MERL and AAP Officer

Our Organisation

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion, and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, our supporters, and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children and girls.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national, and global levels using our reach, experience, and knowledge.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 80 years and are now active in more than 70 countries.

Role purpose

The conflict in Ukraine is resulting in a major humanitarian crisis with over 3 million people having fled to neighboring countries, and millions displaced within Ukraine. Plan International is responding to the crisis and working in partnership with civil society organizations, including in Ukraine, to meet the key needs of affected populations including internally displaced people (IDPs).

Plan International has been present in Ukraine since August 2022, and has established partnerships with civil society organizations, to ensure national actors are equipped with technical support, best practices, and flexible resources, to respond with a primary focus on Child Protection in Emergencies, Education, and Mental Health & Psychosocial Support.

Dimensions of the Role

The MERL and AAP Officer will oversee support MERL capacity strengthening, quality assurance, and processes for all monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL) responsibilities in Ukraine office projects and response strategies. The role will involve working in direct coordination with national civil society partners, interagency partners, and internal partners to implement MERL frameworks, execute capacity exchange plans, and assessments under close follow up of Head of programmes and MERL specialist.

This position will support Ukraine country level MERL activities and ensure high quality information and analysis is provided across the Plan International federation. The postholder will provide MERL technical support, and guidance to Plan International teams and partners in Ukraine. 

The post holder will ensure Plan International is following the organization’s MERL and AAP standards. 

Accountabilities

• Support the provision of technical MERL and AAP-related guidance to Plan partners and stakeholders, under the supervision of the MERL Specialist or Manager.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of project MERL frameworks and plans, working in coordination with in-country partners.
• Ensures all MERL work has a strong gender focus in line with Plan International’s Global Strategy. 
• Socialise the MERL Chapter of the Emergency Response Program Manual for use in the Ukraine office.
• Contribute to organizing and facilitating MERL and AAP training sessions, workshops, and capacity-building activities for internal teams and civil society partners.
• Identify key data visualisation approaches to maintain profile of the response activities and to support learning and improvements. 
• Provide technical support and guidance for staff and partners to collect quantitative and qualitative data, ensuring disaggregation by sex, age, and disability.
• Provide MERL input to the regular response sitreps.
• Ensure integration of Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion indicators and questions across MERL frameworks and tools in coordination with AAP focal point. Actively contribute to M&E Coordination Mechanisms. 
• Support partner organisations take a co-leadership role in relevant Working Groups as and when requested by partners.
• Provide MERL and AAP advice and input for the development and submission of quality proposals and donor reporting products.
• Support the documentation of learning and evidence to contribute to advocacy and policy objectives aligned with global priorities.

General

1. Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.

Key relationships

Internal

• Ukraine mission team
• Programme technical leads. 
• Ukraine Response Hub
• National Organisations
• Global Hub departments (including humanitarian, MERL)

External

• Civil Society Organisations
• UN Agencies

Technical expertise, skills and qualifications

Essential

• Mid-experience (2-3) in implementing M&E and AAP activities in a variety of humanitarian crises, particularly displacement and refugee settings. 
• University degree in statistics, applied mathematics, IT, international law and development or similar related fields.
• Strong understanding of implementing processes, approaches, tools and methodologies that facilitate and deliver M&E in these context, and organizational learning, that is up to date with best practices in the sector.
• A theoretical and practical understanding of gender attitudes and power dynamics, including why they exist and how they change, and how these attitudes and dynamics shape MERL approaches and methodologies.
• Experience providing M&E technical support to teams and partner organisations.
• Experience in capacity strengthening plan design and implementation with a variety of audiences.
• Experience with excel.
• Experience in quantitative and qualitative data analysis
• Experience in Results-based reporting
• Excellent communication skills. Fluency in English and Ukrainian, written and spoken

Plan International’s Values in Practice

We are open and accountable

1. Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
2. Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
3. Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
4. Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
5. Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people

We strive for lasting impact

1. Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
2. Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
3. Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
4. Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.

We work well together

1. Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
2. Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
3. Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
4. Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

We are inclusive and empowering

1. We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential
2. We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge equality in our programs and our workplace
3. We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives. 

The position is based in Kyiv, Ukraine.