Medair is an international humanitarian organization established in 1988. Medair has been operating in Afghanistan since 1996 with programs mainly in the Health, Water & Sanitation, and Livelihoods sectors with significant reconstruction activities in remote areas. Current projects are Water & Sanitation, Food Security, & Disaster Risk Reduction.

An Integrated Emergency Response: Medair aims to respond to high levels of food insecurity, malnutrition, and morbidity in Tirinkot district.  The project intends to improve and extend WASH services including water supply infrastructure and hygiene practices to improve outcomes for vulnerable families.

An Integrated Emergency Response: Medair aims to respond to high levels of food insecurity, malnutrition, and morbidity in Uruzgan, which has been significantly affected by drought and conflict conditions. Building upon Medair’s decades of experience in the Central Highlands and Kandahar, the project intends to improve and extend the utilization of lifesaving preventive and curative nutrition and health services by mothers, PLWs, and children U5; to increase access to clean water, to reduce vulnerability to water-related and other preventable diseases, and to improve and increase food security for the most vulnerable families through food voucher distributions.

Overall Purpose

The primary objective of this role is to support the effective implementation and management of Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) activities, while ensuring the quality of project interventions in Uruzgan province across Health, Nutrition, and WASH sectors. This will be achieved through quality assurance techniques, data management, reporting, and related MEAL activities at the provincial level. Working closely with the MEAL Officer, MEAL Manager, and project team, the MEAL Assistant will provide high quality technical support for project monitoring and contribute to the capacity building of project staff.

The MEAL Assistant will support various studies, including needs assessments, baselines, endlines (if not outsourced), Post-Construction Surveys (PCS), and Post-Distribution Monitoring (PDM) at Uruzgan level. In addition, the MEAL Assistant will contribute to the mainstreaming of Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) and maintain regular coordination with the AAP Officer.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Regularly monitor of project activities in targeted districts/project areas, and report to the Project Manager and MEAL Manager.
• Coordinate consistently with the DQA Assistant to ensure effective implementation of MEAL activities in Uruzgan province.
• Support the coordination of studies such as needs assessments, PDMs, and surveys, including recruitment and training of enumerators, and supervise field data collection in Uruzgan province.
• Ensure quarterly Data Quality Assurance (DQA) processes for Health, Nutrition, and WASH sectors are conducted properly.
• Plan and take part in joint facility monthly/Quarterly supportive supervision with the project teams.
• Support in planning and organizing Quarterly review meetings at provincial levels for either project.
• Compile data for weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual reports as requested.
• Provide training to project teams on data collection tools and accurate data entry when required.
• Hold regular meetings with community members, leaders, and Shura members to maintain strong working relationships and gather beneficiary feedback.
• Ensure AAP feedback submitted to Medair is captured, processed, and resolved according to SOPs, while maintaining confidentiality.
• Ensure strong feedback mechanisms are set up and monitored, required information is correctly shared with beneficiaries through the most appropriate feedback mechanisms and that beneficiaries actively participate in project activities.
• Open the feedback box at least biweekly and share the feedback with AAP officer accordingly.
• Contribute to lessons-learned activities/sessions and success stories documentation.
• Maintain transparent, honest, and supportive communication with the Medair team, communities, and beneficiaries. Be flexible and willing to assist in other areas of work as needed, supporting additional data-related tasks when required.

MAIN ACTIVITIES

Data Management

• Ensure standardized data entry templates/tools are consistently used across all project sites by collaborating closely with the project team, DQA, and IM officer.
• Coordinate with the IM officer when new sites are added or when adapting data entry templates into ODK forms for IMNCI, ANC, PNC, FP (Health), OPD SAM/MAM, screening, IYCF (Nutrition), and other related activities as required by the H&N team.
• Identify, flag, and follow up on errors, inconsistencies, or omissions observed in reports, tally sheets, and data collection tools.
• Support and participate in data collection for baseline/endline surveys and field assessments as required by PMs, PC, or MEAL manager.
• Prepare reports, graphs, and analyses from databases within given deadlines and submit as requested.
• Assist in maintaining and organizing MEAL department file structures according to Medair standards.

Quality Assurance

• Contribute to the adaptation of the Data Quality SOP for assigned projects and ensure that all data quality checks are done on time and properly documented.
• Participate in regular Data Quality Audits (DQA) with the Data Quality Assistant and project staff to validate reported data, ensuring accuracy and consistency, while providing timely feedback to program teams.
• Ensure that challenges and solutions are regularly discussed with the MEAL country team and PMs.
• Conduct regular monitoring of project activities in targeted districts and report findings to the project manager and MEAL officer/manager.
• Participate in quarterly project review meetings at provincial levels.

Accountability to Affected Populations

• Serve as a focal point for AAP, including beneficiary feedback forms, exit interviews, and the beneficiary phone line, in close collaboration with the AAP officer, MEAL manager.
• Translate beneficiary feedback from local languages into English.
• Build the capacity of project staff to implement accountability measures, ensuring community participation and information sharing, including conducting AAP refresher trainings for project staff.

Education: Minimum 2 years diploma relevant to the position, bachelor's or master’s degree preferred. (Degree or diploma in business administration, social science, computer science or any other relevant field.)

Relevant Experience: Minimum 2 years relevant experience is required. Experience should be related to MEAL (monitoring evaluation, accountability and learning), preferably with INGOs is desirable. 

Languages: Fluency in Pashto and Dari both oral and written skills and Intermediate proficiency in English both oral and written skills is required. Good English oral and written skills is desirable. 

Computer: Strong competency in MS office package, particularly Microsoft Excel and experience with electronic data collection tools like ODK/KOBO is required. Strong skills in data analysis is desirable.

Other Skills:

• Willing to be flexible and take on new tasks as responsibilities change.
• Honest and dependable, with strong anti-fraud principles and high level of integrity.
• Accountable with a strong work-ethic.
• Prompt to take initiative and find solutions to problems.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Excellent writing skills. Ability to write quality reports.
• Team player.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and responsibilities.

Interested applicants should apply and forward their applications through the online JOB APPLICATION FORM which can be found under the submission email. The link should be copied, pasted, and opened on a new page.

Note: Please indicate the position title and vacancy number in your application letter. Applications received after the closing date or without the exact position title and vacancy number will not be given consideration. After submitting the online application, if some applicants do not immediately receive an automatic email from Medair, they shouldn't worry about their submission. When you open the link. please use the dropdown menu and choose the title of the position.