WoS Program Performance and Quality (PAQ) Coordinator

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse, and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

The Program Summary

Mercy Corps has been meeting the needs of conflict-affected communities inside Syria since 2012.Mercy Corps Whole of Syria Team is based in Amman and ensures consistent, technical and quality driven programming by Mercy Corps and partners in Syria. Mercy Corps implements a range of activities aimed at supporting positive coping strategies by addressing the basic needs of vulnerable families while strengthening opportunities to generate income and increasing access to livelihoods and promoting social cohesion objectives

The Position Summary

Under the supervision of the Programme Performance and Quality Director the Whole of Syria Coordinator will work with the PaQ Unit as part of a team to operationalize and improve Mercy Corps Syria’s MEL, accountability, and learning systems and practices. S/He will be responsible for providing key support to the core PaQ responsibility areas including the PM@MC standards (Programme Management at Mercy Corps), CARM and the learning agenda across geographies ensuring that there is close working and learning between and within teams.

The Programme Performance and Quality (PaQ) Unit is a dynamic team spread over multiple geographies within Syria. The responsibilities and coordination needs of this team are increasing and Mercy Corps Syria is seeking a dynamic, responsive individual who is organized, has lots of initiative and is committed to learning and developing their career in monitoring and evaluation, evidence and data, and programme quality. The post holder will work with PaQ managers and their teams and also engage with other teams such as Grants and Procurement as necessary.

Safeguarding Responsibilities:

• Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work including with external stakeholders and direct reports if applicable
• Practices the values of Mercy Corps as detailed in the Code of Conduct and safeguarding policies including respecting the dignity and well-being of community participants and fellow staff members
• Holds themselves accountable for making appropriate decisions that impact community members and team members
• Takes responsibility for their personal and professional behavior
• Encourages openness, transparency and communication in their team; encourages team members to make any reports if they have any concerns using internal reporting mechanisms (i.e. Integrity Hotline, HR etc.)
• Demonstrates a high level of integrity and treats others with respect

Essential Responsibilities

STRATEGY AND PLANNING

• Help the on-going development of an innovative, adaptive PaQ unit that improves Mercy Corps’ ability to inform programme implementation, data analysis and impact reporting to donors, government, colleague agencies, and communities themselves for direct implementation
• Support the key strategies driving Mercy Corps’ work in Syria including the Global and Country strategies as well as the development of a PaQ strategy.
• Support the broader learning agenda within Mercy Corps Syria including support to, and ownership of, regular activities such as reflection and learning workshops within teams and locations. This will include promotion of critical analysis skills.
• Develop and support PaQ initiatives in utilisation-focused analysis and reporting.
• Support the development of information management systems and tools.
• Work as part of the WoS PaQ team, bringing together the PAQ geographies.
• Provide high quality advice on MEL tasks including tools, sampling approaches, ToRs and interpretation that respond to changing contexts and situations.

Team capacity building and evidence outreach

• Comfortable in leading new areas of learning and sharing that learning in a suite of ways including in-both remote and in person workshops, one-to-one and small group situations.
• Assist the team in improving PaQ approaches and work by identifying good practices, field tested lessons learned, and creative recommendations; share with and encourage staff to incorporate these in their daily work.
• Follow up on trainings by mentoring staff/partners to develop identified technical skills.
• Provide support and innovative direction to feedback learning loops with communities, partners and participants.

Community accountability and response mechanism

• Provide key WoS support in terms of improving and harmonizing Mercy Corps’ accountability systems and Donors’ requirements. Help with piloting new initiatives and taking these to scale as appropriate.
• Understand and apply Do No Harm standards to ensure activities do not have detrimental effects on vulnerable communities and understanding the differences between the contexts in which MC Syria works.
• Support the role out of new and enhanced CARM approaches currently being led from HQ.
• Lead on cross-geography collation and interpretation of findings and trends.

Programme and project level results measurement and reporting

• Help ensure that teams report clearly and effectively on both hub and programme levels.
• Using evidence, advise the PaQ Manager and programme managers on how certain program changes or additions might affect the program’s objectives.
• Support grants reporting by advising and assessing well-structured comprehensive and analytical reports, including the evaluations and assessment reports/designs. Coordinate with Information management team in data reporting and collation.
• Act as a link between MEL system processes/results and reporting and other teams – geographical or functional, feeding information to online systems to help ensure accurate information is incorporated into all reports and information products.

Programme management

• Ensure that the PM@MC standards are embedded within practice across Mercy Corps Syria, enable access to learning and training opportunities and establish cross team sharing of learning in programme management.
• Promote and ensure use of data for decision-making processes.
• Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ key policies including gender, safeguarding and protection and the Do No Harm principles.

Representation and coordination

• Proactively network within Mercy Corps and occasionally outside the organisation.
• Participate in and support internal office coordination and planning meetings and workshops, including with MEL team in Mercy Corps’ other Syria Response Offices, as required.
• As required by the supervisor, represent Mercy Corps at donor meetings, and government and sectoral coordination fora/meetings.
• Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission or put the team, assets and mission at risk.
• Assist in any other task or duty assigned by the supervisor.

Team management

Line management of staff is not associated with this position, but the successful candidate will be expected to:

• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally as part of reviews, learning and training and knowledge sharing.
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Train staff on key areas as required across subjects including methodologies, analysis, ethics and Do No Harm, qualitative and quantitative data collection tools, and other processes as required. The successful candidate is not expected to already have a complete set of skills but the appetite to conduct their own learning and inquiry and share that will colleagues.
• Hire, orient and lead team members as necessary.

Finance and compliance management

• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations.
• Draft and/or review scope of work to hire and manage any technical consultants, including review for technical efficacy and contract budget.

Supervisory Responsibility

None.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Programme Performance and Quality Director

Works Directly With: PaQ department

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• BA/S degree in research methods, social sciences, economics, or other appropriate field required.
• Minimum five (5) years’ experience in:

1. planning, monitoring and evaluation of projects/programs (designing logframes, Indicator plans, evaluations, assessments) or similar work in for-profit sector
2. working with quantitative and qualitative data (survey designs, sampling, data analysis).

• High appetite for learning and sharing learning with others.
• Excellent facilitation skills.
• Proven experience in remote data collection and data management; experience in data visualization would be an advantage.
• Proven report/research writing skills are required (an evidence of previous writing samples might be requested).
• Commitment to working together with partners and training and developing capacity is required.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate closely with a broad range of stakeholders in different geographic locations, experience with remote management or monitoring is a plus.
• Ability to manage data while not losing sight of the bigger picture and meaning.
• Familiarity with the MS Office software (i.e. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) is required;
• Knowledge of the Syrian conflict context is a plus; and
• Arabic and English language written and spoken is essential.
• The successful candidate should be willing to travel to Northeast Syria at least three times a year.

The Salary Range for this position starts from (1545 JOD/Month)

Success Factors

In addition to a strong technical background in Monitoring and Evaluation, the ability to multi-task, innovate, and effectively communicate key information is necessary. Attention to detail and patience to work through evidence and information is also key. A willingness to take initiative, creatively solve problems, juggle multiple priorities under pressure, and to calmly and diplomatically deal with unexpected and sudden events impacting program operations is also essential. An interest in and commitment to growing and enhancing impactful programming and supporting a team is essential. Sensitivity to multi-cultural humanitarian and development work and ability to train and facilitate dialogue among a diverse group of individuals with various skill sets and working styles are all critical.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Amman, Jordan locations and it requires up to 40% travel to support country programs, which may include travel to insecure locations where freedom of movement is limited and areas where amenities are limited. Housing for this role is in individual housing and staff will have access to good medical services and the living situation is of a high standard.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct eLearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

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