Background/Context:
The IRC has operated in Syria since 2012, providing protection, health, economic recovery, and early childhood development programs in Idleb, Aleppo, Ar-Raqqa, Hassakeh, and Deir ez-Zor, with new programs expanding into Hama, rural Damascus, and Homs. With a team of over 700 members, the IRC has established trust and strong community relationships, ensuring access and effective service delivery. It plays a significant role in Syria’s NGO, donor, and coordination forums, holding key positions and adapting to the evolving context.
With the new realities under the new government, as of December 2024, the IRC has deployed a team to Damascus to set up operations and engage in coordination structures for newly accessible areas across Syria—including parts of NES, NWS, and other previously unreachable locations in South and Central Syria, adjusting operations to maximize coverage and efficiency.
Job overview:
Reporting directly to the MEAL Coordinator, the MEAL manager will strengthen the MEAL efforts, approaches and systems to strengthen learning and accountability for our clients; support IRC’s global and measurement ambitions of Strategy 100 and the Country Strategic Action Plan. She/He will support implementing the MEAL function by IRC in Syria.
The Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) Manager will oversee all technical aspects of MEAL activities across the Economic Recovery and Development (ERD), Health, and Integrated Protection programs, including Rule of Law, Child Protection, and Women Empowerment. The role involves leading the design and implementation of MEAL systems aligned with IRC’s global and country strategies, ensuring high-quality data collection, analysis, and reporting to support evidence-based decision-making and program improvement. The MEAL Manager will promote a culture of learning and accountability, represent IRC in technical forums, and build partnerships to enhance MEAL practices. Additionally, the role includes managing and mentoring MEAL staff, supporting capacity building for both program and partners, and contributing to the recruitment and onboarding of team members.
Responsibilities:
Leadership and Partnership
Manage all technical aspects and actions of MEAL regarding the ERD (livelihoods), Health and Protection (including Rule of Law, Child Protection and Women Empowerment) programs; respond to programs’ needs; promote high standards and practices for quality data, analysis, and reports, enabling accountability to clients, partners, and donors.Improve MEAL systems and approaches and promotes learning through facilitating learning exercises in collaboration with program team and technical advisors.Represent IRC at technical meetings, forums, and other events and build partnership within IRC and other areas of expertise.Champion design, access and use of data by leaders and partners for shared learning and evidence-based decision-making.Collaborate with MEAL teams within and outside IRC to support harmonization of MEAL systems and approaches, sharing capacity and experiences.Technical Oversight
Lead the design and implementation of MEAL systems and processes across all IRC Syria programs, ensuring alignment with both the Syria Country Program Strategy and IRC’s Global MEAL Strategy throughout the project cycle. This includes:Utilizing learning, evidence, and data from past and ongoing projects to inform the design of new proposals.Contribute to logical frameworks, and lead designing MEAL plans, digital data collection tools, and systems for online data management tailored to the Syria context.Ensure continued generation of accurate information about clients reach.Ensure the utilization of the Program Indicators Dashboard to regularly report visualized figures that support decision making.Establishing and maintaining timely data flows, conducting quality checks and audits, and ensuring regular updates to data visualizations.Overseeing MEAL activities at the field level to ensure quality and consistency.Conducting regular analysis of monitoring data and collaborating closely with program coordinators and managers to support adaptive, real-time decision-making.Producing high-quality reports and updating dashboards with key findings to support learning and decision-making, and sharing these insights in project cycle and team meetings.Work closely with the grants unit to integrate MEAL results into donor reports as well as in the internal Project Cycle Meetings.Identifying, documenting, and disseminating lessons learned to enhance program quality and client outcomes.Lead the design, methodology, and implementation of surveys such as baselines and endlines, and coordinate evaluations in collaboration with IRC colleagues and partners in Syria.Promote and support the scale-up of mobile data collection technologies and online dashboards to improve the timeliness, accuracy, and visualization of data.Contribute to IRC Syria’s accountability commitments by coordinating with the Clients Responsiveness lead to support the implementation of robust client feedback and response mechanisms, ensuring responsiveness to both internal and external stakeholders.Clients Responsiveness and Accountability:
Ensure that clients feedback collected from monitoring activities is incorporated into the Clients Responsiveness system.Coordinate with the Clients Responsiveness Sr Officer to ensure including Feedback related indicators into the logframes, and ensure that Support the Clients responsiveness function through ensuring that MEAL team in the field take part of clients feedback management.Ensure the clients feedbacks are utilized to inform programmatic, and project corrective decisions.Information and Communications Technology
Work closely with the Information Management Senior Officer to ensure accurate data on timely basis.Support the Information Management in providing MEAL business processes, and in making good strategic choices for the prioritization and use of technology for MEAL purposes.Ensures the execution of the data flow that from the clients to being visualized at the country level.Conduct Data Quality Audits to ensure data is ready to be transformed to decision-making information.Ensures the MEAL data is well protected and only shared with authorized personnel.Coordination and Representation
Actively contribute and liaise with MEAL counterparts in Syria to continuously learn and keep up with MEAL best practices and share learning with team accordingly.Maintain working relationships with MEAL counterparts in other relevant international and local NGOs in Syria as relevant. Coordinate internally with program and grants tea to ensure quality data is compliant and integrated into donor reports.Staff Performance Management, Learning & Development:
Provide leadership, coordination, and mentorship to a dynamic team of MEAL staff within the Syria Country Program, fostering a collaborative, inclusive, and respectful team environment that supports timely and high-quality performance.Hire, supervise, and build the capacity of team members in relevant technical and management competencies.Develop and implement remote management capacity building approaches to build the strengths the teams in Syria. In close collaboration with the MEAL coordinator and partnerships department, conduct capacity sharing exercises for strengthening and sharing MEAL capacities of partner organizations.Coach, train, supervise and mentor direct-report staff, including communicating clear expectations, setting annual performance objectives, providing regular and timely positive and constructive performance feedback, and providing documented semi-annual performance reviews.Maintain open and professional relations with team members, promoting a strong team spirit and providing oversight and guidance to enable staff to successfully perform in their positions.Approve and manage time, attendance and leave requests to ensure adequate departmental coverage; ensure monthly, accurate timesheet submission and carry out probationary reviews.Hold high-quality meetings with each direct report on a regular and predictable basis, minimally on a monthly basis.Provide a measurable development plan including on-the-job learning with the aim of strengthening technical capacity, exchanging knowledge within the team and providing guidance on career paths. As required, identify staff performance issues and work with Human Resources to document and address these in accordance with the National Staff Employment Policies.Maintain open and professional relations with team members, promoting a strong team spirit and providing oversight and guidance to enable staff to successfully perform in their positions.Promote and monitor staff care and well-being. Model healthy work-life balance practices. Support appropriate interventions in response to identified staff care needs of both national and international staff.Look for opportunities to support staff in their career growth, where appropriate. As part of succession plan and nationalization goals, identify, train and develop capability and capacity of national staff to successfully transition role and responsibilities, by the end of assignment.Job Requirements:
Education: BA/BS Degree in international development, social sciences, statistics or a related field; MA/MS a plus
Work Experience: Minimum of 4 years professional experience in monitoring and evaluation of multi-sectoral programming in post conflict settings; INGO experience required.
Strong measurement, analytical, systematic-thinking, planning and organizational skills;Demonstrated experience and excellent skills developing qualitative and quantitative data collection toolsDemonstrated experience and excellent skills developing logical/results frameworks, indicators and other key MEAL toolsDemonstrated experience and excellent skills in data/information management and analysis, with experience using databases and software applicationsDemonstrated Experience in Data VisualizationDemonstrated experience and capacity in conducting field-level data collection and data entryExperience in capacity building and team buildingMust be capable of applying their skills and knowledge in a range of capacities, including direct implementation, advisory functions, training and the transfer of technical knowledge and management skills to othersProven ability to work well in and promote teamwork, be flexible and handle pressure with professional graceExcellent oral and written communication skills, with ability to express ideas and concepts clearly and persuasively with senior internal and external stakeholder. Fluency in English required, fluency in Arabic recommended.Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:
A commitment to IRC’s mission, vision, values and IRC Way – Professional Code of Conduct.Credible written, presentation and verbal communication skills; ability to convey information effectively and solid experience providing training and staff development.Validated sense of professional discretion, integrity, and ability to handle complex situations diplomatically and to effective resolution.Excellent management and interpersonal skills and a solid ability to promote harmonious/cohesive teamwork, in a cross-cultural context.Validated ability to plan long-term, organize priorities and work under administrative and programmatic pressures with detail orientation and professional patience.Highly collaborative and resourceful; ability to establish positive working relationships with senior level management and all other partners to maximize cooperation and productivity.Curiosity, a desire to continually learn and develop is a must.Analytical ability in creating effective solutions to complex matters while adhering to labor laws and internal policies. Excellent inter-personal skills, demonstrating diplomacy and tact;Able to influence and motivate individuals that are not under direct line management;Capable of applying skills and knowledge in a range of capacities, including direct implementation, remote management, advisory functions, training and the transfer of technical knowledge and management skills to others;Comfortable in a multi-cultural environment;Flexible and able to handle pressure;Values learning and takes a strong interest in new developments in the field of MEAL;Language/Travel:
Professional written and spoken English skills is required,Travel: 30% to field sites.Key Working Relationships:
Position Reports to: MEAL Coordinator
Position directly supervises: MEAL Officers.
Key Internal Contacts: Grants and Partnership staff, Program Coordinators, Field Coordinators,
Key External Contacts: Donors, other INGOs, local NGOs and other partners.
Professional Standards: IRC staff must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Global Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability and Equality. In accordance with these values, IRC operates and carries out policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti-Workplace Harassment, Respect at Work Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.
Returning National Candidates: We strongly encourage national or returning national candidates to apply for this position. If you are a citizen of the country where this position is based and are currently residing outside of your home country, you may be eligible for an attractive relocation package. Eligibility is determined based on IRC's operational needs and specific role requirements. IRC strives to attract, motivate, and retain qualified national staff in our programs.
Accountability to Clients: IRC staff must adhere to the commitment of contributing to the sustainability and development of its (CR) Client Responsiveness Mechanisms, preserving the culture of prioritizing the needs of our clients and affected communities by systematically listening to their perspectives and using their feedback to make programmatic decisions and give them greater influence over program design and delivery.
Standard of Professional Conduct:The IRC and the IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – our Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability, and Equality.