Technical Advisor II, MEAL Surge Support

Catholic Relief Services; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Catholic Relief Services is seeking a Technical Advisor II to lead MEAL activities across regional and country levels, providing expertise for budgets, system design, data collection, and evaluations. The role emphasizes remote and in-country support, coordinating with regional focal points and sector teams to strengthen program quality.

Responsibilities include contributing to business development, designing indicators, and supporting humanitarian responses with MEAL tools and learning agendas.

Qualifications

• Extensive MEAL experience across regional and country levels.
• Strong proposal development and donor reporting experience.
• Excellent written and oral communication; ability to work with diverse teams.
• Fluency in English; knowledge of other languages a plus.

Responsibilities

• Provide MEAL technical assistance remotely and in-country to projects and country teams.
• Support business development with MEAL inputs to proposals and project design.
• Assist humanitarian responses with MEAL systems, tools, reports, and real-time evaluations.
• Develop indicators and learning agendas for sectors such as social cohesion, WASH, and youth.
• Contribute to design and implementation of global awards and MEAL activities.
• Design digital data collection forms and visualizations to support reporting.
• Develop MEAL standards, tools and training; strengthen partner and staff capacity.
• Provide training and coaching to country MEAL staff and partners.
• Support influence and scaling strategies with evidence generation.
• Engage donors and partners; participate in MEAL forums to share best practices.

Skills

MEAL principles

Budget management

Relationship management

Facilitation

Adult learning

Data visualization

MS Office

Proposal development

Cross-cultural comms

Tools

CommCare

KoBo

RedRose

Web conferencing

Job description

NOTE: This is a remote position; CRS will only consider candidates who are based in countries where we have existing offices.

Job Summary

The Technical Advisor II (TA II) will provide technical assistance, guidance and support in monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL)at the regional and country levels, contributing periodically to global approaches. The TA II will provide a range of MEAL technical support based on need, including business development, start-up, implementation and close-out of development project, emergency responses, and global awards. The TA II’s MEAL remote and in country support will align with CRS program quality principles and standards and MEAL Policies and Procedures, donor guidelines, and industry best practices to advance the delivery of high-quality programming to the poor and vulnerable. The TA II’s expertise, advice and influence will contribute to the effectiveness and adaptability of CRS’ MEAL activities. The TA II will coordinate their support with Regional Focal Points for MEAL, sector MEAL TAs and other Program Quality and Humanitarian Response staff at the country, regional and global levels.

Roles and Key Responsibilities

• Provide MEAL technical assistance, remotely and in-country, to projects and country teams, including development or review of MEAL budgets, MEAL system design, data collection tool development, data analysis, learning agendas, and evaluations.
• Support business development by contributing to country efforts to position CRS for strategic growth opportunities and providing technical MEAL guidance and inputs to proposal development and project design, including appropriate MEAL narratives, indicators and MEAL Plansintegrating donor and CRS MEAL requirements into projects.
• Support MEAL in humanitarian responses through deployment to emergency programs, establishment and management of MEAL systems for responses, design or review of tools and reports, real time evaluations, after action reviews, and MEAL inputs to humanitarian response proposals in coordination with country teams and HRD technical advisors.
• Support MEAL for specific sectors as needed, such as social cohesion, WASH, and youth, through activities such as development of indicators, design of learning agendas, data visualization for use, and identification of evidence.
• As needed, support MEAL activities in design of global awards and in their implementation on an interim basis.
• Contribute to the customization and design of digital forms for data collection and the design of approaches for data visualization that facilitate use of data and quality reporting for development and humanitarian programming.
• Contribute to design and implementation of strategies, standards, tools and training for MEAL that effectively engage partners, donors, and governments.
• Contribute to capacity strengthening initiatives in MEAL for staff and partners by helping develop learning and training strategies and agendas/curriculums; conducting trainings and workshops; and mentoring and coaching country MEAL staff.
• Contribute to influence and scaling strategies, including systems analysis, evidence generation and MEAL approaches that contribute to influence, and measurement of influence and scaling progress.
• Establish and maintain relationships with donors, peer organizations, research and other institutions. Participate in MEAL forums to learn and share best practices and promote CRS’ work.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Demonstrated application of technical principles and concepts in MEAL. General knowledge of program sectors.
• Experience in business development, including MEAL components of project design and proposal development.
• Excellent relationship management skills with ability to influence and get buy-in from people not under direct supervision and to work with individuals in diverse geographical and cultural settings.
• Accompaniment, mentoring, and coaching skills, with ability to recognize the capacities and solutions of partners, colleagues and system actors.
• Experience in facilitation and training, applying adult learning principles and practices.
• Strong strategic, analytical, problem-solving and systems thinking skills with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment.
• Proficient in MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint); digital data collection tools such as CommCare, KoBo or RedRose; Web Conferencing Applications; and strong understanding of information and budget management systems and knowledge-sharing networks.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Proactive, resourceful, flexible and results-oriented.

Required Languages: Written and verbal fluency in English required. Knowledge of French, Spanish or Arabic is a major plus.

Travel: Must be willing and able to travel up to 40%.

Supervisory Responsibilities:None