Relief International is an international non-profit organization that partners with communities impacted by conflict, climate change and disaster to save lives, build greater resilience and promote long-term health and wellbeing.

People living in fragile settings face complex, interconnected and deep-rooted crises that often tear a hole in the social fabric of communities. When this happens, our teams work closely with community leaders; first focusing on critical health needs, and then, as communities recover, focusing on both health and wellbeing programming that helps reweave the social fabric for greater resilience in the future.

Our team of more than 7,000 staff and local volunteers work in 15 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, providing Health and Nutrition, WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), Education and Livelihoods programming that is safe, truly local, conflict sensitive, climate smart, evidence based, and reaches those in need.

Relief International is a 60-year-old international NGO alliance that is the product of mergers and alliances between four organizations. Today, Relief International is comprised of Relief International, Inc., Relief International-France, Relief International-UK and Relief International-Europe, all of which are led by a single senior leadership team.

Position Summary

Under the direct supervision of Deputy Country Director (DCD), The MEAL Manager will bring significant experience and fresh ideas to lead on MEAL system implementation, review and evaluations, MEAL budgeting, recruitment, as well as support in proposal writing and log frame development. The post holder will ensure that all RI and Partner projects are supported to ensure quality, effectiveness, and appropriateness of their programs. It will be important for the post-holder to capture lessons learned and communicate this information in various capacities to improve on-going and future programming. S/he will guide Relief International and Partner teams to maintain an effective monitoring system across Heath, Nutrition, FSL and Protection sectors, including the use of beneficiary feedback data, to assure the quality of interventions. The MEAL Manager will lead on building capacity of staff and partners on MEAL, particularly on accountability and communities’ participation, with a specific focus on children.

Ultimately, s/he will ensure that the program has evidence-based knowledge to inform the direction of the program from assessments and regular program monitoring documents. Special attention should be paid to the positive and negative impact that interventions have in communities, marginalized and persons with disabilities. This analysis will need to be made available into consistently high-quality reports to all RI staff and external stakeholders where appropriate.

Position Responsibilities and Areas of Accountability

The MEAL Manager’s essential functions are as follows:

MEAL System Design

• Lead on the development and oversee the roll-out of an organizational MEAL system (whether for emergency immediate response or protracted relief and recovery), ensuring accountability to all relevant stakeholders
• Promote all aspects of MEAL to support the creation of an organizational culture which prioritizes quality emergency and development programming in a sustainable way
• Build strong relationships with RI staff and partners and provide support as required to ensure MEAL system is well-understood and implemented at field and capital office level
• With support from RI DCD/Program Director, work creatively with Program Managers to ensure that MEAL becomes an integral element of all project’s cycle stages leading to enhanced quality programming that secure funding from diverse sources
• Ensure that MEAL planning is integrated well into the program design stage with all MEAL features that accompanies any proposal development, leading on:

1. establishing relevant theory of change with program teams that summarizes projects’ goal and pathways of change;
2. Needs assessments by providing all significant MEAL resources and data with robust methodology and gaps’ analysis;
3. designing MEAL Logical framework in accordance with the donors’ regulations;
4. Setting a proper plan for ensuring accountability to affected populations (AAP) in alignment with Core Humanitarian standard (CHS) 4 and CHS 5;

Internal MEAL System and Reporting

• Prepare high quality internal MEAL reports in a timely manner and submits MEAL reports to support program reporting as per programmatic requirements
• Generate Afghanistan CO project’s log frames using RI standard Log Alto platform, while reporting on people reached quarterly and Global indicators on a monthly basis

• Identify and introduce creative elements (systems, tools, processes) efficient to improve the MEAL systems in place and project management/development by MEAL team members
• Review regular field monitoring and accountability reports from MEAL Officers and circulates to relevant country office teams, ensuring that proper action plans are included and followed up while making sure that Senior Management Team (SMT) received reports regularly
• Lead on the development of MEAL tools and oversee monitoring and assessment databases
• Develop performance MEAL plans and MEAL Activity trackers for programs during mobilization stage
• Review, verify and report on results achieved in Indicator Performance Tracking Tables (IPTTs) for existing projects to programs and propose recommendations to further enhance the achievement of specified results
• Generates/Update Afghanistan CO accountability Standards of procedures (SoPs), ensuring proper implementation and follow-up on beneficiary feedback complaints and response mechanisms using appropriate accountability tools
• Lead on the development of scope of work (SoW) for project baselines/endlines, needs assessments, internal/external evaluations from data collection/analysis to results reporting
• Oversee and monitor data reflection meetings and lessons’ learned events led by MEAL team providing recommendation and improvements to program teams
• Provide methodological support to Program Managers on MEAL technical questions and cross-cutting issues

External Reporting and Representation

Ensure external accountability to donors and relevant stakeholders by:

• implementing quality MEAL activities leading to timely and accurate reporting on MEAL activities as per contractual donor requirements
• Producing high quality analysis reports that illustrate RI’s impact and assessment findings, including evidence of good practices and replicable programs, which can be properly disseminated at appropriate events.
• representing RI at relevant external MEAL Task Force meetings or donor, inter-NGO, and government level meetings at the field level (related to MEAL) to enhance inter-agencies best practices sharing and learning

Staff Management and Capacity Development

• Lead on the mission’s MEAL team; forming a robust team identified within RI and create cohesion between team members working in different geographic areas
• Supervise the MEAL team while ensuring that they operate effectively with all provided support and required resources
• Create clear links and reporting lines between field and capital office level among MEAL and other program departments.
• Support the MEAL team progress on specific projects, providing management oversight on progress and problem-solving in case of challenges.
• Define expectations, provide leadership and technical support as needed to MEAL staff to be able to perform their roles as required
• Provide ongoing training, coaching, and mentoring to MEAL staff at all levels of program cycle to support team in implementing MEAL activities with proper relevant tools building on knowledge management and learning
• Manage the MEAL team dynamic and relations, grievances, leaves’ management, assesses training and development needs, and leads on performance objectives, capacity building, completion of performance evaluations in a comprehensive and timely manner

Promote Learning for Strategic Development and Decision Making

• Report immediately any high-level achievements, difficulties or obstacles faced on the field to the DCD/PD. This could be done either written or verbally depending on the type of the information to be reported
• Ensure accurate/good quality data collection of the assessments collected by the MEAL team for needs assessments, Baseline, Post Distribution Monitoring, Outcome Monitoring, endline or other assessments. Any lack of commitment to the quality of the data collected should be immediately reported to the DCD/PD
• In alignment with the DCD/PD’s request with the instructions and implemented SoPs, the MEAL Manager should accurately analyze and compile essential information to measure the progress and impact of projects’ activities in relation to RI custom and donor standard indicators
• Ensure effective and efficient documentation of all collected data quantitatively and qualitatively meeting all MEAL requirements
• Ensure that all field-data is collected in a timely manner and stored efficiently and confidentially in soft and hard protected copies to be provided upon request
• Submit the necessary field-reporting documentation after every monitoring activity with the relevant recommendations
• Ensure that data is brought together and findings from across thematic and operational regions in a coherent basis for analysis on impact which promotes learning and strategy development for the whole organization.
• Communicate top level learning / evaluation reports with SMT to support RI in making evidence-based informed decisions in a timely manner scaling up and facing any operational challenges

Miscellaneous

• The MEAL Manager should continuously demonstrate a high level of professionalism while working or coordinating with beneficiaries, internal or external parties; any incident or work-related conflict should be immediately reported to the PD. S/he should avoid going into any work-related communication which might jeopardize the relationship or the reputation of RI
• In alignment with the policies and procedures, s/he must coordinate closely with the Program Managers and MEAL staff regarding the activities and conducting of field visits
• Serve as the in-country focal point for communications and visibility
• Represent RI through attending necessary meetings and workshops

Internal Direct reporting, dotted line work

• The MEAL Manager reports directly to the DCD. Under the supervision of the DCD, the job holder will have a dotted-line work coordination with program team and SMT to ensure that tasks are being implemented in alignment with the needed work plans and deliverables.

Span of control and decision making

• Under the direct supervision of the DCD, the Job holder should take decisions related to the accountabilities and tasks outlined above while coordinating directly with DCD. Any decision beyond her/his realm or responsibility should be discussed with the DCD.

This position demands a dynamic individual with a demonstrated ability to achieve results in a demanding and fast paced environment.

• Bachelor required, Master’s degree preferred, academic or commensurate work experience in Statistics, Social Development or equivalent
• Minimum of four years professional experience in MEAL in complex humanitarian settings, with knowledge of integrated Health, WASH Nutrition FSL and Protection programming
• A minimum of two years of professional experience as a supervisor
• Experience in leading trainings on MEAL implementation for staff is a plus.
• Strong interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to provide technical coaching and consultative support, to work effectively in a team, and to promote peer ease and cooperation in results monitoring and evaluations.
• Wide experience in effective strategic level communication and coordination with national partners, central and local authorities, NGO partners, UN agencies and other relevant stakeholders
• In-depth knowledge of international development programming
• Proven data collection and data management experience, experience with Health Information Systems, SPSS, Power BI, ODK, ONA/KOBO, MS Excel, Word, Ppt and other databases preferred.
• An understanding of the operating context in the Afghanistan (preferred)
• Excellent writing and research skills and computer literacy, including previous donor report writing experience
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate complex activities, meet deadlines, and exercise sound judgment
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively as part of a team or independently
• Fluency in English and strong proficiency in spoken and written English with good writing skills and clear writing style
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, stressful environment with demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, and tasks efficiently.
• Must be flexible, willing to perform other duties and work irregular hours
• Excellent time management skills and resourcefulness with strong attention to detail
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, public speaking, and strategic planning skill
• Demonstrable experience in capacity development
• Strong people management skills.

Competencies (in alignment with RI’s competency framework)

Field-specific Competencies

Contributions to program achievements: Flexibility and Resilience

Accountability towards Beneficiaries and Stakeholders

Organization-specific Competencies

Accountability

Cultural sensitivity

RI’s Values

We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and operational independence.  We affirmatively engage the most vulnerable communities. We value:

Inclusiveness

Transparency

Agility and Innovation

Accountability

Sustainability

Collaboration

Leadership Competencies

• Leadership & Management of people

• Strategic thinking and Visioning

• Building collaborative
• relationships (Networking)

• Results orientation

The interested candidates should submit their RI Application letter with a CV and with three references.
Please Mention the announced position and vacancy number in the email subject please like (MEAL Manager RI-2024-12)
Via email: vacancies.afghanistan@ri.org
Note: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted
Please download the RI application form through below link. fill and send it along with your CV: :
http://www.acbar.org/upload/1572844955489.DOCX
Uphold and promote RI’s commitment to ensuring the safeguarding and safety of the vulnerable communities we serve.
Consistent with RI’s safeguarding and protection policies, ensure all people who come into contact with Relief International are as safe as possible.