POSITION TITLE: Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL), USDA McGovern Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program

Position Description:

Winrock International is recruiting applicants for the position of Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) for an anticipated $20 million USDA-funded McGovern Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition program in Nepal. This results-oriented program is focused on increasing literacy and quality education; reducing hunger and improving nutrition among primary school-aged students (especially girls), pregnant and lactating women, and children under five years old in Nepal. In addition to concentrating on the production, procurement, storage and administration of nutritional resources, this project will include WASH, maternal health, nutritional education and more. The Director of MERL will lead the development and oversight of the MERL system to ensure data quality and collaborative learning and adaptation throughout implementation.

The position is contingent upon receipt of donor funding.

Responsibilities:

• Provide technical leadership for M&E to the project team to ensure USDA M&E requirements are met on timely basis and guides data collection, management of the data, and display of the results – based on both quantitative and qualitative inputs. This includes data analysis, reporting, and dissemination, building capacity of M&E and technical staff in these areas, and ensuring compliance

• Develop efficient and accurate data collection and analysis system that includes efficient processes for collecting and analyzing data and ensuring data quality

• Lead knowledge sharing activities within project, with USDA, other implementing partners, and with target countries’ governments

• Lead the evaluation efforts of the project, from the design stage to findings sharing and use

• Build the capacity of the project team in MEL

• Participate in Winrock International’s Community of Practice

• Collaborate with communications team to visualize important findings

Qualifications and background:

• Master’s level degree required, in social sciences, such as statistics, public health, public policy, economics or a related field, and/or specialized training/certification in monitoring & evaluation

Work Experience:

• Minimum of seven years’ experience managing and implementing complex MEL systems for international development projects, preferably with USDA

• Experience managing large M&E databases and conducting timely data analysis and developing reports. SQL database experience preferred

• Experience in both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis

• Experience managing and developing surveys required

• Experience with capacity building in MEL required

• Experience with mobile data collection strongly preferred

• Experience with tools and approaches for monitoring watershed management required

• Familiarity with USAID M&E requirements strongly preferred

• Proven record of designing and implementing data collection tools including surveys

• Familiarity with emerging trends in MEL for WASH, nutrition, education, maternal health especially in the context of Asia

Skills:

• Strong skills on training design and facilitation

• Good command of written and oral English

• Proficiency in word processing, database management, statistical analysis, survey, and presentation software (Microsoft)