Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Specialist [PR0004A]

ProSidian Seeks a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Specialist (Time and Materials) in Mid Atlantic Washington Metropolitan Area (Northern Virginia | Washington DC | Maryland) to support an engagement for an independent agency of the United States Federal Govt. that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance.  ProSidian Team Members shall provide technical, management and program support services and deliverables supporting an international Economic Growth, Education and Environment (E3) Local Sustainability Institutional Support Contract (LS-ISC).  Under this contract, The ProSidian Engagement Team provides staffing, institutional, operational, technical, and administrative support to “E3/LS” present and future programs, including long-term technical assistance (LTTA) and short-term technical assistance (STTA).  ProSidian must provide these services in support of the E3/LS vision, development objective, and three Practice Areas (locally-led development | volunteerism | cooperative development).

MEL Specialist Candidates shall work to support requirements for PR0004 Monitoring, Evaluation, And Learning (MEL) Support and provide innovative approaches and build on best practices to create the foundation for and to promote civilian foreign aid and development assistance.  Working alongside global partners, public institutions, the private sector, and civil society, help build more effective, accountable, and responsive institutions and policies.  The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Specialist position works to increase the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of selected foreign aid and development assistance projects.

This will be achieved by strengthening systems to improve the delivery of services in three practice areas: (1) technical leadership, where locally led approaches to development are put to work in Agency programs and USG policies and strategies; (2) evidence and learning, where the Agency builds evidence for locally owned and sustained development through research, innovation, and evaluations; and (3) agency policy, capacity, and culture, where Agency staff and leadership are champions and practitioners of locally led approaches through uptake of new knowledge, skills, and mindsets.  The focus shall be to increase the efficiency of key governance operations (with a focus on Public Financial Management [PFM] and procurement, as well as monitoring and evaluation); increasing government’s responsiveness to citizen needs and priorities; and improving government and civil society capacity to manage conflict.

The Monitoring, Evaluation And Learning (MEL)  Specialist will be responsible for leading and managing the MEL activities for various foreign aid and development assistance projects.  S/he will establish systems for gathering, reporting and analyzing performance data for impact and sustainability of project implementation.  Candidate should possess strong management, administrative and communication skills (including report writing).

• Lead Project’s Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) knowledge management and capacity building objectives. This includes the design and implementation of a robust results, Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (PMEP), and Knowledge Management Framework to aggregate and disseminate useful and actionable information based on sound evidence generated from activities.
• Coordinate and manage all Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) tasks and deliverables for various foreign aid and development assistance projects.
• Establish systems for gathering, analyzing, and reporting performance data for impact and sustainability of project implementation.
• Coordinate and manage all Monitoring, Evaluation And Learning (MEL)  tasks and deliverables for various foreign aid and development assistance projects and ensure that all required reports and documentation for various foreign aid and development assistance project’s internal management systems and for external reporting are produced according to Agency guidelines.
• Oversee data collection processes and data quality; develops documentation of best practices; and facilitating the use of data to drive program design and decision making in support of a Collaborating, Learning, and Adaptive (CLA) approach to project implementation
• Facilitate learning from M&E findings with implementation teams and other relevant stakeholders. This could include facilitating regular reflection sessions both within various foreign aid and development assistance projects team and with the implementation partners to respond to evaluation findings where appropriate.
• Provide technical assistance to foreign aid and development assistance partners as required on monitoring evaluation systems capacity building and assessments
• Synthesize and analyze lessons to determine policy implications, distil and articulate best fit innovations for dissemination with community of practice for phased approach to project implementation
• Facilitate incorporation of research design and methodologies in the application of learning to project design and management.
• Directly supervise and mentor project M&E/knowledge management staff.  Build internal project staff capacity to implement Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) strategy.