HEAD OF MONITORING, EVALUATION, ACCOUNTABILITY AND LEARNING - NIGERIA

Job Description

Contract Length : 2 years

ROLE : The Head of MEAL will provide leadership in ensuring quality and accountability standards are integrated into Nigeria’s programming. S/he will accomplish this through strengthening and maintaining an integrated MEAL framework, focusing on building the capacity of relevant programme and partner staff, as well as fostering a culture of shared learning. Working with senior management, the Head of MEAL mentors the Country Office team toward self-sufficiency in using of evidence and learning approaches to maximize impact for children.

The ideal candidate will lead in building a culture of learning and becoming a leader in evidence-based programming. S/he will be a strategic thinker responsible for building the capacity of Save the Children staff and partners to maximise the use of evidence in programming and advocacy. S/he will strengthen knowledge management systems for improved sharing of program experience, learning, and results. S/he provides strategic guidance, quality oversight and technical support to research including impact evaluations, process reviews, operations research, etc.

S/he oversees the strategic improvement of the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) function, strengthening MEAL throughout project cycle management and increasing the focus on program outcomes and impact.

• Ensure appropriate staffing within MEAL
• Define MEAL expectations, provide leadership and technical support as needed, and evaluate direct reports regularly
• Ensure the recruitment, training, and promotion of staff as appropriate and ensure availability of appropriate professional development opportunities for staff

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in international development, with at least 3 years’ senior management experience.
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in international development program monitoring & evaluation, developing and managing monitoring and learning systems, operational research, and overseeing baselines/evaluations.
• Experience in more than one of the Save the Children priority sectors: education, protection, child rights governance, child poverty, health and nutrition
• Experience with two or more cross-cutting areas such as child participation, gender, governance, value for money and accountability is highly preferred
• Excellent communication and leadership skills
• Master’s degree in Social Sciences or relevant equivalent, with at least significant coursework in quantitative or qualitative social research methods
• Passion for evidence-driven development programming and interest in ongoing international research
• Demonstrated skills in designing and carrying out qualitative and quantitative research and using research to inform program design and advocacy.
• Demonstrated experience in developing or overseeing data management solutions, and familiar with technologies in social research.
• Demonstrated capacity for leveraging project results towards broader systemic impact.
• Excellent analytical skills and appreciation for the complexities of social research, especially as pertains to deprivations of children’s rights in a country context such as Nigeria.
• Effective at collaborating and influencing across departments and sectors
• Excellent skills in training, capacity building, coaching, and mentoring
• Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming teams, in emergencies
• Commitment to and understanding of Save the Children’s aims, values and principles including rights-based approaches

About the Organization

Save the Children is the world's leading independent organisation for children. We work in 120 countries. We save children's lives; we fight for their rights; we help them fulfil their potential.

We work together, with our partners, to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.

We have over two million supporters worldwide and raised 1.9 billion dollars last year to reach more children than ever before, through programmes in health, nutrition, education, protection and child rights, also in times of humanitarian crises.

Following a major transition, our international programmes are now delivered through a merged operation with c15,000 staff, managed through seven regional hubs and reporting to a relatively small, central office. We're changing to become more efficient, more aligned, a better partner, a stronger advocate, a magnet for world-class people and relevant for the 21st century.