Strategic Learning Lead at Catholic Relief

CRS will be submitting a proposal in response to the 2019 USAID Food for Peace (FFP) Development Food Security Activities (DFSA) Request for Applications (RFA). CRS Kenya will serve as the prime on the application and will develop the proposal in consortium with other international non-governmental organizations, local implementing partners and international/national research institutions. The overarching goal of this multi-sectoral activity is to sustainably reduce levels of acute malnutrition in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs), focusing on Isiolo, Marsabit, Samburu and Turkana counties. The estimated timeframe for this program is October 1, 2019 — September 30, 2024. The activity will be implemented in two phases:

• Phase I (1.5-2 years) Research, test approaches and collaboratively design a context-sensitive, multi-sectoral activity that sustainably reduces acute malnutrition.
• Phase II (3- 3.5 years): Activity Implementation and System and Institutional Strengthening

The Strategic Learning Lead (SLL) will work closely with the Research & Design Lead and M&E Lead to promote a culture of coordination, collaboration, and continuous learning across all activities in the selected counties of implementation, including USG investments, county government initiatives, multilateral organizational efforts, and private sector investments. The SLL will work closely with the Research & Design Lead and M&E Lead to include active, intentional, and adaptive learning exercises within and across its multi-sectoral activities.

The SLL, in collaboration with the Research & Design Lead, will play a critical role in translating formative and implementation research findings (Phase 1) into and evidence-based activity design for Phase 2 implementation. To achieve this, s/he will organize and implement an appropriate system that captures, analyzes, utilizes, and disseminates learning elements useful for the DFSA program. Additionally, the SLL will improve peer-to-peer learning, knowledge sharing and application, activity-based capacity strengthening, evidence and data utilization, and CLA. Further, s/he will lead in collecting best practices and lessons learned on CRS’ achievements and organize relevant reviews of program activities on the team level. S/he will promote an evidence-based results approach to disseminating best practices. The SLL should have demonstrated experience in nutrition, food security, knowledge management, organizational learning, and capacity strengthening.

Primary Responsibilities

Project Design and Organizational Learning

• Design and maintain the overall learning strategy with a focus on promoting knowledge acquisition, management, documentation, and dissemination.
• Ensure DFSA learning agenda aligns and complements CRS’ learning strategy and objectives.
• Set up the appropriate learning system for the program (collection, analysis, documentation, dissemination).
• Support M&E and program management staff to facilitate learning events to ensure promising practices, success/failure factors, lessons learned, and recommendations are identified.
• Organize reflection sessions (after-action reviews, learning to action discussions, quarterly reflection sessions, etc.) with teams to collect lessons learned, and prepare related reports, capturing key successes and lessons learned within CRS Kenya.
• Conduct program field visits to understand and document program results, both successful and unsuccessful, for improved program quality.
• Organize assessment workshops and self-evaluation sessions for various program and development actors.
• Execute learning for adapting functions and tasks such as facilitating regular meetings, compiling lessons learned, sharing relevant information, and documenting processes.
• Work with technical leads to develop a learning agenda which will incorporate CLA strategies within each of the proposed technical activities.
• Supervise implementation of action-based learning and other prospective, complexity-aware monitoring tools such as network analysis, most-significant-change, etc.

Project Implementation and Reporting

• Along with the DFSA Research & Design Lead and M&E Lead, develop and oversee the transition plan from Phase 1 (Research and Collaboration) to Phase 2 (Activity Implementation).
• Support the M&E Lead and officers in conducting case studies and operational research using new communication and information technologies.
• Organize the collection, analysis, documentation, utilization, and dissemination of best practices and lessons learned.
• Explore and establish working relations with well-known, reputable organizational research and consulting entities for collaboration and sharing of organizational management, learning, and performance knowledge (researched and tacit), effectively creating learning program partnerships.
• Conduct analyses of organizational culture and time management studies to illuminate opportunities for making advances in CLA and provide a baseline for tracking organizational learning and change.
• Coordinate with stakeholders on the implementation of diverse and adaptive knowledge sharing activities within and outside of the project.
• Assist the DFSA Chief of Party in facilitating collaboration with key stakeholders in sharing findings and gathering inputs to inform an adaptive management approach.
• Document the capitalization, sharing, awareness and mobilization of results from the project activities.

Partnership and Capacity Building

• Provide capacity building for field staff in learning, and monitoring and evaluation.
• Coordinate with different levels of staff with both CRS and partners on learning principles such as how to collect, analyze, document, utilize, and disseminate information.
• Collaborate with County Governments of Isiolo, Marsabit, Samburu and Turkana on advancing strategic learning agenda

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: CRS’ Country Representative, Head of Programming, Chief of Party, M&E Lead, Research & Design Lead, DFSA Technical Leads, M&E Officers, regional and HQ staff, and research partners.

External: Consortium members, USAID Food for Peace, county governments of Isiolo, Marsabit, Samburu, Turkana, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, other related government bodies and authorities, and private sector service providers.