MEAL Coordinator

Location: Ukraine – Lviv with regular deployments to Dnipro and Odessa

Duration: 12 months renewable 

Conditions: Employment contract, gross monthly salary between Euro 3,105 - Euro 3,354.  Moving allowance to Lviv, Euro 600 lump sum.  Annual leave of 28 days per fiscal year.

Starting date: January 2023

CARE INTERNATIONAL

CARE International (CI) is among the world’s largest international non-governmental humanitarian relief and development confederations. Drawing on more than 75 years of experience, through its 21 Members, as both a practitioner and thought leader, CI’s work reaches over 100 countries worldwide to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice. 

CARE’s vision is to seek a world of hope, inclusion, and social justice; where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. CARE focuses heavily on women and girls, and the areas of gender equality, diversity, and inclusion are at the center of our work because we know that we cannot overcome poverty and social injustice until all people have equal rights and opportunities. We recognize that power relations between people and within systems and structures are unequal and that these are entrenched in our broader systems, structures, and institutions. 

At the core of the CI Confederation is a globally distributed Secretariat, which provides coordination and support to its Members in areas including governance, strategic planning, communications, membership development and accountability, advocacy, humanitarian response, and program development. In addition, the Secretariat represents the CI Confederation at the United Nations and the European Union, and with other external stakeholders.

Context in Ukraine

On 24th February 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marked a significant escalation to the conflict that started in 2014. It continues to profoundly impact the lives of people across the country at various levels. The front line is continuously shifting and there are areas controlled by Russian forces as well as cities under siege. Aerial attacks on military installations and critical civilian infrastructures are conducted in the whole territory of Ukraine, often resulting in collateral civilian casualties. The conflict has caused the largest population movement in Europe since World War II, with 6.24 million displaced within Ukraine and 7.68 million refugees having fled to neighboring countries. By October 26, OCHA had counted 17.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. 

Amid the upcoming winter, which is anticipated to be the worst in decades, at least one-third of the country’s energy infrastructure is damaged, leaving millions without heating and access to water. In October, the Russian Federation claimed to have annexed four Ukrainian oblasts, further increasing the challenge of access to these areas. Therefore, in addition to preparing the population for the approaching winter, an ongoing priority for the international humanitarian response is to secure access to recently liberated and recaptured areas in the East and to provide aid to previously unreachable and particularly hard-hit areas of Ukraine.  

CARE UKRAINE

As a new actor in Ukraine, CARE prioritizes a locally led response and is partnering primarily with Civil-Society Organizations (CSOs), National NGOs, local authorities, and when needed, INGOs with a longstanding presence in the country and access to hard-to-reach areas. CARE Ukraine deliberately and strategically prioritizes partnerships with local and national Women Led and Women Rights organizations (WLO’s/ WRO’s), further strengthening the Gender in Emergencies (GiE) principle and the Women Lead in Emergencies (WLiE) approach. 

In the first few weeks after the escalation of the war, virtually all humanitarian aid inside Ukraine was organized and implemented by local actors. These groups (together with local authorities) remain the principal aid providers but are quickly being exhausted of funds, fuel, and physical energy. Thereby, a considerable proportion of CARE’s resources is dedicated to strengthening and supporting the capacities of local partners. 

As of November 2022, CARE Ukraine has established partnerships with twelve local/national organizations (incl. four WLO’s/WRO’s) and five international NGOs. From the more than 28 million that have been raised for Ukraine thus far, more than half is allocated to local/national partners. Through the activities that have been implemented so far, CARE Ukraine has been able to reach 550,030 people, including IDPs and affected populations in hard-to-reach areas. 

While CARE Ukraine’s office is currently located in Lviv, we are continuously working on strategically expanding CARE’s presence and reach with plans to open an office in Kyiv as well as field offices in Dnipro and Odessa, covering both the East and South of the country. 

Role Objectives

The purpose of the MEAL Coordinator position is to ensure the MEAL requirements per projects are fulfilled with a strong focus on outcomes monitoring, quality standards and impact evaluations. One important component of the role is about institutional learning to contribute to adaptative management with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of programs and of assistance delivered to project participants.  Due to the locally led nature of CARE humanitarian response in Ukraine, the role includes a strong focus on building the capacities of implementing partners while recognizing their extensive knowledge and experience on the local context. The MEAL Coordinator is working under the supervision of the MEAL Manager. S/he manages the MEAL Officers (currently 3 persons).Role Responsibilities:

1. MEAL Systems and Processes

• Support MEAL Officers to ensure all active projects have a detailed MEAL framework and workplan up to date including all agreed upon donors’ indicators and relevant CARE global indicators with clearly identified methodologies, tools and responsibilities to monitor the progress of these indicators throughout the project cycle providing specific attention to gender and women’s empowerment impact measurement indicators, systems and processes
• Ensure effective scheduling of MEAL activities by keeping updated one overall MEAL workplan including the different reporting schedules and MEAL workplans for all ongoing projects ensuring coordination with program focal points to align MEAL activities with relevant sectorial activities and priorities
• Conduct the MEAL session during the kick-off meeting for new projects ensuring implementing teams (CARE and partners) understand the MEAL requirements before the start of the project’s implementation
• Ensure proper monitoring field visits are conducted for each project by MEAL Officers on a weekly basis and participate to relevant field visit regularly.

2. MEAL Tools and Activities

• Lead the technical development or review of all required MEAL tools for new projects in coordination with MEAL officer and MEAL staff from partners (including but not limited to baseline surveys, assessment tools, registration tools, distribution lists, surveys tools for PDM or PAM, focus group discussion, onsite quality checklist, etc.) with the support of the Information Management Coordinator for outputs monitoring and reach data
• Ensure outcome monitoring tools and quality checklists are available, updated and used with a specific focus on ensuring that adequate gender and power analysis has taken place 
• Develop, review and document progress under gender markers, resilience markers and governance markers in line with the standards and methodologies promoted by CARE International
• Lead in conducting the different studies, evaluations, and research at project level that are designed to be implemented internally and develop TORs for those designed to be implemented externally in consultation with relevant technical managers ensuring that evaluations pay particular attention to gender and women’s empowerment and the potential negative consequences of CARE’s action

3. Reporting

• Ensure the monthly reporting requirements and schedules are met by working closely with MEAL officers and MEAL staff from partners to ensure timely and quality data, collection, analysis, and reporting (monthly requirements includes narrative, indicators tracking tables, 5W report and FAM report)
• Ensure all MEAL reports produced by partners are reviewed by MEAL officers, ensure constructive feedback is given to partner staff with relevant follow and support provided.
• Coordinate and compile MEAL inputs for interim and final donors reporting reviewing all incoming MEAL data from staff, third party monitoring (TPM) and partners
• Participate in regular progress review meetings organised by grant managers for all active projects to provide updates about MEAL activities and progress

4. Accountability and Learning

• Review monthly reports received from partners to generate learning and contribute to adaptative management, facilitate decision making and inform program design
• Promote organizational learning and ensure timely documentation, publication and sharing of lessons learned and successful approaches from program implementation and finding of evaluations, research and studies with various stakeholders internally and externally
• Lead on organizing cross-sector learning events such mid-term review workshops for active projects with partners after 6 months of implementation to review progress and promote adaptative management based on ongoing learning and conclusion from accountability mechanisms
• Ensure all required documentation is collected and archived where CARE staff and partners can easily access findings and lessons learned (including on CARE evaluation library) 
• Act as a whistle-blower to raise concerns about program implementation with SMT
• Contribute to ensuring the different channels of the feedback and accountability mechanisms are being promoted and used by MEAL officers and partners’ staff to share information with and collect information from local communities

5. Capacity building and Management

• Provide leadership and manage the MEAL Officers by providing sufficient support and guidance for them to achieve their tasks/objectives in the best quality possible while ensuring an open and engaging environment focused on supportive supervision, constructive feedback, recognition of effort and respect of work/life balance
• Assess the MEAL capacities of implementing partners and develop capacity building plan for each partner in coordination with the MEAL Manager to ensure that staff and partners fully understand the function of MEAL in quality assurance and strengthen a culture of open reflection and improvement.
• Organise and/or conduct capacity building sessions for the MEAL Officers and the MEAL staff of implementing partners through mentoring, coaching and trainings to address the capacity gaps identified in running the MEAL system and activities and using the different MEAL tools 

REQUIREMENTS

Mandatory criteria for longlisting

• University degree or/and Master’s degree in social sciences, development, program evaluation, data science, economic policy, econometrics and operations research, or a related field
• Minimum 2-3 years of experience working in monitoring, evaluation, and research for NGOs in the humanitarian or development sectors
• Strong written and oral Ukrainian and English skills
• Demonstrated ability to conduct rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis using appropriate analytical methods; design and implement quantitative and qualitative rapid appraisals, etc.
• Strong ability and interest to working with local partners and building their capacities
• Experience in team management 

Expected

• Understanding and demonstrated commitment to the importance of gender and youth issues in humanitarian programming
• Knowledge in management and dissemination of research findings.
• Strong skills in Excel and experience with Power BI or other data management and visualisation software
• Experience with Kobo Toolbox data collection tool 
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to work independently, manage time and execute tasks
• Ability to work in fast changing environment and to multi-task and context-switch effectively between different activities and teams 

Accountability: 

 A commitment to CARE values and CARE’s integrity framework is critical to working with CARE. Any candidate offered a job with CARE will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability: 

•               Comply with CARE’s policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, code of conduct, health and safety, confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behaviour protocols.

•               Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within our programming area. 

•               Report any concerns about inappropriate behaviour of a CARE staff or partner. 

Safeguarding:

 Children and vulnerable adults who come into contact with CARE as a result of our activities must be safeguarded to the maximum possible extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury, and any other harm. One of the ways that CARE shows this on-going commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates.  

Gender Equality:

 CARE is committed to meeting the standards of the CARE International Gender Policy (2019). Through this policy, CARE seeks to promote the equal realization of dignity and human rights for girls, women, boys and men in all diversities, and the elimination of poverty and injustice. Specifically, this policy seeks to improve the explicit incorporation of gender in programmatic and organizational practices.  

How to Apply: 

Please send your complete application package (CV, motivation letter, references) only in English to Jo Fox at  Отправить резюме , no later than 31st December 2022, with MEAL Coordinator as the subject title of your email. 

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Women candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. 

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.  References will only be contacted after the interview.