Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) / Collaboration, Learning and Adapting (CLA) Director

DAI Global is implementing a five-year, USAID program in West Africa. The program supports the efforts of West Africans to address the risks of instability from democratic backsliding and from conflict, and prioritizes targeted governance, conflict and violence prevention, peacebuilding, and preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) interventions across the region. The program will engage with regional partners and with governments and non-government institutions to address causes of fragility, and focus on good governance approaches, conflict prevention and response, and P/CVE interventions across select target countries in the Sahel and across Coastal West Africa.

Position Description

The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL)/Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) Director will oversee all aspects of program research and MEL processes, including the development of activity indictors. The MEL/CLA Director will garner their technical expertise in MEL/CLA in stabilization and P/CVE programming to track program activities and progress towards achieving the key results of the program. The MEL/CLA Director will also be responsible for promoting collaboration and effective knowledge exchange among the program’s local partners and external stakeholders. S/he will ensure that the program produces and disseminates high quality knowledge, tools, and lessons learned through monitoring and evaluation and implementation. The MEL/CLA Director will oversee a MEL technical team which includes an M&E Research Manager and Communications Specialist.

• PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: 2023 – life of project (up to 5 years)
• MAXIMUM LEVEL OF EFFORT: LTTA
• BASE OF OPERATIONS: Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, Togo, Benin, Guinea or Burkina Faso
• POSITION REPORTS TO: Deputy Chief of Party - Technical

Tasks and Responsibilities

• Provide technical and training assistance to country- and regional-level activity design, research, and capacity-building efforts.
• Designing, implementing, and revising the MEL Plan.
• Oversee the MEL and reporting team and assessment and reporting progress toward achieving key results per the MEL Plan.
• Supervise a team of MEL/CLA and other research experts.
• Support grantees and partners in developing reporting requirements and build local partner capacity on MEL reporting.
• Analyze lessons learned from grantee and partner activities at the close-out stage of grants.
• Identifying and designing program research opportunities and initiatives, context monitoring and analysis, adaptive management processes in collaboration with the DCOP-Technical, Country Directors, and GESI Lead.
• Ensure that the program’s MEL systems are efficient and effective and will promote collaboration and effective knowledge exchange within the program team, between the team and external partners and among external stakeholders.
• Leading indicator development and data analysis, data visualization, and reporting processes.
• Provide technical guidance to the subcontracting research partner in design research methodology and providing oversight of work implemented. In collaboration with the DCOP-Technical, review all deliverables completed by the subcontracting research partner.

Qualifications

• At least 8 years of experience in MEL/CLA for international development activities; experience with conflict mitigation, P/CVE, and/or peacebuilding programming strongly preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree in social science, research, political science, business management, or other relevant field required; advanced degree preferred.
• Significant experience in the West Africa region on USAID-funded programs preferred.
• Prior experience in evaluation of regional projects using qualitative and quantitative tools and analyses.
• Experience applying complexity-aware MEL and experience in survey design, activity, and context monitoring, and program evaluations.
• Strong writing and reporting skills.
• Bilingual fluency in English and French required.

How to apply