Global Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning Director at Girl Effect

Context of the role 

• As the Global MERL Director for Girl Effect, you will be responsible for designing the organization and projects monitoring, evaluation, and learning agenda and creating systems to measure and document program process, output, outcome and impact data results by routinely and systematically collecting, analyzing and presenting program data for project staff, partners and donors. You will also be responsible for tracking progress towards goals and fidelity to implementation design as well as recommending appropriate designs and subjects for research. We are looking for individuals who are committed to exceeding expectations and who strive to improve the lives of people worldwide.
• This is an exciting opportunity to shape Girl Effect’s strategic approach across a number of areas, including the design and piloting of approaches to delivering Social Behaviour Change innovatively; continuing to develop our pioneering work delivering SBCC and evidence approaches through digital platforms, linkage to services, integration of education and economic empowerment to SRH among others.  

Responsibilities: 

• Lead the design, development and implementation of programs logic models, log frames, learning agenda and monitoring frameworks for our global programs 
• Lead the global MERL  team in identifying areas and approaches of building new evidence  from our existing and  programs across GE geographies including Kenya, Tanzania, India, South Africa, Nigeria and Ethiopia
• Manage a rigorous approach to M&E to measure performance toward specific goals and objectives, including quantitative, qualitative and participatory methodologies. 
• Ensure coherence in program results and indicators in relation to overall organization goals and objectives. 
• Oversee and support design of quality data collection tools, schedules, analysis methods.
• Lead and oversee implementation of studies including baseline studies,  review of tools and survey methodology and review of data quality and analysis.
• Drive the project’s overall learning agenda to derive lessons learned and best practices from projects. 
• Promote a culture of telling GE impact stories by cultivating areas of thought leadership to drive excellence in GE and the wider sector. This includes promoting external publications and knowledge sharing.
• Supporting the Development and Communication team with the identification, cultivation and acquisition of new programme and partnership opportunities, including inputs to programme design and proposal development.
• Manage the research and monitoring teams and ensure they are delivering against organizational priorities, and ensure optimal integration and coordination across other functions, effective communication and shared ways of working.
• Build strategic partnerships with relevant experts and institutional partners such as universities.
• Coordinating closely with the Programmes and Create teams to ensure programmes are provided with the requisite technical support including insights, expert advice, tools, templates and that they are they are delivered proactively, on time, at a high quality.
• Identifying, allocating and prioritising resources (human, technical, financial) across the global Impact team. 
• Oversight of the Research and Monitoring budget,  setting budgets across teams,  monitoring expenditure, regular reforecasting.

Who are we looking for:

Technical skills

• You have a strong appreciation the key elements and processes required in the strategic design and implementation of SBCC programmes to achieve measurable behaviour change, with relevant target audiences and/or for comparable social and behaviour change outcomes.
• You have strong theoretical knowledge and practical experience of applying a wide range of MERL approaches, including qualitative and quantitative methods.
• You have a strong theoretical and applied understanding of how gender and social norms influence both the lives of our audiences, and how gender responsive and transformative approaches could be applied to our work.
• You are curious about - and ideally have experience of - the application of digital and mobile technologies for social and behaviour change.
• You have extensive technical expertise in at least one of Girl Effect’s priority outcome areas (sexual and reproductive health, Education, Economic empowerment).
• You have worked on behaviour change programs and preferably in multiple geographies 
• Adaptive programming and/or human centered design: you have experience in innovative approaches to programming, including developing new approaches/frameworks for driving change.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Extensive experience in leading multi-disciplinary teams across dispersed geographies and cultural contexts.
• Adept at influencing across multiple levels, able to secure support of the organisation cross functionally and with the executive and board.
• Skilled at aligning resources against competing demands, and resolving tensions.
• Leading teams through change: including starting new programmes whilst finishing others, and leading the global team through change

Minimum experience required

• Post-grad degree(s) in social sciences; monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL); public/global health, international development, gender or a related field.
• 10 to 15 years of relevant experience in public health or international development
• Exceptional communicator; both written and verbal
• Experience working in international development or non-profit sector.