Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager

IRC Background:  The mission of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is to help people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover and gain control of their future. Founded in 1933, the IRC has a presence in over 40 countries and 27 offices in the United States; the IRC leads the way from harm to home. IRC opened an office in Seattle in 1976 and provides a continuum of services including intensive case management, employment and economic empowerment services, immigration assistance, health and wellness programming, and education support to refugee and immigrant families in Washington State. IRC Washington is committed to providing trauma-informed, equitable, and accessible services and maintaining and evolving a diverse, inclusive, and supportive workplace.

Job Overview:

As part of IRC’s Strategy 100, IRC’s Resettlement, Asylum, and Integration Programs Department will continue and expand on its commitment to delivering impactful programs and services, focusing on raising program quality through giving clients greater influence over program design and delivery, better using research and other evidence, powering decisions with data, and more agile and impactful, outcomes-focused program design.  The Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager will support the design of evaluable, data-driven, client informed programs and lead development, implementation, and monitoring of strategies to strengthen monitoring, evaluation, and learning across the project cycle.

Major Responsibilities:

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning leadership, capacity building, and culture change

• Collaboration with program and office leadership, and the Research, Analysis, and Learning team, in assessing MEL capacity and practices.
•  Working with office leadership and program staff to develop and implement a strategy, aligned with IRC standards, to build upon and sustain MEL capacity and practices, ensuring use of the IRC’s Outcomes and Evidence Framework, a GEDI informed approach to program design and M&E planning; and establishment of program routines that support M&E planning, data analysis and use, and learning.
•  Supervising interns and volunteers with DMEL related job responsibilities.

Provision of hand-on MEL technical assistance throughout the project cycle

• Supporting program staff in the design of evaluable programs and projects that are outcome-focused, client responsive, and informed by learning, research evidence, and data--including data from client needs assessments and intersectional context analysis.  Reviewing, and when needed coordinating development of, program and project theories of change.
•  Supporting program staff in the development of M&E plans (including logframes), and where relevant, research plans, that meet organizational standards and facilitate learning and client-responsive, GEDI-informed, data-driven service delivery. 
•  Supporting program staff in the GEDI informed design and implementation of data collection tools, including tools to capture client feedback.
•  Supporting program staff in developing and implementing strategies to close client feedback loop (i.e reporting back action taken based on feedback).
•  Supporting donor reporting as needed.
•  Supporting teams in setting up projects in ETO and other relevant databases.
•  Data quality assurance—including ensuring quality of core indicator data, conducting data quality audits when needed.
•  Leading MEL for strategic projects.
•  Supporting program staff with data analysis and action planning and capture of lessons learned.
•  Facilitating or supporting program staff with M&E planning with partner
•  Coordinating multi-project/sector M&E initiatives to advance office and organizational priorities. Examples include:

o   Implementation of standardized knowledge management procedures to make lessons learned available to IRC colleagues to inform program/project design and M&E.

o   Development and implementation of cross-cutting tools and processes to collect, analyze, and use client feedback data

o   Leading intersectional assessment of client needs and preferences and context, and supporting program staff in developing action plans based on findings

• Coordinate project implementation and lessons learned meetings, ensuring the RAI Project Database is updated.

Coordinating internal reporting and monitoring progress of the office’s Strategic Action Plan

• Monitoring & reporting progress of the SAP implementation plan
•  Coordinating office response to QSR and annual stats data requests

Provide thought leadership to advance monitoring, evaluation, and learning at the global level:

• Piloting and inputting recommendations, learning, and knowledge into global MEL related tools and processes.
•  Active participation in RAI’s MEL working group and community of practice

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to:  Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager

Indirect Reporting:  Program

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

Internal: other IRC Seattle program teams, IRC Seattle Finance and Operations teams, IRC Seattle Development, External Communications, and Volunteer support teams, Mental Health Technical Adviser, Evidence-based intervention trainers