MERL Lead - East and Central Europe Ukraine Response

The Organisation

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.

This position is the local position and only opened for the applicants who are legally authorized to work in the countries that Plan International ECE works in (either Poland or Ukraine or Moldova or Romania).

Dimensions of the Role

The Lead, MERL, will oversee capacity exchange, quality assurance, and procedural operationalization for all monitoring, reporting and evaluation and learning (MERL) responsibilities across response teams. The role will involve working in direct coordination with national civil society partners, interagency partners, and internal partners to implement MERL frameworks, execute capacity exchange plans, and assessments. This role will lead on developing and implementing MERL requirements, in alignment with the Plan International Global policies and procedures and Ukraine Response MERL standards and practice.

Accountabilities

• Lead on providing technical MERL advice to Plan International staff, partners and stakeholders
• Lead the development of project MERL frameworks, working in coordination with in-country Plan staff and partners.
• Ensure all MERL activities have a strong gender focus in line with Plan International’s Global Strategy and Ukraine Response Strategy.
• Develop M&E capacity exchange plans and deliver training, coaching and mentorship to Plan staff and civil society partners, internal and external stakeholders.
• Identify key data visualisation approaches to maintain profile of the response activities and to support learning and improvements.
• Lead and contribute to internal organisational reporting focused on MERL
• Provide MERL advice and input for the development and submission of quality proposals and donor reporting products.
• Contribute to relevant global advocacy and policy objectives with documented learning and evidence.
• Contribute to Ukraine Response Research agenda for the Ukraine Response, supporting planning and post research dissemination plans.
• Coordinate MERL staff through network meetings and collaboration on joint projects
• Foster use of the Child friendly Complaints and Feedback Mechanism toolkit and the Adolescent Consultations toolkits to meaningfully involve children, adolescents and young people throughout the response.
• Build and maintain relationships with relevant government departments, UN agencies and NGOs.

General

1. Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People 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 and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.

Key relationships

Ukraine Response hare service team, Response country MERL specialists, Programme technical leads, Programme Managers, National Organisation and CSO partners.

Technical expertise, skills, and knowledge

Essential

• Significant experience in implementing M&E activities in a variety of humanitarian crises, particularly displacement and refugee settings.
• Strong understanding of implementing processes, approaches, tools and methodologies that facilitate and deliver M&E in these context, and organizational learning, that is up to date with best practices in the sector.
• A theoretical and practical understanding of gender attitudes and power dynamics, including why they exist and how they change, and how these attitudes and dynamics shape MERL approaches and methodologies.
• Experience providing M&E technical support to teams and partner organisations.
• Experience of capacity building with a variety of audiences.
• Able to analyse large amounts of data and generate powerful reports and information from them.
• Understand and consistently apply ethical MER practices
• Excellent communication skills. Fluency in English, written and spoken

Plan International’s Values in Practice

We are open and accountable

1. Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
2. Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
3. Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
4. Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
5. Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people

We strive for lasting impact

1. Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
2. Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
3. Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
4. Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.

We work well together

1. Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
2. Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
3. Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
4. Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

We are inclusive and empowering

1. We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential
2. We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge equality in our programs and our workplace
3. We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives.

Physical Environment

The role is office based with some time in field locations.

Level of contact with children

Low contact: No contact or very low frequency of interaction

Location: Warsaw, Poland (or) Kyiv, Ukraine (or) Chisinau, Moldova (or) Bucharest, Romania [any of the 4 locations as per nationality of candidate)

Type of Role: Full-time, Fixed-term contract

Reports to: Head of Programme Quality & Implementation (East and Central Europe Ukraine Response)

Closing Date: 15 November 2024

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International's Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this scheme we will request information from applicants previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Please note that Plan International will never send unsolicited emails requesting payment from candidates.