Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager

Pact is an international nonprofit that works in nearly 40 countries building solutions for human development that are evidence-based, data-driven and owned by the communities we serve. Founded in 1971, Pact works with partners to build resilience, improve accountability, and strengthen knowledge and skills for sustainable social impact.

Department Programs - Pact strives for a world where all people are heard, capable, and vibrant. The Programs Team helps realize this objective by bridging program management, technical support, and business development, enabling Pact to achieve its global strategy. We ensure program excellence through continuous learning, monitoring and evaluation and provide organizational and industry-wide thought leadership by leveraging a complementary set of cross-functional, multi-disciplinary skills, expertise, and experiences. The Programs team: influences progressive change through the development and implementation of global and regional strategies and business plans; supports advancement of innovative solutions; pursues new business opportunities; and drives effective internal and external engagement to maximize Pact’s impact across the globe. Across all aspects of its role, the Programs Department adheres to and promotes a culture of inclusion, accountability, and respect.

Position Overview

Pact seeks a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Manager for the USAID/RDMA-funded “Empowering the Truth Tellers: Asia Investigative Reporting Network Activity” (AIR Network) project, an Associate Award under the Civil Society and Media-Strengthened Together and Advancing in New Directions (CSM-STAND) leader with associates award. AIR Network aims to strengthen capacity, networking and collaboration among Asian investigative journalists and newsrooms that produce cross-border investigative reports of regional and global importance on transborder crime and corruption. The geographic scope of this program includes the countries of Southeast Asia (including Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines) and will take place over a period of five years.

The MEL Manager will provide strategic guidance, vision, and management for successful monitoring, evaluation and learning of the AIR Network in keeping with the principles of collaboration, learning, and adaptation as outlined in the draft Annual MEL Plan. They will lead in the development, implementation, and revision of the Annual MEL Plan. They will oversee the overall approach and all MEL activities, provide technical direction and support, ensure their functional integration across the Activity objectives and subawards, ensure the accurate and compelling reporting of results for AIR Network activities, and ensure the Activity aligns with Pact’s quality standards for MEL in close coordination with Pact’s Learning, Evidence, and Impact (LEAP) Team based in Washington, DC. The MEL Manage is also responsible for designing and managing contracts for research and learning activities. This position is based in Bangkok, Thailand.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development and maintenance of MEL systems including MEL plan, performance indicators, data collection & reporting tools, data management systems and standard operating procedures (data quality management plan) in collaboration with the Learning, Evidence and Impact (LEAP) team.
• Integrate technology in implementation of MEL activities for improving quality and availability of data for decision making.
• Manage evaluations including securing ethical approvals from local IRB, designing and executing internal baseline, midterm and endline assessments as appropriate, and support the implementation of learning activities, with Pact’s DC LEAP Team.
• Coordinate any external evaluation processes, including drafting evaluation ToR and selection of firm, and managing the consultants in alignment with award.
• Oversee data collection, collation, storage, analysis, and reporting, ensuring that data is of high quality and audit worthy.
• Supervise other M&E staff and oversee consortium partners’ compliance with MEL system.
• Ensure appropriate training, mentoring and supportive supervision of all partners in developing and operationalizing monitoring and evaluation procedures, and data quality management practices in alignment with the MELP.
• Integrate Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA)) into project workplan for evidence-based practice including leading the collection, analysis, documentation, dissemination and use of best practices and lessons learned.
• Conduct and manage Routine Data Quality Assessments (RDQA); ensuring implementation of corrective actions to improve data quality and accountability of staff and partners.
• Lead the project (indicator) performance reporting process including donor reporting, Pact’s Global Indicators and organizational KPI reporting through imPact (Pact’s instance of DHIS2).
• Responsible for the data analysis, writing, and review of the results and learning sections of program reports in collaboration with program staff, before submission to donor.
• Ensure consortium partners’ compliance with internal data quality requirements and timely submissions for reporting.
• Establish and maintain strategic stakeholders’ relationships to promote collaboration, coordination and information sharing for effective National integrated health services delivery.
• Participate in Pact’s global Community of Practice of M&E professionals to share lessons via quarterly meetings.
• Contribute to Pact’s thought leadership by representing Pact at relevant conferences and supporting Pact’s portfolio learning agendas, as appropriate, through the project MEL plan.
• Work closely with Pact’s LEAP team to ensure the project’s MEL systems and outputs meet minimum quality standards.
• Other tasks as assigned.

  Basic Requirements

  • Master’s; social science, international development, public health, evaluation, statistics, or economics
  • At least seven years of experience in designing and implementing M&E activities; previous M&E experience on USAID-funded programs required.
  • Knowledge of and experience with key democracy, human rights, governance programming indicators and USAID data collection and reporting systems.
  • Experience with ‘full cycle’ M&E (including design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation) from project start-up through close out activities.
  • Knowledge of, and experience with, USAID’s collaborating, adapting, and learning (CLA) approaches.
  • Demonstrated relevant technical skills in analyzing and interpreting quantitative and qualitative data, and packaging the findings
  • Must have professional fluency in written and spoken English. Any regional language skills are preferred, but not required. Knowledge of the political, social, and economic context of Southeast Asia.
  • Extensive knowledge of reporting procedures, including USAID, best practices, guidelines, and tools for monitoring, evaluation and learning, including impact evaluation.
  • Demonstrated to work well on team and with various partner organizations. Previous management and supervision experience required.
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office programs, i.e., Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc., and the ability to use various commercially available statistical and data visualization software programs e.g. STATA, R, PowerBI, Tableau.

    Preferred Qualifications

    • Thai nationals strongly encouraged to apply.