Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Director Full Time NEW

Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.

Project Background

This Opportunity:

Palladium International, LLC is implementing the $250 Million, 5-year USAID CATALYZE contract which offers a facilitated partnership model that will craft solutions to crowd in $2 Billion in blended finance (i.e., blended concessional and commercial finance) to USAID partner countries; it can work in any development sector or region. Launched in October 2019, CATALYZE is a buy-in mechanism that allows USAID Bureaus and Missions to efficiently deploy investment facilitation solutions that respond to the needs of specific sectors, issues, and geographies.

USAID CATALYZE Market Systems for Growth (MS4G) focuses on creating transformative outcomes in the food security and WASH sectors to benefit all Ethiopian people. To achieve these goals, the activity engages youth, mobilizes capital, increases access to finance, connects enterprises to markets, and supports stakeholders to self-advocate towards policy change which will promote opportunities for the private sector community. The project supports activities in Addis Ababa and secondary cities.

To strengthen the private sector in the food security and WASH sectors, MS4G uses a market-based approach to enhance enterprises’ performance, product/service delivery, and inclusion. The activities are designed to build institutional capacity, enhance knowledge and skill transfers through workforce development initiatives, advance the business enabling environment, accelerate digital transformations and scale best practices to increase productivity and quality.

The purpose of the position

The MEL Director will provide strategic and technical support to CATALYZE MS4G in line with organizational policy and client expectations. S/he is based in Addis Ababa to enhance the opportunities to link more closely with other USAID/Ethiopia Mission-sponsored projects, Financial Institutions, other USG-sponsored cross-sector activities, private sector players and Government of Ethiopia (GoE) agencies and ministries on the urgent actions and partnerships needed to achieve the expected results.  The MEL Director will oversee learning for country-level activities and at the Portfolio level; coordinate capturing, compiling, and sharing learning across the Portfolio; and support the CATALYZE MS4G team in Collaboration, Learning and Adaptation (CLA).

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

• Specific responsibilities of MEL Director include, but are not limited to:
• Lead the development, review, and implementation of MS4G MEL strategy.
• Conduct timely project data collection, preparing quarterly, semi-annual, and annual project report.
• Pull and pack MS4G data in response to ad hoc client requests.
• Supporting tech teams outcomes harvesting and identification of trends and lessons
• Conduct CLA (Collaborating, Learning and Adapting) activities, Pause & Reflect sessions, extract lessons and learning from events such as workshops and forums, conduct studies, success stories etc.
• Lead the advancement of the CATALYZE and MS4G learning agendas.
• Contribute to knowledge and learning products in collaboration with CATALYZE MS4G Communications team.
• Supervise, coach, and mentor current MS4G MEL team.
• Refine and implement the project MEL activities, including developing and refining indicators; setting targets; monitoring project progress.
• Work to refine the project MEL system, tools, and strategies, including database(s); and providing monitoring data to inform the decisions on project performance and future direction to the project.
• Ensure that M&E activities are integrated into all MS4G program activities, and that data is collected and documented in an accurate and timely manner.
• Work closely with the MEL, technical teams, and partners in setting annual targets for each project indicator, develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for different activities and monitor progress and achievements towards annual performance of indicator targets
• Develop and adapt the monitoring tools/trackers according to the different project interventions,
• Validate data collection tools and questionnaires, data collection procedures, and MEL policies and procedures to guide partners, subcontractors, and grantees.
• Support project activities involving the collection and analysis of data for the execution of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) plan,
• Lead and conduct FTF reporting data entry in Development Information Solution (DIS) and project MIS – Smartsheet.
• Lead Project Data Quality Assessments and take Geo-references of partners in coordination with other M&E team members.
• Provide data visualization and analysis for project communications materials for internal, client, and stakeholders,
• Represent MS4G MEL Team in client coordination calls, MEL focus call/workshops and other external fora as an when required.
• Conduct any other MEL elated tasks as required.

Relationships

This role will be closely working with the MS4G Technical Leads across the enterprise support, capital mobilization, WASH, Agriculture, Youth Programs, skills building and job placement, and digital economy components. S/he will also work closely with CATALYZE MEL team at the HO. In addition, this role will liaise with national governments, business partners, and other stakeholders as necessary.

Location:
The position is based in Palladium’s Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Office

We welcome applications from both international and local candidates.

Estimated Start Date:
This assignment is expected to commence October 16, 2024.

You and Your Career:

If you are a problem-solver, collaborator, and doer, and you have expertise in supervising program activities, we are interested in hearing from you.

We are a learning organization and provide growth opportunities from the start.  We pride ourselves on giving you the freedom, resources, and guidance to chart a fulfilling career!

Reporting and Supervision:

The Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Director will report to the CATALYZE MS4G Program Integration Director and have secondary reporting to the MEL Director, CATALYZE (US). S/he will be responsible to lead the implementation of MS4G’s MEL strategy. This includes tasks such as reviewing and updating the Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (AMELP), managing the MEL staff, collaborating with the team to ensure MEL strategy and system are aligned with the project’s Performance Work Statement (PWS). Additionally, the MEL Director will lead the annual target setting, update the Annual MEL Plan, and focus on capacity building for implementing partners and other stakeholders regarding MEL activities.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion:

Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success, and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com and we will be in touch to discuss.

Safeguarding – We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse.  All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.

Professional Expertise Required:

• Master’s degree in a relevant discipline (Economics, Project Management, statistics, or other related discipline).
• At least 10 years of demonstrated experience designing and implementing monitoring and evaluation activities.
• Previous experience implementing and managing a rigorous M&E system including developing and refining performance monitoring plans is required; experience in managing the DIS, and MIS is strongly preferred.
• Experience with USAID programs/projects strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of data collection protocols and data quality assessment to ensure accurate data collection and verification; ability to identify data trends and communicate this information for strategic decision-making in program implementation.
• Previous experience working with private enterprises is preferred.
• Firm understanding of and experience with analyzing project data and processes to ‘go beyond the indicators’ to extract critical lessons learned for adaptation and assessing project impact.

Key Competencies Required: 

• Excellent skills in MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint; proficiency in MS SPSS
• Excellent organizational, verbal, and written communication skills to manage project communications and disseminate project MEL information are required.
• Excellent command of monitoring and evaluation methodologies.
• English language fluency required.

Key Competencies Required: 

• Excellent skills in MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint; proficiency in MS SPSS
• Excellent organizational, verbal, and written communication skills to manage project communications and disseminate project MEL information are required.
• Excellent command of monitoring and evaluation methodologies.
• English language fluency required.