ERD Measurement Advisor

Background/IRC Summary:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC), responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people survive, recover and gain control of their future. The IRC is working to improve the safety, health, education, economic well-being, and power of people in crisis affected places.

The Economic Recovery and Development Technical Unit (ERD TU) is responsible for supporting the design, implementation, and monitoring of client-centered programs that achieve economic wellbeing outcomes for IRC clients. This includes (but is not limited to) cash and voucher assistance (CVA), agriculture, livelihoods, and financial inclusion programming. The TU partners with IRC country offices globally to provide technical assistance that ensures program quality; evidence- and data-based decision making; and diversity, equity, and inclusion. In addition to technical assistance, the TU also drives IRC’s innovation and thought leadership (both internal and external) within the economic wellbeing space.

Job Overview/Summary:

The Measurement Advisor is the key focal point for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) technical assistance for economic wellbeing programs globally. This includes providing direct support to country office counterparts, and project partners, to design and manage M&E systems and plans, and to select technically sound approaches to measure economic wellbeing outcomes and outputs (including food security, basic needs, livelihoods, agriculture, financial inclusion, and market-systems strengthening). The Measurement Advisor plays a critical role in facilitating capacity sharing and cross-learning between ERD programs to ensure all country teams collect, analyze, and report high quality and consistent information in a timely manner to best facilitate program quality oversight, decision-making and communication between IRC staff and key external collaborators (including clients, implementing partners, peer agencies, and donors). The Measurement Advisor also collaborates closely with the IRC’s Measurement Unit to support, and provide sectoral subject matter expertise, on pivotal initiatives to strengthen measurement practices at an organizational level and add to global data collection efforts.

Major Responsibilities:

Technical Assistance and Capacity Sharing

• Collaborate with country counterparts, and project partners, to ensure high-quality M&E practices are applied in the design and implementation of economic wellbeing programs. This includes participatory M&E methods and client feedback.
• Provide technical contributions to proposals and during program design (both country-led and TU-led)
• Develop and deliver capacity sharing initiatives to support colleagues implementing and/or supporting economic wellbeing programs
• Provide guidance, and build capacity, to use and interpret economic wellbeing data by country teams
• In collaboration with regional measurement counterparts, support the selection, design, and implementation of ICT for M&E systems (with a particular focus on mobile data collection, remote monitoring, and data visualization)
• Manage the pipeline of country support requests and provide clear direction to the ERD Measurement Officer on priorities

TU Measurement Strategy

• Working closely with the Deputy Director, Strategy, Measurement and Operations, advance the definition and delivery of strategic priorities for the TU’s measurement technical assistance
• Ensure IRC’s standard indicators for economic wellbeing (including livelihoods, food security and basic needs) are clearly defined and evidence-based
• Stay abreast of M&E and data management practices, and donor standards and requirements
• Develop technical resources, such as assessments, data collection tools, and guidance notes
• Propose, and implement learning opportunities, particularly comparative analysis of monitoring data across countries and projects/programs and opportunities/approaches for evaluation of common economic wellbeing interventions/program models

Org-Wide Measurement Initiatives

• In close collaboration with the IRC’s Measurement Unit, develop, roll-out, and maintain standardized digital data collection tools and systems for M&E of common economic wellbeing interventions (“data tool kits”)
• Add to efforts aimed at advancing IRC’s measurement ambition in the organizational strategy (“Strategy 100”)
• Lead the annual collection, analysis, and interpretation of global economic wellbeing data (“Annual Statistics”)

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Deputy Director Strategy, Measurement, & Operations, ERD TU

Direct Reports: ERD Measurement Officer

Other Internal and/or external contacts

Internal: ERD Technical Advisors and country ERD Coordinators; measurement counterparts in other Technical Units, and Technical Advisors in other sectors; Measurement Unit colleagues at regional and H

External: Information Managers / M&E coordinators at peer agencies

Job Requirements:

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in statistics, economics, international development / public policy, or other relevant field
• Advanced training in quantitative data analysis and/or evaluation methodologies highly desired

Experience:

• Minimum seven (7) years’ experience designing, implementing, and supporting M&E frameworks. Experience leading or supporting M&E at the country-level, in a humanitarian or development context, is an advantage
• Experience or exposure to one or more of the sectors the ERD TU covers is preferred: livelihoods, agriculture, food security, basic needs, financial inclusion, market systems development, and/or cash and voucher assistance
• Experience designing digital/mobile data collection and information management systems. Previous experience using CommCare (or another ODK-based application) and/or PowerBI is an advantage
• Experience providing technical assistance, capacity building, training and/or mentoring. Experience doing so in diverse or cross-cultural settings and/or at a distance preferred
• The ideal candidate will also have experience leading or supporting the design and delivery of learning and evaluation activities

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

Technical

• Advanced understanding of M&E best practices
• Excellent quantitative and qualitative data analysis skills
• Familiarity with donor policies, procedures, and reporting priorities (incl. USAID, FCDO, ECHO)
• Advanced proficiency in the MS Office suite of applications (in particular, exceptional Excel skills), relevant analysis software such as Stata, SPSS, and digital data collection tools/applications
• A passion and aptitude for using data to draw insights to inform continuous improvement and learning

General

• Dedication to an anti-racist and Do No Harm approach, gender equality and inclusion
• Excellent interpersonal skills involving listening to, interacting with, and communicating clearly with people from diverse nationalities and backgrounds with a high degree of professionalism and pro-activity
• Highly organized, responsive, and able to prioritize optimally among competing priorities
• Capacity to work flexible hours, as appropriate to accommodate for different time zones
• Ability and willingness to travel up to 30% of the time
• Proficiency in working productively in remote team and management structures
• Working proficiency in English required. Proficiency in and at least one other IRC working languages preferred (Arabic, French, or Spanish)

Standards for professional conduct and commitment to equality:

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Equality, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Client Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability.

We offer benefits that help promote an empowering work environment, including parental leave, medical insurance, counseling services, gender-sensitive security protocols, and more.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

Language preference and/or interpretation to interview for the role can be made available upon request for the IRC’s working languages (Spanish, French, Arabic, English).

COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement:

In accordance with IRC’s duty to provide and maintain a workplace that is free of known hazards and our commitment to safeguard the health of our employees, clients, and communities, IRC requires new hires to furnish proof of vaccination against COVID-19 in order to be considered for any in-office or hybrid positions. All IRC US offices require full vaccination to attend any in-office functions (e.g., meetings, trainings).