Developmental Evaluator, USAID Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG): Learning, Evaluation and Research (LER) Activity III, Partnerships for Democratic Development (PDD), Social Impact, United States

Social Impact (SI) is a Washington, DC-area international development management consulting firm. We provide monitoring, evaluation, strategic planning, and capacity building services to advance development effectiveness. We work across all development sectors including democracy and governance, health and education, the environment, and economic growth. Since 1997 we have worked in over one hundred countries for clients such as US government agencies, bilateral donors, multilateral development banks, foundations, and nonprofits.

Social Impact strives to be a great place to work. We are proud of our diversity and actively seek to expand it as a way of improving our employees’ experience, our collective professional breadth and the quality of the work we do. We seek to promote equity and inclusion through our policies and practices and build a culture of belonging for everyone where differences and authenticity are honored and embraced. We work hard to create opportunities for growth and ensure that our staff are fulfilled and engaged. We believe we are better when we collaborate, learn from one another and have fun while working hard.

Project Description:

Under the SI’s USAID DRG LER III contract, the Partnerships for Democratic Development (PDD) team in USAID/Washington is requesting SI to conduct a developmental evaluation of PDD’s global operations (across nine countries) to provide real-time insights about how the initiative should be adapted in response to changing circumstances. PDD offers sustained support to countries demonstrating democratic progress and resilience. PDD is one of 14 USAID deliverables developed as part of the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal (PIDR) that emerged from the first Summit for Democracy. PDD identifies and addresses key development challenges that, if left unaddressed, may undermine a country’s democratic development.

PDD partner countries are present in four regions: Africa (Malawi and Zambia), Asia (Nepal and Timor-Leste), Europe and Eurasia (Armenia and North Macedonia), and Latin America and the Caribbean (Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Paraguay).

Position Description:

SI is seeking a full-time Developmental Evaluator to lead this evaluation process through July 2026. Working closely with the PDD/W, the Evaluator will facilitate and elicit learning from Missions that utilize their existing MEL architecture, thereby reducing additional reporting requirements. By leveraging these existing resources, the Developmental Evaluation should not pose an undue burden on the Missions or PDD partners. Further, the Developmental Evaluator will lead and work with Mission partners to frame the developmental evaluation questions and procedures, which will be created through co-creation efforts during the developmental evaluation launch (associated with PDD’s learning forum). The Developmental Evaluator should have high levels of comfort communicating and collaborating in remote environments.

The developmental evaluation will take place over two years of PDD’s planned programming, with the possibility of a year extension.

The tentative period of performance (POP) for this position is July 2024 through July 2026 and the expected level of effort (LOE) is full-time. Candidate must be available for travel to Frankfurt in September 2024.

**Please Note: Candidates must be permanently based in the United States. Applicants must submit their applications by August 28th, 2024. **

Responsibilities:

• Conduct a developmental evaluation of PDD’s global operations (across nine countries) to provide timely insights about how the initiative should be adapted in response to changing circumstances.
• Kick-off Developmental Evaluation: Kick-off the developmental evaluation during the Pause and Reflect session, by holding a design workshop, that will be held in Frankfurt, Germany in the first week of September 2024.
• Lead the Developmental Evaluation:
• Work remotely with the PDD in Washington, DC to elicit MEL input from each of its nine partner missions. (If the PDD office adds additional countries to their list of partner countries, the Evaluator will work with additional missions from outside of the nine original partners)
• Lead Developmental Evaluation Workshops: Lead rolling, bi-annual strategic reviews to harvest learning collectively, note trends/new patterns and sense-making to understand what the learning means in the broader context.
• Reporting: On a bi-annual basis, lead ongoing and iterative learning synthesis.
  Dissemination: On a bi-annual basis, virtually disseminate findings to the PDD team.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree and 10 years of relevant work experience OR a Master’s degree and 8 years of relevant work experience OR a PhD and 4 years of relevant work experience
• Proven experience in monitoring and evaluation, leading and developing co-creation and utilization workshops, and global learning contexts.
• Familiarity working on evaluations focused on democratic progress and resilience.
• Knowledge of the threats to global democracy and democratic advances involving the partner countries of this project: Malawi, Zambia, Nepal, Timor-Leste, Armenia, North Macedonia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Paraguay.
• Lived and/or professional experience involving the nine partner countries.
• Experience in data and analysis.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to keep to a timeline in a remote environment.
• Professional level English required.
• A commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive work and learning environment.
• Availability to travel to Frankfurt in September 2024.