Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Consultant

About HIAS Greece HIAS is a global humanitarian organization that provides protection, legal aid, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), and economic inclusion services to refugees, asylum seekers, and other forcibly displaced people. HIAS has maintained a continuous operational presence in Greece since 2016, with offices and multidisciplinary teams inAthensandMytilene (Lesvos). HIAS Greece delivers specialized legal counseling and representation, strategic litigation and quasi-litigation, legal and policy advocacy, human rights monitoring and documentation, and individualized MHPSS services. Background and Rationale for the Consultancy HIAS Greece is entering a new phase of a multi-year project implemented in partnership withIslamic Relief USA (IRUSA), with the goal of protecting the rights, dignity, and wellbeing of asylum seekers and refugees in Greece. The project is structured around four objectives: 1. Ensure access to justice and protection for asylum seekers, refugees, and human rights defenders; 2. Address systemic human rights violations through strategic litigation ; 3. Improve protection through targeted legal and policy advocacy ; 4. Improve psychosocial wellbeing and resilience among refugees and asylum seekers. HIAS Greece currently monitors its work through a Case Management System (CMS), Microsoft Excel trackers, monthly staff reports to the Country Manager, and quarterly reporting to HIAS headquarters.No external evaluation is budgeted for this project.The MEAL function is therefore fully internal, and its quality depends on the strength of the tools, protocols, and staff capacity that underpin it. Three features of the new logframe require MEAL capacity that does not yet exist in a systematized form: - ? structuredclient perception surveyusing a five-point Likert scale, administered at intake and at case closure, measuring understanding of legal rights, ability to access legal help, and sense of safety. This tool does not yet exist. - ?dministration of theWHO-5 Wellbeing Indexat intake and exit/follow-up, with ?improvement? defined as a rise of at least 10 points on the 0?100 scale. A standardized administration, scoring, and ethical-use protocol does not yet exist. - Documentation of instances in which a named policymaker, institution, or accountability mechanism references or acts upon a specific advocacy output, evidenced by an official document, written record, or public statement. This is an outcome-harvesting-type indicator that requires a defined verification and evidence-retention protocol. In addition, the project?s rightsholder counting must followthe donor?s methodology, under which rightsholders are counted every quarter in which they receive services, with a separate adjusted figure for unique cumulative rightsholders that is overwritten with each quarterly submission. Given that many clients receive both legal and MHPSS services over multi-year case timelines, a robust and documented de-duplication protocol is essential. HIAS Greece, therefore, seeks a MEAL Consultant to establish a practical, proportionate, and GDPR-compliant MEAL system that project staff can operate independently after the consultancy ends. Objective of the Consultancy Overall objective:To establish a functional, ethical, and staff-owned MEAL system for the HIAS Greece project, enabling accurate, timely, and verifiable measurement of progress against the approved logframe, and strengthening accountability to rightsholders. Specific objectives: 1. Assess current MEAL practices, systems, and data flows at HIAS Greece and identify gaps against the requirements of the approved logframe and IRUSA reporting obligations. 2. Develop a project MEAL Plan, Performance Indicator Reference Sheets (PIRS), and a documented data flow and roles matrix. 3. Design and pilot the data collection tools required by the logframe, including the client perception survey and the WHO-5 administration package, in English. 4. Develop written protocols governing data collection, quality assurance, de-duplication and unique-rightsholder counting, informed consent, data protection, ethical administration of wellbeing measures, and rightsholder feedback and complaints. 5. Build the capacity of HIAS Greece legal, MHPSS, advocacy, and management staff in Athens and Lesvos to operate the system independently. 6. Hand over a complete, indexed MEAL package with a clear transition and coaching plan. Scope of Work and Detailed Terms of Reference The consultancy is organized in five phases. The tasks below are indicative of the required standard; consultants are expected to propose their own methodology and may sequence or consolidate tasks, provided all deliverables in Section 5 are produced. ## Phase 1 ? Inception and MEAL System Assessment Task 1.1 ? Inception.Hold a kick-off meeting with the HIAS Greece Country Manager and project focal points. Review the project proposal, logframe, donor?s reporting templates and monitoring instructions, HIAS global MEAL and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) frameworks, existing trackers, and the CMS structure. Agree on the work plan, communication protocol, and access arrangements. Task 1.3 ? Rapid assessment.Produce a concise assessment with prioritized, feasible recommendations, explicitly flagging any recommendation that falls outside the resources of this consultancy so that HIAS can plan for it separately. ## Phase 2 ? MEAL Workplan, Indicator Definitions, and Data Architecture Task 2.1 ? MEAL Workplan.Develop a project MEAL Workplan covering monitoring methods, data sources, frequency, responsibilities, reporting calendar aligned to IRUSA?s quarterly cycle, data quality assurance, learning routines, and accountability mechanisms. Task 2.2 ? Performance Indicator Reference Sheets.Develop a PIRS for each of the 14 indicators in the approved logframe. Each PIRS must specify: precise indicator definition; unit of measure; disaggregation (at minimum gender, age band, nationality, and location and vulnerability categories where ethically appropriate); numerator and denominator where applicable; inclusion and exclusion rules; data source and means of verification; responsible staff member; collection and reporting frequency; known limitations and bias risks; and a worked example. Task 2.3 ? Data flow and roles matrix.Produce a one-page visual data flow diagram and a RACI-style responsibility matrix covering every indicator, from point of collection to submission to IRUSA, including named roles for data entry, verification, aggregation, and sign-off. ## Phase 3 ? Tool Development and Piloting All tools must be produced inEnglish, be trauma-informed, be usable by non-specialist staff, and be accompanied by short administration guidance. The consultant should specify which tools require translation into principal client languages (Arabic, Dari/Farsi, French, and Sorani are indicative) and provide translation-ready versions; HIAS interpreters will support administration. Task 3.1 ? Client perception survey.Design a structured survey using a five-point Likert scale across the three dimensions specified in the logframe: understanding of legal rights, ability to access legal help, and sense of safety. Deliver an intake version and a case-closure version, an administration protocol (who administers, when, through interpreters, with what consent language), a scoring rule that operationalizes ?increased access to justice and protection? against the 75% target, and guidance on handling clients lost to follow-up, clients in detention, and clients whose cases close unfavorably. The tool must be short enough to administer without displacing legal consultation time, and must not be administered by the lawyer whose performance it partly reflects, where reasonably avoidable. Task 3.2 ? WHO-5 administration package (Outcome 4).Develop a complete package for use of the WHO-5 Wellbeing Index at intake and at exit/follow-up, i