Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning Global Practice Lead at International Rescue Committee

Job Overview 

• The MEAL Global Practice Lead is the organizational leader on MEAL gold standards across the Crisis Response, Recovery and Development (CRRD) department, a core member of the Measurement Unit’s (MU) senior management team, and key counterpart for each of the other 6 Technical Excellence teams. They are responsible for devising and leading strategies to ensure all areas of programming have clearly articulated MEAL needs and solutions.
• The primary focus of this role is to establish high quality standards and ensure harmonization of MEAL approaches across IRC’s Global Practice Areas, working hand-in-hand with Technical Unit colleagues. They will provide global MEAL technical leadership and coordinate efforts across the Technical Units (TUs), ensuring that the TUs have access to high quality MEAL technical support, as well as ensuring that technical work is carried out in the most efficient and consistent manner possible. They will be responsible for setting CRRD-wide MEAL standards, leading cross-sectoral global initiatives and facilitating the development of tools and resources in support of our MEAL strategy. 
•  The MEAL Global Practice Lead will contribute to the CRRD MEAL strategy and the Data components of IRC’s Strategy 100. They will support CRRD to embed cutting edge approaches to MEAL by developing and maintaining strategic relationships and networks. They will also work closely with the Deputy Director MEAL and Regional Measurement Teams to help support the transfer of global standards into regional and country level practice, alongside helping to monitor and incorporate emerging MEAL priorities and practice into the global standards.
•  The role will report to the Senior Director, MEAL and will work in close coordination with other leaders within the Measurement Unit and across Technical Units to ensure continuity from concept to practice. 

Major Responsibilities 

 Define the Gold Standard for What and How We Measure

• Lead the MEAL Technical working group, with representatives from the Technical Units, to identify cross-cutting issues, develop needed guidance, and encourage consistency and coherence in MEAL mechanisms and practices across Technical Units
• Support technical staff in identifying and developing key indicators that demonstrate program outcomes at client, community, and systemic levels
• Provide technical oversight to the Core Indicator List and global data analysis efforts (e.g. Annual Statistics), ensuring adherence to strong technical standards for indicators, methodologies, and analysis
• Work with the Deputy Director, MEAL to update minimum and comprehensive MEAL standards, competency frameworks, and good practices in MEAL documents 
• Provide leadership and coordination from the programmatic side on the design of indicators, tools, and methodologies, and where relevant, support these tools to be translated to technology solutions at the organizational level, specifically Data Toolkits and PID. This includes supporting the unit and other teams to prioritize efforts effectively and identify when certain guidance, tools, or frameworks will be retired.
• Assess and develop strategy for strengthening CRRD’s approach to program evaluation, bringing innovative approaches to incorporating evaluation and learning processes into program design and implementation
• Support the IRC’s strategic ambition of Client-Centered Programming by ensuring client voices are central to program design and delivery through the fostering of client data use in decision-making and providing oversight of mainstreaming client responsiveness activities.

 Strengthen Capacity to Deliver MEAL Technical Excellence

• Coordinate efforts across technical units, including but not limited to: developing and testing new methodologies for learning, setting performance goals and tracking progress; technical support on MEAL activities and engaging the team in global initiatives and consultations.
• Coordinate with the TDs/TU MEAL Leads to prioritize Global Practice Areas (or Interventions) for improved global and country-level MEAL practice.
• Refresh and maintain the MEAL Community of Practice and other communication channels to ensure pro-active and inclusive learning, development, innovation, and sharing of best practice
• In partnership with the Deputy Director, provide support across teams for the transfer of global standards into reality at regional and country levels
• Collaborate with the TU MEAL Leads to develop strategies and processes that support technical staff in strengthening their fluency in using various forms of data, both quantitative and qualitative, to identify trends and derive insights that drive program improvements
• Develop and deliver trainings/workshops to drive the uptake of MEAL resources, optimize MEAL processes and increase MEAL knowledge and skills among CRRD staff
• Follow developments in MEAL globally in and outside the IRC, including new methodologies and approaches, and support their integration into IRC’s strategy and practice

 Drive a Culture of Continuous Learning

• Collaborate with the Senior Director, MEAL to cultivate a culture of learning and inquiry among CRRD staff that embraces failures as learning opportunities and leads to deeper outcomes for more clients 
• Provide guidance to TUs and Regional Measurement Teams on setting, maintaining, and updating robust learning agendas with a focus on (a) improvements to practice (b) program outcomes and (c) elements of effective systems change
• Identify recurring or cross-cutting learning questions and themes from specific programs or projects, and elevate them for cross-program sharing and discussion
• Collaborate with the TU MEAL Leads to advise technical staff in practicing adaptive management
• Coordinate with Technical Unit MEAL Leads and Regional Measurement Teams to lift-up program learning for cross-sharing and incorporation into global best practice

 Business Development and External Influence

• Responsible for identification, development, and maintenance of strategic relationships and global partnerships with relevant stakeholders (e.g. donors, UN agencies, NGOs, research and educational institutions, private sector actors) related to MEAL
• In partnership with the Deputy Director, develop and maintain a coherent approach to MEAL planning and budgeting for high impact strategic grants
• Represent IRC in external forums as relevant

 Key Working Relationships 

• Position Reports to: Senior Director, MEAL, CRRD Technical Excellence
• Direct Reports: Global MEAL Practice Advisor
• Management in Partnership: TU Measurement/MEAL Advisors

 Key Internal Relationships: 

• Deputy Director, MEAL
• Regional Measurement Teams across 6 regions 
• Policy Solutions, Advocacy Influence, and Systems Change Global Teams 
• CRRD Senior Management Team and Leadership Group; Regional Leadership Teams 
• Global HQ and AMU focal points

Desired Experience and Skills 

• Proven experience of successful development and tracking of key metrics for measuring the impact of humanitarian or development programming
• Fluency in a range of analysis skills for understanding strengths and weaknesses in program implementation as well as outcomes at multiple levels, including an understanding of what (e.g., in terms of measures, data analysis, visualizations, statistical methods and tools etc.) is usable and useful in practical settings
• Experience in designing, collecting, analyzing, and interpreting qualitative data. Proficiency in synthesizing findings into actionable insights and communicating results to diverse stakeholders
• Experience designing and implementing evaluations and using findings to inform program design, decision-making, and organizational learning
• Adeptness at going beyond the numbers, translating large amounts of complex data and trends into learnings that have the power to shape and influence design and strategic decision-making
• Proven experience of operating in a complex organization, across functions and projects, on own initiative and collaboratively as part of diverse teams, including project management experience.
• Strong understanding of the humanitarian and/or development fields, with experience in winning proposal development and strengthening donor relationships
• Experience of managing teams, with excellent management and leadership skills including coaching, mentoring, and performance management.
• Experience facilitating knowledge transfer and capacity sharing through communities of practice or similar
• Demonstrated experience and ability to identify gaps and deliver solutions/improvements
• Strong computer skills: proficiency with MS Office, web conferencing, MS Project, and analytic tools such as MS PowerBI.
• Fluency in English required; Arabic, French and/or Spanish also strongly preferred.
• Ability to travel globally up to 25% of the time, occasionally on short notice.

 Education: 

• Sound training or equivalent combination of education and work experience on the use of data for programmatic decisions and rigorous analytic skills are required.
• Master’s/post-graduate degree in MEAL, an IRC technical area, humanitarian, development sectors or relevant field or equivalent combination of education and work experience background is desired.
• We operate the Disability Confident Employer Scheme in the UK. Under this scheme criteria marked with are the minimum criteria in line with our commitments under the Disability Confident Employer Scheme. UK based candidates who state that they have a disability and meet these criteria, will be invited to interview