MEAL Manager

Job Posting Organization:
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a leading global humanitarian aid and development organization that has been at the forefront of major humanitarian initiatives for 80 years. The IRC's mission is to support people 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, focusing on immediate survival needs and reducing suffering during acute emergencies.

Job Overview:
The MEAL Manager will be responsible for the operational and technical management of monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL) systems for the Ebola response. This role involves ensuring that MEAL systems are simple, harmonized, adapted to the emergency context, and capable of producing reliable real-time data for program management, quality assurance, accountability to affected populations, donor reporting, and learning. The MEAL Manager will supervise MEAL Officers and data collection staff, closely coordinate with IPC/WASH, RCCE, and integrated protection leads, and support local partners in implementing tools, ensuring data quality, and utilizing results effectively.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Leadership MEAL and Coordination: Manage the technical and operational aspects of MEAL for the entire Ebola response, in line with the MEAL strategy, IRC standards, donor requirements, and country program systems. Translate the coordinator" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #007bff !important;">MEAL Coordinator's guidance into clear work plans, priorities, tools, timelines, and responsibilities for the MEAL team. Coordinate daily with IPC/WASH, RCCE, integrated protection, partnerships, grants, operations, security" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #007bff !important;">security, access, supply chain, and finance to integrate MEAL priorities into implementation. Represent the MEAL function in technical meetings, response reviews, project cycle meetings, and external coordination forums as requested. Promote rapid access to data and its use by response teams and partners for shared learning, evidence-based decision-making, and program adaptation.
• Monitoring, Information Management, and Data Quality: Operationalize the logical framework, MEAL plan, indicator tracking table (ITT), reach tracker, data collection plan, reporting calendar, and data flow mapping. Establish and maintain timely data flows from sites, health facilities, and partners, with clearly defined responsibilities, submission deadlines, controls, and validation procedures. Supervise the configuration, testing, deployment, and use of digital tools in CommCare or other approved platforms, including the IPC Toolkit v
• Coordinate the regular setup and use of the Project Indicator Dashboard (PID) and Power BI dashboards for the response, ensuring the accuracy of indicators, targets, locations, periods, and disaggregations. Monthly tracking of results, reach, implementation gaps, and priority actions; prepare analyses and summaries for response management meetings.
• IPC/WASH Monitoring of Health Facilities: Lead IPC assessments in health facilities using the IPC Toolkit v2, ensuring the reliability, quality, and use of collected data. Analyze IPC scores, gaps against standards, and trends to identify critical risks, intervention priorities, and support needs. Collaborate with Health and WASH Coordinators to develop recovery and improvement plans based on assessment results. Ensure that priority actions are monitored and that assessment results inform operational planning, resource allocation, and response adaptation.
• RCCE, Accountability, and Integrated Protection: Oversee the establishment and functioning of safe, confidential, accessible, and inclusive feedback and response mechanisms. Ensure the registration, categorization, analysis, referral, response, and closure of feedback, complaints, rumors, community concerns, and information needs within agreed timelines. Monitor community dialogues, awareness sessions, leader engagement, radio broadcasts, community perceptions, trust levels, rumors, and misinformation. Ensure appropriate follow-up on integrated protection activities, including risk mitigation, MHPSS, VBG referrals, safeguarding, and PSEA, while respecting confidentiality and protection principles. Produce regular analyses of accountability, rumors, and community perceptions and ensure their use to adapt messages, activities, referral mechanisms, and implementation modalities.
• Evaluations, Learning, and Adaptation: Lead or support rapid assessments, IPC assessments, baseline surveys, post-activity or post-distribution monitoring, quality assessments, learning reviews, and final evaluations required by the response. Develop or review methodologies, sampling approaches, tools, analysis plans, and reporting templates, ensuring safe, ethical, gender-sensitive, and protection-adapted methods in the Ebola context. Analyze quantitative and qualitative data and produce clear reports, presentations, dashboards, and recommendations for program adaptation. Facilitate reflection sessions, project cycle meetings, after-action reviews, and learning workshops; document lessons learned, best practices, challenges, and adaptation decisions. Contribute to proposals, response plans, and donor reports using real-time data, rapid assessments, and implementation lessons.
• Team Management and Capacity Building: Supervise, mentor, and coach MEAL Officers, CRA staff, assistants, enumerators, and other temporary staff assigned to the response. Define performance objectives, work plans, and clear deliverables, and ensure regular monitoring of their achievement in an inclusive, respectful, and collaborative environment. Participate in the recruitment, onboarding, and deployment of MEAL staff for the response. Identify capacity needs of IRC teams, partners, and enumerators, then develop and deliver training on MEAL standards, CommCare, IPC Toolkit v2, data quality, accountability, safe and ethical data collection, Excel, Power BI, and data utilization. Support partners in adapting their MEAL plans, tools, reporting templates, feedback mechanisms, and data quality procedures, and integrate their data into the consolidated response analysis.

Required Qualifications:
At least three years of relevant professional experience in monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning functions; more substantial experience is strongly desired for a multisectoral emergency response. Demonstrated experience in establishing or managing MEAL systems in emergency, rapid start-up, or scale-up contexts. Experience supervising a small to medium-sized MEAL team and supporting local partners. Experience in health, WASH/IPC, RCCE, protection, MHPSS, or safeguarding sectors is strongly desired. Experience in epidemic response, public health emergencies, or difficult access contexts is a significant advantage. Strong skills in logical frameworks, MEAL plans, ITT, reach monitoring, data quality, quantitative and qualitative analysis, and visualization. Proficiency in Excel and practical experience with CommCare, Kobo, ODK, or similar platforms; experience with Power BI is highly desired. Ability to manage sensitive data while respecting confidentiality, data protection, and safeguarding principles. Excellent writing, presentation, training, facilitation, coaching, and problem-solving skills. Ability to prioritize, coordinate multiple workflows, and deliver under pressure in an evolving emergency environment.

Educational Background:
A university degree in monitoring and evaluation, statistics, public health, epidemiology, social sciences, data management, economics, mathematics, development studies, or a related field is required.

Experience:
The position requires at least three years of relevant professional experience in monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning functions, with a preference for candidates who have more substantial experience in multisectoral emergency responses. Candidates should have demonstrated experience in establishing or managing MEAL systems in emergency contexts, as well as experience supervising a small to medium-sized MEAL team and supporting local partners. Experience in health, WASH/IPC, RCCE, protection, MHPSS, or safeguarding sectors is highly desirable, and experience in epidemic response or public health emergencies is a significant advantage.

Languages:
Fluent French is required; professional proficiency in English is required. Proficiency in Swahili or other relevant languages from Ituri is highly desired.

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.