Senior MEL Associate

Job Summary:

Every employee of IRI is responsible for carrying out the Mission of IRI and demonstrating the Core Values in their day-to-day operations. The Core Values, which are IRI’s foundational building blocks include:

• Excellence- We believe in quality results delivered by investing in people.
• Freedom- We believe in exploration and experimentation to be agile and responsive. Respect- We believe in trust, empathy and empowering people.
• Teamwork- We believe in diversity, inclusion and the power of global collaboration.
• Transparency- We believe in open communication and clear decision-making.
• Accountability- We believe in personal responsibility as the foundation of success.

Evidence and Learning Practice (ELP)  

ELP is responsible for providing technical support for IRI’s monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) efforts, led by two sub teams, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Team and the Evaluation and Research (E&R) team. The M&E team advises and assists program staff with MEL related aspects of proposal development, project start up, project implementation (including monitoring, learning, and evaluations) and close out. The E&R Team leads thematic, cross-cutting or donor priority evaluation and research, produces thematic technical guidance to help teams understand sound program design principles and tests program theories that result in more innovative and effective projects. Together, ELP helps program teams create and implement better projects informed by IRI’s evidence base.  

The Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Associate will be responsible for providing MEL and administrative support, as part of the IRI M&E team, to IRI program staff IRI’s program staff on program design, performance monitoring, evaluation, and research.

This is a hybrid role based in Washington, DC.

Position Requirements

• Undergraduate degree in political science, international relations, or related field.
• 1-3 years of experience in MEL, international development, or related field.
• Proficiency in Spanish language required, other languages is a plus.
• Strong organizational skills, ability to multi-task, and attention to detail required.
• Experience with Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint required. Intermediate to advanced Excel skills preferred.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Strong ability to write clearly, succinctly and logically.
• Familiarity with common MEL elements such as: logic models, theories of change, performance monitoring plans and indicator matrices.
• Experience drafting interview protocols, surveys, indicator tables and other MEL documents required.
• Experience with leading portions of performance evaluations, including independently designing data collection tools, collecting and analyzing data for an evaluation question/other significant portion of evaluations preferred.
• Ability to understand and analyze qualitative and quantitative data.
• Familiarity with funder MEL policies and requirements and ability to help program staff understand and apply them appropriately is a plus.
• Exposure to research and statistics, including qualitative sampling techniques and MEL methods.
• Willingness to lead or co-leading MEL training.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

• Provides general support to ELP, including administrative support, developing, and tracking work plans, monitoring deadlines and deliverables, database-related support and other relevant project-related elements.
• Assists with interview transcriptions and data cleaning.
• Drafts data collection tools, such as interview protocols and surveys.
• Conducts basic qualitative and quantitative data analysis and contributes to reports.
• Reviews MEL elements of proposals, indicator tables and reports.
• Supports MEL training and MEL capacity building of program staff by providing logistical and facilitation support during ELP’s trainings, managing ELP’s training calendar and helping draft and update related deliverables such as MEL training guides, guidance notes and similar tools and handouts.
• Maintains internal SharePoint site and file system.
• Supports data quality audit processes, conducts project document and indicator data review for quality issues, including reviewing database submissions.
• Drafts externally facing outreach materials such as blogs, tweets, presentations, etc.
• Backstops members of the ELP team as needed.
• Supports other staff in the Center for Global Impact to reach programmatic objectives and deliverables.
• Occasional travel to difficult locations outside the U.S. may be required.