PMU MERL Coordinator

The Organization

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child but know this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it is girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges girls and vulnerable children face. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood and we enable children to prepare for and respond to crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

For over 85 years, we have rallied other determined optimists to transform the lives of all children in more than 80 countries.

We won’t stop until we are all equal.

Plan International Jordan is contracted by Novo Nordisk Foundation to implement a 5-year youth empowerment program called “Najahna” (2022-2026). The action will aim to complement the Jordan Response Plan’s top priority, which is to strengthen systems to protect the dignity and welfare of Syrian refugees and vulnerable Jordanians impacted by the Syrian crisis. By doing this, the project will support Jordan’s enduring commitment to continue to build an integrated multi-year framework to respond to the Syrian crisis in a transparent, collaborative, and sustainable manner in line with the Global Compact on Refugees framework.

The Consortium

The Najahna consortium is comprised of four organizations, Plan International (Consortium Lead), The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), The Royal Health Awareness Society (RHAS), and The Confederation of Danish Industries (DI). The consortium partners bring an exceptional combination of experience, capacity and presence built over many years of working with refugees and conflict-affected youth in ensuring access to Education, Youth Economic Empowerment, Health/Protection mainstreaming, gender and gender transformative approaches in various countries around the world and in Jordan, including the targeted governorates (Amman, Zarqa, Irbid, Mafraq) and the Azraq and Zaatri refugee camps. The consortium partners and local partners provide complementary reach to strengthen each other’s existing programming. The program seeks to empower Jordanian youth, Syrian refugees and other conflict affected youth, especially adolescent girls and young women, with skills and capacities to pursue sustainable livelihood opportunities and challenge and break down gender, social, economic and refugee barriers as active social and economic members of civil society.

ROLE PURPOSE

Plan International in Jordan is seeking to recruit an experienced MERL Coordinator to support the “Najahna” program. The MERL Coordinator will be part of the Program Management Unit (PMU) which oversees the program's implementation and quality. They will work under the supervision of the PMU MERL Technical Specialist and very closely with the MERL focal points of all consortium members and MERL consultants contracted by the PMU.

The post holder will play a critical role in the implementation of the Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) framework for the Najahna multi-partner consortium. The Coordinator will work closely with MERL and program teams and consortium partners to ensure effective data collection, cleaning, analysis, and reporting. This role focuses on ensuring quality M&E processes, contributing to research and learning agenda-setting, and ensuring that consortium’s Power BI dashboards are adapted and updated on a regular basis.

The PMU MERL Coordinator will be based in Amman office and ensures that MERL instruments and processes are applied and adapted as necessary to capture consortium progress and achievements. The PMU MERL Coordinator, in collaboration with the PMU MERL Technical Specialist and the rest of the PMU’s team, will actively contribute to the shaping of the MERL systems and processes based on evidence and needs.

Dimensions of the Role

The role reports to the PMU’s MERL Technical Specialist and works very closely with the rest of the PMU’s team. It involves regular and very close coordination, follow-up, and communication with consortium partners’ MERL focal points and all research and learning consultants contracted by the PMU. As this role involves the provision of field support and field visits, some communications with participants, including children, is also required.

Accountabilities

Under direct supervision and guidance of the PMU’s MERL Technical Specialist and in close collaboration with the PMU’s team, the consortium’s MERL focal points, and program colleagues, the PMU’s MERL Coordinator will assume the following responsibilities:

1. Data Quality Assurance: Ensure rigorous and ethical quality assurance measures are applied all through the life cycle of data, including during training of enumerators, data collection, data cleaning, data transference, and data analysis;
2. Maintaining monitoring instruments and processes: Ensure monitoring instruments (e.g., Kobo data collection forms and data analysis spreadsheets) are updated and improved regularly;
3. Reporting and Communications: Support with the analysis of consortium data on reach, outputs, and outcome levels, and prepare reports on MERL results and findings as needed;
4. Visualization: Ensure Power Bi dashboards are adapted to reflect outcomes and impact of the consortium and they are updated on a regular and timely basis for partners as well as external stakeholders’ use;
5. Capacity Building: Provide technical support and capacity-building to consortium members and partners in MERL methodologies and best practices as relevant;
6. Research and Evaluation: Share with Najahna’s Research and Learning consultants MERL data and findings and contribute to agenda-setting as appropriate and support with their technical requests from the partners;
7. Events and Activities: Contribute to MERL-related events and activities in an informed manner drawing on MERL findings and learnings;
8. Learning and Knowledge Sharing: Support the PMU team in fostering a culture of learning and knowledge sharing within the consortium, encouraging adaptive management based on data-driven insights.

   Communication:

   1. Contribute to Najahna’s MERL technical working group discussions and ensure effective coordination and collaboration between all partners as relevant to data and data quality;
   2. Attend regular calls, meetings, etc. as required;

      The MERL Coordinator may also be asked to undertake any other relevant tasks to support programme’s MERL as required.

      Child protection, gender equality and inclusion

      • Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children, Young People and Programmes Participants and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies.

        Key relationships

        The role reports to the PMU’s MERL Technical Specialist and works very closely with the rest of the PMU’s team. It involves regular coordination with consortium partners’ MERL focal points and all research and learning consultants contracted by the PMU.

        Technical expertise, skills and knowledge

        Essential

      • Bachelor’s degree or higher in a relevant field (e.g., Monitoring and Evaluation, Social Sciences, Statistics, International Development, etc);