Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Lead

With over 70 years of experience, our focus is on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. We help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, inspired by our Christian faith.

Come join our 33,000+ staff working in nearly 100 countries and share the joy of transforming vulnerable children’s life stories!

Key Responsibilities:

Coordinate with project staff, consortium members, communities, service providers, local governments, and donor representative to reach agreement on the MEL plan.

Operationalize the MEL system to ensure effective collection, analysis, utilization, and reporting of project data. This could include the development of a project specific information management system to facilitate the storage, organization and retrieval of information.

Develop and provide templates, guidance and capacity building training to project staff and partners on the project specific MEL system, donor requirements, and other MEL related topics

Prepare TORs for assessments, evaluations and special studies including proposed study design and sampling strategy. Participate in the recruitment of consultants and actively manage their work, including in-depth feedback on inception and final reports.

Prepare quarterly and annual reports, including indicator tracking tables

Facilitate review workshops to assess project progress and performance. Refine the project MEL strategy, plan and system, and recommend changes based on evidence and stakeholder feedback

Lead the preparation of the annual MEL work plan and budget.

Conduct regular field visits to validate data, conduct data quality assessments and deliver technical support to field staff.

Facilitate processes according to which consortium members, relevant government representatives, donor representatives and other stakeholders are sharing information, collaborating and learning from one another

Maintain a knowledge management platform to ensure timely and effective communication and information sharing between different stakeholders

Supervise staff that report directly to this position.

Perform other duties as required

Required Professional Experience

• A Master's degree or above preferably with emphasis in program evaluation, statistics, economics, or other field related to international development.
• Seven (7) years or more relevant experience is required.
• Demonstrated experience in leading MEL of a large award (multi sectoral and multi stakeholder).
• Strong conceptual knowledge about Theories of Change (ToC), logical frameworks, and gender integration into MEL.
• Demonstrated experience and expertise in developing and operationalizing a comprehensive MEL plan.
• Demonstrated expertise and experience in developing and operationalizing routine monitoring systems designed to track both output and outcome indicators.
• Demonstrated expertise in designing quantitative surveys, estimating sample size, developing a proper sampling frame, establish appropriate weights, and cleaning, processing, and storing quantitative data.
• Demonstrated expertise in designing qualitative studies, in-depth knowledge about qualitative sampling, experience using interview and interactive tools to generate qualitative information and qualitative data analysis and reporting.
• Demonstrated experience in developing data quality assurance strategies, data management, and use of technology for data visualization.

• Demonstrated expertise and experience in data utilization strategies and ability to think creatively about active data sharing techniques

• Knowledge of and familiarity with international assistance program Monitoring and Evaluation requirements, preferably USAID policies, and USAID’s Collaboration, Learning and Adaptation practices.

• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work cross-culturally with diverse teams.
• Ability to work with host-country professionals, ministries and with donor colleagues in country.
• Experience working/living in countries in Africa. Familiarity with the Malawi context.
• Strong verbal communication skills, strong presentation and report writing skills.
• Ability to achieve results through partners.

Education, training, license, registration and certification Required

• A Master's degree or above preferably with emphasis in program evaluation, statistics, economics, or other field related to international development.
• Experience as a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist required.
• Experience working with sub grantees and contracts under grants for complex projects.
• Experience in managing a team.
• Fluency in English (verbal and written)

Preferred Knowledge and Qualifications

• Mentoring and facilitation skills.
• Working on projects dealing with human trafficking.
• Ability to network and communicate with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Experience working overseas in low-resource environments.
• Ability to use data analysis software such as SPSS, STATA, Epi Info, etc.
• Previous experience with USAID grants is preferred.

NOTE* Please note that this position is contingent upon funding and donor approval.

Applicant Types Accepted: