Officer, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL)

Search for Common Ground

For more than forty years, Search for Common Ground has worked to prove that even the deepest divides can be transformed into cooperation. Today, we are the world's largest peacebuilding organization, active in thirty-five countries across six continents. We partner with local communities to break cycles of violence, build trust, and create lasting opportunities for collaboration. Our principle of multipartiality means we engage with all sides in a conflict, ensuring that every voice is heard and every perspective matters. From empowering young people and elevating women in peace processes to advancing digital peacebuilding, climate resilience, and security sector reform, we bring people together to imagine and build a world of safe, healthy, and just societies, free from the threat of violent conflict.

Team Summary

The Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) team plays a key role within the program department, supporting projects’ adaptation based on the evidence generated by Search’s Global Programs in each country. MEAL implements best practices in monitoring, research, and evaluation, contributing to the broader organizational learning across programs under the technical support of and in collaboration with the Institutional Learning Team (ILT).

MEAL also contributes to business development processes, ensuring the quality of program design by integrating lessons learned and evidence collected, and aligning with global and conflict geography strategies. MEAL is responsible for ensuring alignment of country programs with international standards, including the Evidence and Learning Protocols and the Global Impact Framework (GIF). The team is led by a Manager/Senior Manager, who reports to the Director of Programs/Country Director/Manager. The team engages at multiple levels of the program structure and with other departments within the country’s organizational structure, such as finance, HR, logistics, and others.

Position Summary

In Palestine, the MEAL Officer will work closely with the Program Manager for operational alignment, while focusing primarily on MEAL responsibilities in the initial months. This reflects the transition from Search and partner-led framework and tool development supported by a consultant to officer-led implementation and partner capacity building.

• Officer responsible for the country's MEAL strategy, MEAL portfolio management, and health & sustainability of the MEAL unit.
• Ensure the upholding of organizational MEAL standards, in close collaboration with ILT.
• Coordinate in a matrixed structure within and across teams at the country level to pursue goals in collaboration with a broader set of teams and departments.
• Define expectations for coordination across departments, within the department, and within teams.
• Lead the process of reflective practice and evidence-based programming through quarterly reflection meetings and other means of sharing innovative MEAL methods and approaches.
• Set core skills and leadership development goals with direct reports, creating opportunities for staff to pursue these goals throughout the year.
• Pursue skills development goals to enhance field leadership annually. Support program staff and implementing partners in strengthening capacity for outcome tracking, data use, and evidence generation.

• Play a lead role in country program development, including sub-strategy development, implementation, and review, seeking alignment with the organizational strategy.
• Ensure MEAL frameworks and plans are practical and adapted to local context, capturing changes in agency, participation, influence, and peace outcomes through both quantitative and qualitative evidence (e.g., stories of change, reflections, community feedback loops).

• Lead planning for MEAL activities and products within the portfolio, ensuring alignment between resource allocation and deliverables.
• Facilitate joint planning and review sessions with partners, ensuring ownership of MEAL systems and sustainability beyond project cycles.

• Lead team guidance and action planning to identify and address bottlenecks to performance.
• Ensure that personnel objectives are aligned with organizational performance measures, and that team results align with both organizational and departmental outcomes.
• Consolidate partner data and generate clear summaries to inform program adaptation and produce briefs for advocacy and policy engagement.

• Manage MEAL  deliverables within the portfolio to ensure that they enhance our ability to speak to impact and build evidence for our field in line with Search standards, following expectations for quality.
• Lead the implementation of the MEAL strategy for the relevant conflict geography.
• Produce, review, and approve learning products and deliverables that directly contribute evidence in line with the country’s needs and the organization's learning agenda.
• Strengthen accountability to participants, partners, and communities by embedding feedback mechanisms into evidence collection and reporting, alongside donor requirements.

• Develop initiatives that support capacity building for staff to improve our impact and program quality, in line with organizational standards and the Global Impact Framework.
•  Collaborate with the ILT department on initiatives that support staff in entering and building skills within the organization's technical expertise networks.
• Supervise data entry and data management, ensuring the regular update and use of the Grant Management System.
• Serve as a leader within technical networks to channel Search learning back into programming, serve as a focal point of technical expertise with external groups, and position Search as a field leader affecting policy and practice at the country level.
• Ensure staff build professional skills within the organization's learning platform and lead the development of relevant training and resources for technical growth.
• Provide training, coaching, and mentoring to partners to strengthen their MEAL systems and ensure sustainability beyond the project lifecycle.

• Engage in the business development process, leading and reviewing drafts, with a focus on feeding evidence and lessons learned back into programmatic design.
• Participate in and serve as MEAL  representative at relevant events and initiatives developed with country partners.
• Develop partnerships with high-quality institutions and stakeholders that demonstrate field leadership at the country level, and organize events and initiatives around future opportunities and trends.
•  Infuses organizational values into all work.
• Other duties that are broadly in line with the above key contributions are assigned.
• Promote context-driven, conflict-sensitive, and partner-led MEAL tools, including storytelling, media, and community reflection methods, and provide partners with training and accompaniment on the tools and frameworks developed to ensure evidence collected informs adaptive programming, advocacy efforts, and policy engagement.

• Ensure MEAL systems are designed to be sustained by partners and communities beyond project lifecycles, reinforcing local ownership of monitoring, learning, and accountability processes.

• Initiates brainstorming or problem-solving meetings. With time in job, develops skills for analyzing and communicating program successes and failures; reports lessons learned to the team and other members.
• Represents Search at local and international events and meetings for professional organizations, vendors, partners, and funders. Develops skills to independently initiate and maintain relations with vendors, partners, and funders.
• Articulates Search program/project goals and objectives within Search and to external audiences.
• Demonstrates appreciation for diversity of thought. Builds cross-functional relationships with other functional departments.
• Demonstrates ability to be adaptable and willing to confront and change own ideas and preconceptions with the resiliency and flexibility to make changes based on hearing a diversity of thoughts.
• Drafts team documents, briefing materials, and presentations. Articulates program/project objectives and how they fit into a team’s goals and/or Search’s mission and adapts to the communications setting.
• Applies standards, identifies areas for standardization, and coordinates across functions from a multicultural perspective that reflects consideration of other cultures, other viewpoints, and other ways of doing things.
• Takes into account the environmental landscape, assesses one's own and others' viewpoints in their environment, and proposes solutions from an ethical perspective.
• Recognizes the options available for solving problems, conducts analyses, and calculates metrics and other technical tools to support informed decision making.
• Conducts Quality Control of team documents, briefing materials, presentations, and systems data. Carefully reviews and checks the accuracy of information in work reports, management information systems, or with other individuals and groups. Checks the accuracy of one’s own and others’ work. Proactively informs management of potential risks and concerns; suggests resolutions.
• Independently prioritizes time to reach deadlines and reaches end results of assignments with ability to accomplish multiple steps with limited to no supervision.
• Remain alert and responsive to any safeguarding risks, acquire relevant knowledge and skills that will enable you to promote strong safeguarding practices, understand the safeguarding policy and procedures, and conduct yourself in a manner consistent with the Safeguarding Policy. 

• BS/BA with a minimum of 5 years’ related experience.

• Usual office environment conditions; ability to travel 30%. 

• May supervise one or more staff members.

As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Only applicants invited for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls, please. Please see our website www.sfcg.org for full details of our work. All Search Employees must adhere to the values: Collaboration- Audacity - Tenacity - Empathy - Results. In accordance with these values, Search enforces compliance with the Code of Conduct and related policies on Anti Workplace Harassment, Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Conflict of Interest, and Anti-fraud. Search is committed to safeguarding the interests, rights, and well-being of children, youth, and vulnerable adults with whom it is in contact and to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for children, youth, and vulnerable adults.  Search for Common Ground does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations. View our code of conduct here and our privacy policy here.

Les descriptifs de pouvant ne pouvant être exhaustifs, le titulaire du poste pourra être amené à entreprendre d'autres tâches qui correspondent globalement aux responsabilités clés ci-dessus.

-------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------

Seuls les candidats invités à un entretien seront contactés. Pas d'appels téléphoniques s'il vous plaît. Veuillez consulter notre site Web www.sfcg.org pour tous les détails de notre mission.

Tous les employés de Search doivent adhérer aux valeurs de Search : Collaboration- Audace - Ténacité - Empathie - Résultats. Conformément à ces valeurs, Search fait respecter le code de conduite et les politiques connexes sur la lutte contre le harcèlement au travail, la protection contre l'exploitation et les abus, la protection des enfants, les conflits d'intérêts et la lutte contre la fraude. Search s'engage à préserver les intérêts, les droits et le bien-être des enfants, des jeunes et des adultes vulnérables avec lesquels elle est en contact et à mener ses programmes et ses opérations d'une manière qui soit sûre pour les enfants, les jeunes et les adultes vulnérables.

Search for Common Ground ne fait pas et ne doit pas faire de discrimination fondée sur la race, la couleur, la religion (croyance), le sexe, l'expression de genre, l'âge, l'origine nationale (ascendance), le handicap, l'état matrimonial, l'orientation sexuelle ou le statut militaire, dans aucune de ses activités ou opérations.

Consultez notre code de conduite ici et notre politique de confidentialité ici.

Dado que la descripción de funciones no puede ser exhaustiva, el titular del puesto puede tener que realizar otras tareas que coinciden en líneas generales con las responsabilidades clave mencionadas.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sólo se contactará con los candidatos invitados a una entrevista. Se agradece no recibir llamadas telefónicas. Consulte nuestro sitio web www.sfcg.org para conocer todos los detalles de nuestro trabajo. Todos los empleados de Search deben adherirse a los valores de la organización: Colaboración - Audacia - Tenacidad - Empatía - Resultados. De acuerdo con estos valores, Search hace cumplir el Código de Conducta y las políticas relacionadas con luchar contra el acoso en el lugar de trabajo, la protección contra la explotación y el abuso, la protección de la infancia, los conflictos de intereses y la lucha contra el fraude. Search se compromete a salvaguardar los intereses, derechos y bienestar de los niños, jóvenes y adultos vulnerables con los que está en contacto y a llevar a cabo sus programas y operaciones de una manera que sea segura para los niños, jóvenes y adultos vulnerables.  Search for Common Ground no discrimina ni discriminará por motivos de raza, color, religión (credo), género, expresión de género, edad, origen nacional (ascendencia), discapacidad, estado civil, orientación sexual o condición militar, en ninguna de sus actividades u operaciones. Consulte nuestro código de conducta aquí y nuestra política de privacidad aquí.