Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager

PROJECT BACKGROUND

The Critical Infrastructure Digitalization and Resilience (CIDR) program is a five-year program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by DAI Global LLC (DAI). The CIDR program will support the governments of countries within USAID’s Europe and Eurasia (E&E) portfolio in assisting critical infrastructure entities to: incorporate cybersecurity best practices into organizational operations, planning, and procurement; prioritize cybersecurity investment needs; select appropriate mandatory or voluntary standards and corresponding security controls; and establish the basis for region-wide cybersecurity information sharing. Through a regional approach targeting improved policies and legislation, information sharing, workforce development, and capacity-building, the program will target sectors such as energy, water, transport, healthcare, finance, and telecommunications to improve their cybersecurity protection and response capabilities.

ROLE’S PURPOSE

The Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning (MEL) Manager will lead and implement methodologies to monitor, measure, and analyze the impact of project activities and will lead all the M&E functions of the project. S/he will design and manage a monitoring and reporting system including finalizing program indicators and full implementation of the CIDR’s Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (AMELP) to help inform USAID, the Program Director (PD), the Deputy Program Director (DPD) and technical staff of project status and progress toward achievement of key results as agreed in annual work plan and supporting buy-in work plans. S/he will be responsible for working with the DPD and technical team to track and report on specific actions supporting the project’s outputs, results, and outcomes. S/he will implement the designed methodologies for data collection and reporting of both qualitative and quantitative data. The Sr. MEL Manager will be responsible for monitoring progress against the AMELP, including preparing reports and deliverables that demonstrate CIDR’s progress towards its objectives.

Objectives and Duties:

The Sr. MEL Manager will work with the DPD the CIDR technical team, and the MEL department in DAI’s home office to develop and manage CIDR’s system for monitoring, evaluating, and learning, including progress reporting. The Sr. MEL Manager will:

• Provide overall vision, leadership, and guidance of the project’s monitoring, evaluation, and learning approach for CIDR staff, partner stakeholders, sub-grantees and USAID.
• Serve as CIDR’s internal leader for knowledge management, including both monitoring of performance and implementation, and sharing of lessons learned.
• Support and guide the design of a MEL system following CLA principles by ensuring an effective flow of information for evidence-based decision-making.
• Oversee the implementation of the Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (AMELP) and its annual revision, and all annexes (PIRS, Indicator Tracker, etc.) as needed.
• Ensure CIDR’s data system is kept up to date with accurate, disaggregated data
• Ensure CIDR indicator data is entered into DIS as required, and upload approved USAID MEL reports to the DEC
• Offer technical assistance in the development, selection, and application of M&E processes, tools, methodology, and research.
• Monitor program progress toward results and oversee M&E planning, data collection, analysis, and reporting.
• Provide expert-level oversight and quality control for all CIDR data collection and research, including design and management of data collection tools and training data collection teams (as needed).
• Manage the process of project learning to ensure knowledge and learning is effectively shared and applied throughout all activities, capturing the lessons learned from implementation.
• Oversee documentation and dissemination of key indicators, learning, and best practices.
• Schedule and implement learning events to support adaptive management and the sharing of successes and lessons learned on CIDR with stakeholders, counterparts, and partners.
• Other tasks as may be assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s (Master’s preferred) organizational, communications, social sciences, or a related field. Master’s degree or higher in Statistics, International Development, or a related field, preferred, but not required.
• At least 10 years of prior work experience conducting MEL and learning activities for international development projects.
• Strong data collection and data management skills, including survey design, development of qualitative inquiries, use of digital data collection platforms, and storage and quality control of both quantitative and qualitative datasets.
• Demonstrated experience in data analysis and data visualization. Experience with cyber security is highly desirable. Knowledge of relational data models is preferred, but not required.
• Strong Excel skills required. Comfort using visualization and data modeling software such as Power BI or Tableau preferred, but not required.
• Demonstrated knowledge of USAID MEL guidance and policy in the context of the program cycle, as well as USAID policies and processes around Collaboration, Learning, and Adaptation (CLA).
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate with multiple stakeholders for data collection, data verification, reporting and dissemination.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Reliability and ability to work independently and in a team environment.
• Strong written and oral communications skills in English.
• Ability to travel both in Eastern Europe and the US.

Reporting

The Sr. MEL Manager will report to the Program Director or his designee.