MEAL Officer South in CARE

Location: Mykolaiv, Ukraine 

Reporting line manager: MEAL Manager

Duration: till the end of December 2025 (National Contract) 

Conditions: Employment contract, gross monthly salary starting from €1 679.50. Risks allowance of 13825 UAH/month (high risks area), medical insurance and PSS. Annual leave of 28 days per calendar year. 

CARE INTERNATIONAL

CARE International (CI) is among the world's largest international non-governmental humanitarian relief and development confederations. Drawing on more than 75 years of experience, CI's work reaches over 110 countries worldwide to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice. CARE's vision is to seek a world of hope, inclusion, and social justice; where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. CARE focuses heavily on women and girls, and the areas of gender equality, diversity, and inclusion are at the center of our work because we know that we cannot overcome poverty and social injustice until all people have equal rights and opportunities. 

CONTEXT IN UKRAINE

On 24th February 2022, the invasion of Ukraine marked a significant escalation to the conflict that started in 2014. It continues to profoundly impact the lives of people across the country at various levels. The front line is continuously shifting and there are areas under Russian military control, as well as cities under siege. Attacks on military installations and critical civilian infrastructures are conducted in the entire territory of Ukraine, often resulting in collateral civilian casualties. The conflict has caused the largest population movement in Europe since World War II, with over 5 million currently displaced within Ukraine and 6 million refugees across Europe. OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) had counted 14.6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. An ongoing priority for the international humanitarian response is to reach newly accessible areas in the East and South of Ukraine, and to provide aid to previously unreachable and particularly hard-hit areas of Ukraine. 

CARE UKRAINE 

As CARE, we strongly believe in the importance of localization and recognize the invaluable skills and knowledge present in the local context. By working together, we can achieve quality responses and make a lasting impact on the lives ofthose we serve. CARE seeks to establish long-term, sustainable partnerships with civil society organizations especially WLOs/WROs that lead to more effective, locally driven, and impactful humanitarian responses, recovery, and development in Ukraine, improving the lives of the most vulnerable populations. In the first few weeks after the escalation of the war, virtually all humanitarian aid inside Ukraine was organized and implemented by local actors. These groups (together with local authorities) remain the principal aid providers but are quickly being exhausted of funds, fuel, and physical energy. Thereby, a considerable proportion of CARE's resources is dedicated to strengthening and supporting the capacities of local partners. 

As of September 2024, CARE Ukraine has established partnerships with over thirty local/national organizations (incl. WLO's/WRO's). From the more than 75 million euros that have been raised for Ukraine so far, more than 77% is allocated to national partners. Through the activities that have been implemented so far, CARE Ukraine has been able to reach more than 1.4 million people. While CARE Ukraine's country office is currently located in Kyiv, we also have offices in Lviv, Dnipro, Mykolaiv and Kharkiv.

JOB SUMMARY

The MEAL Officer is primarily responsible for establishing and overseeing a functional MEAL system for the projects with a strong focus on outcomes monitoring, quality standards and impact evaluations. 

One important component of the role is institutional learning to contribute to adaptative management with the goal of improving the quality of programs and of assistance delivered to project participants.   Due to the locally led nature of CARE humanitarian response in Ukraine, the role includes a strong focus on building the capacities of implementing partners while recognizing their extensive knowledge and experience on the local context. 

The MEAL officer is working under the supervision of the MEAL Manager. S/he provides technical support to MEAL team.

The position holder will be essentially responsible for:

MEAL Systems and Processes

• Support MEAL Manager in developing and maintaining master logframe, MEAL plan/framework, and IM/MEAL budget. 
• Develop M&E workplan for each grant and trace the implementation in close coordination and collaboration with MEAL officers.
• Support in mentoring and tracing the findings of M&E monitoring visits.
• The main responsible and accountable in developing ITTs and ensuring the quality and accuracy of reported figures.
• Ensure that MEAL activities are aligned with project objectives and donor requirements.
• Ensure quality of data collected by partners and field teams.
• Conduct the MEAL session during the kick-off meeting for new projects ensuring implementing teams (CARE and partners) understand the MEAL requirements before the start of the project’s implementation.
• Ensure proper monitoring fieldvisits are conducted for each project by MEAL Officers on a weekly basis and participate in relevant field visits regularly.
• Within his/her area office, lead, develop and manage Needs Assessments (NAs), market assessments, etc.  
• Support IM coordinator in the country office in mentoring and implementing the action plans which are generated from the data quality assessment exercises.   
• Lead, develop, and manage beneficiary verification, distribution and PDM processes for CARE and partners.

MEAL Tools and Activities

• Support in the technical development and/or review of all required MEAL tools for new projects in coordination with MEAL staff from CARE and partners (including but not limited to baseline surveys, assessment tools, registration tools, distribution lists, surveys tools for PDM or PAM, focus group discussion, onsite quality checklist, etc.).
• Ensure outcome monitoring tools and quality checklists are available, updated and used with a specific focus on ensuring that adequate gender and power analysis has taken place.
• Develop, review and document progress under gender markers, resilience markers and governance markers in line with the standards and methodologies promoted by CARE International.
• Support in conducting the different studies, evaluations, and research at area level that are designed to be implemented internally. 
• Support in developing TORs for TPMs/Evaluations and ensuring that evaluations pay particular attention to gender and women’s empowerment and the potential negative consequences of CARE’s action. 

 Reporting

• Ensure the monthly reporting requirements and schedules are met by working closely with AO MEAL staff from CARE and partners to ensure timely and quality data, collection, analysis, and reporting (monthly requirements includes narrative, and indicators tracking tables).
• Review all MEAL reports produced by partners, ensure constructive feedback is given to partner staff with relevant follow and support provided.
• Combine and produce MEAL reports from the conducted MEAL activities by AO MEAL team and partners for each grant.
• Coordinate and compile MEAL inputs for interim and final donors reporting reviewing all incoming MEAL data from staff, third party monitoring (TPM) and partners.
• Participate in regular progress review meetings organized by grant managers for all active projects to provide updates about MEAL activities and progress.

 Accountability and Learning

• Review monthly reports received from partners to generate learning and contribute to adaptative management, facilitate decision making and inform program design.
• Promote organizational learning and ensure timely documentation, publication and sharing of lessons learned and successful approaches from program implementation and finding of evaluations, research, and studies with various stakeholders internally and externally.
• Lead in organizing cross-sector learning events such mid-term review workshops for active projects with partners after 6 months of implementation to review progress and promote adaptative management based on ongoing learning and conclusion from accountability mechanisms.
• Ensure all required documentation is collected and archived where CARE staff and partners can easily access findings and lessons learned (including on CARE evaluation library).
• Work closely with the accountability officer to ensure the different channels of the feedback and accountability mechanisms are being promoted and used by CARE and partners’ staff to share information with and collect information from local communities.

 Capacity building and Management

• Provide sufficient support and guidance to MEAL team to achieve the tasks/objectives in the best quality possible while ensuring an open and engaging environment focused on supportive supervision, constructive feedback, recognition of effort and respect of work/life balance.
• Assess the MEAL capacities of implementing partners and develop capacity building plan for each partner in coordination with the MEAL Manager to ensure that staff and partners fully understand the function of MEAL in quality assurance and strengthen a culture of open reflection and improvement.
• Organize and/or conduct capacity building sessions for the MEAL staff of CARE and implementing partners through mentoring, coaching and trainings to address the capacity gaps identified in running the MEAL system and activities and using the different MEAL tools.

 Safety and Security

• Ensure compliance to CARE Ukraine Safety & Security Policy and Procedures and Standard Operating Procedures as guided by the Safety & Security Manager both in the office and when in the field.
• Attending the necessary Mandatory Safety & Security Induction on the first week of arrival and attend the Safety & Security Training as registered by the Security Team.
• Responsible for personal health, safety and security while working with CARE Ukraine.
• Immediately inform Safety & Security Manager/Deputy or Area Safety & Security Coordinator when in field in case incidents related to health/safety/security take place.
• CARE has a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of abuse. We make very clear that any form of abuse, perpetrated by our employees, related personnel, or partners, towards anyone, during or outside of working hours, in-person or online, will not be tolerated.

Essential criteria:

Mandatory:

• University degree in social sciences, development, program evaluation, data science, economic policy, econometrics and operations research, or a related field.
• Minimum 1-2 years of experience working in monitoring, evaluation, and research for NGOs in the humanitarian or development sectors.
• Strong written and oral Ukrainian and English skills.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis using appropriate analytical methods; design and implement quantitative and qualitative rapid appraisals, etc.
• Strongability and interest in working with local partners and building their capacities.

 Expected:

• Strong skills in Excel and experience with Power BI or other data management and visualization software.
• Experience with mobile data collection tools (Kobo, or others)
• Good organizational skills and ability to work independently, manage time and execute tasks.
• Ability to work as part of a team and culturally sensitive and able to work in multi-cultural team.
• Unquestionable personal code of ethics, integrity, diversity, and trust.
• Strong belief in human rights and gender equality.
• Strong confidentiality ethic, demonstrate flexibility, and versatility in adjusting to changing environments and requirements as necessary.

Accountability within CARE 

A commitment to CARE values and CARE's integrity framework is critical to working with CARE. Any candidate offered a job with CARE will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability: 

• Comply with CARE's policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, code of conduct, health and safety, confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behavior protocols. 
• Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within our programming area. 
• Report any concerns about inappropriate behavior of a CARE staff or partner. 

Safeguarding 

Children and vulnerable adults who come into contact with CARE as a result of our activities must be safeguarded to the maximum possible extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury, and any other harm. One of the ways that CARE shows this ongoing commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates. 

Gender equality 

CARE is committed to meeting the standards of the CARE International Gender Policy (2019). Through this policy, CARE seeks to promote the equal realization of dignity and human rights for girls, women, boys and men in all diversities, and the elimination of poverty and injustice. Specifically, this policy seeks to improve the explicit incorporation of gender in programmatic and organizational practices. 

How to Apply:

CARE values equal opportunities and diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability. 

Please send your CV (in pdf format max. 4 pages) and a cover letter in English to < [email protected] >, no later than 10 May 2025. Please name your documents Surname_CV, Surname_Cover Letter. Put MEAL Officer - Mykolaiv  as the subject title of your email. 

CARE encourages applications from female candidates, people with disabilities and veterans. However, all qualified candidates are welcome to apply.

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.