MERL Manager At World University Service of Canada

Position title: Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) Manager

Position location: Juba, South Sudan

Reports to: Project Director

Contract term: 1 year, renewable

Application deadline: February 23, 2025

World University Service of Canada (WUSC) is a leading Canadian international development organization focusing on three programmatic areas: Economic Opportunities, Education, and Empowerment. Our vision is a better world for all young people. It is a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable world in which all young people, especially women and refugees, are empowered to secure a good quality of life for themselves, their families, and their communities. WUSC currently works in over 25 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, with an annual budget of approximately CAD $45 million. Globally, we partner with a network of higher education institutions, civil society organizations, private sector partners, professionals, students, volunteers, faculty and community leaders that work with us to achieve our mission.

WUSC is launching a new 5-year project that is designed to enhance the empowerment of adolescent girls to access educational pathways in border zones of South Sudan (Yei River, Kajo Keji and Magwi). The project will support key actors in the education ecosystem to test, adapt, expand, and sustain innovative models and practical approaches to improve learning opportunities for girls and other vulnerable groups.

In its approach, WUSC will use a system’s strengthening approach which includes localization; capacity strengthening; innovation; a strong learning agenda; support for collective, collaborative, and complementary action; and focused implementation in geographies where solutions can also be tested for their broader relevance and impact. The project will work with local implementing partners, women rights organisations, training institutions and state actors, as well as international development actors to create an enabling environment for girls education.

Nature and Scope:

The Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) Manager will provide leadership on MERL activities and ensure quality oversight in order to meet project obligations and donor requirements on an education focus project. The MERL Manager is expected to provide technical expertise to ensure efficient, effective and timely planning and execution of the various project MERL processes and activities.

The MERL Manager will be responsible for overseeing in-country MERL officers, consultants and/or research assistants as needs arise. They will also work closely with technical advisors, both in-country and within the Global Team.

Specifically, the MERL Manager is responsible for the following:

General Duties

• Develop and regularly update the MERL Plan, in line with the donor’s Results-Based Management (RBM) principles, as well as organisational requirements;
• Ensure that all MERL-related tasks (such as planning, coordination of monitoring and data collection activities, capacity building of staff and partners, etc.) are effectively carried out in accordance with the project’s MERL plan;
• Promote the active participation of partners and stakeholders in South Sudan on all phases of the development and implementation of the MERL plan (from the design of the MERL plan itself and its tools, to the data collection exercises; from data analysis, to the dissemination and use of findings), providing support and capacity building as necessary and appropriate;
• Support the project team, and implementing partners to plan for and execute MERL-related activities;
• Develop and regularly update all MERL tools and systems (including the Performance Management Framework) linked to key indicators for the purpose of informing program activities and reporting to the donor, supporting continuous evidence-based learning and adaptive management in the process, and documenting WUSC’s contribution to sustainable impact and change in complex systems;
• Provide high quality technical support on planning, development and implementation of the MERL plan to project staff and partners; and
• Ensure regular communication and coordination with regard to the collection, exchange and use of MERL-related information with project staff and key stakeholders, as well as with WUSC’s global team.

MERL tools Design and Quality Assurance

• Develop and periodically review monitoring tools for routine tracking of activities and collecting of output data;
• Provide technical support and capacity building as needed to ensure project tools are being deployed effectively by project and partners staff;
• Promote the effective use of all collected data for learning and adaptive management, as well as for planning, reporting to the donor and developing communication products;
• Ensure that tools in use meet the needs of the project and that staff have the capacity to utilise them effectively for reporting and monitoring of progress;
• Identify training needs of staff and partners working on the project and recommend actions for improving MERL capacity;
• Ensure that data collected are reliable, accurate and complete – to the extent possible in the project context; and
• Apply a continuous improvement approach toward all data collection processes.

Data Collection

• Ensure that MERL activities are completed in a timely manner to contribute to high quality evidence-based learning, planning and reporting;
• Manage on-going data collection processes, analyses and validation for project evaluation and learning purposes;
• Identify monitoring needs based on program implementation and collect data that effectively inform on-going progress;
• Ensure that accurate and complete MERL-relatedfiles and databases are set up, maintained and updated, in compliance with applicable data security laws and regulations, as well as organizational policies and recommendations;
• Support qualitative data collection for the purposes of documentation and dissemination of lessons learnt, case studies and stories of change; and
• Support planning, logistics and coordination of WUSC’s staff and project consultants or technical assistance visits as required.

Reporting Duties

• Ensure timely and regular MERL data are shared with project colleagues to feed into reporting cycles in an efficient and timely manner, in accordance with organisational and donor’s standards;
• Ensure that regular updates on project MERL processes are communicated and shared with project staff across all partner organisations as well as with key stakeholders;
• Maintain and regularly update the project database and take lead in the production of data visualizations to complement high quality and evidence-based donor reports, as well as to contribute to the organizational project performance review process;
• Respond to requests for information from WUSC (and partner) staff, project partners, and WUSC Senior Management; and
• Other duties as required.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master’s degree in a relevant field or equivalent mix of education and experience;
• A minimum of ten years of experience in the field of monitoring and evaluation of development programs;
• Experience working with international development partners, international non-governmental organizations and donors;
• Experience with RBM concepts and principles is required;
• Experience in both quantitative and qualitative methods and tools for data collection and analysis is required;
• Experience working with ethnically diverse communities and with projects implementing gender mainstreaming strategies;
• Experience with open source data collection tools and data management softwares (preferred);
• Understanding of education programs (asset);
• Demonstrated high level written and verbal communication skills in English

Applications:

WUSC offers a dynamic international work environment with a diverse intercultural workforce. We offer employees exciting opportunities to apply their skills and gain experience all while making a difference for youth around the world. We believe youth have the potential to provide for their families, build strong communities, and create positive social change for future generations. Employees at WUSC work hard to create lasting change in education, employment and empowerment.

WUSC is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome and encourage applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

Only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. No telephone calls please.

Candidates must be legally authorized to work in South Sudan. WUSC will not facilitate any work authorization process or relocation.