MEAL Officer – Save Children Somalia

Job Description

TEAM/PROGRAMME:  E&L (SS MEAL Team)

LOCATION; Mogadishu with frequently travel to all project target locations.

GRADE: 4

CONTRACT LENGTH; 12 Months

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:

Level 3:  the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE:

Secoded to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA), the MEAL Officer for the SAGAL Project will provide timely and effective support in advancing Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) strategies, policies, and practices for the SAGAL project. The role involves designing and strengthening programme monitoring systems, building staff capacity in data analysis and dissemination, and ensuring strong coordination among Save the Children project teams, the Somali Cash Consortium, and MoLSA counterparts.

The officer will also manage complaints and feedback mechanisms to enhance accountability, improve project information sharing, and foster community participation in SAGAL project, while coordinating information management and reporting systems to ensure accuracy and transparency.

Additionally, the post holder will support the Area Evidence and Learning Manager in implementing the MEAL strategy across the Southern States of Somalia, with a particular focus on the SAGAL Project. By delivering an effective MEAL function, the officer will play a pivotal role in expanding Save the Children’s programmes in the assigned area, thereby increasing impact and enabling positive, sustainable change for children.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Director General, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA)

Technically Reports:  Area Evidence and Learning  Manager, Save the Children International (SCI)

Staff reporting to this post: N/A

Role Dimensions Save the Children operates across all zones in Somalia and currently has three main area offices and additional 11 field offices. Programmatically Somalia is a large Country Office with more than $100million annual budget and staff over 650 staff.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Support the delivery of effective Programmes, in both development and humanitarian contexts, by:

Program Quality Monitoring

Provide supervisory support to the project team through regular guidance and quarterly field monitoring.

• Update the monthly Indicator Performance Tracking Table (IPTT) in the PRIME system.
• Prepare MEAL plans, conduct field monitoring, produce monitoring reports, and develop improvement action plans with the program team.
• Follow up on improvement actions to ensure program quality and adaptive project management.
• Facilitate post-distribution monitoring and proactive calls in collaboration with the Save the Children team and the Somali Cash Consortium MEAL focal point.

• Systematically review IPTT data for accuracy, consistency, and quality; conduct data quality checks during field visits and provide feedback to project staff.
• Maintain a tracking schedule for field monitoring and conduct monthly visits to ensure activities meet established quality benchmarks.
• Produce high-quality field monitoring reports assessing the quality of service provision.
• Assist in designing and implementing both qualitative and quantitative assessments, as appropriate.
• Conduct quarterly program data assessments to strengthen evidence-based decision-making.
• Evaluations and Studies
• Contribute to the development of standardized tools and guidelines for midline and endline data collection.
• Coordinate with Save the Children (SCI) and the Somali Cash Consortium to facilitate midline and endline evaluations.
• Deliver training sessions for field data collectors on the use of midline and endline data collection tools.
• Provide technical support for internal and external reviews, evaluations, and lessons-learned exercises.
• Oversee and manage specialized data management and analysis platforms to ensure data integrity and efficiency.
• Strengthen the capacity of field staff and project teams in digital data collection and management practices.
• Support program-related research activities in Jubaland State and other field offices as required.

Accountability and Learning

• Ensure that accountability to beneficiaries and transparency become integral part of all program interventions
• Receive and register complaints and their responses in complaint database in the assigned area and make sure that complaints are logged in a professional and timely manner
• Respond and communicate with the beneficiaries in a dignified manner regarding their complaints/feedback
• Keep regular follow up of complaints, update complaint database on daily basis, handle them as per the accountability guidelines and shares the information with the relevant staff members
• Provide support in ensuring that all SC interventions have accountability panaflexes/banners
• Ensure display of program standards (panaflexes) at each of program delivery site
• Maintain an action plan tracker and keep a regular follow up on actions and resolutions agreed, and undertake verification visits

Other Duties

• Representing the principles and work of Save the Children to donors, United Nations, NGOs and INGOs, government, media and other stakeholders when required
• Complying with and promoting all Save the Children Global policies such as Child Safeguarding, Whistle blowing, Fraud, and Health and Safety
• Any other tasks of an equivalent nature as assigned by the line manager

 Experiences and Qualifications

QUALIFICATIONS

At least Higher Diploma Qualification or Bachelor degree Social Science/ Statistics/Economics/Public Health

 EXPERIENCE and SKILLS

Essential

Minimum 2-3 years of practical experience in M&E system coordination/implementation in an  international non-governmental organization or other international relief/development body; or Master’s degree with humanitarian program experience

Background of implementing effective M&E systems and/or accountability mechanisms in emergency responses.

Demonstrable track record in data tracking and evaluation, with the ability to support staff and partners on M&E methodology and analyse and disseminate  information to a range of stakeholder audiences;

Computer literacy, particularly in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint;

Strong communication and interpersonal skills in English, with experience working in multicultural, multi-location, values driven teams;

Desirable

• Working knowledge of data/statistical programmes e.g. SPSS/STATA
• Data Visualization POWER BI
• Excellent planning, coordination, and reporting skills, with the ability to organise a substantial workload comprised of complex, diverse tasks and responsibilities;
• Willingness to work and travel in often difficult and insecure environments;
• Commitment to Save the Children values

COMPETENCIES AND BEHAVIOURS (our Values in Practice)

Delivering Results (Skilled)

• Delivers timely and appropriate results using available resources
• Takes responsibility for their work and its impact on others
• Plans, prioritises and performs tasks well without needing direct supervision
• Understands the link between his/her work and the organization’s objectives

Applying Professional and Technical Expertise (Skilled)

• Ask to work on new pieces of work or take on additional responsibilities that develop your skills

• Make a habit of sending copies of relevant and interesting articles to your colleagues and peers throughout the organisation

• Review any listing of standards relating to your current position and use this to identify how to further develop your technical competence

• Take on increased responsibilities which will enable you to learn within current role

• Buddy up with well qualified colleagues to understand the challenges they may have faced in equipping themselves and how they overcame them

Working Effectively With Others (Skilled)

• Actively listens to new and different perspectives and experiences of those they work with

• Proactively supports team members and trusts their capabilities

• Demonstrates understanding of their skills and how they complement those of others within diverse teams and groups

• Clarifies their role and responsibilities within the team to maximize impact.

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

 Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Adult Safeguarding.

The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy, all employees are also expected to carry out their duties in accordance with SCI protection from sexual exploitation abuse.

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

At SCI, we uphold the principle of equal rights and opportunities for all our employees. In our commitment to fostering a more inclusive workplace and addressing gender gaps, we have implemented additional efforts aimed at supporting female qualified candidates: –

• Maternity leave (6 months)
• Annual Leave 30 working days
• 10% *gross salary. (female allowance)
• 1.5 flexible working hours for lactating mothers