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 long term impact.

The Program / Department / Team

Mercy Corps is launching the Advancing School Completion, Education, Nutrition, and Development (ASCEND) project, a five-year USDA McGovern-Dole Food for Education program a new multi-year food security and education program in Liberia, working across Grand Bassa, Rivercess, Grand Gedeh, and River Gee counties in partnership with international and national organizations. The program aims to improve school meals, literacy outcomes, and the community and government systems that sustain these gains over time, in close coordination with national and local stakeholders.

The Position

The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Coordinator serves as the county-level focal point for all MEL activities in Grand Gedeh, and plays a coordinating role for MEL summary reports and statistics feeding into the program’s overall MEL system. The MEL Coordinator will report directly to the MEL Manager and work in close collaboration with the , Program Manager and county-level program staff , and with the Ministry of Education (MOE) at school, district, and county levels, to ensure that program needs are being met and that data collection is proceeding according to the planned schedule.

The MEL Coordinator will supervise county-level data collection staff and enumerators, and will work closely with the MEL Tech Coordinator and MEL Officers as members of the same MEL team led by the MEL Lead.

Essential Responsibilities

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

• Coordinate with the Program Manager and county-level program staff to ensure that regular monitoring activities are performed according to schedule and that data collection is adequately completed.
• Work closely with the MEL Lead to ensure that monitoring is adequate for management and reporting purposes.
• Coordinate and assist in oversight of data collection activities such as periodic surveys and exit interviews, including hiring of short-term personnel and facilitating data collection and logistics.
• Oversee county-level data management, including the timeliness and completeness of reporting as well as data entry into TolaData and other program databases.
• Work in collaboration with the Program Manager to provide regular summaries of county-level program data to the MEL Lead.
• Analyze data and provide summary reports as requested by the MEL Manager or other senior staff.
• Manage the tasks of county-level data collection staff and enumerators to achieve MEL objectives; this will require regular travel within the county.
• Support the MEL Lead in generating evidence for the learning agenda, the Value for Money analysis, and the Theory of Change assumptions, including documenting seasonality and shocks that affect delivery at county level.

DATA QUALITY AND SYSTEMS

• Support internal and external Data Quality Assessments (DQAs) at the county level, in collaboration with the MEL Lead and MOE.
• Support the collection of sex and age-disaggregated data (SADD) and the use of gender-sensitive data collection msex-ethods.
• Ensure county-level data is properly collected in CommCare, entered, verified, and maintained in TolaData and other program databases.
• Serve as a liaison between county-level program staff and collaborating research institutions for data-based research activities, as directed by the MEL Lead.

CAPACITY BUILDING

• Build the capacity of county-level data collection staff and enumerators through training and ongoing mentoring.
• Support the roll-out of MEL tools, protocols, and reporting templates at the county level.

SECURITY

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

SAFEGUARDING RESPONSIBILITIES

• Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work.
• Practices the values of Mercy Corps, including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members.
• Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms, e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options.

Supervisory Responsibility

Direct reports: MEL officers (Grand Bassa & Rivercess)

County-level MEL data collection staff and enumerators, as assigned.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: MEL Lead

Works Directly With: MEL Tech Coordinator, Program Manager, county-level program staff, county Ministry of Education officials, and consortium partner MEL focal points

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• BA/S degree in social sciences, economics, business administration, monitoring and evaluation, or a related field required.
• 4+ years of experience in the implementation or support of development or humanitarian programs, with a focus on monitoring and evaluation.
• Practical and theoretical knowledge of program monitoring and data collection methods, including interview techniques and participatory approaches.
• Quantitative skills including commitment to statistics; familiarity with data management and analysis tools (Excel required; TolaData, CommCare, or similar digital data collection platforms preferred).
• Experience supporting data quality assurance processes preferred.
• Experience with USDA, USAID, or other institutional donor reporting preferred.
• Experience in school feeding projects is an added advantage.
• Comfort and ability to engage with and interview program participants while professionally representing the organization.
• Fluency in spoken and written English is required.
• A valid motorcycle license is an added advantage, as field travel within the counties may be by motorcycle.

Success Factors

The ideal candidate will have a natural curiosity for quantifying and articulating the impact of the program on individuals and communities, along with an interest in exploring the larger factors that influence the success of development and humanitarian programs. A successful candidate will have skills and a passion for data collection, entry, and analysis, as well as the ability to mentor others in these areas. This position requires the ability to work effectively in a team as well as assume individual responsibility for supervision and specific reporting tasks.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Grand Gedeh County, Liberia, and requires regular travel within Grand Gedeh and to River Gee, including to areas with limited amenities. Team members represent the agency during both and outside work hours when deployed in a field of posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves professionally and respect local laws, customs, and organizational policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline (integrityhotline@mercycorps.org).

Please click here to apply: MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING COORDINATOR – NATIONAL | Mercy Corps Liberia