Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Specialist

Job Summary

Every employee of IRI is responsible for carrying out the Mission of IRI and demonstrating the core values in their day to day operations. The Core Values, which are IRI’s foundational building blocks include:

Excellence– We believe in quality results delivered by investing in people. Freedom– We believe in exploration and experimentation to be agile and responsive. Respect- We believe in trust, empathy and empowering people. Teamwork- We believe in diversity, inclusion and the power of global collaboration. Transparency– We believe in open communication and clear decision-making. Accountability- We believe in personal responsibility as the foundation of success.

The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Specialist will serve two main roles at IRI. First, the MEL Specialist will provide hands-on technical support to IRI staff and partners in program design and proposal development to draft and refine MEL components of proposal packages, including evidence-based theories of change, logical and contextually appropriate results frameworks, realistic and ambitious measurement strategies. Second, the MEL Specialist will offer technical support for IRI’s monitoring, evaluation and learning efforts, including advising and assisting regional program staff with MEL related aspects of project start up, project implementation and close out. Regions supported may include Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and/or Asia. The MEL Specialist will also contribute to IRI’s capacity building efforts for IRI staff and partners, particularly in designing and conducting trainings on monitoring, evaluation and learning for IRI staff and partners.

Position Requirements

• Undergraduate/graduate degree in political/social science, international relations or related field.
• Minimum three years of professional experience in the international development sector, the democracy, human rights or governance sector, or a related field.
• Demonstrated understanding of the program theory-based approach to program design, monitoring and evaluation.
• Familiarity with common MEL elements of proposals including but not limited to: logical frameworks, performance monitoring plans and indicator matrices.
• Experience with evaluation design, especially of projects aimed at social change
• Strong organizational skills, execution of tasks, and attention to detail required.
• Ability to manage diverse activities and to meet deadlines required.
• Ability to work independently and as a member of a team, coordinate and effectively meet program goals.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Familiarity with both qualitative and quantitative data analysis software, such as SPSS, STATA, R, NVivo, or Dedoose, preferred.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite.
• Familiarity with quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis preferred.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities

Business Development Support (MEL-specific) – 50%

• Serve as a primary point of contact on MEL issues and topics as they relate to business development and proposal design. This includes:
  • Keeping appraised of and helping determine the applicability of established and new methods for designing and measuring democracy and governance projects and supporting staff to include and incorporate those methods and approaches into proposals and project design as applicable.
  • Facilitating and contributing to project and program design sessions to develop theories of change, logframes and logic models, and to identify expected results, benchmarks, and indicators to track changes during project implementation
  • Reviewing and designing MEL components of proposal packages to ensure their logic, rigor, quality, and applicability to the proposed approach.
  • Working to incorporate programmatic and organizational learning into proposal packages. This includes learning and evidence and from IRI’s own programmatic experience as well as learning and evidence from the broader MEL and DRG communities.
  • Periodically reviewing and collating funder feedback and comments on MEL elements and components of proposals and sharing the trends and takeaways with ELP and program staff to further improve these elements of the proposal package.
  • In coordination with ELP, providing training to program staff on how to develop design and MEL components of proposals
• Conduct MEL consults with proposal teams to identify monitoring and evaluation needs of proposed projects and co-developing the monitoring and evaluation approaches and strategies needed
• For selected competitive proposals, serve as technical lead/writer for MEL-specific components (i.e., annexes such as the MEL Narrative, Logic Model, Performance Monitoring Plan, etc.) of proposal packages according to requirements outlined in funding notifications as well as based the latest guidance from IRI’s Evaluation and Learning Practice (ELP) and best practices in the broader MEL and DRG communities.

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Support to DC-based and Field-based Program Staff – 50%

• Provide technical support for IRI’s monitoring, evaluation and learning efforts, primarily to regional program staff.
• Advise and assist staff with the monitoring, evaluation and learning processes, activities and products during the start-up and implementation phases of current IRI projects including developing MEL plans, indicator matrices, evaluation and learning approaches.
• Support staff in operationalizing MEL approaches by assisting with data collection tools and measurement strategies.
• Lead and contribute to performance evaluations of IRI projects, including designing evaluation methodologies, sampling strategies and data collection tools, collecting and analyzing data.
• Design, lead, and conduct trainings on monitoring, evaluation and learning for IRI staff and partners.
• Support IRI’s data quality efforts through conducting data quality spot checks.
• Travel overseas either conducting data collection, field research or conducting trainings.
• Keep apprised of research in the academic and practitioner/policy communities on theoretical underpinnings of democracy and governance work.
• Determine the applicability of established and new methods for designing democracy and governance projects to ensure extensive monitoring, evaluation and reporting on such projects.
• Prepare external communications materials on IRI’s monitoring, evaluation and learning efforts, including blog posts, articles, presentations, etc.
• Backstop other members of ELP as needed.
• Other duties as assigned.