Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning Specialist Contract - Consulting

Plan International is a development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We strive for a just world, working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners in over 75 countries. Our progra ms are underpinned by a core of defined values, including transparency and accountability, team collaboration, inclusion and integration, as well as the overall ambition to empower girls and young women as legacy.

Plan International has been working in Ne pal since 1978 and developed a strong reputation as a respected development and humanitarian actor helping marginalised children, their families and communities to access their rights to health, education, economic security and protection. Through the support of local partners, Plan International works in 24 districts in Nepal.

Plan International Nepal has a vision for 2030 as “ an inclusive, just and safe society where all girls and young women enjoy their rights and live in freedom”. This is coupled with the ambition of taking action so that 100 million girls learn, lead, decide and thrive as “   Girls and young women in all of their diversity reach their full potential as equal and active citizens ” by 2023. The country strategy is put into action through the implementation of three interrelated  program areas defined as follows:

LEARN: the “ Education and Skills and Opportunities for Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship (SOYEE)” program aims to assist vulnerable and excluded girls and young women in adapting and thriving in a changing climate ;

LEAD AND DECIDE: the “ Youth as Active Drivers of Change and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) ” program aims to empower girls and young women in leading change, having control over their bodies and making informed decisions ; and

THRIVE: the “Early Childhood Development (ECD), Child Protection and Child Poverty ” program enhances vulnerable and excluded children, especially girls, to be valued and cared for without discrimination, fear and any forms of violence .

Plan international Nepal seeks candidates who practice feminist leadership, promote diversity, actively seek innovative solutions for problems, courageously and respectfully share their opinions and ideas, break down barriers and eng ender cross -department collaboration, practice active listening, maintain confidentiality, build trust and are passionate about children’s rights and equality for girls.

ROLE PURPOSE

Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning ( MERL) Specialist lead to ensure an effective MERL system is in place for Plan International Nepal programs and projects assigned to him/her by the organisation/line manager as and when needed . MERL Specialist will be responsible to design and lead the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities and ensure the result -based management in program and project areas as per defined in the country strategy. This will include development and implementation of MERL systems, regular collection of monitoring data and its analysis for management information purposes . The position holder will provide inputs to  senior technical advisors and project managers in project design to ensure effective application of program learning, as well as to lead on all baselines, mid- term and endlines evaluations and research with technical support from the Research, Evaluation and Knowledge Management Specialist . S/He will also develop capac ity of field and partner organisation staff in all MERL related tasks, systems and processes .

DIMENSIONS OF THE ROLE

[This section provides a summary of the size and authority of the post. It covers the size of the budget held, the numbers of direct reports, other key stakeholders who may depend on it, the type of communication required, the external representation involved and the reach of the role.]

Communications requirement:

Internally, this position holder will hold continuous communication with the Programme Leads, Advisors, Specialists, and Project Managers for support in developing TOC, result framework, performan ce measurement on outcome indicators MERL Specialist will share monitoring findings with programme team regularly and facilitate response to address the gaps and replicate best practices. The MERL Specialist will also hold communication with concerned staf f at APAC , NOs and GH for negotiation and clarification regarding various MERL issues in projects.
External communications requirement involves partner organisations, donors and national and international NGOs.

Risk management:

In accordance with Plan Int ernational’s Ethical MERL Framework and Child and Youth Safeguarding Policy, the organisation is committed to ensure that the rights of the children, adolescents and youth who are participating in monitoring and evaluation activities are respected and prot ected. Therefore , the position holder should be proactive that all ethical issues are ensured.

External representation:

As assigned by the supervisor/Line Manager this position holder is responsible to represent Plan at national and international workshops, seminar and conferences related to monitoring and evaluation. S/he is also responsible for representing the organisation for providing various
services to other NGOs or INGO Forums as assigned by the supervisor.

Reach/breadth of the post/ or area of responsibilities:

This position holder will work closely with the Head of MERL to develop thematic/programmatic TOC, result framework, indicators to measure success. The MERL Specialist will work closely with the MERL team primarily in designing grants, capacity building of Plan and partners and where organizational level support is needed including CPAC, Annual Planning, Programme review and reflection.

The MERL Specialist will develop methods to track outputs and assess outcomes and report about these periodically to programme team and management. This position holder will be responsible for developing tools for data quality assurance and rolling out to ensure quality data for reporting to donors and GH for 200 million reasons. The MERL Specialist will conduct process monitoring regularly at project level to ensure interventions are delivered as per agreed
standard and share the monitoring findings with concerned sta ff members in programme. Capacity building of Plan and Partner staff in programme monitoring will be one of the key responsibilities.

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Contribute to project design and reporting

• Provide inputs in program development and facilitate planning activities including the design of project theory of change and/or logical framework in line with programme in country strategy during proposal development.
• Compile and provide required data for reporting to donors and Plan International requirements.
• Ensure all projects meet Programme and Influence Quality Policy and Procedure Requirements.
• Ensure that all new assigned projects have allocated sufficient time and budget for MERL activities.

Establish effective project monitoring system

• Design Monitor ing and evaluation framework for all assigned projects.
• Work with the program team to develop data collection tools for the assigned projects
• Determine pre- defined indicators for global reporting as per AOGD
• Ensure monitoring data is collected, consolidate d and analysed according to the MERL Standard
• Perform regular field visits to ensure the quality of data collected by program and partner staff and to verify the accuracy of reported data
• Prepare, disseminate and follow up MERL report as part of Plan Inter national’s information management system

Implementation of M&E Systems like PMERL, MIS across the projects of Plan International Nepal

• Contribute to build up capacity of the Project team to implement and measure the performance through PMERL.
• Support proje ct team to set up and implement PMERL for their project.
• Capacity building to the PNGO staffs of the project team to set up and implementation of MIS system.

Facilitate accountability and stakeholder feedback mechanisms

• Support in conducting quarterly review and reflection with partner organisations and communities.
• Design, plan and carry out social audit.
• Develop and follow up plan of action based on recommendations from review/reflection and social audit events.
• Support the program team to establish complaints and feedback mechanism for assigned programmes/projects to respond to the complaints/feedbacks/concern from community and beneficiaries, including  analysis of data with management actions identified.

Evaluations, research and learning generation

• In collaboration with the senior technical advisors and the Research, Evaluation and Knowledge Management Specialist, define the learning agenda.
• In collaboration with the Research, Evaluation and Knowledge Management Specialist, lead all evaluations and research activities
• Participate in the development of data collection tools and the design of evaluations and research.
• Perform quantitative analys es using appropriate software (i.e., SPSS, or STATA or any statistical application).
• Work with program teams to utilise data for quality improvements
• Document good practices, lessons learned and feedback to influence and guide the design and implementation of our programs.
• Organize learning events and workshops for to document lessons learnt, good practices and areas of improvement

Develop capacity of Plan International Nepal and partner staff

• Identify the capacity gaps and work with MERL Manager and senior technical advisors to build the capacity of the monitoring staff at Field and those of partners to ensure smooth implementation of MERL system, participatory monitoring and evaluation and improvedfor capacity.
• Support the MERL Manager in providing capacity building, training and mentoring in MERL to relevant staff in the country office, field offices and partner organisation

Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Child Protection (CPP) and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI) are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

[This section details the skills, knowledge and expertise the post holder will be required to demonstrate in doing the job well.
This should include clear levels of technical expertise and skills that support our work at national, international, and global level.]

Essential

• Master’s degree in social sciences, social research, development studies, public health or a related field oriented to monitoring and evaluation methods with at least 3 years of relevant experience OR Bachelor’s degree in related field with at least 5 years of leading monitoring, evaluation, research, and accountability in national/international development organizations.
• Excellent spoken and written communication skills  in English and Nepali.
• Proven experience in a technical capacity involving design and implementation of evaluations/research or leading evaluation/research teams and drafting technical reports.
• Proven experience with quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis.
• Ability to implement data quality assurance mechanism for project level.
• Knowledge on digital data collection tools and procedure.
• Skill to critically analyse data and produce comprehensive useful report to support programme to take decision.
• Experienced in TOR development and coordinate evaluations to get quality deliverable from consultants.
• Experience conducting interviews with young people, children and communities.
• Strong capacity and creativity in leading and facilitating participatory methodologies to meaningfully engage beneficiaries , including children, and receiving their feedback through approaches such as social audit , employing quality benchmarks.
• Experience in capacity development of staff or partners in project monitoring , evaluation or research.

Desirable

• Proven experience in managing multiple and competing tasks while maintaining quality of deliverables within deadlines.
• Experience of managing large datasets. Experience of using SQL server is an asset.
• Experience in use of statis tical packages such as SPSS, R or STATA for inferential analysis.
• Experience in use of data visualization tools like Power Bi, Tableau, GIS.
• Experience in use of electronic data collection platforms like Kobo toolbox, ODK, ONA.
• Experienced in rights -based approach to development.
• Facilitating child led /focused monitoring, evaluation or research.

PLAN INTERNATIONAL’S VALUES IN PRACTICE

We are open and accountable

• Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
• Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
• Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
• Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
• Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people.

We strive for lasting impact

• Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
• Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
• Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
• Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.

We work well together

• Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
• Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
• Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
• Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

We are inclusive and empowering

• We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential.
• We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge equality in our programs and our workplace.
• We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives.

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

• Typical office environment with regular field travel within communities of working districts .

LEVEL OF CONTACT WITH CHILDREN

• Mid contact: Occasional interaction with children.

“Say Yes ! To Keeping Children and Young people safe and Protected” 

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Application Deadline: Sunday, 17th December 2023

NOTE: Applications are solely accepted through People2People online application procedures. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further selection process. Canvassing at any stage of processes shall lead to automatic disqualification.

Due to urgent priority to fill in the positions, recruitment can be held on a rolling basis and Plan International reserves the right to select a candidate prior to the deadline. Plan International Nepal invites all the applications including female candidates with priority from minority and youth groups for this position.

P2P and our client Plan is committed to promoting inclusivity and equal opportunity for all applicants. In recognition of the different needs of PLWD we offer options for application submission. Do contact us for further assistance.