MEAL Assistant

MEAL Assistant

Organization: Aid Gate Organization (AGO)
Project: Economic Empowerment Pathways (EEP) Pilot
Duty Station: Baghdad, with regular travel to project locations
Contract Duration: 20 months
Expected Start Date: 1 July 2026
Administrative Reporting: Project Manager / Team Leader
Technical Reporting: Senior MEAL Officer
Works closely with: Project technical specialists, Field Coordinator, Community Mobilizers, Livelihood Trainers, Safeguarding & Protection Specialist, government counterparts, WFP, and AGO programme staff

1. Organizational Background

Aid Gate Organization (AGO) is an independent, non-governmental and non-profit organization established in Iraq in 2014. AGO implements humanitarian, development, resilience, livelihoods, agriculture, economic empowerment, protection, social cohesion, and institutional capacity-strengthening programmes in partnership with national and international organizations.

AGO is implementing the Economic Empowerment Pathways Pilot in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP). The project supports vulnerable Social Safety Net households through tailored pathways to employment, self-employment, enterprise development, and sustainable livelihoods.

2. Position Summary

The MEAL Assistant will support the implementation of the project’s monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning system. The postholder will collect, verify, enter, clean, organize, analyse, and report project data under the technical supervision of the Senior MEAL Officer.

The position will support beneficiary registration and verification, baseline and endline assessments, routine activity monitoring, training monitoring, enterprise and employment outcome tracking, post-assistance monitoring, data-quality assurance, complaints and feedback management, and project learning.

The MEAL Assistant will regularly visit project activities and beneficiary locations to verify implementation quality, beneficiary participation, assistance delivery, productive asset utilization, business progress, and satisfaction. The postholder will ensure that project data is accurate, complete, timely, securely maintained, and disaggregated according to WFP and AGO requirements.

3. Key Responsibilities
4. MEAL System Implementation

• Support the Senior MEAL Officer in operationalizing the project’s MEAL plan, results framework, indicator tracking table, and data-collection schedule.
• Assist in developing and adapting monitoring forms, questionnaires, checklists, registers, databases, and reporting templates.
• Ensure that approved tools and indicator definitions are consistently applied by project staff.
• Maintain an updated calendar of monitoring activities, assessments, data submissions, verification exercises, and reporting deadlines.
• Support the establishment of project baselines, targets, data sources, collection frequencies, and responsibilities.
• Assist project staff to understand data-collection requirements and reporting procedures.
• Support the integration of gender, disability, age, vulnerability, and location disaggregation across MEAL tools and databases.
• Ensure monitoring activities are aligned with AGO policies, the approved project framework, and WFP requirements.

1. Beneficiary Registration and Verification

• Support beneficiary outreach, registration, screening, assessment, selection, and enrolment processes.
• Verify beneficiary identity, eligibility, household information, consent, and required supporting documentation.
• Assist in identifying duplicate, incomplete, inconsistent, or potentially inaccurate beneficiary records.
• Cross-check beneficiary information against approved eligibility and selection criteria.
• Maintain secure and updated beneficiary databases and supporting documentation.
• Track beneficiary movement through the different economic empowerment pathways.
• Support verification exercises before training, productive asset assistance, referral, certification, or other project support.
• Document verification findings and immediately report suspected duplication, exclusion errors, manipulation, fraud, conflicts of interest, or irregularity.
• Ensure that beneficiary data is collected with informed consent and handled confidentially.

1. Routine Activity Monitoring

• Conduct regular monitoring visits to training sessions, coaching activities, workplace-learning sites, enterprise locations, community activities, and distributions.
• Verify that activities are conducted according to approved plans, methodologies, schedules, and quality standards.
• Monitor participant attendance, retention, completion, engagement, and satisfaction.
• Verify the presence and performance of trainers, facilitators, coaches, mentors, and field staff.
• Observe training quality, participant engagement, accessibility, safeguarding, and adherence to approved curricula.
• Monitor the distribution and utilization of productive assets, tools, equipment, and business-support packages.
• Record implementation gaps, participant concerns, risks, and good practices.
• Share monitoring findings with the Senior MEAL Officer and Project Manager for corrective action.
• Follow up on agreed corrective measures and document their completion.

1. Data Collection and Management

• Collect quantitative and qualitative data from beneficiaries, staff, trainers, government counterparts, employers, service providers, and other stakeholders.
• Enter project data accurately and promptly into approved databases or digital platforms.
• Review submitted forms for completeness, accuracy, consistency, signatures, dates, and supporting documentation.
• Conduct routine data cleaning and correct errors in coordination with the responsible project staff.
• Maintain participant attendance, assessment, training, coaching, referral, asset-distribution, employment, and enterprise records.
• Assign and maintain unique beneficiary identification codes where required.
• Ensure that datasets are regularly backed up and access is limited to authorized personnel.
• Maintain organized electronic and hard-copy MEAL files.
• Protect personal and sensitive information in accordance with AGO and WFP data-protection requirements.
• Never share beneficiary data through unauthorized platforms, devices, or individuals.

1. Data-Quality Assurance

• Support routine data-quality assessments, verification checks, spot checks, and data audits.
• Compare information recorded in databases against source documents and field observations.
• Check data for completeness, accuracy, consistency, timeliness, validity, and uniqueness.
• Identify missing records, unexplained changes, unusual patterns, duplicate entries, and inconsistencies.
• Maintain a data-quality issue log and track corrective actions.
• Work with programme staff to correct identified errors and strengthen documentation practices.
• Verify reported results before inclusion in progress reports.
• Support WFP monitoring visits, verification exercises, audits, reviews, and evaluations.
• Immediately report suspected data manipulation, falsification, or deliberate misreporting.

1. Surveys and Assessments

• Support the planning and implementation of baseline, periodic, endline, post-training, post-assistance, and outcome assessments.
• Assist with survey sampling, respondent selection, field planning, tool testing, and enumerator preparation.
• Conduct beneficiary interviews, focus-group discussions, key-informant interviews, observations, and telephone follow-ups.
• Ensure survey questions are administered consistently, respectfully, and without influencing respondents’ answers.
• Check completed surveys daily and address missing or inconsistent information.
• Support data entry, transcription, cleaning, coding, and preliminary analysis.
• Assist in measuring changes in participant skills, employment, self-employment, enterprise performance, income, resilience, and satisfaction.
• Ensure informed consent, privacy, confidentiality, and voluntary participation during all assessments.

1. Outcome and Sustainability Monitoring

• Track participants’ progression through training, coaching, employment, self-employment, agricultural, and enterprise-development pathways.
• Monitor completion, competency improvement, employment placement, business establishment, business survival, income generation, and market access.
• Conduct follow-up visits and telephone calls with participants after receiving project support.
• Verify the operational status and utilization of supported enterprises and productive assets.
• Collect evidence related to sales, customers, production, services, costs, income, and employment creation where appropriate.
• Obtain feedback from employers, trainers, mentors, government counterparts, and market actors.
• Identify participants requiring additional coaching, referral, technical support, or pathway adjustment.
• Support analysis of which pathways and interventions produce the strongest and most sustainable outcomes.

1. Accountability to Affected Populations

• Support the operation of safe, accessible, confidential, and responsive complaints and feedback mechanisms.
• Inform beneficiaries about their rights, project eligibility criteria, available services, selection processes, and complaint channels.
• Receive and register feedback and complaints through approved channels.
• Categorize cases accurately and refer them to the responsible person according to established procedures.
• Track complaints and feedback through resolution while maintaining confidentiality.
• Follow up to confirm whether complainants received an appropriate response.
• Conduct beneficiary satisfaction and perception surveys.
• Analyse recurring feedback trends and share findings with the Senior MEAL Officer.
• Immediately refer safeguarding, sexual exploitation and abuse, fraud, corruption, or serious misconduct allegations through confidential reporting channels.
• Never investigate sensitive safeguarding allegations independently.

1. Learning and Reporting

• Compile routine monitoring data and prepare summaries, tables, charts, and indicator updates.
• Contribute to weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, and final project reports.
• Provide verified data and supporting evidence for reporting against project targets and indicators.
• Assist in documenting lessons learned, implementation challenges, good practices, and recommendations.
• Collect beneficiary stories, case studies, photographs, and quotations after obtaining informed consent.
• Participate in project review meetings, reflection sessions, learning events, and after-action reviews.
• Support the preparation of presentations, dashboards, fact sheets, and learning products.
• Maintain an updated tracker of recommendations and corrective actions.
• Ensure that all externally reported figures are traceable to verified source documentation.

1. Capacity Building and Coordination

• Provide practical guidance to project staff on monitoring tools, attendance records, beneficiary documentation, and data-submission requirements.
• Support orientations or refresher sessions for staff, trainers, Community Mobilizers, and enumerators.
• Coordinate monitoring visits with the Field Coordinator and project technical staff.
• Work closely with the Safeguarding & Protection Specialist to ensure monitoring activities are safe and inclusive.
• Support government counterparts to understand and use basic project monitoring tools.
• Participate in project coordination meetings and present monitoring observations when requested.
• Maintain professional communication with beneficiaries, colleagues, WFP representatives, government counterparts, and other stakeholders.

1. Safeguarding, Inclusion and Data Protection

• Conduct monitoring activities in a respectful, safe, inclusive, and culturally appropriate manner.
• Ensure women, persons with disabilities, and vulnerable participants can safely participate in surveys and feedback processes.
• Obtain informed consent before interviews, photographs, recordings, or collection of personal information.
• Protect the identity and confidentiality of beneficiaries and complainants.
• Store and transfer data only through approved systems and devices.
• Avoid collecting personal data that is not necessary for project purposes.
• Immediately report data breaches, safeguarding concerns, harassment, exploitation, discrimination, or abuse.
• Comply with AGO’s Code of Conduct, safeguarding policies, and data-protection procedures.

1. Other Responsibilities

• Prepare regular work plans and provide progress updates to the Senior MEAL Officer and Project Manager.
• Maintain project-issued equipment and ensure its proper and secure use.
• Comply with AGO security, administrative, financial, and operational procedures.
• Immediately escalate significant implementation, data-quality, accountability, or safeguarding concerns.
• Perform other relevant duties assigned by the Senior MEAL Officer or Project Manager / Team Leader within the scope of the position.

4. Key Deliverables

The MEAL Assistant will be responsible for producing or supporting:

• Accurate and updated beneficiary databases.
• Completed and verified registration and eligibility records.
• Routine activity-monitoring reports.
• Training attendance, completion, and assessment trackers.
• Coaching, mentorship, referral, and pathway-progress records.
• Productive asset distribution and utilization monitoring.
• Baseline, periodic, endline, and post-assistance datasets.
• Enterprise and employment outcome-monitoring records.
• Data-quality checklists and corrective-action logs.
• Updated indicator tracking information.
• Complaints and feedback records.
• Beneficiary satisfaction findings.
• Case studies and lessons-learned documentation.
• Verified data inputs for narrative and donor reports.
• Properly organized and secure MEAL files.

5. Minimum Qualifications and Experience

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in statistics, economics, social sciences, development studies, information management, business administration, computer science, public administration, or another relevant field.

Professional Experience

• At least two years of relevant experience in monitoring, evaluation, accountability, data management, research, surveys, or project implementation.
• Experience collecting, entering, cleaning, verifying, and managing programme data.
• Experience conducting field monitoring, beneficiary interviews, surveys, or focus-group discussions.
• Experience maintaining beneficiary databases and supporting project reporting.
• Previous experience in livelihoods, economic empowerment, agriculture, social protection, vocational training, or enterprise-development programmes is an advantage.
• Experience with UN agencies, international donors, NGOs, or WFP-funded programmes is desirable.
• Experience using digital data-collection platforms such as KoboToolbox, ODK, or similar systems is preferred.
• Knowledge of the Baghdad operating context and experience working with vulnerable households are desirable.

6. Required Skills and Competencies

• Strong attention to detail and commitment to data accuracy.
• Basic knowledge of monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning principles.
• Good quantitative and qualitative data-collection skills.
• Ability to identify errors, inconsistencies, duplication, and missing information.
• Strong organizational, recordkeeping, and time-management skills.
• Ability to communicate respectfully with beneficiaries and stakeholders.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and handle sensitive information responsibly.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and digital data-collection tools.
• Basic data analysis and visualization skills.
• Good written and spoken Arabic and working proficiency in English; Kurdish is an advantage.
• Ability and willingness to undertake regular field visits.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team.

7. Core Values and Behavioural Expectations

The postholder is expected to demonstrate:

• Integrity, accuracy, professionalism, and accountability.
• Respect for diversity, inclusion, and human dignity.
• Commitment to safeguarding and prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment.
• Zero tolerance for fraud, corruption, discrimination, and data manipulation.
• Confidentiality and responsible data management.
• Respectful communication with beneficiaries and colleagues.
• Objectivity and independence when recording monitoring findings.
• Willingness to learn and respond constructively to feedback.

8. Performance Indicators

Performance will be assessed against:

• Accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of beneficiary and activity data.
• Quality and frequency of field monitoring.
• Timely identification and correction of data-quality issues.
• Completeness and traceability of supporting documentation.
• Quality of survey and assessment data.
• Timeliness of indicator updates and reporting inputs.
• Effective tracking of beneficiary progress and project outcomes.
• Proper management of complaints and feedback records.
• Compliance with confidentiality and data-protection requirements.
• Responsiveness to monitoring findings and corrective actions.
• Quality and organization of electronic and hard-copy files.
• Compliance with AGO, WFP, safeguarding, and accountability requirements.

9. Safeguarding Statement

Aid Gate Organization is committed to safeguarding children and adults at risk and maintaining a working environment free from sexual exploitation, abuse, harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. The selected candidate must comply with AGO’s Code of Conduct, safeguarding policies, data-protection requirements, and reporting procedures.

10. Equal Opportunity Statement

Aid Gate Organization is an equal-opportunity employer. Qualified candidates are considered without discrimination based on gender, disability, ethnicity, religion, age, marital status, or other protected characteristics. Women and persons with disabilities who meet the position requirements are strongly encouraged to apply.

Interested applicants must apply via the link below

MEAL Assistant

Note:

• Applications not meeting the specified minimum requirements may not be considered.
• The CVs received after the closing date may not be considered.
• Shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview that may include a written test of communication and writing skills.
• Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Candidates are encouraged to apply early, as applications may be screened prior to the vacancy deadline.