Senior Project Officer MEAL

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an international humanitarian agency dedicated to serving the poor and vulnerable worldwide, working to save, protect, and transform lives in over 100 countries.

This role involves leading county-level monitoring, data management, quality assurance, accountability, learning, and reporting for the project. The Senior Project Officer MEAL provides technical guidance to project and partner teams, ensuring that performance data and participant feedback are used to inform decisions, corrective actions, and continuous improvement. The position collaborates closely with county project leadership, implementing partners, government counterparts, and community representatives to promote harmonized MEAL approaches, compliance with CRS and donor requirements, and high-quality delivery of food assistance, food for assets, and nutrition-related activities.

1. Lead and coordinate county-level MEAL activities, aligning with project plans, CRS quality standards, donor requirements, and best practices.
2. Coordinate the collection, validation, consolidation, and analysis of performance data from CRS and partners, ensuring accurate and timely reporting.
3. Monitor progress against indicators, targets, and milestones, identifying gaps and risks, and communicating findings to leadership.
4. Support county teams and partners in consistently applying approved indicators, tools, methodologies, and data collection processes to ensure data quality.
5. Oversee county-level data management, including entry, cleaning, validation, storage, analysis, and maintenance of tracking tools and databases.
6. Manage digital MEAL systems for participant registration, tracking, distribution monitoring, accountability, and performance reporting.
7. Conduct routine data quality checks, verifications, and assessments, monitoring issue resolution and ensuring compliance with data quality standards.
8. Collaborate with various teams to address system and data flow challenges while ensuring secure management of participant information.
9. Lead risk-based field monitoring, spot checks, and verification visits across project sites to assess implementation quality and compliance.
10. Support the implementation of accessible Feedback, Complaints and Response Mechanisms (FCRM), analyzing trends and referring sensitive concerns.
11. Ensure monitoring findings, observations, and post-distribution results are documented, communicated, and translated into corrective actions.
12. Lead county-level learning and reflection processes, using monitoring findings and data to inform adaptive management and improve implementation.
13. Support the implementation of baselines, endlines, assessments, and surveys through tool review, enumerator preparation, and data quality assurance.
14. Ensure timely submission of accurate county MEAL data and reports for CRS, partners, and donors, producing dashboards for decision-making.
15. Document and share lessons learned, promising practices, and case studies, maintaining supporting evidence for reported results.
16. Support county MEAL work planning, budgeting, and the responsible management of MEAL equipment and resources.
17. Build and maintain effective relationships with implementing partners, government counterparts, and community representatives to strengthen collaboration and data sharing.
18. Coordinate county-level MEAL priorities and promote consistent application of standards across stakeholders.
19. Assess and strengthen MEAL capacity through training, coaching, technical support, and mentoring for staff and partners.
20. Supervise county MEAL staff and coordinate temporary enumerators, providing performance management and professional development support.

1. Bachelor's Degree in a relevant field.
2. Minimum of 2 years of experience.
3. Fluency in English and at least one local language.
4. Willingness and ability to travel up to 60%, with regular travel to Marsabit and Turkana.
5. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with sound judgment.
6. Proficiency in data management, database, and data quality assurance.
7. Good relationship management skills and ability to work closely with local partners.
8. Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented approach.
9. Attention to detail, accuracy, and timeliness in executing responsibilities.
10. (Preferred) Master’s Degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Statistics, International Development, Public Health, Food Security, Economics, or a relevant field.
11. (Preferred) Experience supporting MEAL for food assistance, food for assets, nutrition, resilience, or humanitarian programming.
12. (Preferred) Experience working with county governments and local partners in arid and semi-arid contexts, particularly in Marsabit.
13. (Preferred) Experience with institutional donor-funded programming, especially in food security, nutrition, resilience, or humanitarian assistance.