Switzerland: Senior M&E Advisor

Background

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world's largest humanitarian organization, with 190 member National Societies. As part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, our work is guided by seven fundamental principles; humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality.

Organizational Context

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest volunteer-based humanitarian network. The IFRC is a membership organisation established by and comprised of its member National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Along with National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the IFRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The overall aim of the IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.” It works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.

The IFRC has its headquarters in Geneva, with regional and country offices throughout the world. The IFRC is led by a Secretary General who provides the central capacity of to serve, connect, and represent National Societies. The IFRC’s focus includes providing support to the IFRC governance mechanisms; setting norms and standards; providing guidance; ensuring consistency, coordination, and accountability for performance; knowledge sharing; promoting collaboration within and respect for the RCRC Movement; and expanding engagement with partners. The IFRC’s headquarters is organized in three main divisions: (i) Partnerships, including Movement and Membership; (ii) Programmes and Operations; and (iii) Management Services.

The Partnership Division is in turn organised in three departments, each of them led by a director. The Policy, Strategy and Knowledge department (PSK) consists of 5 teams, of which Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting is one. The Senior M&E Advisor is part of this team.Job Purpose

Support IFRC and NS performance and accountability in effective planning, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) by developing, innovating and supervising the introduction and implementation of M&E systems, methods and processes in the organisation; ensuring professional capacity on all levels of the organisation and aggregating M&E results to a higher level.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Support the evaluation function and processes in the IFRC

• Uphold the IFRC Framework for Evaluations, ensuring evaluations and related exercises are timely, useful, and ethical, upholding industry criteria, standards and best practices.
• Lead or conduct evaluation and related exercises (including surveys, research and studies) upon demand for IFRC departments and field offices.
• Manage quality and accountable evaluations and related exercises for IFRC departments and field offices, including commissioning, recruitment, and management of external consultancies.
• Support the use of the IFRC evaluation register and databank.
• Advise on and advance the understanding and use of a range of new approaches and methods for impact, contribution and attribution analysis, e.g. realist evaluation and outcome harvesting.

Support the monitoring and planning function in the IFRC

• Develop, and uphold the IFRC project/programme M&E guidelines and processes, ensuring industry best practices and minimum standards are monitored and followed.
• Provide technical assistance in the design and implementation of reliable and timely monitoring systems, including National Society input into the Federation-wide Databank and Reporting System (FDRS), and beneficiary monitoring, communication, complaints and feedback mechanism.
• Advise on the development of strategy, policy, standards and procedures that are aligned with and measurable for IFRC objectives (aligned with the Plan and Budget 2016-2020).
• Advise on the design of programs and projects to ensure results are relevant and measureable for monitoring and evaluation.
• Promote the adoption of new and relevant technologies for M&E, including the use of mobile data collection; web-based program management systems; data collection and analysis software; and learning platforms for M&E.

Support PMER capacity building in the IFRC

• Maintain the National Society PMER capacity assessment tool and its uptake and use in the IFRC Network.
• Develop and deliver in-person training, online e-learning and related Training of Trainers (ToT) guidance.
• Provide mentorship for key PMER capacity areas, including M&E planning, managing an evaluation, project design, and household/baseline surveys.
• Promote the use of virtual networks and social media to support a culture of PMER, including oversight of the IFRC PMER online community of practice and email listserv.

Support and represent strategic partnerships in M&E for the IFRC

• Represent the IFRC in working groups and committees with strategic partners, e.g. the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP) and EvalPartners.
• Serve as an expert reviewer on committees for leading international M&E guidance and publications, e.g. ALNAP, The Sphere Project.
• Liaise with external organisations and participate in international fora (e.g. the European Evaluation Society, the American Evaluation Association, the African Evaluation Association) to disseminate IFRC M&E lessons and best practices, and remain abreast of trends.
• Extract, aggregate and share operational and institutional lessons learned of PMER related activities throughout the organisation and if required externally.

Contribute to an effective, high quality IFRC team:

• Be accountable to the team manager by providing progress reports on results against objectives and risk analysis.
• Be flexible in your work definition according to needs and targets and improve team efficiencies and effectiveness within available resources.
• Be a pro-active team member fostering a customer service-oriented culture that values proactivity, continuous improvement, innovation, high performance and cost effectiveness.
• Foster a co-creative environment with colleagues in the Secretariat, Regions and the National Societies and open and co-operative view to the actors in the relevant external environment.

Education

• Master’s degree in the social sciences, international development or related discipline

Experience

• Minimum of 7 years of experience in international development and/or humanitarian relief
• Minimum 3 years of experience in designing and implementing integrated results-based monitoring and evaluations systems and processes for organizations working in complex humanitarian or development contexts.
• Minimum 4 years of hands-on work in project and program design, monitoring, evaluation and reporting in complex humanitarian or development contexts
• Demonstrated experience in M&E capacity building, including individual and organizational assessment, training development and delivery.
• Demonstrated experience working in cross cultural contexts and multiple stakeholders

Knowledge,skillsand languages

• Thorough knowledge and understanding of international M&E ethics, standards and best practices in development and humanitarian contexts.
• Outstanding networking, representational, communication and negotiation skills to collaborate with and engage a range of internal and external stakeholders in M&E and related areas.
• Highly conceptual, analytical and applied thinker, capable to lead detailed background research and primary data collection and analysis using a range of quantitative and qualitative methods.
• Extensive knowledge of different approaches to planning, from strategy development and frameworks to program and project design.
• Extensive knowledge of different data collection and analysis methods for evaluations, surveys, baseline studies, and related research and exercises.
• Excellent communication skills in different formats, capable to communicate complex ideas in simple, direct ways to different audiences, including the understanding and use of data visualization.
• Knowledge of appropriate technologies and their use for M&E and RBM, from digital data collection to online systems for data management.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to collaborate with, engage, lead and manage colleagues to achieve shared goals.
• Self-motivated, with good judgment, initiative, and ability to work independently with attention to time management and detail.
• Solid ability to network and share lessons and best practices on organisational and other professional networks.
• Fluently spoken and written English
• Good command of another IFRC official language (French, Spanish or Arabic) - Preferred

Competencies and values

• Values: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability
• Core competencies: Communication; Collaboration and teamwork; Judgement and decision making; National society and customer relations; Creativity and innovation; Building trust

Comments

The Federation is an equal opportunity employer.

Please apply on the organisation's website: Click Here