JOB OPPORTUNITY
MEAL Officer – Start Fund
The Opportunity
Save the Children is the leading independent organization for children. We save children’s lives; we fight for their rights; we help them fulfil their potential. We work together, with our partners from civil societies and government, to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. We reached approximately two million populations and invests over 40 million US dollars annually to reach more children than ever before, through programs in Health, Nutrition, Education, Protection and Child Rights and Governance, Livelihood, HIV and AIDS, and Humanitarian crises.
ROLE PURPOSE:
Save the Children is the leading independent organization for children. We save children’s lives; we fight for their rights; we help them fulfil their potential. We work together, with our partners from civil societies and government, to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. We reach approximately two million population and invest over 30 million US dollars annually to reach more children than ever before, through programmes in Health and Nutrition, Education, Child Rights and Governance and Child Protection, Child Poverty, HIV and AIDS, and Humanitarian.
Background:
The Start Network
Start Network is made up of more than 50 aid agencies across five continents, ranging from large international organisations to national NGOs. Together, our aim is to transform humanitarian action through innovation, fast funding, early action, and localisation.
We’re tackling what we believe are the biggest systemic problems that the sector faces. Problems including slow and reactive funding, centralised decision-making, and an aversion to change mean that people affected by crises around the world do not receive the best help fast enough, and needless suffering results. Our work focuses on three areas to change the system:
- Localisation: shifting power to those closest to the front line for more effective response.
- New forms of financing: providing fast, early, and predictable funding to improve community resilience and preparedness.
- Collective innovation: sharing expertise, insights and perspectives to shape a more effective humanitarian system.
The Start Network is at a critical point in its journey. We have grown and diversified our membership over the past 10 years. We are now set to evolve into a decentralised “network of networks” by 2025. We are currently working with five national and regional networks (hubs) in Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Guatemala, India, and the Pacific. They are developing locally owned ways of anticipating and responding to humanitarian crises. We aim to support the emergence and development of further Hubs in the coming years. Our ultimate ambition is to devolve leadership, membership, programming, and decision making to the hubs, while the UK team transitions to provide services of support.
Start Network is committed to protecting people, particularly children, at-risk adults and affected populations from any harm that may be caused due to their encountering organisational members of the Start Network, as well as responding effectively should any harm occur. We are also committed to safeguarding staff from any forms of bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and abuse of power.
Start Network embraces diversity, promotes equality of opportunity and removes unlawful discrimination. We are an equal opportunities employer and treat every application on merit alone. We particularly welcome applications from disabled, and ethnic minority
START FUND NEPAL
Start Fund Nepal is a Start Network programme, which is hosted by Save the Children in Nepal.
In June 2021, with support from the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Start Fund Nepal was launched. The Start Fund Nepal Pilot is a collectively managed financing mechanism, developed in Nepal by Start Network member and partner NGOs with support from Start Fund Bangladesh and the global Start Fund. The pilot project is being delivered between April 2021 and March 2022. It is a disbursement contingency fund of around £418,400 GBP, accessible for the year by Start Network members. As localisation is key to the Start Network strategy, the pilot fund requires members to involve, and work closely with, local and national actors, laying the foundation for a truly local fund that could be directly accessed by local organisations in the future. It builds on the successful global Start Fund mechanism, and Start Fund Bangladesh, with adaptations for the Nepali context.
Start Fund Nepal has 21 Members consisting of 15 Global start network members and 6 local and national NGOs. The Start Fund Nepal Committee is responsible for the strategic management and operations of the Start Fund Nepal Pilot within the parameters set by the Global Start Fund Committee.
This the pilot project for Nepal so the MEAL position is needed to capture the learnings and documentation of the process in order to showcase the achievemnets. This is the opportunity for Nepal to prove the best use of Start Fund and establish the success story to grow its fund and attract more donors.
The role may be required to offer support in a humanitarian response situation emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.
KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:
The Start Fund Nepal Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) Officer will ensure that Start Fund Nepal has robust MEAL processes. This position will lead, and develop, the MEAL system of Start Fund Nepal, which will include monitoring and evaluating all Start funded responses, ensuring accountability to all relevant stakeholders, and incorporating learning into the processes and sharing key lessons with member organisations, while guiding and supporting the MEAL focal point of awarded member agencies as and when required.
In addition to managing the MEAL processes for Start Fund Nepal, the MEAL Officer will support the Start Fund Nepal Project Manager with the day to day operation of the fund when required.
Roll Out and Management of the Start Fund Nepal MEAL Framework
- Track and evaluate the progress of Start Fund Nepal interventions on emergency response, localisation, and collaboration.
- Support capacity building activities for the Start Fund Nepal membership for relevant themes such as data quality, evidence-based programming etc.
- Provide support to strengthen management information systems and processes for data quality, storage, and visualisation.
- Support the development of donor reports. Managing and updating the Start Fund Nepal Logframe and supporting the compilation of evidence-based quarterly and annual reports.
- Facilitate peer reviews, learning exchanges and project assessments.
- Development of ad-hoc learning products such as case studies, one pagers, crisis response summaries, blogs, and presentations.
- Coordinate with the Global Start Funds MEAL team and membership engagement team to develop and widely disseminate MEAL tools and products to strengthen evidence uptake and utilisation across the membership.
Fund Management
- Support grant management throughout the Start Fund alert cycle.
- Support project and team administration, such as processing project documentation.
- Support the Start Fund Nepal Manager in drafting quarterly and other ad hoc reports.
- Participate in project monitoring visits.
Qualifications and experience
- Bachelor’s degree in any disciplines, preferably in relevant field such as statistics
- Minimum of 3 years (2 years for GSI group*) of working experiences in related field
*GSI group include Female, Dalit, Madhesi, People with Disabilities and other indigenous/minorities.
Required No.(s): 1 (Nepali Citizens only)
Contract length: Short term (Till March 2021)
Location: Based in Kathmandu, Country Office
The Organisation
We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.
We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:
- No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
- All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
- Violence against children is no longer tolerated
We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.
Application Information
Please apply using a cover letter and up-to-date CV as a single document. Please also include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations.
We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.
All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.
Save the Children does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.
Location: Kathmandu
Employee Status: Fixed Term
Closing Date: Sep 15, 2021