Area Manager – Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Systems

Area Manager – Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Systems

Job Description

Heifer International is an equal opportunity employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identify, sexual orientation, age, status as a protected veteran, among other things, or status as a qualified individual with disability

This position will be located in either India/Kenya/Bangladesh OR Nepal.

Strong preference will be given to Local Nationals or returning Local Nationals

FUNCTION

Responsible for field support to project and country level staff for the roll-out and deployment of the agency’s monitoring, evaluation and learning processes, tools and practices. This person will be responsible for strengthening the capacity of field teams, mentoring, coaching and providing technical support to design, implement and manage Heifer standard monitoring, evaluation and learning practices across project portfolios in the assigned geographic area. This role will be expected to work collaboratively with other departments to back stop and support high quality program management. The position will focus on ensuring project staff can easily use the technology and tools supported by Heifer and that teams can successfully set up their project and country level M&E systems to include high quality indicators, log frames, Indicator Progress Tracking Tables, Indicator Definition Sheets and project specific reports and dashboards. The role will also be responsible to customize tools for projects so that they are relevant to unique needs while still maintaining the organization standard. This position is also critical to support field staff to ensure that they are able to collect and clean data on time and to provide technical backstopping so that all reports and dashboards are functioning and information is shared with project stakeholders. This person will also help to identify lessons learned around the use of data to improve decision-making and adaptive management at the project level. The position will also help to identify and troubleshoot all systems related issues and act as a liaison to identify further MELS support needs. S/he will also provide input to future action plans for continual improvement of Heifer’s monitoring, evaluation, learning and system based practices. This person will also conduct organization-wide evaluations and research where necessary.

ESSENTIAL CHARACTER TRAITS:

Detail-oriented, patient, analytical, a problem – solver, innovative, a good communicator, team player, respectful, enjoys coaching others, and energetic.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND DELIVERABLES

Ensure field offices have a clear understanding and are able to set up and deploy Heifer’s standard project /program monitoring and evaluation processes, indicators, tools and practices. (30%)

DELIVERABLES

• Contribute to the iterative development of Heifer standard MEL business practices and procedures.
• Approach teams as a mentor and coach to ensure that field team staff understand and use Heifer’s standard business practices, indicators and tools and have the capacity to implement MEL best practices.
• Provide performance management tools that support high quality MEL practices and accompany teams in their use.
• Provide direct support to field teams on MEL work plans, monitoring / data collection plans, development of indicators, IPTT’s, log frames, theories of change and report design.
• Participate in project/program design and assist in indicator development.
• Provide support to field teams in indicator target projections for future funding opportunities.
• Support teams in data quality support, data troubleshooting and data quality audits when needed.

Lead efforts for technical backstopping to field teams to ensure that the MEL system meets the needs of field teams and to ensure that the selected technology can be used to support un-interrupted and high quality MEL practices. (25%)

DELIVERABLES

• Support the development of standard digital forms, reports and dashboards and other tools and templates so that data can be collected and consolidated in an appropriate time frame with integrity as dictated by Heifer standard business procedures.
• Help field staff procure and configure devices for field use.
• Support staff in digital form, report and dashboard customization for the MEL program management system when new projects are launched.
• Ensure that any issues or bugs are quickly reported by field teams about utilizing the systems and that solutions are implemented in a timely manner.
• Troubleshoot technical issues that have been reported in the geographic focus area as the help desk’s first tier of technical support and escalate those that cannot be resolved to the second tier immediately.
• Coach field teams how to use other systems they have access to for knowledge management and personal growth and development including Laserfiche.

Lead capacity-building efforts in assigned field offices to support a high level of professionalism and high quality and standard MEL practices. (25%)

DELIVERABLES

• Train staff in monitoring, evaluation, learning & knowledge management concepts and approaches.
• Train and provide continued support to field teams on how to use devices and the technology enabled systems and to input data properly.
• Coach and mentor staff on data management and cleansing.
• Coach field teams to analyze data, to identify trends and to use data for course corrections and adaptive management based on indicator performance, baselines and evaluations in support of Heifer’s goals
• Support staff in developing tools and templates as well as data collection techniques to foster effective reporting of impacts in a timely manner.
• Bring new innovative MEL concepts and approaches to field offices to identify how they may be able to adapt such practices to their daily work.

Provide support in the design and implementation of organization-wide or area-wide research and evaluation initiatives across regions and teams. (10%)

DELIVERABLES

• When tasked with an organization-wide research or evaluation initiative, lead the process and work to be completed in close collaboration with the HQ office and any external support as required.
• Assist in the design and implementation of research and evaluation initiatives.
• Bring forth creative ideas from field site visits on research and/or evaluation studies that are in line with industry standards and would position the organization for future funding opportunities or thought leadership leverage.
• Assist in the dissemination of research findings.
• Make sure lessons from evaluation reports inform future project design.

Identify, document and present challenges, successes and lessons learned around the deployment of Heifer’s agency wide MEL system with the intent of ensuring it is relevant, effective, efficient and easy to use. This will contribute to a continuous and iterative process of learning with the purpose of improving and enhancing the system towards a Gold Standard. (10%)

DELIVERABLES

• In focus geographic area lead the identification of challenges, successes and lessons learned around the MEL system usage and suggest solutions and enhancements where needed.
• Represent Heifer at forums and meetings to present our models and impacts to date to donors and other relevant stakeholders.
• Identify opportunities to present Heifer models and impacts at forums worldwide.
• Design presentations with field teams and present or co-present when appropriate to raise Heifer’s profile in though leadership and impacts.
• Assist in the dissemination of knowledge

Required Experience

Minimum Requirements:

• • Master’s Degree in Social Science, Statistics, Computer Science or a related field.
  • 5-7 years’ job-related experience with at least 3 years working in developing countries

Most Critical Proficiencies:

• • Well-grounded in the discipline of project monitoring and evaluation, project quality, quantitative and qualitative data capture and representation methodologies.
  • Experience as a Monitoring and Evaluation Manager at some level within a large donor-funded project managing both output and impact indicators.
  • Proven ability to build capacity of field staff in monitoring and evaluation business standards and ICT and demonstrated experience in adult education, training and mentoring.
  • Demonstrated experience with solving an array of field implementation issues
  • Proven ability to work collaboratively with a culturally diverse team in remote locations with staff who are based in other countries.
  • Evidence of strong leadership, analytical and coordination skills, and proven collaborative skills in project management, monitoring and evaluation.
  • Confident in and experience with the use of technology in development.
  • Knowledgeable of current and emerging ideas, research and developments in the field of international development and a commitment to continuous learning and development.
  • Excellent written and oral communication.
  • Fluency in English, required and ability to travel to field sites 50% of the time.

Essential Job Functions and Physical Demands:

• • Constant face-to-face, telephone and electronic communication with colleagues in the field
  • May require constant sitting and moving; working at a computer for extended periods.
  • Ability to assign and review the work of colleagues, as well as motivate and engage team members.
  • Willingness and ability to work outside of normal business hours.
  • Willingness and ability to travel domestically and internationally extensively.
  • Ability to work with sensitive information and to maintain confidentiality.
  • Ability to work in a culturally diverse and global setting

Job Location

India, India

Position Type

Full-Time/Regular

Job Level

Manager

Client

Non U.S. Based Locations

Closing Date

06/1/2019

How to apply?

Interested applicants are requested to click on the link below:

https://www.heifer.org/about-heifer/careers/view-all-jobs.html