Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Director, USAID/Mali Local Governance Activity Full Time

Summary

Save the Children is seeking a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Director for the upcoming USAID/Mali Local Governance program. The USAID Local Governance Program intends to improve the development of high-quality local development (PDSEC) plans, social service delivery, and public accountability. The activity will focus on the inclusive participation of all citizens in the development of plans at the Commune level that account for the needs of women, youth and marginalized groups.  It will strengthen civil society organizations capacity in advocacy, and support resource mobilization for social accountability.  It will raise awareness of citizens about their roles in development planning, budget analysis, public hearings and advocacy, while also improving the capacity of local authorities to respond to their populations’ needs.

The MEL Director is responsible for leading the establishment and implementation of the project’s gender-sensitive MEL system, including obtaining, analyzing, organizing, and interpreting project data and ensuring compliance with donor and Save the Children MEL requirements. S/he will work closely with the technical team to build an evidence base, track project progress, facilitate learning and adaptive management, ensure a strong child-friendly accountability mechanism, manage internal evaluations/studies and facilitate external evaluations.

This position is contingent upon donor approval and funding.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

• Serve as part of the project’s leadership team, contributing to the development and implementation of annual program work plans, performance milestones, and project monitoring.
• Provide overall leadership and supervision on the MEL function, supporting successful project delivery.
• Ensure that the required budget allocates appropriately for the implementation of MEL activities and provide oversight of the MEL budget, ensuring its effective and timely utilization.
• Manage MEL staff, including handling ongoing coaching, supervision and performance management and annual evaluation; develop the capacity of the team and facilitate their professional growth.
• Ensure capacity building partners in MEL approaches and alignment of their systems with SC requirements.
• Lead the development of the MEL plan, including the identification of key performance indicators, MEL standard operating procedures and project MEL tools.
• Lead the rollout and implementation of the project’s MEL system, strategies, requirements and country-level activities; roll-out orientation/training sessions to MEL and relevant program staff of Save the Children.
• Build strong child-friendly accountability system with several entry channels, including an anonymous one.
• Lead the implementation of Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) mechanism to ensure intentional learning, collaboration, and adaptive management.
• Ensure MEL evidence is available to management for decision making and continuous performance improvement.
• Ensure the project quality through the DQA processus on some keys indicators
• Plan and manage any research-focused deliverables or other evaluations throughout the life of the program, and oversee any MEL-related consultancies with the emphasis on ethical data collection and data protection.
• Organize/facilitate regular project implementation and performance review sessions and learning events.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in statistics, demographics, public policy, international development, economics, or related field. Master’s degree preferred.
• Minimum of seven years of experience and demonstrated practical skills in monitoring and evaluation of democracy, rights and governance (DRG) programming, with familiarity of USAID democracy, rights and governance indicators.
• Excellent knowledge of monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning principles and practices.
• Experience in strategic planning and performance measurement, including indicator selection, target setting, reporting, database management, and developing monitoring and evaluation and/or performance monitoring plans.
• Knowledge of the major evaluation methodologies (e.g., qualitative, quantitative, mixed-method, and impact) and data collection and analysis approaches.
• Experience working with partners to develop and refine data collection tools, and in supporting data collection through online platforms.
• Demonstrated experience in developing and implementing monitoring systems and conducting evaluations, including with age- and sex-disaggregated data.
• Demonstrated ability and skills in analysis and report writing.
• Able to work within a tight timeframe and meet deadlines and deliverables for partners and donors.
• Experience managing small groups of people.
• Experience facilitating training, coaching and capacity strengthening activities.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English and French required. Proficiency in Bambara and/or other Malian national languages preferred.

Qualified local national candidates are highly encouraged to apply.

About Save the Children

No matter your role when you join Save the Children, each and every day you will challenge yourself to devote your skills, talent and expertise to changing the world for kids. It’s an ambitious goal, and a meaningful one no matter how you see yourself professionally: an accountant, a writer, a data analyst, a teacher, a driver, a designer, or any one of the hundreds of dozens of roles we’re looking to fill every day.

You see, Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Our work for children and their families requires that we commit—at every opportunity—to work together to identify and dismantle persistent systemic and structural racism, inequality, and any other forms of discrimination everywhere we work.  As an anti-racist organization, Save the Children will not tolerate discrimination in any form—in our employment practices, amongst our staff, in our leadership or toward the people we serve. We stand in solidarity with all people to fight for equal rights, justice, inclusion, and belonging.

We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse. In addition, it is Save the Children’s policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that aims to prevent and deter any actions and omissions, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that place children at the risk of any kind of child abuse. All our representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation. 

Save the Children is committed to minimizing safety and security risks for our valued employees, ensuring all are given training, support and information to reduce their risk exposure while maximizing the impact of our programs for children and families. Our shared duty, both agency and individual, is to seek and maintain safe working conditions for all.