HI, Humanity & Inclusion is seeking
The Regional South East Asia MEAL Manager
Handicap International/Humanity & Inclusion (HI) is an independent and impartial international solidarity organization, which intervenes in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflicts and disasters. Working alongside people with disabilities and vulnerable populations, it acts and speaks out to meet their essential needs, improve their living conditions and promote respect for their dignity and fundamental rights. More info: www.hi.org
At Handicap International-Humanity & Inclusion, we truly believe in the importance of inclusion and diversity within our organisation. This is why we are engaged to a disability policy to encourage the inclusion and integration of people with disabilities. Please indicate if you require any special accommodation, even at the first interview.
The South East Asia Program includes operations in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar and Thailand. The Regional Program Office is based in different countries of the program, but mainly in Vientiane. The first Regional Operational Strategy will be conceived in 2024-2025 for the next 5 years (2025-2030).
South East Asia is the region of birth of HI and our activities are still largely traditional, with a dominant in Inclusion (42% of the 2021 budget volume), Rehabilitation (19%) and Mine Action (15%). The region encompasses a wide variety of humanitarian contexts, ranging from the civil war in Myanmar, to support to the Vietnamese government in the development of an international standard of rehabilitation services, or to emergency responses to climate-related disasters in the Philippines.
In February 2020, HI initiated the process of regionalization of the Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam programs, joined later by China (October 2021) and the Philippines (January 2023). The regional office is in Vientiane (Laos). In March 2023, decision has been taken to merge the Myanmar/Thailand program into the Mekong program to finalize the integration of the Regional Direction and Geographic Direction.
JOB CONTEXT:
The Regional Program Office is based in different countries. The first Regional Operational Strategy was approved in March 2021 and the next one will be conceived in late 2025 for the next 5 years (2025-2030). The ongoing strategy aims to improve participation, resilience and quality of live conditions of persons with disabilities and vulnerable groups through the strengthening of inclusive livelihoods, inclusive education, rehabilitation, mine action and Disaster Risk Reduction. The Regional MEAL Manager will support all the countries within the South East Asia Region.
YOUR MISSION:
The Regional MEAL manager is responsible for the MEAL and information management (IM) teams working in his or her geographical area of responsibility and is the direct line-manager of all country/area MEAL Manager of the geographical area. He or she is in charge of deploying HI’s MEAL and IM standards on his or her programme and ensuring their application.
The overall coherency of the projects and their quality control is ensured by the MEAL department and the Regional Technical Head of Program. The regional MEAL Manager reports to the Technical Head of Programme (THoP).
The position of Regional MEAL Manager requires managing multiple tasks and teams in a complex and dynamic context. The Regional MEAL Manager leads the MEAL and IM teams in different locations and ensures that they follow HI’s MEAL and IM standards. She/he also coordinates with other departments and stakeholders to provide quality data and analysis for decision making and learning. The Manager is responsible to ensure that national teams know and master HI standards, regional strategy includes MEAL needs, to liaise with HQ on feedback and monitoring of standards, to support country teams in implementing MEAL action plans, to improve archive and file management and to design a regional MEAL work plan for a 12-month period. Moreover, ensuring consistency and coherence of MEAL and IM systems across the country, adapting to changing needs and priorities, promoting a culture of learning and accountability within HI and with partners and developing the feedback mechanisms.
Mission 1: Management
Responsibility 1: Is line manager of the Country MEAL Manager and IM Manager of the program.
- Manager as a role model: embodies HI’s values on a daily basis.
- Manager as coach for meaning: understands the strategy, makes it explicit, translates it into operational objectives for his or her team, leads the necessary changes. Gives meaning to each management action. Encourages inter and intra departmental exchanges of practice. Encourages innovation and risk-taking.
- Operational manager: organizes the operational management of his or her team, structures the work around identified processes, steers performance and facilitates the resolution of problems.
- Manager 1st HR & Coach: contributes to the development of his or her staff, creating the conditions for their commitment, professionalism and attachment to HI. Ensures compliance with the code of conduct of institutional policies, the state of mind and the expected individual and collective behavior.
Mission 2: Strategy and steering
Responsibility 1: Defines the MEAL part of the Operational Strategy, pilots the related action plan and the strategy monitoring tool
- Helps with the development of operational strategy (StratOp) in line with HI strategy, StraTechs and Development plans (notably 3I and Emergency), including the development of the StratOp monitoring tool.
- Defines and oversees the programme’s MEAL action plan.
- Drives the performance of his or her service.
- Leads the assessment of local partners’ MEAL/IM capacities and the resulting capacity building plans.
Mission 3: Standards and expertise
Responsibility 1: Designs the program’s MEAL and IM systems and monitors their implementation and quality
- Is responsible for defining systems for monitoring, data collection, information management, evaluation, accountability to populations, learning and knowledge management that are adapted to the context of intervention and ensure compliance with HI standards.
- Ensures that the systems put in place on the various projects are consistent with each other and with HI’s frameworks and standards and enable the consolidation of information for use in the programme’s global management.
Mission 4: Operational implementation
Responsibility 1: Contributes towards improving HI’s response within his/her geographical scope
- Is responsible for the implementation of tools for measuring outcomes and impact that facilitate decision-making, learning and accountability;
- Is responsible for putting in place a system for ensuring accountability towards populations;
- Contributes towards the articulation and application of HI’s institutional policies and crosscutting approaches;
Responsibility 2: Contributes towards defining and improving the quality of projects in line with HI’s global frameworks and technical standards
- Provides technical support to the technical specialists in establishing quality indicators, monitoring methods and data collection tools;
- Contributes to the design and drafting of project proposals;
- Is responsible for ensuring that regular project evaluations take place.
Responsibility 3: Contributes towards improving the quality of project management, as defined in HI’s Project Quality Policy (PQP)
- Provides technical support to the project and partners teams for the implementation of monitoring, evaluation and accountability tools and methods;
- Provides technical support to operations managers, country managers and project managers for the application of PQP policy and verifies its application.
Responsibility 4: Contributes towards the ownership of learning frameworks and methodologies by the programmes and by HI in general
- Is responsible, for implementing processes and methods for collecting, analysing, modelling and ownership of the knowledge produced;
- Proposes an analysis of the information collected and the knowledge produced to strengthen collective learning;
- Ensures the continuous improvement of learning frameworks and methodologies;
- Ensures access to relevant internal and external information for all staff.
Responsibility 5: Ensures the external representation and promotion of HI’s expertise in his / her field.
- Represents HI’s MEAL and IM expertise in all relevant regional networks;
- Contributes towards advocacy on specific subjects (notably through the consolidation of evidence-based factors) in line with the StratOp and federal advocacy priorities;
- Contributes locally to communication messages in line with the StratOp and federal communication priorities.
Mission 5: Emergency Preparedness and Response Responsibilities
- Leads the emergency preparedness actions in his/her department and, in case of emergency, reorganizes the priorities of his/her team according to the humanitarian imperative, in order to ensure HI’s quick and efficient response.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POSITION:
A good level in written and spoken English is mandatory as it will be the only working language.
The position will imply to act as the Regional MEAL Manager, reporting to Regional Director. Capacity to handle change, autonomy, capacity to take initiatives and willingness to address and fix problems are mandatory skills for the position.
YOUR PROFILE:
- A degree in Social Science, Data and Information Systems, International Relations, Community Development or relevant field,
- Minimum 5 years of experience in the field of humanitarian aid and development project coordination, including at least 2 years in MEAL-related jobs,
- Able to work independently and autonomously with minimum supervision,
- Ability to give and receive constructive feedback, and work collaboratively with multi-disciplinary teams and colleagues,
- Clear, concise and responsible communication suited to the interlocutor,
- Resilience to stress and uncertainty,
- Strong negotiation and communication skills and sharing information,
- Managing problems and conflict,
- Ability to make decisions relating to a specific activity or his/her specific sector,
- Ability to prioritize tasks and good time management.
CONDITIONS:
Working station: In one of the program countries (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar and Thailand).
Type of contract: Fixed term and local employment contract.
Duration of contract: 3 years, fixed duration contract (potential to be extended)
Salary package: Following organization policy
Starting date: 15/04/2025 or earlier
Closing date for applications: 23/03/2025
TO APPLY:
Applicants should email a letter of interest together with CV to email: [email protected] by 23/03/2025; please state clearly in the Email subject the position being applied for “Regional MEAL Manager”. Only the shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
IMPORTANT: In the content of the CV please outline responsibilities and tasks from previous & current work, volunteer experiences and training received.
HI reserves the right to not accept applications submitted after the deadline. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for testing and an interview.
Only candidates who passed the selection will be taken into consideration for a technical assessment and will be afterwards notified of the final decision. Selected applicants may be invited for an interview. HI reserves the right to contact the applicants for further information before the final selection of the selection committee.
Handicap International encourages qualified persons with disabilities or chronic illness and women to apply.
HI is committed to protecting children and vulnerable adults from harm. Employment is subject to HI protection standards including background checks and adherence to HI protection policies
(Child protection, PSEAH), Anti-fraud and Corruption and Code of Conduct.
All information shared by the applicants remain confidential.