Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Unit Lead

Location: Prague or home-based (Czech Republic or neighboring countries, with frequent visits to HQ)

Starting Date: TBC

Contract Type: Full-time

About the PIN

People in Need (PIN) is an international non-profit organization providing humanitarian and development assistance worldwide. Founded on the principles of humanism, freedom, equality, and solidarity, PIN is the largest INGO in Central and Eastern Europe, with 22 offices globally, over 2,400 employees, and an annual budget exceeding 240 million Euros.

Position Summary

• Provides leadership to the MEAL Unit under the Programme Department.
• Defines MEAL standards and strategic priorities for improvement of MEAL systems.
• Promotes knowledge transfer and learning process in MEAL to increase quality of PIN’s work.

Reporting relations and coordination with other roles

• Reports to: the Programme Director
• Line manager of: Global MEAL advisors
• Coordinates with:

· Programme Quality Advisor

· Accountability, Protection & Gender Equality and Social Inclusion, Safeguarding Advisors

· Technical and humanitarian advisors

· Institutional Relations Department

· Compliance and Legal departments (on data protection and audits)

· Digital Solutions Unit

· At regional level:

o Regional MEAL Advisors

o Regional Programme Quality Directors,

o Other Desk roles in charge of programme quality

· At Country Programme level:

o Heads of Programmes,

o Country Directors (when line-managing MEAL units),

o MEAL Managers

Duties & Responsibilities

MEAL unit leadership

• Defines expectations and priorities, provides leadership and support as needed so that MEAL staff are able to perform their roles as required.
• Manages the performance of global MEAL staff through performance management, coaching, mentoring, training and capacity development plans.
• Prepares and oversees implementation of MEAL priorities and annual plan & budget.
• Oversees the recruitment of global MEAL staff and supports the recruitment of Regional MEAL staff.
• Facilitates bi-weekly coordination meetings with the global MEAL unit and regional MEAL advisors.
• Facilitates monthly experience sharing sessions with Country Programme MEAL and HQ/Regional advisors.

Programme quality development

• Leads on the identification of strategic priorities in MEAL and development of a global MEAL system and standards for PIN’s relief and development work.
• Promotes all aspects of MEAL to support the creation of an organisational culture which prioritizes quality programming and learning. In close coordination with/supports Programme Quality Lead in promoting existing learning processes, sharing good practices and strengthening global learning agenda
• Builds strong relationships with colleagues at HQ and Country Programmes and provides support as required to ensure MEAL system is understood as an integral element of country strategies and project implementation
• Works with Country Programme teams and sectoral advisors to support the application of MEAL guidance and tools.
• Supports country offices in establishment of the MEAL Units and formulating country-specific MEAL strategies and systems.
• Advises on appropriate resourcing for MEAL systems at country level.
• Supports development of MEAL plans and procedures for large-scale projects funded by key donors.
• Supports or takes lead on evaluations, baseline and endline surveys, research etc. including through support to the development of tools, overseeing collection of data, performing data analysis, highlighting good practices and lessons learned and identifying future opportunities for programming.
• Completes regular field visits to conduct assessments of Country Programmes’ MEAL systems, identify best practices and needs, provide trainings and support implementation of MEAL processes.

Knowledge management

• Engages with regional and country teams to ensure that experiences from the field are collected, shared across the Country Programmes and influence HQ policy and practice.
• Supports management team and sectoral advisors in identifying key learning and operational research questions and systematic capturing of learning from projects, Programmes and sectors.
• Supports measurement of indicators, and fulfilment of minimum MEAL standards, in PIN’s three Programmatic Pillars (Emergency Response and Recovery; Climate Resilience; Civil Society and Inclusive Governance).
• Supports mainstreaming of cross-cutting themes, as per PIN Minimum Standards guidelines.
• Builds capacity of HQ and Country Programme teams in technical skills and understanding of the value of MEAL, through regular induction sessions for new colleagues, webinars, ad-hoc trainings and one-on-one sessions.
• Contributes to the design and promotion of tools that enable the collection, analysis and incorporation of learning (such as the feedback tracker or others).
• Maintains PIN’s library of evaluations and studies.
• Follows up on industry developments and trends, map and collect relevant resources, supervises archiving of MEAL guidance in PIN’s internal platforms.
• Coordinates with MEAL counterparts in the Alliance2015 and represents PIN at external MEAL-related events.

Coordination within the Programme Department and the Relief and Development Department (RDD)

• Follows agreed Programme Department priorities and annual plan.
• Reports regularly to the line manager on implementation of annual plan (upon agreement).
• Cooperates closely with technical and Humanitarian advisors, regional MEAL advisors, fundraising advisors and Desk-based programme quality staff.
• Follows agreed task division (70% Programme Department and RDD priorities and 30% Country Programme).
• Participates in regular bi-weekly Programme Department meetings and sharing and contributes to the agenda.
• Participates in reviews and coordination meetings with Country Programmes and Regional Desks..
• Participates in bimonthly Programme Leadership meetings, and RDD management operational meetings and annual planning sessions.
• Maintains and contributes to Programme Department products (Knowledge and Learning Centre, Indikit etc.) and promote usage of the sector resources the MEAL peer group.

Qualifications

Required

• BA/BS Degree in international development, social sciences or a related field;
• At least 10 years of experience within the international development / humanitarian sector, in MEAL or Programme roles;
• At least 3 years of experience in management roles;
• Experience contributing to strategy design and/or review processes in a humanitarian or development organization;
• Experience in designing and delivering capacity-building activities;
• Strong written and oral communication skills;
• Comprehensive knowledge of humanitarian accountability principles and their translation into practice;
• Professional fluency in spoken and written English;
• Full professional competency in Microsoft Office Suite, especially Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint.

Desirable

• Experience designing and implementing MEAL systems for programmes.
• Technical understanding of contemporary MEAL methods and practices, with hands-on experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis;
• Familiarity with qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis software;
• Familiarity with using AI tools in MEAL;
• Familiarity with other languages used in PIN’s Country Programmes.

PIN Offers

• Background and professionalism of the largest Czech non-governmental organization
• Interesting and creative work with international reach
• Opportunities for professional and personal development
• PIN supports professional and personal development
• 25 days of annual leave
• 3 days of sick leave
• Home office upon agreement
• Open and informal organizational culture
• Possibility to participate in interesting events we organize (e.g. One World international film festival)
• Extensive Capacity Building program – internal and external – Induction training, internal e-learnings, Knowledge and Learning Department onboarding
• Friendly colleagues with similar values