Global Technical Adviser – Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (Irish Aid) At Concern Worldwide

The job: You will primarily provide support on monitoring, evaluation and learning to Concern’s Irish Aid funded programmes (under both the Long Term Development (LTD) Stream (17 countries), Chronic Humanitarian Crises (CHC) Stream (10 countries[1]) and Global Citizenship Education)as well as supporting Concern’s wider global monitoring and evaluation activities as part of the work of the Strategy, Advocacy and Learning (SAL) Directorate. You will report to the Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Adviser in SAL, while coordinating closely with the Irish Aid Programme Coordinator in the International Programmes Department and the Humanitarian Adviser in the Emergency Directorate.

Job location: Dublin (candidates must be legally entitled to work in Ireland at the time of application).

Supporting the monitoring of the Irish Aid funded Long Term Development, Chronic Humanitarian Crises and Global Citizenship Education programmes within the Ireland Civil Society Partnership (ICSP) in Concern. This includes:

• With the Senior MEL Advisor, undertaking regular coordination with the Irish Aid Programme Coordinator and International Programmes Directorate to ensure appropriate MEL support is provided to all countries implementing Irish Aid funded programmes.
• Overseeing the joint team work of MEL Advisors (following the country Focal Point allocations) when working with country teams to develop comprehensive M&E plans, conduct baselines and set targets within the ICSP.
• In coordination with other MEL advisers in SAL and Concern’s Digital Data Gathering (DDG) team, support the development of data collection tools at all levels (activity, output, outcome) for all participating countries, ensuring standardisation where possible.
• Conducting annual reviews of M&E plans and indicator tracking tables.
• In coordination with country teams, support the annual survey process in each country, ensuring standard processes are followed, that meet Irish Aid requirements, with regard to sampling, indicator collection, cohort monitoring, use of standard data collection tools, training of enumerators.
• Ensure that any agreed changes to Results Frameworks with Irish Aid are reflected in updated M&E plans, data collection tools and data collection strategies.
• Develop and manage annual country level M&E Support Plans for the LTD and CHC programmes, including identifying teams with higher support needs and coordinating M&E support missions with other SAL advisers.
• Conduct 3-4 country support visits to prioritized countries implementing the Irish Aid funded programmes (shared between LTD and CHC).

Duties Include –

• Undertaking further analysis of the data collected through the monitoring system, including identifying (and addressing) data quality issues.
• Providing support to countries on the use of data for documentation of learning, including supporting the reporting process to Irish Aid.
• Work with the SAL DDG team to develop programme dashboards for each country on the Concern data visualisation system (Zoho reports), updating these dashboards as required throughout the programme cycle.
• Develop global dashboards, to bring together key data from different countries on common themes for comparison and learning, identifying trends and issues that may need to be addressed, and subsequently raise support needs with SAL.
• Contribute to overall improvements to monitoring in Concern, developing guidance on key issues to be shared on Concern’s Programme Quality Guide.
• Taking the technical lead on the Thematic and/ or Annual Reviews, as well as Mid Term Reviews of the LTD and CHC programme streams, in coordination with the relevant programme coordinators.
• Taking the technical lead on the final evaluation of the ICSP programme.
• Contributing to improving evaluations and learning in Concern.
• Support the MEL team in the focal point allocation system (for countries implementing Irish Aid programmes). This includes regular monthly calls with countries to check in on challenges and progress. Based on the support needs identified, either provide the required support or refer to other MEL colleagues.
• Provide technical MEL support to the MEAL Coordinator of the The Horn of Africa (HoA) Child Wasting Initiative (CWI) programme funded by Irish Aid, implemented in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya.
• Liaise with SAL advisers to identify guidance in need of a review and updating relevant resources on the PQ Guide.
• Participating in and contributing to monthly MEL Cafés hosted by SAL on various monitoring, evaluation and learning issues.
• Sharing any new indicators, data collection tools, and lessons learned developed within the framework of this Programme for use globally by Concern.
• Supporting the Programme Knowledge and Learning Officer to maintain the Irish Aid programme page on Concern’s knowledge hub.
• Participation in standing and ad hoc working groups related to key elements of the IA programming.
• Participation in external fora (ICSP ME Framework consultation meetings, Dóchas Results Working Group, among others).

Skills –

In addition to having a postgraduate qualification in a relevant discipline, you will have the following essential skills:

• Three to five years working in developing countries or supporting developing country programmes in monitoring, evaluation and learning.
• Specific experience working on MEL in at least one of the following areas: Livelihoods, Disaster Risk Reduction, Resilience, Health, Nutrition, WASH or cash-based programmes.
• Practical experience of putting in place robust monitoring systems and conducting or managing evaluations.
• High level of analytical capacity and use of data analysis tools for project/programme management.
• Experience of capacity building of both internal and partner staff in Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation processes and data collection (both quantitative and qualitative).
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills and ability to operate as part of a team as well as working independently.
• Excellent spoken and written English

Desirable –

• Ability to work through French
• Previous experience with IForm Builder and/or use of JavaScript
• Previous experience with Zoho Report

You will report to Senior Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Adviser and work closely with the Irish Aid Programme Coordinator, SAL Technical Advisers, Desk Officers in the International Programmes Directorate and key overseas staff, as well as with the Alliance partners’ staff.

The salary is from €54,500 to €60,286 (Global Band 6) and this is a fixed term (two years) contract, with the possibility of extension.

Candidates must be legally entitled to work in Ireland at the time of application.