We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realize the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.
We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:
• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated
We know that great people make a great organization and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.
SCI - Afghanistan
Save the Children has been working in Afghanistan since 1976. Our way of working close to people and on their own terms has enabled us to deliver lasting change to tens of thousands of children in the country. The UN Convention of the Rights of the Child is the basis of our work.
We are helping children get a better education, we make it possible for more boys and girls to attend school, we help children protect themselves and influence their own conditions. We work with families, communities and health workers in homes, clinics and hospitals to promote basic health in order to save lives of children and mothers
CHILD SAFEGUARDING: (select only one)
Level 3: the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.
ROLE PURPOSE:
The MEAL Manager will provide leadership to MEAL unit for the country office undertaking responsibilities as per Afghanistan MEAL framework. The role will provide the Head of REALM in undertaking MEAL duties on the following core components.
• Ensure development and functioning of systems for enabling quality programme development and implementation.
• Support the rollout of MEAL system across Afghanistan Country Programane, and ensure that accountability standards are integrated into all aspects of Save the Children’s programming in Afghanistan.
• The staff member will be responsible for building the capacity of relevant MEAL staff and lead MEAL staff in undertaking initiatives for effective support provision to programme management in terms of Quality Assurance.
• S/he rolls out a MEAL system for
o Tracking all projects under the country office against targets, via ensuring validated trackers are in place, including but not limited to IPTTs, Output Trackers, Distribution Trackers.
o Ensure that all projects have adequate MEAL Plans in place.
o Monitoring projects against program quality benchmarks.
o Ensuring accountability to children/communities in SCI programing through establishing systems for information sharing, participation and feedback handling.
o Lead/Support undertaking internal/external evaluations.
o Enable organizational learning through archiving findings of the MEAL systems.
o Support humanitarian programs within their area/zone of responsibility in terms of MEAL as needed.
SCOPE OF ROLE:
Reports to: Head of REALM
Staff reporting to this post: MEAL Specialist (monitoring and partnerships), MEAL Specialist (Accountability), Humanitarian MEAL Coordinator.
Role Dimensions: The role will work closely with the Research, Evidence and Learning Manager and the Area MEAL Coordinators in delivering the project deliverables.
KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY :
Under the direct supervision of Head of MEAL, and with support from MEAL and PDQ staff, the MEAL Manager will be responsible for:
Ensure functioning of MEAL Systems as per the SCI MEAL approach
• Monitoring projects against program quality benchmarks.
• Ensuring accountability to children/communities in SCI programing through establishing systems for information sharing, participation and feedback handling.
• Coordinate with the Research, Evidence and Learning function to operationalize the research, evaluations and assessments.
• Enable organizational learning through archiving findings of the MEAL systems.
• Ensure data protection requirements are adhered to by all staff.
• Coordinate and lead in ensuring partners working with SCI have functional and strong MEAL systems.
System Design and Promoting MEAL
• Promote all aspects of MEAL to support the creation of an organisational culture which prioritises quality programming, including alignment with SCI Programme Quality Framework.
• Build strong relationships with colleagues and provide support as required to ensure MEAL system is understood and supported at country office level.
• Lead on the the roll-out of an organisational MEAL framework and ensuring accountability to donors and beneficiaries. The MEAL Framework should include robust quality assurance systems, rigorous complaints and response mechanisms, and effective learning methods.
• Ensures establishment of key indicators for each sector and tracking of data across projects to establish the broader impact on children from all interventions.
• Work closely with the Programme Operations team to extract support for ensuring functioning of independent MEAL system to track project implementation leading to enhanced quality, accountability, management and impact, including feeding into new proposal development and sharing lessons learned.
• Oversee the design and implementation of accountability mechanisms at field level, such as complaints response mechanisms – working on community assessment, design, implementation, review etc.
Programme Design and MEAL Resources
• Ensure that MEAL is an integral part of the programme design stage and features in all proposal development.
• Support fundraising efforts, including logframe development, drafting narrative MEAL sections, and review to ensure MEAL activities and costs are adequately covered. Develop standard guidance for incorporation of MEAL costs into proposals in specific responses
• Ensure that MEAL resources are included in proposal development as per the MEAL Budgeting benchmark and work creatively to secure funding from diverse sources, to ensure that MEAL is integrated in emergency and development programmes in a sustainable way.
• Responsible for effectively managing the MEAL budget.
• Promoting Learning for Strategy Development and Decision Making
• Develop a clear agenda and inclusive process for learning and reflection, which informs planning.
• Ensure that information and findings from across thematic and operational regions are consolidated into the Lessons Learned database, which allows analysis of impact and promotion of learning and strategy development for the whole organisation.
• In collaboration with the Research & Evaluation Specialist, lead/support on formation of ToR and selection of consultants for evaluations and provide technical review of progress and final reports. Synthesise this information to improve organisatonal performance and impact for children.
• Communicate top level learning / analysis reports and monitoring data to ensure that management is able to make informed decisions on a timely basis to scale up and face operational challenges.
• Promote participatory learning processes with communities, parents and children.
• Ensure that child participation and child safeguarding is integrated into solid design and delivery.
Internal Reporting
• Responsible to ensure that the organisation delivers on all internal SCI MEAL requirements in a timely manner and with high quality information, including reporting on SCI global indicators, KPI Reporting, Country Annual Reporting etc.
• Develop systems to ensure monitoring of child participation, gender equity, integration, and other programme quality indicators, as relevant and required.
• Ensure that the MEAL team oversees a clear system of feedback and response from key stakeholders, particularly children, and presents the information to senior management for decision making purposes.
Staff Management, Mentorship, and Development
• Line manage the indicated MEAL team members as required, consistent with SCI HR policy and MEAL Framework.
• Creating a shared understanding of MEAL framework and systems in Afghanistan; this requires creating cohesion with the field MEAL staff working in different provinces.
• Identify learning and training opportunities for MEAL and other staff and act as a mentor and role model for less experienced staff.
• Conduct training and awareness raising activities for operations and programme technical staff at field and country-office level regarding MEAL priorities and quality standards.
BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)
Accountability:
• holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.
Ambition:
• sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.
Collaboration:
• builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
• values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.
Creativity:
• develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• willing to take disciplined risks.
Integrity:
• honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity
QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS
Essential
• BA or BSc in a relevant subject or equivalent field experience in the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) function.
• At least 5 years of experience in MEAL, in an humanitarian or fragile states context.
• Demonstrated skills setting up and rolling out MEAL systems.
• Strong experience in information management systems.
• Experience of, and commitment to working through systems of community participation and accountability.
• Previous experience of managing a team, capacity to supervise, train and coach staff
• Demonstrated strong monitoring and evaluation skills, including planning/participating in evaluations.
• Ability to work both in an advisory and a hands on implementation capacity.
• Ability to write clear and well-argued assessment and project reports.
• Politically and culturally sensitive with qualities of patience, tact and diplomacy.
• Excellent communication skills; Excellent written and spoken English .
• The capacity and willingness to be flexible and accommodating in difficult and sometimes insecure working circumstances.
• Commitment to the aims and principles of SC. In particular, a good understanding of the SC mandate and commitment to child participation.
Desirable
• Prior experience with Save the Children International highly desired.
• Experience in both implementation and design desirable.
• Good understanding on the main local languages is desired (Pashto and Dari).
Additional job responsibilities
The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.
Equal Opportunities
The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.
Child Safeguarding:
We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.
Health and Safety
The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.
Qualified applicants are highly encouraged to apply for the position by filling in the online application form. In addition to the online application form, they can also attach their CV and cover letter in the online system. Please note that only the applications received through the online portal will be considered for this position.
Applicants can login to the online application system by copying and pasting the following link intro their web browser. Returning users will need to enter their username and password, first time users will need to create a user account.
MEAL Manager - SCI Career Site Careers (oraclecloud.com)
It is recommended that you save your username and password for future job applications through the online system.
Save the Children International provides an equal employment opportunity and does not ask for money at any stage of recruitment.
We need to keep children safe so our selection process reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse
“Save the Children strongly encourages applications from women. Minimum country requirements for potential female applicants will be followed.”
We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highes... Read More
