Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Assistant - Part Time 50%

About ACTED:
Acted is committed to immediate humanitarian relief to support those in urgent need and protect people’s dignity, while co-creating longer term opportunities for sustainable growth and fulfilling people’s potential.
Acted endeavours to respond to humanitarian crises and build resilience promote inclusive and sustainable growth; co-construct effective governance and support the building of civil society worldwide by investing in people and their potential. The commitment of ACTED and that if our teams is guided by 4 core values:

(1) Responsibility: we ensure the efficient and responsible delivery of humanitarian aid with the means and the
resources that have been entrusted to us.

(2) Impact: we are committed to having the most sustainable impact for the communities and the people with whom we engage.

(3) Enterprising spirit: we are enterprising and engage in our work with a spirit that creates value and overcomes challenges.

(4) Inspiration: we strive to inspire all those around us through our vision, values, approaches, choices, practice, actions, and advocacy.
Greening strategy:
Acted’s greening strategy aims to tackle environmental degradation and climate change while meeting the needs of the most vulnerable who are often those most affected by the deepening environmental crisis. Each Acted employee will adhere to these principles through key green programming responsibilities: Contribute towards the adherence and development of the greening strategy plan. Explore innovative green programming opportunities and/or solutions within your realm of responsibilities and roles. Encouraging and promoting environmental safeguarding processes and environmental programming
standards in accordance with SOPs and technical guideline notes
Acted PSEAH Policy:
The MEAL Assistant has the responsibility to adhere to the PSEAH Policy (Protection against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment). And has the obligation to complete all mandatory trainings related to the Code of Conduct and the PSEA policy and report any safeguarding concern such as breaches of organisational policies or codes of conduct according to Acted’s procedures. The MEAL Assistant carries out work duties in a way that does not harm children, vulnerable adults or other staff or volunteers.
Location: Damascus & Rural Damascus– Syria
Start Date: ASAP

Duration of the Contract: 6 Months.

Job Purpose

The MEAL Assistant is responsible for assisting the MEAL Officers to implement all MEAL field activities and tasks including assessments, beneficiary verification, data entry, reporting, collection of and ensuring adherence to lessons learned and best practices, and any other tasks as required. He/she will be responsible for supporting the team of MEAL enumerators in the field.
Objectives

1. Implement MEAL assessments in the field in a reliable, accurate and transparent manner, including collecting primary and secondary data, reporting on findings, and supporting the development of tools and methodologies.
2. Support organizational learning by ensuring adherence to MEAL technical guidelines, lessons learned, and best practices.
3. Ensure lessons learnt and best practices are discoursed and documented by reporting them in a timely manner.
4. Contribute to the effective functioning of beneficiary complaints and response mechanism and enhance the trust and confidence of beneficiaries, identify areas of our work which need to be improved and ensure that Acted learns from the feedback provided through this process.

Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Appraisals, Monitoring Missions, and Evaluations

   1.1 Field Data Collection

• Supervise and support MEAL enumerators team during data collection in the field;
• Coordinate with the Area MEAL Officer to carry out the assessments (including, but not limited to: Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, baseline and endline surveys, as well as other types of assessments and data collection that is required);
• Check that material necessary to carry out the assessment is sufficient and appropriate;
• Write down the observations and answers in an ordinate and clear way, recording responses accurately;
• Record and forward all complaints and suggestions received while in the field to the appropriate Accountability Officer/Accountability assistant.
• Collect evidence where applicable
• Probe to clarify unclear answers;
• Write down the observations and answers in an ordinate and clear way, recording responses accurately;

1. 2 Reporting

• Report monitoring findings and any other findings and observation emerged during data collection activities frequently to the MEAL Officers so to communicate the progress of assessment activities;
• Recognize and give account of problems in obtaining data and provide useful feedback from field research activities;
• In the absence of a dedicated Data Entry Officer, enter all field data into appropriate databases on an accurate and timely basis;
• Cross-check the accuracy of data entry;
• Support the maintenance of an efficient and accurate filing system for all electronic and hard copy documents;
• Report monitoring findings at Daily/Weekly Area Meetings, as required by MEAL Officer;
• Collect high-resolution and good quality photos of Acted project activities in the field, featuring donor, partner and Acted logos, and delivery photos to the AME Officer (in line with Acted Child Protection Policy and Photo Guidelines).

1. 3 Support the Development of MEAL Tools and Methodologies

• Support the MEAL Officer in designing appropriate information collection tools and methodologies, including assessment Terms of Reference, and questionnaires;
• Support the translation of tools and methodologies into local language(s) as required.

1. Support to Organizational Learning

2.1 Collection of Lessons Learned and Best Practices

• Collect lessons learned and best practices from beneficiaries, community leaders, partners, and other stakeholders during assessment/monitoring missions;

2.1 Monitoring Adherence to Program Strategies and Guidelines

• Cross-check that project implementation adheres to the technical guidelines for the program, as required by the MEAL Officer;

• Monitor the implementation of lessons learned and best practices;

• Cross-check the accuracy and relevance of beneficiary selection according to contractual criteria.

  Other

• Participate in any meetings or conferences as required by the MEAL Officer;

• Perform any other related activities as assigned by immediate supervisor.

Key Performance Indicators

• Mechanism in place and functional to provide data on project indicators in a timely manner
• Mechanism in place and functional that allows at least the reporting on Acted 16 global standard indicators
• Lessons learnt and best practices recorded in the Area Lessons Learnt and Best Practices document according to Acted standard learning procedures and updated in regular and timely manner.

QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

• At least one year experience with NGOs and/or International Institutions in Monitoring and Evaluation
• University Degree /institute.
• Number of years of relevant experience in monitoring & Evaluation.
• Basic English skills is an asset
• Resident in Damascus/Rural Damascus governorate
• Ability to travel locally
• Good command of using KOBO application via smartphones.
• Good command of using MS Excel and MS Word
• Good command of using GPS devices/programs for data collection
• Ability to build and sustain relationship with team members and interviewees in the field as well as the local authorities i.e., camp managers…. etc.
• Flexibility and adaptability are essential, as well as the ability to plan, take initiative and work under minimal supervision.
• Capability to work under pressure and travel to the targeted areas within Acted projects