MEAL Advisor

MEAL Advisor, Full-Time, Toronto

(This position is covered under CUPE Bargaining Unit )

Save the Children Canada is a member of Save the Children International, a federation that works in more than 119 countries worldwide delivering programs focused on health and nutrition, education, child protection, child poverty, humanitarian response, and child rights governance. As the world’s leading independent organization for children, Save the Children’s vision is a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development, and participation. We live our values every day– Accountability, Ambition, Collaboration, Creativity and Integrity.

The main purpose of this position is to provide MEAL (monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning) support across a portfolio of international projects. The MEAL Advisor is expected to provide technical inputs and guidance across the project life cycle, from proposal development, design, through monitoring and evaluation. The Advisor will distill learnings from their project portfolio to produce programming guidance, lessons learned and best practices. In addition, the MEAL Advisor will stay abreast of industry developments and maintain relationships with key players in the thematic space.

Responsibilities include (but are not limited to):

• Provide high quality technical assistance to program delivery teams, building a solid evidence base to support learning and progressing innovations to scale.

• Maintain effective relationships and collaboration with MEAL staff in Country Offices, enabling timely and quality MEAL deliverables.

• In coordination with Project Managers, review project deliverables and donor reports from a MEAL perspective.

• Contribute to the development, dissemination, and monitoring of program quality tools including supporting program baselines, midterms and evaluations, and research initiatives.

• Support new project start-up, leveraging technical expertise and learnings from Save the Children projects to develop Logic Models and Performance Measurement Frameworks (indicators) in partnership with other technical advisers and Country Offices.

• Support the business development team in the design of new funding proposals, leveraging technical expertise and learnings from Save the Children projects to develop Logic Models and indicators in partnership with other technical advisers, Country Offices and Business Development teams.

• Support development and implementation of MEAL technical workshops to build capacity of Country Offices and partners to design and implement quality programs.

• Support Country Offices in the design, testing, and evaluation of innovations to advance programming.

• Monitor developments in the sector and field to develop and refine program models and identify new research opportunities.

Qualifications & Competencies (include but are not limited to):

• Completion of a degree (BA or equivalent) in International Development or related field.

• Graduate certificate or diploma in Statistics.

• Graduate certificate or diploma in Monitoring and Evaluation.

• Minimum 5 years of experience working in a humanitarian or development agency, specifically in the monitoring and evaluation domain.

• Strong knowledge of Results-Based Management (RBM) approach, with significant experience in developing and overseeing Logic Models and Performance Management Frameworks.

• Fluency in French is considered a strong asset.

• Demonstrated experience in conducting baseline, midterm and endline evaluations for development and humanitarian programs.

• Strong skills in quantitative and qualitative analysis, including gender-based analysis and the development of data collection tools (e.g. surveys, focus groups, etc.).

• Strong report writing skills across a range of styles; previous experience with GAC reports an asset.

• Excellent data analysis skills in SPSS, Excel and other statistical packages is required.

• Research or work experience in statistical methods considered a strong asset.

• Direct experience working in developing countries and/or within consortium projects.

• Well-developed organizational skills; ability to manage multiple tasks.

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

• Comfortable working independently with little supervision.

• Ability to travel internationally, to complex environments, on occasional basis and potentially for extended periods of time.

• Adhere to Save the Children’s Child Safeguarding policy and protocols.

• Police check vulnerable sector screening.