Program and Research Assistant at Mercy Corps

General Position Summary

The Program and Research Assistant (PRA) will support the PMU, working with the PMU members and reporting directly to the Program Manager - PMU. The PRA will support collaboration with program, finance and administrative staff to ensure GIRL-H Program and MEL systems comply with donor and Mercy Corps policies and procedures, including adherence to Mercy Corps program management minimum standards. The ideal candidate should have extensive experience working within both Programs and Research departments in the development sector.

Core Functions:

The core functions of this position are:

•  Program Management:
  •  Work with country offices to tease out learnings across board and track program performance.
  •  Track program expenditure and report same to PMU- Country and Global.
•  Global Initiatives:
  •  Track and develop materials to commemorate global events.
  •  Expand GIRL-H visibility.
•  MEL
  •  Document program performance by developing reports.
  •  Track performance on learning agenda.
  •  Identify and develop success stories.

Essential Responsibilities

STRATEGY AND PLANNING

•  Work with the PMU Manager to support the teams in implementing the program's strategy following the donor and Mercy Corps standards.
•  Contribute to preparing the global level reports by collating information from the country level reports and providing the gaps to PMU Manager for follow up with the countries.
•  Support the PMU team in administering the program budget by preparing procurement and expense requests, following up with relevant departments, and tracking expenses at the PMU level.
•  Schedule, organize, and document minutes for PMU led meetings and events. The person will also follow up with respective staff on specific action points.
•  Working with the PMU team, organize and maintain the program filing system under the guidance, ensuring a clear trail of versions and appropriate filing.
•  Support the PMU Manager in tracking and reporting on the status of deliverables as per the PMU and Country Workplans, sending advance reminders to the responsible staff for upcoming deliverables.

RESEARCH & SUPPORT

•  Provide administrative support to the MEL Manager to prepare various research protocols for ethical approval in Kenya, Uganda, Haiti, and Nigeria.
•  The PRA will track deliverables expected by the ethical approval body.
•  The PRA will schedule, organize, and document Research, Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning (RMEL) related meetings and events.
•  Provide administrative and quality control support for RMEL activities led by PMU, e.g., baseline survey, midline assessment, end of project evaluation, ad-hoc research, dissemination, among others.
•  Support in data collection activities such as desk research and key informant interviews to address specific research questions defined by the MEL Manager.
•  Support the MEL Manager in collating data from various countries to feed into; the global program log frame and periodic donor reports.
•  Provide support in implementing quality assurance and control for all program and research data collection/collation activities as guided by the MEL MAnager.
•  Provide support in developing various data collection tools addressing adhoc research questions and problems under guidance from the MEL Manager.
•  Support in testing electronic data collection scripts prepared for various research and monitoring activities.
•  Support in various components of program implementation within the countries.

OTHER

•  Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission.
•  Other duties as assigned by the PMU

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

•  A minimum of a Bachelor's degree with at least three (3) years cumulative experience working as an assistant in a program and research environment within the development sector
•  Experience in supporting multi-country program management in a program or research environment is desired
•  Experience in supporting/implementing quality assurance and control for programs and research activities
•  Ability to develop and manage work plans for complex multi-country programs within the development sector
•  Effective written and oral communication in English
•  Qualification in project or program management will be an added advantage
•  Proficiency in MS Office specifically in MS Excel and MS PowerPoint are required
•  Knowledge of an analysis software is an added advantage e.g. SPSS, STATA or R