Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning Manager

The 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.

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 85 years, and are now active in more than 80 countries.

Role Purpose

Working in 50 developing countries across Africa, Asia, and the Americas, Plan International’s purpose is to strive for a just world that advances children's rights and equality for girls.

The program departments of Plan’s Country Offices in West Africa have MER units whose purpose is, to improve program quality and accountability through supporting and implementing high-quality MER and, to provide evidence for programme design, planning, and effectiveness.

The MER manager heads the MER unit and is accountable for all MER-related components in the development and implementation of the Country Strategy in alignment with Plan’s programme policies and standards including the Program Quality Policy. S/he makes sure that good MER practices are used within the country and are shared with the regional MER network.

Dimension of the Role

Responsible for leading key aspects of the Program Quality Policy (PQP) cycle: situation analysis implementation, development of MER framework for the Country Strategy, baselines, and Country Strategy review

• Responsible for in-country and partners MER capacity building plan and contributions to the regional MERL network;
• Responsible for managing MER activities with other agencies and government institutions
• Accountable for the quality of planning, monitoring, evaluation, and research of Plan in the country;
• Supports Country Strategy design and planning including reviews of the resource planning
• Responsible for ensuring that all MER activities are conducted in line with Plan International’s child protection and ethical principles, and for promoting accountability to beneficiaries
• Manager of MER unit: Line manages the Planning and Monitoring Specialist, the Evaluation and Research Specialist, the Programme Unit (PU) based MER Officers,[1] and the M&E Grants Officers[2] (depending on number grants in the CO)

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Location: Country Office / Freetown

Type of Role: Fixed Term

Reports to: Head of Programme Development and Quality

Grade: Level 16

Closing Date: 4th December 2023

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International's Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this scheme we will request information from applicants previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Please note that Plan International will never send unsolicited emails requesting payment from candidates.