The Catalyzing and Learning through Private Sector Engagement for Biodiversity Conservation (CAL-PSE) has been co-designed with USAID/Brazil to support USAID/Brazil’s private sector engagement (PSE) strategy by facilitating partnerships developed through the Partnership Platform for the Amazon and its activities, and by implementing participatory evaluation and learning regarding best practices related to PSE.
USAID/Brazil’s PSE strategy’s main objective is to catalyze a sustainable Amazon economy that fosters empowered, sustainable communities, and conserves biodiversity, forests and natural resources. It has the following key entry points:
CIAT, through the CAL-PSE, represents an innovative model to implement USAID/Brazil’s PSE strategy, playing both a facilitation a role for the PPA and it’s partnership projects, and a leadership role in monitoring, evaluation and learning by establishing robust long-term methodologies and tools that evaluate how private-sector led collective actions, partnerships, leadership and investments impact community well-being and biodiversity conservation in the Amazon. As such, CAL-PSE has two main components: 1) Facilitating the Partnership Platform for the Amazon (PPA) as an autonomous, sustainable private sector led collective action platform, which aims to influence sustainable economic development and biodiversity conservation, and which serves as a platform and umbrella for shared, co-designed, co-financed solutions, partnership and projects in the Amazon; 2) Leading robust, collaborative, long-term, practical, and cost-effective evaluation approaches to produce, communicate and disseminate evidence and learning regarding best practices to promote private sector led solutions, such as the PPA and its projects, and how such PSE initiatives impact biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and community livelihoods. Current methodologies and tools being utilized under CAL-PSE include long-term monitoring of contextual analysis and secondary data, socio-economic assessments, such as the Social Progress Index, and qualitative and quantitative Social Network Analysis and Big Data; and as well as environmental assessments related to deforestation, land use change, biodiversity monitoring and use of GIS.
About the Position
We are searching a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Team Leader to serve in a strategic and technical leadership role for the CAL-PSE Program’s Learning Agenda component. This position would report to the Program Director and provide technical oversight of a multi-disciplinary team of experts on all activities related to the learning agenda components of CAL-PSE, including long-term monitoring systems and impact evaluation approaches. This position will be based in Brasilia.
Main Responsibilities:
● Lead the implementation of a robust, collaborative long-term, practical, and cost-effective evaluation approaches to produce evidence and learning regarding best practices to promote private sector led solutions, such as the PPA and its projects, and how such PSE initiatives impact biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and community livelihoods.
● Ensure the independence, integrity and quality of the evaluations and long-term monitoring approaches that are selected and used, and share results and toolboxes through a strategic communication and outreach process, with a community of practice to provide an evidence base.
● Ensure excellent team performance of the MEL teams through leadership, supervision and strong coordination across the CAL-PSE team members, including multi-disciplinary team of experts made up of direct hires and consultants, MEL and research members, and broader PPA teams.
● Provides strategic direction, technical and management leadership to produce project results related to CAL-PSE’s MEL deliverables.
● Manage MEL operations, leading and ensuring the development of annual planning and timely, high quality implementation of activities and deliverables
● Manage the overall work plan and budget and ensure the submission of timely and accurate program/technical, financial, and procurement reports
● Monitors the progress and pace of MEL implementation, assuring that the full potential of the program is realized through the promotion of high quality work and internal control, including planning, budgeting, and logistics for MEL activities
● Work closely with the Program Director in the elaboration of overall CAL-PSE work plans, the design of evaluation methodologies, their synthesis and learning, their communication and dissemination, including contribution to annual reports and learning products
● Responsible for translating evidence and lessons learned collected into guidance for improving private sector engagement in biodiversity conservation in the Amazon.
● Coordinate closely with the Communications Lead of the Program the content of dissemination and outreach products related with evidence-based evaluation and learning results.
● Guide the design and implementation of workshops, meetings and sessions with CAL-PSE partners to reflect on the lessons learned and the results of the socioeconomic and environmental assessments
● Maintain close communication with the MEL Team of CIAT-HQ with the purpose of receiving support from them when required
● Maintain close communication and collaboration with USAID MEL Expert
● Ensure the independence, integrity and quality of monitoring and evaluation products that assess the effects of private partnerships implemented in the context of the Program on communities well-being and conservation of biodiversity
● Coordinate with the PPA to promote collaborative learning, to ensure usefulness of learning products, and to align monitoring and project-based results generated under the PPA with the longer term evaluation and learning agenda.
● Develop and maintain a strong understanding of the national context and relevant initiatives related to biodiversity conservation, land use and natural resources management, community well-being, and social and economic aspects related to conservation, in order to ensure that Program outputs and outcomes are relevant to the region.
● Provide expert advice, technical and thought leadership and vision on USAID/Brazil’s PSE strategy, and its monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) agenda, ranging from updates to situational analyses, theories of change, results chains, and proposed evaluation and learning approaches, methodologies, taking into consideration cost effectiveness, usefulness, adaptive management using evidence and learning and other aspects.
Required Qualifications
● Master degree in Program Evaluation, Economics, Natural Resource Management, Environmental Studies, Public Policy, or other Interdisciplinary and related field; PhD preferred
● Minimum of 5 years’ experience working in leadership positions in a monitoring, evaluation andor learning projects, systems and support services and platforms in fields related to the scope of CAL-PSE
● Minimum of 5 years’ experience working with different types of evaluations, including qualitative and quantitative research methods, data management and analysis, sampling methods in developing country context and in collaborative approaches
● Demonstrated understanding of both monitoring and evaluation processes and roles within projects and across portfolio;
● Minimum of 3 years’ experience in a management role with responsibility for staff, consultants, budgets, schedules and deliverable quality;
● Strong skills using MS Excel Word, PowerPoint and Access, GIS and data analysis and/or visualization software is highly desirable
● Demonstrated leadership qualities, depth and breadth of technical and management expertise and experience, and strong interpersonal, writing, and oral presentation skills.
● Strong team management, communication, writing and interpersonal skills
● Demonstrated ability to exercise overall quality control, meeting high technical and editorial standards in written products.
● All applicants must have experience with USAID or on USAID projects in the past and familiarity with USAID’s program cycle.
● Must be willing and able to travel.
● Experience in projects with a private sector engagement is preferred
● Experience with similar MEL and evaluation institutional support and/or monitoring and evaluation contracts is strongly preferred
● Strong understanding of the local Brazilian context is preferred
● Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Portuguese required; fluency in Spanish desirable.
The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people’s lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.
With novel partnerships, the Alliance generates evidence and mainstreams innovations to transform food systems and landscapes so that they sustain the planet, drive prosperity, and nourish people.
The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future.
