MEAL Officer - RCCE Accountability Protection

Job Posting Organization:
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a leading global humanitarian and development organization that has been at the forefront of major humanitarian initiatives for 80 years. The IRC aims to support individuals displaced by war, persecution, or civil conflict by providing vital assistance to help them survive and rebuild their lives, guiding them from danger to safety. The IRC's Emergency Unit (EmU) leads the organization's global emergency preparedness and response activities, with a mission to address immediate survival needs and reduce suffering for populations affected by conflict or disaster during the acute phase of an emergency.

Job Overview:
The MEAL Officer - RCCE, Accountability, and Protection will work under the direct supervision of the MEAL Manager for the Ebola response. This position is crucial for the daily monitoring of risk communication and community engagement activities, feedback and response mechanisms, and integrated protection components. The officer will collaborate closely with RCCE and integrated protection managers, field teams, partners, and communities to produce reliable data, track rumors and perceptions, ensure feedback is collected and addressed, and support the rapid adaptation of messages, services, and implementation modalities. The role is essential in ensuring that the response to the Ebola outbreak is effective and sensitive to the needs of the affected populations, particularly in the context of the ongoing health crisis and the complexities of community dynamics.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• MEAL Monitoring and Information Management: Implement the MEAL framework for risk communication and community engagement activities, accountability, and integrated protection in line with the logical framework, MEAL plan, and quality standards of the Ebola response. Collaborate with RCCE and Protection teams to harmonize indicators, data sources, disaggregation, collection frequencies, reporting responsibilities, and quality criteria. Develop and maintain a consolidated database covering community dialogues, awareness sessions, training, protection activities, feedback and complaints, rumors, community perceptions, referrals, and follow-up actions. Digitalize monitoring tools in CommCare, integrating validation rules, unique identifiers, and controls to minimize errors and duplicates. Ensure operational use of CommCare, data synchronization and verification, user support, and prompt reporting of anomalies and adjustment needs to the MEAL Manager. Update the Indicator Tracking Table, reach tracker, master lists of sites and partners, and dashboards, ensuring accuracy of targets, achievements, locations, periods, and disaggregation. Monitor activities related to protection risk mitigation, MHPSS, safeguarding, PSEA, and referral mechanisms, analyzing their quality, accessibility, safety, and relevance for different at-risk groups. Ensure that protection data is collected, stored, analyzed, and shared in accordance with consent principles, confidentiality, data minimization, security" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #007bff !important;">security" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #007bff !important;">information security, and do no harm. Guarantee that sensitive complaints, including those related to safeguarding, PSEA, GBV, and child protection, are immediately directed to approved confidential mechanisms without conducting investigations or collecting unnecessary information. Produce aggregated analyses that protect individuals' identities and present results, trends, risks, and recommendations during program reviews to guide intervention adaptations.
• Accountability to Affected Populations: Support the adaptation and implementation of standard operating procedures and feedback and response plans for the Ebola response. Contribute to establishing and strengthening safe, confidential, accessible, and context-appropriate feedback and complaint mechanisms, including hotlines, information points, suggestion boxes, community sessions, and digital channels where feasible. Collect, record, categorize, and track feedback, complaints, information requests, and concerns from all channels, ensuring timely referral, processing, and closure. Ensure mechanisms are accessible to women, girls, children, persons with disabilities, displaced persons, isolated communities, survivors, health personnel, and other at-risk groups. Maintain up-to-date records of feedback, complaints, and referrals, track response times and closure rates, and produce regular analyses to improve the quality, safety, and accessibility of services. Ensure feedback is provided to communities regarding the outcomes of their concerns, respecting confidentiality and the principle of do no harm.
• Rumors, Perceptions, and Community Engagement: Establish systematic monitoring of rumors, misinformation, concerns, information needs, trust levels, and barriers to adopting preventive behaviors. Monitor the reach, quality, relevance, and inclusivity of community dialogues, home visits, awareness sessions, radio broadcasts, and activities conducted with community leaders and structures. Conduct or support feedback sessions, focus groups, key informant interviews, mini-surveys, and other community consultations to understand perceptions, priorities, and barriers faced by populations. Analyze and triangulate rumors and perceptions by area, population group, channel, theme, and risk level, and immediately report critical or sensitive rumors. Produce regular summaries on rumors, perceptions, and information needs to assist RCCE teams in adapting messages, communication channels, target groups, and community engagement approaches. Ensure that community monitoring results are discussed in response management meetings and used to build trust, acceptance of interventions, and safe access to services.
• Capacity Building and Coordination: Train and support IRC teams, partners, and community relays on data collection tools, feedback categories, referral processes, safe and ethical data collection, confidentiality, data protection, and result utilization. Assist partners in establishing functional feedback mechanisms, documenting responses, and providing quality data in a timely manner. Collaborate closely with RCCE, Protection, IPC/WASH, partnerships, and operations teams to ensure a coordinated response to community concerns. Promote a positive, inclusive, respectful, and gender-sensitive work environment.

Required Qualifications:
At least one year of relevant experience in MEAL, accountability/AAP, RCCE, community mobilization, protection, social sciences, or a related field; two years or more is preferred. Experience in collecting and analyzing community feedback, facilitating focus groups, or consulting with affected populations. Experience in implementing complaint and feedback mechanisms, RCCE monitoring, or protection activities in humanitarian contexts is desired. Experience in responding to an epidemic, public health emergency, or insecure context is an advantage. Strong understanding of accountability to affected populations, community communication, safe feedback collection, and protection principles. Excellent facilitation skills and ability to engage respectfully with women, children, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized groups. Ability to handle sensitive information discreetly, apply referral mechanisms, and strictly adhere to confidentiality. Proficient in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint; experience with CommCare, Kobo, Power BI, or similar tools is highly desired. Strong analytical, writing, presentation, organizational, and problem-solving skills; ability to manage multiple tasks under pressure.

Educational Background:
University or technical degree in monitoring and evaluation, social sciences, communication, social work, human rights, public health, community development, or a related field is required.

Experience:
The position requires at least one year of relevant experience in the specified fields, with a preference for candidates who have two or more years of experience. The ideal candidate should have experience in community feedback collection and analysis, facilitating discussions with affected populations, and implementing accountability mechanisms in humanitarian settings. Experience in epidemic response or public health emergencies is considered an asset.

Languages:
Fluent French is required; professional knowledge of English is desired. Proficiency in Swahili and/or other local languages of Ituri is highly preferred.

Additional Notes:
The position is based in Bunia, Ituri province, with frequent travel to intervention areas in Ituri and, as needed, to North Kivu, subject to security clearances, public health guidelines, and operational feasibility. The context is complex and evolving, marked by risks of Ebola transmission, insecurity, population movements, community distrust, stigma, logistical constraints, and access difficulties. The incumbent must strictly adhere to IRC safety and security protocols, travel procedures, infection prevention and control measures, safeguarding standards, and public health guidelines. The IRC and all its staff must uphold the values and principles of the IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct: Integrity, Service, Accountability, and Equality. In line with these values, the IRC implements policies related to protection against exploitation and abuse, child safeguarding, workplace harassment, financial integrity, and non-retaliation.