South Sudan: Program Manager - Senior Learning Officer (South Sudan)

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS has been operational in South Sudan since 1983, focusing on community-based food and livelihood security through activities in agriculture, health, peacebuilding, WASH, emergency relief, and savings and lending. CRS also helps strengthen organizational capacity of local institutions.

USAID is funding a three year Promoting Resilience through Ongoing Participatory Engagement and Learning (PROPEL) project in South Sudan and a large component of the project includes learning activities. Catholic Relief Services South Sudan Program wishes to recruit highly competent, proactive and self-driven person to fill the position of SENIOR LEARNING OFFICER to be based in Juba.

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION:
The Senior Learning Officer will work closely with the project Monitoring and Evaluation Manager in taking the lead in implementing needs assessments and community mapping activities, lead the development of community profiles and assist in the development of community case studies. He/she will oversee pre- and post-intervention data collection including implementation of the household survey, focus groups and key informant interviews. The Senior Learning Officer will also lead the development and dissemination of learning products to key stakeholders.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES:
Learning and Dissemination
• Supervise one Learning Officer;
• Develop community profile and case study templates with staff and partner input;
• Develop an implementation plan for each targeted community to include critical checkpoints for stakeholders and staff on how field observations and experience inform the learning questions;
• Track, report and share issues encountered, solutions and lessons learned;
• Conduct monthly field visits to monitor community learning plans and participate in critical checkpoints;
• With the Research & Evaluation Officer, coordinate with and support external USAID mid-term evaluation and final evaluations;
• Establish and lead the learning network and CDD working group coordinating and facilitating regular meetings and sharing all relevant learnings with the Research and Evaluation Officer;
• Organize CDD conference;
• Ensure dissemination of lessons learned and best practices via informal and formal means, such as informational meetings, events, newsletters, one pagers and a blog;
• Oversee production of communication pieces and effective utilization of communications materials such as photos, videos and GIS images of PROPEL projects from the field;
• Participate in the CRS EARO Learning Community of Practice (CoP);
• Attend relevant CRS MEAL and Programs trainings and meetings.

Information Gathering and Training
• Supervise one M&E Officer, one M&E Assistant and one MIS Officer;
• Train enumerators in data collection methodologies such as questionnaires, focus groups and KIIs and M&E principles to obtain feedback on community processes and dynamics;
• Oversee pre- and post-intervention household surveys for each of the three PROPEL cohorts, including recruitment and proper training of enumerators and ensuring proper introductions and other groundwork with community leaders prior to each survey;
• Supervise M&E officer in post-survey data cleanup;
• Organize and oversee pre- and post-intervention focus groups (3 per community: community leaders, women, youth; can be more, including with IDPs and other marginalized populations);
• Organize and oversee pre- and post-intervention key informant interviews;
• Work with Research and Evaluation officer in analysis and reporting and ensure that all data is geo-referenced;
• Develop thematic profiles as needed for evaluative case studies;
• Collect and analyze secondary data and coordinate inflows of monitoring data in coordination with the M&E officer to prepare community profiles and contribute to community case studies;
• Develop and implement beneficiary feedback mechanisms as guided by the learning agenda and key findings from community mapping exercises;
• Ensure beneficiary feedback is included in community case studies;
• Oversee routine data quality assessments;
• Continuously review AMEP and propose and implement modifications as needed.

AGENCY-WIDE COMPETENCIES:
These are rooted in the mission, values, and principles of CRS and used by each staff member to achieve his or her responsibilities and desired results.
• Serves with Integrity
• Models Stewardship
• Cultivates Constructive Relationships
• Promotes Learning

MEAL COMPETENCIES:
The MEAL competencies are a group of soft and hard competencies designed to guide all staff in their expected contribution to the activities in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning.
Monitoring
• Ensures timely evidence-based analysis and reporting of monitoring data;
• Assures the quality of monitoring data through Annual Data Quality Assessments.
Accountability
• Involves community members in the design and implementation of MEAL systems and other activities in a respectful manner that values local knowledge and priorities and increases project relevance and impact;
• Actively seeks and responds to feedback from all members of targeted communities and other stakeholders.

Learning
• Promotes the application of learning to improve program quality and to strengthen agency influence among external stakeholders;
• Supports efforts to monitor, evaluate and report on the effectiveness and impact of learning activities.

QUALIFICATIONS:
• Master’s degree in community development/social sciences or other relevant field
• At least three years professional work experience, and two years of experience in community development programming including demonstrated skill conducting community assessments;
• Strong leadership, team planning, and coordination capacities;
• Demonstrated skills in facilitation and ability to transfer knowledge through formal and informal training;
• Experience designing and conducting quantitative and qualitative assessments and surveys using ICT;
• Strong competencies in qualitative data analysis and interpretation and ability to present findings through formal and informal means;
• Demonstrable high level communication skills in English, both oral and written;
• Experience working with international NGOs on USAID-funded programs;
• Willingness to travel.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES: The Senior Learning and Training Officer will supervise four staff: the Learning Officer, M&E Officer, M&E Assistant and MIS Officer.

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
• Internal: M&E Manager, Research and Evaluation Officer, Gender and Youth Manager
• External: Implementing Partners/CSOs; relevant government entities; program beneficiaries;

DISCLAIMER CLAUSE: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skills, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Apply online: https://www5.apply2jobs.com/CRS/ProfExt/index.cfm?fuseaction=mExternal.showJob&RID=2839&CurrentPage=1