Job Vacancy Announcement!

Company: Chemonics International Inc.

Job Title: Monitoring Evaluation Research & Learning (MERL) Director

Project: USAID Liberia Foundational Skills Activity (FSA)

Program Overview

The Liberia Foundational Skills Activity (LFSA) is a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded program implemented by Chemonics International in Liberia. The project will work to increase the percentage of Liberian children accessing primary school and meeting government of Liberia learning standards.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

The Monitoring and Evaluation Research and Learning (MERL) Director, under the supervision of the Chief of Party and in collaboration with other LFSA staff, partners, and stakeholders, shall be responsible for leading the design and overseeing the implementation of LFSA MERL activities. In particular, the MERL Director will:

• Create reporting templates and data collection tools for partners’ MEL staff to collect data and report against the project’s logical framework
• Communicate on daily basis with the project partners MEL staff to follow-up on MEL plans and planned MEL activities
• Lead the process of developing and annually updating the LFSA Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (AMEL) Plan, including coordinating the contributions of other LFSA staff and consortium member advisors, particularly for learning partners Mathematica and Free Liberia. This includes leading the selection and development of performance monitoring indicators in coordination with the Ministry and other partners and establishing targets.
• Review grantees’ monthly MEL reports and approve them for grants payments
• Analyze relevant data on project indicators for contractual reports
• Ensure that MEL and project staff understand their responsibilities for MEL data quality standards and that staff collect and analyze project data consistent with data quality standard
• Lead coordination with the LFSA external impact evaluators
• Establish systems and oversee all project activities to capture and analyze data on indicators, conducting data quality assessments and other efforts as required by the LFSA cooperative agreement and established in the LFSA AMEL Plan.
• Oversee the implementation of the project’s overall learning agenda to derive lessons learned and best practices from routine activities, including facilitating the initial co-design process to develop the project’s learning agenda, collaborating with stakeholders, and centering local voices and perceptions.
• Facilitate collaborating, learning, and adapting activities, including liaising with the Ministry of Education and key partner donors like the World Bank under Liberia’s Partnership Compact for foundational learning through activities like the Joint Education Sector Reviews and quarterly pause and reflect sessions to review and apply project learning to update and improve approaches and implementation for data-driven decision-making.
• Lead efforts to strengthen a culture of learning at local levels with local stakeholders, including during training and other stakeholder engagements.
• Draft core components of project deliverables related to MERL, such as for workplans, quarterly and annual reports etc.
• Carefully review and provide feedback on MERL products developed by LFSA partners or short-term technical assistants (STTA), such as research study design documents, data analysis, reports, and briefs, for quality assurance
• Support the interpretation and presentation of MEL findings for Activity planning, decision-making, course correction, and communication of successes.
• Lead and supervise the MERL team of specialists and coordinators in Monrovia and officers in each county office
• Provide strategic thinking and project management to the overall technical and administrative management of the project as part of the project’s Leadership team.
• Other tasks assigned by his/her supervisor

Location of Assignment

The location of assignment is Monrovia, Liberia with intermittent travel throughout the program’s target six counties.

Supervision and Reporting

The MERL Director will report to and be supervised by the Chief of Party or his/her designee.

Job Qualifications

• Minimum of six (6) years of experience with bachelor’s degree in data management and analysis for M&E, learning, and adaptive management or related area; master’s degree preferred
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing MEL systems in complex donor-funded development projects
• Demonstrated expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research methods, and experience conducting statistical analysis
• Experience leading and managing research projects that adhere to rigorous methodological and ethical standards
• Skills in qualitative and quantitative analytical methods, data collection and analysis, and establishing MEL systems
• Demonstrated ability to lead data collection and analyses for performance monitoring, evaluation, and learning
• Previous capacity building experience, particularly around data use, management, and decision-making long-term sustainability preferred
• Experience in the education sector preferred
• Experience managing MEL for USAID programs desirable
• Proficiency in Excel, Word, and other MS Office software; data analysis software, e.g. SPSS or Stata desired
• Demonstrated experience leading a team and ability to work collaboratively and independently.
• English writing/speaking skills are required along with strong communication, interpersonal, and presentation skills

Application instructions:

Please complete this form (https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/67955cefe60846e99854c43fa5f26fb9) no later than May 23, 2024; only Liberian nationals can apply for this position. No telephone inquiries, please. Chemonics will contact finalists.

Chemonics is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, or other non-merit factors.

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