About Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible.
In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.
The Program / Department / Team (Program / Department Summary)
Jordan grapples with escalating climate-related disasters, posing a critical challenge to its humanitarian efforts, economic stability, and environmental integrity. Despite its position as one of the world's most water-scarce nations, Jordan is witnessing a distressing surge in flash floods. Factors such as degraded vegetation, haphazard urbanization, and the relentless impact of climate change worsen these floods, devastating local communities and the eco-tourism sector. Moreover, Jordan suffers from devastating heat waves due to climate change, leading to desertification, diminished water supplies, and exacerbated water scarcity.
Since 2021, Mercy Corps Jordan has been working to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities against the impacts of climate change. The Tabeaa (طبيعة): Strengthening Climate Resilience in Jordanian Communities project, planned to start in 2025, builds on this commitment, aligning with Mercy Corps’ vision of fostering resilient communities capable of thriving amid climate challenges.
The project’s approach is multi-faceted, focusing on three key areas: building the adaptive capacity of Jordanian communities, ensuring effective localization and enforcement of national climate policies, and increasing investments in climate resilience initiatives. By integrating these elements, the Tabeaa project seeks to create a sustainable, inclusive response to climate change, in line with Mercy Corps’ mission to strengthen resilience among vulnerable communities in Jordan.
The Tabeaa project will operate both at the national and local community levels. Nationally, it will engage key stakeholders to drive systemic change by localizing and enforcing Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) strategies. At the community level, the project will target five communities across different governorates, selected for their high vulnerability to flash floods, heatwaves, and water scarcity, which are exacerbated by climate change and impede their ability to thrive.
The Position (General Position Summary)
The Research and Evidence Officer will play a pivotal role in driving the knowledge generation, research, and evidence-building efforts within the Tabeaa project. This role involves leading and supporting research initiatives on climate resilience, DRR and CCA. The officer will also facilitate knowledge dissemination to key stakeholders, ensuring accessibility of findings. Additionally, the position requires integrating and documenting MEL data across project activities and data collection efforts. The officer will collaborate closely with project teams and external partners to ensure that research supports practical and actionable strategies for building climate resilience in targeted communities.
Essential Responsibilities
The specific duties and responsibilities of the Research and Evidence Officer include, but are not limited to the following:
RESEARCH AND EVIDENCE GENERATION
• Support the development of research initiatives aligned with the project’s goals, focusing on local climate resilience, CCA, and DRR.
• Support the development of assessments in targeted communities to understand vulnerabilities to climate change, flash floods, heatwaves, and water scarcity.
• Lead qualitative and quantitative data collection efforts, support with analyzing and Capturing findings.
• Support the development of evidence that informs the project’s advocacy and influencing work.
• Assist in translating research findings and initiatives into actionable strategies that align with the project's scope and objectives for the project team and relevant stakeholders.
• Contribute to the development of practical tools and resources tailored for local governments, stakeholders, and communities, including user-friendly guidelines designed to integrate CCA and DRR strategies into local planning and governance processes.
• Document and share stories of impact/ best practices from local communities, ensuring lessons from the field are captured.
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
• Support with the publication of key knowledge outputs, working closely with project team.
• Foster an environment of collaborative knowledge exchange by facilitating peer-to-peer learning among community members, local government officials, and stakeholders, enhancing mutual capacity-building efforts.
• Coordinate with Alliance members to identify and capitalize on opportunities for developing knowledge products.
• Collaborate with Alliance members to create impactful knowledge and communication materials that reflect the collective goals and efforts at a unified level.
MONITORING, EVALUATION, LEARNING (MEL)
• Work with the project teams to ensure that research activities are aligned with the project’s learning agenda, tracking progress and assessing impact.
• Identify and document best practices and lessons from the field that directly support the project’s work and internal learning.
• Capture and disseminate learning from MERL processes to inform both practice and strategic decision-making within the project.
• Utilize MERL data to identify additional research needs or gaps, ensuring that the project remains responsive to emerging challenges and opportunities.
• Monitor and document project adaptations informed by MERL data, ensuring these adjustments are linked to measurable results to demonstrate impact and learning.
• Support actions for institutional memory to ensure knowledge products are accessible and impactful beyond the project’s lifespan.
• Support with mainstreaming gender-sensitive analysis across all research activities.
• Collect and report data on project indicators to meet donor requirements and comply with MC’s internal minimum standards.
• Maintain regular updates in TOLA and conduct Data Quality Assessments (DQAs) for data collection and indicator tracking.
• Ensure adherence to participants' data protection protocols.
• Develop and maintain data collection tools, including digital data collection methods (e.g., ODK Collect using XLS forms).
• Manage data collection processes, including organizing field reports, troubleshooting data-related issues, and ensuring data integrity across program teams.
• Assist in developing monitoring dashboards that visualize collected data, key findings, and progress against indicators.
POLICY INFLUENCE AND ADVOCACY SUPPORT
• Coordinate with the project team to translate research findings and policy recommendations into actionable steps that align with the project's objectives.
• Collaborate with the Advocacy and Influencing team to ensure research products contribute to influencing strategies.
• Capture and document data generated from advocacy and influencing initiatives, ensuring alignment with the overarching project goals and influencing strategy.
OTHERS:
• Fulfill Mercy Corps Program Management Minimum Standards based on the organization-wide guide.
• Complete tasks as assigned in a timely, professional manner
• Participate in internal office coordination and planning meetings and workshops;
• 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.
• Other duties as assigned by the direct Supervisor and/or the Program Director.
SECURITY
• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.
SAFEGAURDING RESPONSIBILITIES
• Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work
• Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members
• Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options
Supervisory Responsibility
N/A
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Policy Research and Partnerships Coordinator
Works Directly With: Tabeaa project team, MEL Team, Targeted communities, Project partners/stakeholders, Mercy Corps support departments (Engineering department, PAQ, Finance, Admin and Procurement teams) at country, regional, and global levels.
Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders