Senior Officer - Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (Climate, Natural Resources and Peace)

This is an exciting opportunity to coordinate monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) activities across an impactful, international, multi-partner programme on water, peace and security. In addition, the successful candidate will also contribute to International Alert’s wider programming on climate and peace.

We are looking for an excellent candidate, with at least five years’ experience working in the development, peacebuilding, water or natural resource management sectors and substantive experience designing and delivering effective MEL. With a proven ability to collaborate, communicate and coordinate effectively with partners in different locations and from a range of sectors, you will support partners, including through training, to design and implement MEL data collection and analysis. In addition, the successful candidate will have the skills to help implement Alert’s projects on climate and peace, supporting evidence generation, policy influencing and advisory activities.

In return, you will have the opportunity to work for a dynamic, motivated and friendly team and the chance to contribute to the organisation’s mission, supporting people to build peace in countries affected by conflict.

Job Purpose

The Senior Officer - Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer (SOMEL) supports monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) processes across the organisation, helping to ensure that monitoring and evaluation is rigorous, high-quality and fit for purpose, and that learning is embedded in our approach to our work. Reporting to the Head of Peace Integration, the postholder will work with Alert’s network of MEL focal points in our country offices, building a common approach, sharing experiences and developing in-country capacity. They will develop and disseminate tools to enable us to plan for, measure and disseminate the impact of our peacebuilding work. The postholder will oversee annual reflection sessions across the organisation, ensuring we capture the outcomes of our work. The Senior Officer - Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer will coordinate submissions of team annual reports and draft the organisation’s Annual Report.

Duties & Responsibilities

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Develop and disseminate common Alert M&E tools and resources, including drawing on global best practice to develop new resources when needed.
• Support country and global programmes to design programmes, develop realistic and useable theories of change and establish appropriate monitoring systems at both project and programme level.
• Convene the network of M&E leads across Alert’s programmes, to enable roll out of agreed organisational approaches to M&E, sharing of experiences, learning opportunities and peer support.
• Support capacity building of country programme Alert M&E staff by providing focussed trainings, inductions, and individual advice.
• Coordinate the annual reflection process with partners.

Impact assessment

• Oversee the annual reflection process across the organisation, ensuring teams have the necessary resources to undertake reflection sessions, collate and analyse the data.
• Strengthen our Outcome Harvesting (OH) practice, including encouraging facilitation of OH sessions by colleagues from other teams, and enabling partners involvement in OH reflection.
• Support the establishment of an organisational impact reflection and design reflection process
• Support country and global programmes in the design of programme evaluations.

Learning

• Establish processes and/or fora for Alert staff to regularly share, learn and challenge one another on peacebuilding practice and policy (in particular on Alert’s priority themes), drawing on internal and external knowledge and experience.
• Monitor developments in MEL practice and apply these to Alert’s approach, ensuring the continuing evolution and improvement of our MEL.

Organisational contributions

• Coordinate submissions of team annual reports and draft the organisation’s Annual Report.
• Contribute to internal communications and knowledge management and participate in organisation-wide events and discussions.
• Occasionally supervise volunteers and monitor the work of consultants as required.
• Undertake any other tasks commensurate with the role, as required by the - Head of Peace Integration

Travel requirements

Occasional travel to our countries of operation.

Essential requirements

• Knowledge of, and experience of applying to development or peacebuilding projects and programmes, monitoring and evaluation approaches and methodologies.
• Experience developing theories of change, indicators and logical frameworks for international development or peacebuilding projects and programmes.
• Understanding of peacebuilding and conflict transformation.
• Experience developing and implementing monitoring and evaluation systems for an organisation.
• Experience undertaking monitoring and evaluation in complex settings (such as fragile states)
• An understanding of current trends in M&E for international development, including using participatory M&E approaches that enable for staff, partners and participants to jointly reflect on the impact of their work.
• Experience working remotely with country teams, supporting and building capacity of others to undertake or plan monitoring and evaluation.
• Experience facilitating workshops, trainings and events, including remotely and with people with diverse first languages.
• Fluent written and spoken English; excellent analytic and report writing skills, including ability to simplify and explain technical issues.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to engage with a wide spectrum of actors, including staff at all levels, partners, peers and donors.
• IT literate, including experience using Excel for budgeting, and using databases.
• Existing permanent right to work in the country in which you wish to be based, in which Alert has a registered office.

Desirable Requirements

• Fluent written and spoken French or Russian.
• Experience facilitating and coordinating Outcome Harvesting for a team or an organisation.
• Experience managing projects.
• Experience of cross-organisational coordination.