Humanitarian Adviser- Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning-Maternity Cover

The Humanitarian and Stabilisation Operations Team (HSOT), contracted by Palladium International Ltd as part of theHEROS contract, provides the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) with humanitarian services and the UK Government’s Office for Conflict, Stabilisation and Mediation (OCSM) with stabilisation support. HSOT provides support to FCDO for the UK Government’s response to humanitarian disasters and protracted crises in cooperation with the United Nations, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, non

governmental organisations, and governments of affected countries.

The position of Humanitarian Advisor, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) is a member of the HSOT Humanitarian Emergency Response Team (HERT), comprised primarily of Humanitarian Advisors with a range of response specialisms. All HAs in the team share a responsibility for maintaining a deployable generalist HA capacity to support rapid onset responses as well as a specialist portfolio. This HA role will provide quality advice on humanitarian monitoring, evaluation, and learning, promote sustained focus, and facilitate evidence to deliver on learning and application of learning, and support knowledge on innovation, adaptation and evidenced improvement in humanitarian response for FCDO. This role is the lead advocate and implementer for HSOT’s delivery of the HEROS MEL Strategy. The role will be a Fixed term employment contract till June 2025. The closing date for the role is 13th August 2024.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

Key Requirements
Provide the Humanitarian Response Group with Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning expertise as requested.
Ensure continuation of contract MEL objectives and the implementation of the MEL Strategy. •
Surge in to fulfil a generalist humanitarian advisor function for rapid onset responses, deployed to the field or the centre.
Support the close of MEL activities on HEROS 1 project and at the time of outcome of the tender lead on the transition of MEL to the new contract.
Handover (First week-end August)
• Work through the Palladium Induction package with HSOT HR.
• Work with current MEL advisor to better understand scope, direction, and components of the MEL portfolio for HSOT.
• Hold meetings with Key stakeholders from the HSOT team and review key programmatic documents .
• Hold meetings with Key stakeholders from HRG and HMFD and review key programmatic and Policy documents with importance to MEL within the FCDO.
2. Response Learning (25%):
• Support FCDO Humanitarian & Migration Department (HMD) humanitarian lessons learning through systematic learning reviews of all rapid onset responses in which HMD is engaged, facilitating discussion with response teams, identifying lessons, and supporting evidence uptake in future responses by HSOT, HMD and FCDO teams as appropriate (and promotion of previous learning for current responses.)
a. Maintain oversight and quality of the Lessons Log and Action Tracker.
b. Hold quarterly Action Review Meetings with HRG and HSOT SMTs, ensuring accountability to learning from lessons identified.
c. Implement and manage Response lessons process as directed by HRG, including sharing lessons identified at the onset of crisis, identifying and following up on learning for course corrections, post-acute stage wash ups, validations and compiling lessons identified reports.
• Support FCDO teams and departments with humanitarian operational lessons from a range of responses to emergencies and protracted crisis learning through commissioning, managing, leading, and participating in reviews of FCDO humanitarian operations, promoting connectivity between policy and practice.
d. Continue to support departments outside of HRG (Regional directorates/ Posts etc) to undertake Lesson Processes where appropriate.
Response Monitoring (20%)
• Contribute to the design of FCDO systems for monitoring UK Aid-funded partner performance, including for rapid onset emergencies, and provide general advice on the design and use of monitoring and oversight systems.
a. Continue work to develop, test and implement HRG-HSOT Response Indicators.
b. Build a network of advocates for response monitoring across HMFD and ensure clear linkages with Policy and Practice.
• Where requested provide technical support for the design and quality assurance of MEL approaches (including third party monitoring, partner monitoring and reporting, and accountability to affected populations) to strengthen FCDO humanitarian responses and programmes through generating and using evidence for accountability and adaptive learning, drawing on FCDO learning and global best practice.
FCDO Organisational Learning (20%)
• Maintain strong working relationships within HMD and across FCDO teams, and cross-government departments where appropriate, to promote familiarisation with HSOT’s work on humanitarian MEL, including Humanitarian Advisors, the Independent Monitoring Network, FCDO Statistics Cadre, Evaluation Unit, including training and guidance as requested.
a. Continue and strengthen work around the HRG-HSOT Learning Agenda ensuring clear links with HRG Training and exercising.
b. Further refinement of the HRG-HSOT Learning Library and strengthen relationships with RED to ensure mutual benefit of such an approach.
• Engage with relevant thematic UK and global working groups and forums for partners and donors to ensure FCDO is kept up to date and represented in areas of interest to humanitarian MEL.
• Support other FCDO evaluation and review processes, including quality assurance and technical support for the design of primary and secondary data collection, as required.
HEROS MEL (10%)
• Contribute to HEROS contract monthly, quarterly, annual contractual reporting on specialist portfolio, and provide support as requested to the team in support of results-based reporting.
• Contribute to planning and executing transition of the advisory capability to a successor programme, responding in a timely manner to information requests and tasks that ensure successful closure of HEROS 1 and smooth transition.
HA Generalist (15%)
• Deployable as generalist humanitarian advisor in support of initial UK rapid response to global emergencies.
• Actively contribute to continuity of HEROS service, support efforts to minimise gaps and disruption in advisory capability available to FCDO both deployed and from the UK.
Team Requirements (10%)
• Work with line manager to plan the aims, objectives and priorities for humanitarian advice to FCDO on humanitarian MEL, and set clear expectations for quality, accuracy, and timeliness of work to deliver the agreed contract objectives in support of the logframe
• Fulfil role of Duty Officer on rotation, providing week-long out of hours surveillance of emergencies. •

Required Qualifications:

• Knowledge and experience gained working extensively on or in developing countries and/or in fragile and conflict affected environments including field-based experience in rapid onset disaster/complex emergency settings working with UN, Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, INGOs and/or donors;
• Experience of working in humanitarian MEL, ideally in both a head office and field environment; specifically design and management of one or more of the following: donor evaluation management and conduct; partner monitoring systems, including third party monitoring; monitoring information systems and databases; accountability and beneficiary feedback systems; organisational learning methods.
• Demonstrable knowledge and experience of humanitarian theory, practice and architecture, humanitarian risk assessment and planning and managing humanitarian responses.
• Demonstrable success in internal advocacy and consultancy, and an understanding of organizational culture and change in large, public-sector organisations.
• Strong experience developing and critiquing partner log frames, monitoring and reporting systems;
• Exceptional research and analysis skills, and proven ability to produce high quality and evidence-based quantitative and qualitative reports
• Experience of managing humanitarian evaluations and assessment and managing/assessing monitoring systems in the humanitarian sector, including field-based data collection methods
• Experience of managing internal lessons learning processes within organizations
• Excellent command of spoken and written English; fluency/working knowledge of another language desirable.
• Applicants must hold the right to work in the UK and ideally should be residing within UK for the last 2 years to be eligible for FCDO compliance requirements.