SENIOR TECHNICAL ADVISOR, MEL

CARE is seeking a Senior Technical Advisor (STA) for Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, who as a joint member of the Food and Water Systems (FWS) team (50%) and the Health Equity & Rights (HER) team (50%), will ensure the development of evidence and learning that will propel us towards FWS and HER goals. The STA will provide direct technical assistance and management expertise to technical/programmatic staff working across projects and geographies to elevate FWS and HER’s monitoring, evaluation and learning in close collaboration with other STA’s. The STA will also support resource mobilization, program design, and partnership development aimed at integrating and aligning with FWS and HER strategic plans and elevating teams’ learning into global dialogues.

The position requires exceptional skills working across cultures to support innovative program design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and learning; development of sound tools and operating procedures to assure quality implementation and measurement of achievement; proven methods to enhance data use for decision making; excellent communication and presentations skills, including proven diplomacy with high-level stakeholders; sound written and oral skills; experience in proposal development for both large and small donors; and demonstrated success in contributing to winning proposals.

Responsibilities:

• Support strategic direction for high quality evidence generation and learning: the STA will work with the Director MEL (FWS) and the Director PII – HER to identify emerging trends in monitoring, evaluation, measurement and learning (e.g. adaptive management, participatory research and evaluation, social norms measurement) and develop appropriate frameworks, tools and approaches to support the integration of quality monitoring, evaluation and learning efforts across CARE’s FWS and HER portfolio.
• Lead in the development and execution of quality monitoring and evaluation designs: the STA will act as the technical lead for FWS and HER monitoring, evaluation and learning activities, projects and programs.
• Support the development of a strong culture of learning and inquiry within FWS and HER teams: as part of the Director MEL (FWS) and Director PII – HER’s efforts to develop and support a culture of learning and inquiry with in the FWS and the HER team, the STA will lead priority efforts to build monitoring, evaluation and learning capacity and practices by supporting the application of effective program monitoring and evaluation methods, tools and approaches through development of guidance, training workshops, and hands on support and mentorship.
• Lead collaboration with strategic monitoring, evaluation and learning colleagues and partners: the STA will lead the development and management of strategic relationships within and outside of CARE to advance the FWS and HER teams’ monitoring, evaluation and learning efforts.
• Support design of new proposals for the FWS and the HER teams: designing high impact, competitive, and ultimately successful FWS and HER programs will involve supporting program design efforts to ensure that the MEL sections are well conceived, rigorous and fully in line with the program’s Theory of Change. The STA will ensure that MEL in all the FWS and HER programing are according to CARE’s MEL principles and standards, using a wide range of available tools and resources.

Qualifications:

• Masters Degree in a development-related field, with a preference for social science research or monitoring and evaluation
• At least five years of evaluation related experience, preferably in low resource settings in developing countries
• Experience in social science research and monitoring and evaluation using qualitative and quantitative methods
• Applied experience in management of food, water, nutrition and livelihoods projects and programs, execution of field-based research and evaluation
• Familiarity with food, water, SRHR and nutrition resource mobilization, and partnership landscape
• Cross-cultural competencies
• Presentation skills
• Strong writing skills