MEAL Assistant
Damascus | Aleppo | Homs | Deir ez-Zor
- Organization: IRC - International Rescue Committee
- Location: Damascus | Aleppo | Homs | Deir ez-Zor
- Grade:
-
Occupational Groups:
- Administrative support
- Education, Learning and Training
- Monitoring and Evaluation
- Closing Date:
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:
The MEAL Assistant supports the implementation of Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning activities across projects. This includes conducting data collection through surveys, interviews, and focus group discussions, assisting in field monitoring visits, and supporting assessments and evaluations. The MEAL Assistant helps manage and document community feedback and complaints, ensures accurate data entry and database maintenance, and contributes to indicator tracking and reporting. They work closely with program teams to ensure quality, accountability, and learning are integrated throughout the project cycle.
Responsibilities:
Monitoring
- Conduct data collection (including but not limited to baselines and end lines and RNAspost distribution monitoring, Focus Group Discussions, exit interviews and other quantitative and qualitative tools).
- Provide daily/weekly feedback to MEAL officer to prepare weekly, monthly and quarterly reports
- Support programme assistant and partners MEAL equivalent on the use of activity tracker, attendance databases, and other tools as appropriate.
- Ensure the data submitted is of a good quality and ready for analysis and reporting.
- Support MEAL officer for data verification in the field regularly conducted as per agreed schedule.
- Quality monitoring of projects as joint exercises with Project Assistants to collect data and information from the field on a quarterly frequency of a project.
- Conduct data collection trainings and follow up to the enumerators of IRC and support partners to do so.
- Conduct partners` field visits for various projects and MEAL activities ensuring quality and community engagement.
Accountability
- Support the MEAL officer \ Senior CR Officer in operationalizing the complaints and feedback mechanism with beneficiaries in both camp and communities for projects, including communicating feedback to beneficiaries
- Collecting feedback and complaints data through house-to-house visits, voice recorders, PDMs, FGDs and temporary helpdesks set up for one-off distributions under Shelter/WASH/education programming (as well as covering the hotline, when necessary)
- Collecting data on accountability and sharing of learning based on this experience to improve the design and implementation of the approach
- Accountability data entry, including translation
- Support closing of the feedback loop through house-to-house visits
- Regularly conduct focus group discussion or individual interviews with beneficiaries to collect feedback and complaints related to programming
- Introduce feedback mechanism and channels such as complaint boxes in camp and communities, as well as sharing information.
- Handling and documenting, in a safe and confidential manner, complaints and feedbacks from complaint boxes, face to face visits and focus group discussions
- Prepare weekly and monthly reports on complaints and feedback to share with MEAL Officer \ Snr.CR Officer
- Follow up on responses on complaints and feedback received.
- Contribute to Supporting partners in handling programmatic feedback.
Evaluation and Learning
- Provide logistical and administrative support during learning workshops, including note-taking, documenting key findings, and supporting the preparation of learning materials and reports.
- Coordinate logistics for field data collection, including the preparation, distribution, and collection of tools and materials (e.g., tablets, questionnaires, consent forms).
- Contribute to ensuring the quality and accuracy of collected data by conducting spot checks, verifying completeness of forms, and flagging inconsistencies or gaps.
- Assist in compiling and cleaning raw data for further analysis and reporting, under the guidance of MEAL Officers.
- Support in organizing learning events or reflection sessions by preparing presentations, summaries, and lessons learned documents.
- Participate in post-assessment debriefings and provide feedback to improve future data collection and learning processes.
- Ensure proper filing and safe storage of all evaluation and learning-related documents in line with data protection and confidentiality protocols.
Minimum Qualifications:
Education: National diploma or University degree in (such as: statistics & data management, social science, public health, development economics, or a related subject area) Equivalent experience in a similar role may also be accepted in place of formal education.
Work Experience:
- Approximately 2 years of progressively responsible professional experience of humanitarian programming
- Previous experience in an emergency or conflict-afflicted setting is required.
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.
Language/Travel:
- Arabic is required, while English and Kurdish are desired
- Travel: 80% to field sites in projects location
Key Working Relationships:
- Position Reports to: MEAL Officer
Position directly supervises: N\A - Indirect Reporting: N\A
Key Internal Contacts: N\A
Key External Contacts: N\AProfessional 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.
Applications from non-qualifying applicants will most likely be discarded by the recruiting manager.