Regional Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Manager
Summary:  
Description:  

Who We Are


Mercy Ships is a global faith-based charity that uses hospital ships to bring life-changing surgeries and transformational medical training to people in some of the most challenging contexts along the African coast. For over 40 years, Mercy Ships has been delivering lasting hope and healing through safe surgical care, while working alongside partners and stakeholders to strengthen local healthcare systems in more than 55 countries. Since the inception of this dream by founders Don and Deyon Stephens in 1978, Mercy Ships has served more than 2.7 million direct beneficiaries without regard for race, gender, or religion.

This is a full-time role working remotely.

 

The Opportunity

 

The Regional MEL Manager will work alongside the Program Quality and Impact team and Regional teams to oversee, develop and implement effective systems for monitoring progress and evaluating the outcomes and impact of Mercy Ships’ work. The purpose of the role is to evidence progress against Mercy Ships’ strategic aims, capture learning to inform evidence-based adaptive programming, and facilitate the reporting of progress and communication of impact to various internal and external stakeholders.

 

Alongside driving regular evaluations of International Programs work, the Regional MEL Manager will be responsible for developing indicators to measure progress within the Regional Strategies. Therefore, the Regional MEL Manager will need to work collaboratively with a range of stakeholders across Mercy Ships’ departments and offices to meet the diverse needs for evidencing progress and impact, tailoring the information to the different audiences and their requirements. This role will manage in-country or regional MEL Specialists and will be required to perform MEL surge across the region where required.

 

How You’ll Contribute

  • Support the wider International Programs teams in overseeing the development of project- and program- level Theory of Change and Value for Money strategies.
  • Work collaboratively with International Programs teams to develop appropriate program- and project-level logframes, including the selection of relevant output, outcome, and impact statements and indicators; and co-designing program- and project-level MEAL plans to ensure effective monitoring and evaluation throughout the program life cycle.
  • Support the development of MEAL plans for local and international partners to document contribution towards strategic aims.
  • Support the wider International Programs teams throughout the program cycle, drawing on and capturing learning to facilitate evidence-based decision-making for International Programs teams in the development and implementation of 5-year country engagement plans.
  • Lead and/or support in the delivery of baseline assessments, mid-term reviews, and final evaluations. Mercy Ships uses a mixed approach of internal and external evaluations and reviews. For internal assessments, evaluations and reviews, the Regional MEL Manager will support in developing terms of references, research questions, logistics, and undertake the field trips where required. For external processes, the Regional MEL Manager will support in developing consultancy terms of references and provide accompaniment (as required) to the evaluator to ensure successful completion of the evaluation.
  • Develop a strategy to measure program outcomes and impacts and support International Programs teams to implement these.
  • Work with MEL Managers or consultants based in Africa for data collection and evaluation (as required). Develop a bank of local consultants with the relevant expertise in health systems to support with assessments, reviews, and evaluations as required.

    Capacity strengthening and training of staff and partners

  • Manage and support in-country MEL Specialists and/or data collectors to build their skills in monitoring, evaluation and learning, and train them in the appropriate methodologies for our existing and future programs.
  • Induct new country-based leaders (Regional Program Managers, Country Directors, Programs Directors, and other staff as relevant) on Mercy Ships’ MEL approach and ways of working, ensuring consistent application of MEL concepts, language and standards.
  • Provide capacity strengthening support to partners, to execute appropriate and rigorous MEL standards and reporting.
  • Provide in-depth quality assurance and oversight of MEL activities and reporting being carried out in the Region.

    Learning and Development:

  • Support the PQI team in maintaining a learning agenda within International Programs to document and share learning and best practice – using evidence from within Mercy Ships and best practice from the wider Global Health and International Development sectors.
  • Provide information and support to local and international researchers undertaking projects related to Mercy Ships, as required.
  • Support the MEL training and development needs of International Programs staff and local partners, for example through training and mentoring in MEL techniques as required.

     

    Reporting Results and Donor Requirements:

  • Support National Offices in meeting monitoring and evaluation requirements for donor funds. This involves co-developing appropriate logframes and indicators (prior to proposal submission). Work collaboratively to prepare MEAL plans and ensure data can be collected to evidence progress towards outcomes and outputs. During an active grant period, work alongside in-country MEL Specialists and Program Managers to ensure that data collection is taking place as per the MEAL plan; provide relevant data and analysis to National Offices for donor reports; and facilitate arrangements for MEAL (i.e., external evaluations, mid-term reviews, etc.).
  • Support quality improvement of donor proposals and reports through interaction with the Program Development and Funding Manager, National Offices, ensuring that key source materials relating to MEL (such as logframe templates) are of a high standard and fit to donor requirements.

    In addition, the Regional MEL Manager will be required to:

  • Uphold Mercy Ships’ values and contribute to a positive organizational culture.
  • Contribute to creative and innovative thinking and work collaboratively across teams.
  • International travel will be required to support or lead on MEL or Programs projects such as workshops, assessments, mid-term reviews, and evaluations; or to provide surge coverage within the Region as required. This could be up to 6 months at a time.

     

    Successful candidates will be able to demonstrate the following:

  • Working knowledge of Theory of Change methodology and its application in program design, monitoring and evaluation.
  • Familiarity with the project cycle management in a Global Health/International Development context, including the role of MEL in generating learning and supporting evidence-based adaptive programming.
  • Strong commitment to learning, including the ability to train others in MEL theory and practice.
  • Ability to collect, interpret, and analyze both qualitative and quantitative data.
  • Working knowledge of cross cutting issues in Global Health and International Development programming, including sustainability, and gender and disability inclusion; with a demonstrated understanding of how to build tools that are sensitive and allow for disaggregation.
  • Creative thinker who is enthusiastic about new opportunities to strengthen our way of working.
  • Strong teamwork and collaboration, able to work with a range of stakeholders across all levels of the organization.
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, ability to tailor and present complex information to a range of audiences. Ability to communicate in French is desirable.
  • Supportive of Mercy Ships mission and vision and committed to its core values.
  • Demonstrates humility and a serving attitude in empowering others, showing a willingness to learn individually and as team.
  • Willingness and ability to travel internationally at specified points throughout the year.
  • Supportive of Mercy Ships mission and vision and committed to its core values.
  • Understand and apply servant leadership, work collaboratively with integrity and demonstrate accountability.

     

    Education & Experience

  • Higher postgraduate qualification in relevant discipline (essential). Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 5 years’ relevant experience will be considered.
  • A minimum of 5 years working within Monitoring and Evaluation (essential).
  • Demonstrated experience in designing and implementing monitoring and evaluation strategies for measuring impact and/or outcome of policy and advocacy efforts (essential).
  • Demonstrated experience in designing and delivering effective MEAL plans for institutionally funded grants (essential).
  • For the Regional MEL Manager – West & Francophone Africa, fluency in French is required.
  • Experience of working on MEL with projects implemented through local, regional, and international partners, including building partner capacities to collect data and analyze results.
  • Integrity to represent Mercy Ships’ values and mission across different professional, cultural, and faith contexts.

This is a paid position. To explore our many Mercy Ships volunteer opportunities, please visit us at: https://www.mercyships.org/get-involved/volunteer/

The application is open to all global citizens, please discard "right to work in the US question"