Senior Manager of Evidence and Learning

iDE BACKGROUND

iDE is an international nonprofit dedicated to combating poverty in the developing world not through handouts, but by helping rural households access the tools and knowledge they need to increase their income and improve their health and well-being. iDE has 40 years of experience and programs in 11 countries in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia, and Central America.

iDE's vision, to catalyze the power of entrepreneurship to allow millions of people to lift themselves out of poverty, is ambitious and bold. We need a person who is, first and foremost, passionate about this vision.

iDE uses an integrated monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL) approach to measure our progress on delivering programs that center client needs and offer clear value for donors and stakeholders. With an emphasis on not only rigor but inclusive and ethical measurement, we are committed to incorporating participatory approaches in our MERL work and to converting our quantitative and qualitative evidence into actionable learnings. We generate monitoring and impact data to guide program decisions, aiming to leverage the best systems and tools to deliver the right information to the right people at the right time.

The Senior Manager of Evidence and Learning is responsible for the “L” in MERL. The MERL team formally incorporated learning in our department in early 2023, and we have been met with a lot of early successes and strong internal demand for learning activities and external interest in learning outputs. We are seeking a candidate who has already established their expertise in evidence-based learning skills, and will take the lead to build up iDE’s learning program from the initial foundation we have established. This position will work to expand iDE’s ability to learn and adapt from monitoring, evaluation, research, and other sources of knowledge we identify, which will help iDE continuously improve its work, broaden its evidence base, and share more powerful stories and thought leadership on its work. Reporting to the Global Director of MERL or their designee and as a member of iDE’s Headquarters team, the Senior Manager of Evidence and Learning will support efforts across these key areas:

• Manage project-level learning activities and strategies across iDE’s portfolio.
• Work collaboratively to establish organizational processes, guidance, and training around learning at both the project level and for strategic initiatives at the organizational level while enhancing iDE’s organizational culture of learning.
• Facilitate the creation, testing, and exploration of project and organizational theories of change to help systematize and promote the use of iDE’s empirical evidence base.
• Support the development and implementation of participatory qualitative methods at the organizational and project level that leverage ethical storytelling and other methods used to inform learning.

Requirements

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following:

Manage Project Learning Processes and Systems - 30%

• Guide project and country teams - or lead when needed by country teams - in the design and implementation of learning activities in MEL plans and/or learning agendas that create learning products, enable effective adaptive management approaches such as Pause & Reflect workshops, disseminate knowledge across different communication channels with internal and external stakeholders, and meet or exceed donor requirements. This includes working with all MERL team members to ensure learning activities are well-integrated with all monitoring, evaluation, and research activities in projects.
• Explore, coach and assist project/country teams on how to incorporate various sources of evidence for learning - including monitoring and evaluation data, research, informal assessments, stories, experience, and reflection - to promote effective adaptive management techniques.
• Provide business development support, including but not limited to learning-related budgeting guidance, developing learning agendas and playing a technical writing role, especially for learning-oriented concept notes and proposals.
• Create guides, templates, and other support materials on learning for the MERL Support Package.
• Lead on leveraging AI in ethical ways for MERL purposes that support projects from the proposal stage through endline MERL activities.

Establish Organizational Learning Processes and Systems - 30%

• Devize ways to capture, store, share and apply critical knowledge generated by MERL systems and processes to share best practices and learn from failure between country programs.
• Develop and maintain global MERL institutional memory, ensuring access to institutional knowledge and managing staff transitions effectively.
• As assigned, work with the CEO and the Executive Team to design the technical content of iDE’s annual SLAM meeting as a means to also best curate, capture, and disseminate learnings from this organizational-level event. Additionally, support the technical design and implementation of other organizational events with strong learning objectives to help different business units and country programs turn evidence into action to achieve organizational mandates.
• Create a set of principles, tools, training materials, and practices using MERL frameworks that enable staff to independently create knowledge, and to share, translate and apply what they know using tools and approaches such as After-Action Reviews. Then use these tools to coach and build the capacity of other business units to champion learning activities for their own strategic needs.
• Promote the capture and sharing of MERL-related expertise, good practices, and lessons learned across different country offices through various mediums, including leading on the Global MERL newsletter, the Inclusive MERL Community of Practice, and MERL-related conferences to help amplify iDE as a thought leader.
• Work with the Director of MERL Systems to make more efficient and effective use of country program and project data/KPIs by creating processes that take the evidence generated by eventual country-level feedback loops into action.
• Research, strategize and promote organizational norms and incentives that take evidence - of success, no effects, and failure - into action, embrace curiosity, engagement, collaboration, exploration, and the principles behind “failing fast” in ways that are in alignment with iDE’s working values.
• Apply our project and organizational-level learning processes to lead the design and implementation of organizational-level learning activities for the Moonshot.

Theory of Change Management - 20%

• Facilitate the creation, testing and exploration of project theories of change (ToCs) to allow for future adaptive management. This will be done through learning workshops that consider evidence, context, and alignment with organizational level ToCs.
• Support the Global Director of MERL with the development and maintenance of organizational level ToCs in collaboration with other iDE teams.
• Provide guidance and support to BD/FD and project teams in aligning ToCs in proposals with empirical evidence from past and present MERL activities, fostering an evidence-based approach to program design and management.
• Help systematize and promote the continued entry, upkeep, and use of the technical evidence base for organizational-level ToCs currently in Zotero to ensure its application in proposals, program design, and implementation.

Expand Qualitative and Participatory MERL Methods - 15%

• Develop learning and adaptive management processes that support participatory, ethical, and inclusive MERL methods to center local voice and expertise in iDE’s learnings and evidence.
• Further develop MERL guidance in collaboration with global MERL team members on generating new sources of qualitative evidence at iDE - such as stories, staff experiences, reflection - that will enable teams to better generate, curate, synthesize, and apply learnings based on findings.
• Develop processes to make iDE-generated evidence and learnings appropriately accessible to the communities where data has been collected, and for other critical stakeholders.

Learning - 5%

• Actively engage in professional development activities by attending relevant conferences, online courses and webinars, workshops and seminars, seeking mentorship opportunities, reading curated materials, brown bag sessions, engaging in peer coaching, joining learning collaboratives, participating in communities of practice—both internal and external to iDE— or any other learning activity that aligns with role and professional growth objectives.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Directly supervise future positions as designated by the Global Director of MERL
• Recruit and/or manage interns as needed and as available.
• Provide soft-management and mentorship to country-office MERL staff so that they may achieve their objectives, professional development goals, and feel fulfilled in their roles at iDE.

REQUIREMENTS:

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience and leadership potential in organizational learning, knowledge management, qualitative research, and business development efforts;
• Strong familiarity with learning agendas and project learning frameworks like Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA);
• Minimum Bachelor’s level degree in relevant field;
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and take initiative on projects;
• Familiarity with Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc.);
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate effectively across language and culture barriers;
• Overseas work experience preferred;
• Proficiency in one of the following languages preferred: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Khmer, Nepali, Vietnamese, Bengali, Malagasy
• Willing and able to travel in areas with minimal infrastructure or services;
• Strong knowledge of issues and opportunities in relevant sector and discipline areas to iDE;
• Alignment with iDE’s mission, values and approaches;
• Ability to multitask and pivot to respond to time-sensitive requests and needs when required;
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and take initiative on projects;

Behaviors and Values

• Demonstrates empathy, humility, authenticity, and respect in the workplace
• Willingness to ask questions and seek feedback
• Excellent problem-solving and creative thinking abilities
• Ability to work independently and prioritize effectively
• Desire to work in fast-paced environment and across multiple time zones and languages
• Excellent verbal, intercultural and interpersonal communication skills
• Enthusiastic with a sincere interest in the mission of the organization

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those the employee encounters while performing the functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Work is performed primarily in an office environment
• Occasional domestic and international travel may be required
• Normally required to see at far and close range, and communicate verbally through listening and speaking
• Frequently required to sit, use hands and fingers to handle and operate objects, devices and controls. Occasionally required to walk, reach with arms, lift and/or move up to 25 pounds
• Regularly operates telephone, computer, software and printer, copy machine, and similar office machines.

Benefits

POSITION TYPE/EXPECTED HOURS OF WORK

This is a full-time, exempt position. Variable work hours are required as job duties demand.

TRAVEL

Travel both international and domestic, to areas with minimum physical comforts may be required, up to 20% as appropriate to carry out duties. A valid passport is required at all times.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Other:

• Equipment used: all office equipment
• Access stairs, elevator
• International Travel
• Variable Work Hours/Shifts

DIVERSITY STATEMENT:

iDE takes pride in our talented and diverse workforce. Minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. Hiring, promotion, and compensation of employees are conducted without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, or age.

Other:

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Location: Any of the following locations with existing right to work: United States (Arizona, Colorado, California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington, Washington D.C), Ghana, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Zambia, Honduras, United Kingdom