Summary

Save the Children is seeking a Monitoring and Evaluation Lead for an anticipated five-year USAID-funded Accelerated Basic Education Activity in Somalia. This $30 million activity will build upon USAID/Somalia’s investment in non-formal education and increase access to education for the nearly four million out-of-school children and youth in Somalia to be implemented over a period of five years, in close partnership with the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS), the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Higher Education (MoECHE), and Federal Member States (FMS) Ministries of Education, and within USAID/Somalia’s Country Development and Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) focal zone.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Lead is responsible for overseeing the monitoring, evaluation and learning of the program to ensure education opportunities that are accessible, relevant and of high quality. They will adopt a people-centered approach in all program activities and promote the resilience and wellbeing of children, teachers and communities affected by crisis and conflict. They will collaborate with all relevant stakeholders to strengthen M&E within the project and education systems as well as support the design of service delivery strategies, track progress towards program goals, and adapt as necessary.

This position is contingent upon donor approval and funding.

What You'll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

• Develop, revise and implement the M&E Plan on an annual basis.
• Provide leadership, training and mentoring to develop M&E Plans, M&E tools, survey design, methodology, and data Analysis to assess program impact.
• Develop systems for capturing and documenting data and relevant information on project activities, beneficiaries, outputs, outcomes, and impact.
• Design methodology and coordinate research activities for project operations and assessments.
• Effectively roll out M&E collection and reporting systems to all staff and partners through trainings, site visits, manuals, and other Technical Support as needed.
• Ensure plans to promote accountability to affected populations (AAP) and child participation are documented in the Country Response strategy.
• Capture appropriate cost and financial information to track money indicators, including benchmarking information to analyze program effectiveness and cost-effective inputs.
• Ensure programming is aligned to targets and indicators contained in the project proposal and use the information from the M&E systems and tools to improve program effectiveness and assure the program is conflict-sensitive and gender-responsive.
• Manage and support rigorous evaluations of project performance, impact, and Cost Effectiveness, including coordinating mid-term and final evaluations and supporting donor and external reviews.
• With support of other senior staff, provide oversight of M&E budget and ensure effective and timely use of appropriate M&E activities. Provide on-going support to maintain M&E systems, identify skill gaps and build capacity among project team members.
• Prepare high-quality, accurate and timely reports for Save the Children, project partners and USAID as required.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in statistics, mathematics or related field is required.
• Advanced training in quantitative methodologies, including Database Management.
• Minimum of five years of experience in monitoring and evaluation related to education.
• Experience in measuring education learning outcomes
• Experience with qualitative research approaches and methodologies.
• Knowledge of gender equity and transformative concepts.
• Prior experience overseeing and ensuring the success of M&E systems in USAID education projects including ensuring approval of the M&E plan, reporting on approved education projects, and successfully completing annual Data Quality assessments.
• Strong analytical skills and an understanding of monitoring, evaluation and assessment tools to promote evidence-based learning.
• Prior experience in implementing core humanitarian standards, setting up child friendly school feedbacking in fragile context.
• Ability to analyze complex data and summarize it for a range of audiences.
• Ability to gain support from staff across teams and to build the capacity of others.
• Sound strategic thinking and planning skills, including ability to think creatively, innovate, set manageable priorities and work plans, and evaluate progress.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to lead and work effectively in team situations.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English required.
• Familiarity with the political, social, and cultural context of Somalia.
• Personal commitment to gender equality, Child Rights and soclal inclusion.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior work experience in the monitoring and evaluation of non-formal education programs and assessing student learning outcomes.
• Experience in systems thinking and application of complex adaptive systems methodologies would be advantageous.
• Strong experience working within a complex national program in the context of an emergency intervention or in conflict/fragile state contexts.
• Research experience with communities and youth.
• Ability and willingness to be very flexible and accommodating in difficult and sometimes dangerous working circumstances.

About Save the Children

No matter your role when you join Save the Children, each and every day you will challenge yourself to devote your skills, talent and expertise to changing the world for kids. It’s an ambitious goal, and a meaningful one no matter how you see yourself professionally: an Accountant, a writer, a data Analyst, a teacher, a driver, a designer, or any one of the hundreds of dozens of roles we’re looking to fill every day.

You see, Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Our work for children and their families requires that we commit—at every opportunity—to work together to identify and dismantle persistent systemic and structural racism, inequality, and any other forms of discrimination in this country and beyond. As an anti-racist organization, Save the Children will not tolerate discrimination in any form—in our employment practices, amongst our staff, in our leadership or toward the people we serve. We stand in solidarity with all people to fight for equal rights, justice, inclusion, and belonging.

We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.
Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of Child Abuse. In addition, it is Save the Children’s policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that aims to prevent and deter any actions and omissions, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that place children at the risk of any kind of child abuse. All our representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation.

Save the Children is committed to minimizing safety and security risks for our valued employees, ensuring all are given training, support and information to reduce their risk exposure while maximizing the impact of our programs for children and families. Our shared duty, both agency and individual, is to seek and maintain safe working conditions for all.

How to apply

To apply for the position, please visit our website: https://recruiting.ultipro.com/SAV1002STCF/JobBoard/7d92e82b-af74-464d-859b-c5b8cba6e92e/OpportunityDetail?opportunityId=b9632e61-0f70-4b5c-83a6-53af721523ce