essential:
  • 1-2 years’ experience in monitoring and evaluation
  • Experience with project planning, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting
  • Experience of budgeting, financial management and monitoring
• Desirable:
  • Previous experience with NGOs of civil society organizations
  • Familiarity with M&E tools (i.e., KAP surveys, Most Significant Change)
  • Familiarity with Logframes and/or Theory of Change
  • Experience with advocacy work (influencing public policy and undertaking local and national advocacy initiatives)

Skills/abilities

• Essential:
  • Strong writing, communication, and organizational skills
  • Strong relational skills to interact with different partners
  • Ability to understand and advise on the challenges that local partners (NGOs & CSOs) face
  • Ability to analyze narrative and financial documents in order to monitor and evaluate project success
  • Proven organizational and administrative skills
  • Fluency in Arabic and English (written and spoken)
  • Computer literate in Word, Excel and Outlook
• Desirable:
  • Ability to expand partner’s understanding of PMER through empowering methods
  • Ability in capacity building of small NGOs/CSOs including identifying needs and providing support
  • Ability of monitoring of projects in the field and/or at a distance
  • Ability to think strategically about projects and program
  • Awareness of gender and protection issues
  • Ability in planning and carrying out training sessions for local CSOs/NGOs
  • Training in financial risk management

Personal qualities

• Essential:
  • Self-disciplined with ability to work proactively, using own initiative
  • Appreciation for the variety of faith perspectives in Lebanon and ability to respectfully interact with people of all faiths
  • Understanding of the complexity of the Syrian conflict, openness to listen to all perspectives without judgment, and ability to focus on a politically neutral humanitarian response
  • Friendly, faithful, and respectful of confidential information
  • Maturity, flexibility, sense of humor necessary
  • Ability to work as part of a team, to focus under pressure, and to work on tight timelines in support of MCC’s mission
  • Capacity to show compassion in crisis situations, balanced with the ability to be objective enough to overcome distress and adhere to stated program goals
  • Strong coping skills and ability to balance self-care with workload
• Desirable:
  • Highly reflective and committed to developing themselves and others through reflective ongoing learning
  • Demonstrated interest and involvement in issues of justice, compassion, and mercy
  • Creative and innovative approach to work

Assignment Narrative: (background information, accountability & support structure, schedule requirements) 

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), an international NGO established in 1921, has almost 100 years of experience in peacebuilding, disaster response and development and has had an ongoing presence in the Middle East since the 1960s.

Since February 2012, MCC has been responding to the Syrian crisis through numerous local partner organizations in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, and to the Iraq crisis since 2014  in the areas of food assistance, shelter, WASH, NFIs, peacebuilding, protection, health, education, and psychosocial support. In Lebanon MCC is also programming work with host communities, vulnerable Lebanese populations, and Palestinian refugees.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer reports to the MCC Program Coordinator and Lebanon Representatives. She/he will maintain regular office hours, 9:00 – 17:00, Monday-Friday. She/he is expected to occasionally work nights and/or weekends, especially during conferences or times when there are program deadlines.

The person filling this assignment will be primarily responsible for monitoring and evaluation work with partners in Lebanon. This will include field visits, support with proposals and reports, evaluation work, and communications. Additional responsibilities will include advocacy work, translation work, supporting program visits, logistics and administrative tasks for various capacity building trainings, coordinating with external stakeholders, and a willingness to support MCC’s mission in other tasks.

Duties (specific tasks & responsibilities):

Program

• Work with program staff to support partners in PMER
• Field visit to partners in different locations in Lebanon to strengthen programming and partner relationships
• An openness to conduct various trainings with partners in areas such as M&E
• Assist MCC program staff with concept papers, proposals, budgets, narrative and financial reports, completion reports, and evaluations
• Assist MCC program staff in the preparation of new project proposals, including external grants
• Collect stories, photos, and videos from partner projects to support MCC’s communications
• Assist MCC in translation work (written and spoken) to support programming
• Support MCC program visits to Lebanon with logistics and hosting
• Logistical and administrative support for various capacity building trainings and partner conferences
• If possible, attend coordination meetings to coordinate, become aware of external grants, and build relationships with other INGOs/NGOs
• Develop contacts and relationships with relevant external agencies (local government, national government, community based and NGO entities) to enhance program implementation and sustainability

General

• Attend MCC partner conferences and program retreats.
• Attend MCC weekly staff meetings.
• A willingness to help with various tasks to support MCC’s mission.
• A willingness to work extra hours when necessary (i.e., reporting periods).
• Communicate regularly with Lebanon Representatives.
• Model non-violent peacemaking in the workplace and community through respectful interactions with others.

Challenges:

• The worker must be willing to adhere to security guidelines and heed the advice of local partners and the MCC Representatives on security issues relating to programming.
• At certain times of the year, reporting deadlines may lead to heavier than normal workloads.
• Meetings or activities with partners can occur in the evenings or on the weekends. Flexibility will be needed.