JOB DESCRIPTION and PERSON SPECIFICATION
Reporting to: Head of Civic Space
Key Relationships: PROTECT Coordinator, PROTECT Consortium partners and their MEL leads, Regional teams in Myanmar, Kenya, Malawi, Thematic Leads, and ARTICLE 19 MEL Officer and PROTECT Senior Grant Accountant
Contract: Fixed-term contract for 3 years subject to donors funding
Working Hours: Full time (37.5 hours per week)
Salary: Circa £43k
Location: London
ABOUT US:
Our Vision is for all people everywhere to be able to freely express themselves and actively engage in public life without fear of discrimination.
Our Mission is to promote and defend the universal human rights of freedom of expression and information around the world. We work to achieve our mission by understanding that other rights including belief, privacy, participation, assembly and association, and more, underpin freedom of expression and information. These two interlocking freedoms are the foundation of all our work. The Freedom to Know concerns the right to demand and receive information by power-holders for transparency good governance and sustainable development. When either of these freedoms comes under threat, when either by the failure of powerholders to adequately legislate for or protect them, ARTICLE 19 speaks with one voice, through courts of law, through global and regional organizations, and through civil society wherever we are present. The Freedom to Speak concerns everyone’s right to express and disseminate opinions, ideas and information through any means, as well as to disagree from, and question powerholders. When either by the failure of powerholders to adequately legislate for or protect them, ARTICLE 19 speaks with one voice, through courts of law, through global and regional organizations, and through civil society wherever we are present.
BACKGROUND:
Protecting Rights, Openness and Transparency-Enhancing Civic Transformation PROTECT is a multi-faceted international aid project funded by the UK Governments’ Department for International Development (DfID). The objectives of PROTECT, are focussed on and delivered through partners in Kenya, Malawi and Myanmar.**
PROTECT, seeks to foster open societies based on expanded and protected civic space. The work is delivered by a consortium of specialist NGOs and expert organisations, led by ARTICLE 19 with partners Internews, the International Centre for Not-for-profit Law (ICNL) and the Humanist Institute Development Cooperation (Hivos). PROTECT partners bring together their expertise in the fields of freedom of assembly, association, expression, access to information and data transparency, media sustainability and protection of journalist and human rights defenders to address holistically the multifaceted challenges of closing civic space.
ROLE SUMMARY:
The role of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Coordinator is to establish and implement systems to promote adaptive programming evidence-based decision making, programme and project performance and learning, in collaboration with MEL leads in the consortium. The MEL Coordinator will contribute to quality programming through supporting access to, and use of, relevant and timely information on programme performance, relevance and effectiveness. Within this context, the MEL Coordinator will provide technical support to ARTICLE 19’s implementation teams as well as to consortium staff, and lead in capacity-building through the implementation of effective, cost efficient and meaningful MEL systems.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
Oversee the implementation of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework for the PROTECT Consortium:
● Coordinate and implement the MEL plan including by developing procedures, tools and guidance - under the strategic direction of the Head of Civic Space, and in consultation with PROTECT management unit and Consortium members;
● Act as the primary relationship manager within the Consortium and with other key stakeholders on MEL issues;
● Promote the standardisation of MEL processes throughout the Consortium, ensuring coherence and quality of information collected against planned activities;
● Ensure standardisation of MEL tools for Consortium partners and ARTICLE 19 implementation teams to use for regular programme monitoring;
● Maintain consortium’s information data-sharing platform with up to date MEL data to ensure accessibility for all consortium partners;
● Conduct training and develop a capacity-building strategy on the MEL framework for ARTICLE 19, and MEL leads in Consortium and Expert partners;
● Provide technical support to Consortium members on MEL processes, outcome monitoring, qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis for assessments, donor reporting and other processes;
● Manage and facilitate all applicable evaluation functions including internal, external and donor evaluations, in collaboration with Consortium partners;
● Work with beneficiaries and Consortium partners to use a beneficiary feedback mechanism for timely decision making, and improvements to programming;
● Lead on the identification of case studies, human interest stories, and source evidence of impact and results for inclusion in progress reports and annual reports to the donor, and for upwards and downwards accountability;
● Work with the Consortium MEL leads and ARTICLE 19 MEL Officer to draw on own knowledge, networks and best practice approaches to promote innovation in how the Consortium conducts MEL.
Lead on MEL delivery within ARTICLE 19 and for the PROTECT Consortium
● Facilitate learning amongst ARTICLE 19 implementation teams through reviews of progress against benchmarks, collecting lessons learnt and best practices and facilitating dissemination of the same across consortium members and other DfID consortiums;
● Hold meetings with DfID M&E advisers and consultants on a regular basis to ensure smooth coordination and that consortium MEL tools are in line with DfID standards;
● Prepare lessons learnt and best practice reports for external and internal sharing.
Support MEL within ARTICLE 19
● Depending on capacity, mentor key internal stakeholders to integrate best MEL working practices and methodologies in their work;
● Depending on capacity, work closely with Fundraising and Programme teams to ensure proposals are based on clear theories of change, drawing upon ARTICLE 19’s results framework, and reflect lessons learnt.
Contribute to organisational learning and development including by:
● Ensuring that knowledge and learning is shared across the organisation and contributes to the strategic development of ARTICLE 19;
● Improving overall project implementation by suggesting and/or contributing to the development of ARTICLE 19 project management guidelines and tools;
● Participating in team meetings and other internal organisational and decision-making groups
● Representing ARTICLE 19 at external events and forums;
● Undertaking other tasks associated with this role which may reasonably be required by; Consortium Manager, Head of Civic Space or Senior Management team.
PERSON SPECIFICATION:
ESSENTIAL
Education and Qualification
● Educated to degree level or graduate level; or
● Substantial work experience demonstrating graduate level ability.
Work Experience
● Proven relevant experience in the design or development of MEL methods and systems, including tools, within the INGO or human rights sector;
● Proven relevant experience with results frameworks using global and/or programme level indicators;
● Experience in working, including leading, within partner networks or consortia to implement MEL system;
● Experience in capacity building and facilitating and promoting learning across teams and organisations;
● Experience in creating or managing processes to engage stakeholder feedback for improved programming;
● Experience in organisational representation, coordination and liaison;
● Experience in managing external evaluations of complex or consortium-led programmes;
● Experience of working with large institutional donors such as DFID, the EC, SIDA, etc.
Knowledge, skills and ability
● Excellent planning, organisational and leadership skills;
● Ability to rapidly assimilate and digest large volumes of data and information;
● Strong analytical skills, including of quantitative and qualitative data;
● Strong experience to report/present quantitative information in narrative form;
● Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to negotiate and maintain good relationships with internal and external stakeholders;
● Ability to effectively balance and coordinate multiple competing priorities, working within set, and sometimes tight, deadlines;
● Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
Other
● Must have the right to work in the UK. ARTICLE 19 does not sponsor individuals for employment-based visas for this position.
● Commitment to work within ARTICLE 19's vision, mission, core values and objectives.
● Cultural sensitivity and commitment to equal opportunities and non-discrimination.
DESIRABLE
● Experience of working in Kenya, Malawi or Myanmar.
● Knowledge of one or more languages (Swahili, Burmese, Spanish, French, Arabic or Portuguese) highly desirable.
● Experience in both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies.
Application deadline: 26th April 2020
This vacancy is archived.