Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Director, Sustainable Inclusive Development for Equity (SIDE)

Job Description

CARE is dedicated to ending poverty and improving the lives of women, girls, and vulnerable populations around the world. We do this through meaningful partnerships with social justice movements, local civil society groups and broad networks of organizations focused on social inclusion. We are locally led, globally connected, and committed to advocating for the rights and inclusion of marginalized, under-represented populations around the world. We believe the inclusion of every individual, regardless of their identity, is essential in helping to transform societies and improve quality of life.

We seek a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Director to lead this function for an anticipated USAID-funded inclusive development activity to engage with and support the priorities of marginalized and underrepresented groups in the development process globally. This includes partnering with and accompanying local organizations in ongoing efforts to transform their societies to be more inclusive, equitable and responsive to the needs of marginalized communities across diverse geographies and sectors.

The USAID Sustainable Inclusive Development for Equity (SIDE) activity is expected to be a five-year program in the $50M range. The solicitation is expected to be released in April 2022.

The MEL Director is responsible for overseeing the monitoring, evaluation and learning function including the full range of activities required to identify and address knowledge gaps, successes, challenges and sustainable impact. The Director will oversee the Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) approach, MEL plan, learning agenda, and data collection, analysis and reporting to ensure the program achieves and demonstrates desired results. The Director will partner with other members of the core program team to manage implementation and ensure program quality.

This position is pending donor approval and funding.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Partner closely with all staff to ensure MEL/CLA tools, systems and synergies are applied and leveraged within all activities in the implementation areas. 
• Ensure collection and analysis of intersectional and disaggregated data based on sex, age, disability and other factors and inclusion of the voice of MUGPVs in all data related activities
• Ensure the activity includes active, intentional and adaptive learning within and across its multi-sectoral interventions. This includes but is not limited to USG, host country government, international donors, local civil society organizations, multilateral organizations and private sector investments.
• Lead and participate in all MEL and CLA-related activities.
• Improve peer-to-peer learning, knowledge management, sharing and application, activity-based capacity strengthening, evidence and data utilization, and CLA in support of adaptive management both within and beyond initial refinement.
• Ensure appropriate and continued coordination and joint planning with other USAID and donor activities, specifically USAID Missions, host government initiatives, and private sector engagement.
• Engage project stakeholders in gathering information and lessons emerging from program implementation and ensuring its use by project participants and quality communications to external stakeholders for influence, thought leadership and scaling.

Qualifications:

• Master’s or PhD degree in a relevant field plus a minimum of 10 years of work experience or a bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 15 years of relevant work experience.
• Experience designing, implementing, and operating monitoring, evaluation and learning systems throughout the project life cycle.
• Experience with CLA and/or adaptive management throughout the project cycle
• Knowledge of primary evaluation methodologies (e.g., qualitative, quantitative, mixed method, and impact) and data collection and analysis methodologies.
• Demonstrated experience in organizational and peer-to-peer learning, capacity strengthening, and collaborative learning and adaptation.
• Demonstrated experience facilitating learning and knowledge sharing processes, establishing and managing dynamic feedback systems to capture experiential learning and unintended consequences, and fostering collaboration across teams or organizations.
• Experience working on a USAID-funded or bilateral donor agency project strongly preferred. Experience with large, centrally funded development programs preferred.
• Experience working in low-resource settings.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain partnerships and productive working relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders.
• Demonstrated commitment to principles of Gender Equity and Diversity and Social Inclusion, as evidenced in previous management positions and programming. 
• Familiarity with key USAID policies including the Youth in Development Policy, LGBT Vision for Action, Disability Policy Paper, Collaborating, Learning and Adapting framework, gender equality policies and guidelines, and other relevant guidance documents.
• Ability to translate complex and complicated ideas into broadly intelligible and accessible concepts and/or messages.
• Excellent, high-level, demonstrated written and oral communications skills in English is required.
• Ability to travel globally as COVID and security situations allow.

About the Organization

CARE is an international NGO with local staff and community partners in more than 90 countries. We create local solutions to poverty and inequality and we seek dignity for everyone every day and during times of crisis. These solutions have a broad range, from clean water to access to education; from microfinance to ensuring that everyone has nutritious food; from agriculture and climate change to disaster response. CARE puts women and girls at the center of everything we do because they have proven to be the best hope for creating lasting change in the world. Our staff live where they work, which makes us effective at understanding the challenges they face. We’ve been doing this for over 70 years, since World War II. It started with the world’s first CARE Package® of food for the post-war hungry in Europe. Our work today is as important as ever, we believe that poverty and inequality are historic injustices that we can end within a generation, for good. If you share our core beliefs: poverty is an injustice; poverty is solvable; and together, we have the power to end it, join us, and fight with CARE.

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