Senior Monitoring, Evaluation ad Learning (MEL) Officer

Job overview

Becoming the Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Officer at the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women is a fantastic opportunity to be part of lasting progress for women across the globe, ultimately contributing to a fairer, more equal, more prosperous world.

As the Senior MEL Officer in the MEL team, you will support the Head of Impact & Learning and the MEL Manager, as well as the Programmes & Impact department and wider team, to measure and analyse the quality and impact of our programming. You’ll use your strong organisation skills, experience in data collection and analysis, and ability to identify key trends and impact in our work. You will also work with colleagues across the organisation to ensure that our impact and expertise in working with women entrepreneurs is measured and communicated accurately and effectively to our Board of Trustees and external stakeholders.

Department purpose

This role sits within the Programmes & Impact department, which is responsible for the development and delivery of our programmes and services, ensuring they are delivered to a high quality, remain responsive to women entrepreneurs’ needs and have demonstrable impact.

The department is divided into three teams: Entrepreneurship, which is responsible for delivery of services such as HerVenture and the four ‘Road to’ programmes, Mentoring, which is responsible for development and delivery of the Mentoring Women in Business programme, and MEL, which is responsible for quality impact measurement, analysis and research.

Key responsibilities

Main obligations

Support the development and implementation of MEL systems and tools across Mentoring and Entrepreneurship projects, providing the Foundation with the necessary information to understand our impact and inform programme improvements.

Support in collection and analysis of organisational KPIs and provide overall operational support for the MEL team.

Specific responsibilities

• Programme Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning
• Ensure up-to-date programme monitoring and evaluation materials (surveys, data collection tools and theoretical frameworks) are in place for existing programmes as well as those that are in development.
• In collaboration with colleagues in the Mentoring and Entrepreneurship teams, execute the annual calendar of programme and partner surveys, including uploading and testing the surveys.
• Develop analysis plans aligned to key research questions, programme goals and logical frameworks.
• Collect, clean and analyse quantitative and qualitative programme data aligned to programme goals, logical frameworks, organisational KPIs, and general summaries of findings.
• Collaborate with colleagues on the Mentoring and Entrepreneurship teams to support dissemination of programme findings and cross-site trends internally and externally.
• Research and Evaluation
• Provide administrative, logistical and analytical support for programme evaluation and in-country data collection.
• Conduct desk research to support programme implementation and/or provide background and context for research and evaluation findings.
• Collect, clean and analyse data for Foundation-led or commissioned research and evaluations.
• Support development of tools and protocols for qualitative data collection, and conduct remote and in-country fieldwork, as needed.

Project management and administration

• Attend and document monthly MEL meetings with colleagues in the Entrepreneurship and Mentoring teams.
• Support drafting internal and external reports to donors and in-country partners sharing programme outcomes and recommendations.
• Provide administrative support to the MEL team to organise and archive programme data, and anonymise PII in accordance with GDPR, under the direction of the MEL Manager.
• Maintain MEL data storage systems, including an organised library of accessible data collection tools and a database of vetted survey questions.
• Maintain workplans for projects and workstreams (e.g. survey or reporting cycles).
• Provide cross-departmental support and advisory for using data
• Maintain and enhance the resources available on the MEL workspace and act as first responder to assigned data requests from other departments.
• Update slides, one-pagers and other resources describing programme reach and impact for use by the Partnerships team and others.

Other responsibilities

• Administrative support for the MEL team as needed, e.g., calendars, travel, agendas, record management.
• Ad hoc support to Chief Operating Officer in data collection and analysis, organisational and board reporting and dashboards.
• Work to protect and enhance the reputation of the Foundation, seeking opportunities to expand and promote awareness of the Foundation’s work.
• Ensure all people are treated with respect, compassion, justice and trust in the course of their work, thereby promoting the Foundation’s core values.
• Be familiar with and adhere to the Foundation’s policies and procedures.
• Other responsibilities may be added in line with experience and programme requirements.
• Person specification
• All applicants should already have the right to work in the UK. The Foundation does not offer sponsorship at this time.

Essential criteria

• Two or more years of experience working in MEL, ideally related to international development.
• Experience with MEL tools and approaches for qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, including survey design and implementation, semi-structured interviews, focus groups and outcome harvesting.
• Good skills in MS Excel, PowerPoint and SurveyMonkey (or other survey tools such as Kobo Toolbox or Google Forms).
• Data collection, storage, analysis, and visualisation skills.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment and able to juggle competing priorities while maintaining a meticulous attention to detail.
• Ability to develop a clear narrative from data, pitched at an appropriate level for the target audience, and to develop evidence-based recommendations.
• Motivated to expand MEL knowledge and skills, proactively identifying skill gaps and seeking opportunities for training, coaching and development.
• Ability to solicit and integrate feedback into work products and incorporate learning into future work.
• Ability to excel in a collaborative environment, working within and across teams.

Desirable criteria

• Understanding of data collection challenges in low and middle income countries.
• Understanding of GDPR legislation and its application to MEL.
• Project or programme management experience.
• Basic understanding of descriptive and inferential statistics and one or more statistical packages such as SPSS, SAS, Strata or R.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Teams (or other project management/collaborative software) and Google open source suite of programmes, including Forms.
• Experience living and/or working in a low or middle income country.
• Understanding of key issues in women’s economic empowerment, entrepreneurship, and of gender and development.
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally.