Summary

Save the Children is seeking a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Advisor for the anticipated five-year USAID/Pakistan Foundational Learning Activity. The purpose of the Activity is to enhance student learning outcomes in reading and math and to prevent school dropout by enabling teachers, head teachers, and local education administrators to improve the quality of education.

The MEL Advisor will design and oversee the monitoring and evaluation system embedded with a MEL plan for reporting project progress and maintain reporting procedures and guidelines in compliance with USAID systems. They will also help in designing studies and assessments for the project, when required. They will adopt a people-centered approach in all program activities and promote the resilience and wellbeing of children, teachers and communities. They will collaborate with all relevant stakeholders to strengthen MEL within the project as well as support the design of service delivery strategies, track progress towards program goals, and adapt as necessary.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

• Develop, revise and implement the Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (AMELP) on an basis in a collaborative manner.
• Lead MEL team for development of Performance Indicators reference sheets (PIRS) as needed.
• Quarterly report indicators on PakInfo – USAID data portal in close coordination with USAID project ARO.
• Ensure that produced knowledge is uploaded on Development Clearing House (DEC=) and Development Data Library (DDL)
• Provide leadership, training and mentoring to develop MEL plans, MEL tools, assessment, evaluation, studies and survey design, methodology, and data analysis to assess program impact.
• Develop systems for capturing and documenting data and relevant information on project activities, beneficiaries, outputs, outcomes, and impact.
• Effectively roll out MEL collection and reporting systems to all staff and partners through trainings, site visits, manuals, and other technical support as needed.
• Ensure plans to promote accountability to affected populations (AAP) and child participation are documented in the AMELP.
• Capture appropriate cost and financial information to track cost-effectiveness indicators, including benchmarking information to analyze program effectiveness and cost-effective inputs.
• Ensure programming is aligned to targets and contained in the project proposal and use the information from the MEL systems and tools to improve program effectiveness and ensure the program is gender-responsive.
• Develop an indicator performance tracking table (IPTT), track all indicators, and update IPTT on a monthly basis at a minimum with the MEL team.
• Manage and support rigorous evaluations of project performance, impact, and cost effectiveness, including coordinating mid-term and final evaluations and supporting donor and external reviews.
• Ensure data quality at consortium level in accordance with USAID data quality standards.
• With support of other senior staff, provide oversight of MEL budget and ensure effective and timely u
• Provide on-going support to maintain MEL , identify skill gaps and build capacity among project team members.
• Support grants team in preparation of high-quality, accurate and timely reports with close coordination with project implementation and communication teams.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in statistics, education, computer or related field from an accredited, recognized university.
• At least seven years of monitoring and evaluation experience in monitoring and evaluation of large-scale development programs using large donor templates and systems.
• Demonstrated knowledge of inclusive data collection – including with a gender focus and with children with disabilities.
• Advanced data analysis and data communication skills.
• Experience leading and building the capacity of MEL teams to meet program needs and deliverables is desired.
• Advanced training in quantitative and qualitative methodologies, including database management.
• Prior experience overseeing and ensuring the success of MEL systems in USAID education projects including ensuring approval of the MEL plan, reporting on approved education projects, and successfully completing annual data quality assessments.
• Strong analytical skills and an understanding of monitoring, evaluation and assessment tools to promote evidence-based learning, including Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) approaches.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to lead and work effectively in team situations.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English and Urdu. Proficiency in other languages spoken in Pakistan preferred.
• Prior experience working in Pakistan and/or South Asia.
• Research experience with marginalized communities and personal commitment to gender equality, child rights and social justice.

Qualified Pakistani and female candidates are highly encouraged to apply.

About Save the Children

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 in this country and beyond. 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.

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.

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.