This announcement is a call for qualified applicants, and the position is contingent upon final confirmation of project funding.
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 a long-term impact.
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
The Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) Officer will support the implementation and use of the monitoring and evaluation systems to enhance Tabeaa’s impact on vulnerable communities facing climate change challenges in Jordan. The Senior MERL Officer will assist in setting up MERL data collection and reporting systems and collaborate closely with the MERL Assistant to ensure proper documentation and filing, meeting the minimum standards outlined in the project agreement. In addition, the Senior MERL Officer will be responsible for reporting program achievements, developing MERL analysis, and generating reports. The Sr. MERL officer will also play a key role in supporting the development of learning, research, and knowledge products as required by the project, ensuring that findings and lessons learned contribute to continuous improvement and knowledge sharing. The MERL Senior Officer will report directly to the MEL Coordinator but will work closely with other project team members and program partners.
Essential Responsibilities
MONITORING, EVALUATION, INFORMATION, AND QUALITY MANAGEMENT
● Support the development of a systematic and realistic monitoring plan that captures quantitative and qualitative data to report on program indicators.
● Conduct monitoring field visits to assess project implementation.
● Create and maintain project dashboards for performance tracking, tracking and documenting deviations from work plans with the support of PAQ.
● Support in updating MEL results on the MC data visualization system (TolaData) regularly.
● Develop and maintain data management systems and databases.
● Participate in planning, and conducting the Data Quality assessment (DQAs), by ensuring that all stakeholders are aware of the indicator’s definition and method of calculation.
● Assist in organizing and maintaining filing for the project in accordance with Mercy Corps Program Management Minimum Standards. And ensure that the evidence filing by the program team and partners are using the filing structure.
● Ensure compliance with relevant Mercy Corps MEL and donor policies and regulations
● Support in building the capacity of project teams and partners on the data collection and management, analysis, reporting techniques, and requirements for relevant donors through arranging structured training and providing continuous on-the-job training.
● Ensure adherence to participants' data protection protocols.
● Actively participate in MC-Jordan MEL community of practice and support other MEL teams where needed.
● Other duties as assigned.
RESEARCH, LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
● Perform desk reviews and literature analyses to inform research products.
● Support in the development of research methodologies aligned with project objectives.
● Support in the facilitation of participatory action research involving local communities.
● Patriciate in planning and conducting learning sessions (quarterly review sessions, after action reviews, pause and reflect, final internal performance reviews)
● Support in the development and implementation of learning agendas to inform organizational learning.
● Develop and disseminate learning products (e.g., case studies, learning reports).
● Support in the organization of learning workshops or knowledge-sharing events for internal and external stakeholders.
● Ensure continuous feedback loops from monitoring and evaluation to inform adaptive management.
● Create and maintain a centralized knowledge repository or database for the project.
● Engage in workshops, meetings to share knowledge and build capacity.
● Facilitate the exchange of information between field offices, partners, and stakeholders.
DATA COLLECTION
● Participate in developing data collection tools and instruments – including digitized data collection methods i.e., ODK collection using XLS forms
● Develop training material and train the concerned parties on using the data collection tools.
● Handle, maintain, and troubleshoot data collection issues that arise on the field
● Record completed data entry forms and requests as needed.
● Keep up to date with the latest technologies to facilitate data-driven programmatic decision-making and program quality assurance.
● Conduct monthly check-in on the data and ensure having regularly cleaned data.
● Develop a monthly report which includes program achievements and narratively quantitative and qualitative collected data.
● Supervise the MEL-related data collection across the activity implementation locations.
PROJECT EVALUATION
● Participate in developing research questions and methodologies to evaluate the impact and appropriateness of the project-achieved results.
● Coordinate the implementation of surveys, focus group discussions, interviews, and follow-up on evaluation exercises for various initiatives under the project
● Participate in drafting narratives for qualitative and evaluation reports.
● Participate in developing evaluation Scope of works (SoWs).
● Participate in reviewing the external evaluation reports.
REPORTING
● Lead on collecting, compiling, and disseminating project team field reports or progress reports on a regular basis