Director ( Learning, Evaluation, and Accountability Department)

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Director, Oxfam America, Learning, Evaluation, and Accountability Department

TITLE: Director

REPORTS TO: Vice President, Programs

LOCATION: Boston

DEPARTMENT: Learning, Evaluation, and Accountability Department (LEAD)

COORDINATES WITH: Oxfam America’s (OA) regional leadership team, senior management in Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns division, Resource Development and Communications division and the Humanitarian Response department.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES: Provides direct supervision to senior monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) advisors and technical oversight and direction to MEL staff based in OA’s regional offices.

PURPOSE OF POSITION:
• To ensure that OA’s MEL policies and systems meet or exceed acknowledged international good practices for rights-based approaches to development and humanitarian work.
• To provide leadership for methodological innovation, particularly regarding impact assessment on root causes of poverty and social injustice.
• To lead OA’s relationship with the Oxfam International (OI) MEL Network.
• To establish OA as a thought and practice leader among international NGOs in MEL standards and to work closely with the Chief Operating Officer and Communications staff, for Board and public accountability and constituency building purposes.
• The position has a strong focus on staff coaching, mentoring, and career development in MEL systems and practices.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

MEL Policy and System Effectiveness (25-30% effort):
Orchestrate participatory decision-making processes to establish and/or continuously improve MEL policy, systems, and standard practices. Advocate for and articulate MEL policies and practices that empower people, partners, and staff; in a simple, focused and effective manner. Build approaches that facilitate organizational learning from program data and help inculcate a culture of critical inquiry, evidence-based learning and decision making.

Matrix and Team Management (35-45% of effort):
Achieve results with and through others. Implement dotted line relationships with MEL staff and line managers outside of LEAD, engaging in performance planning, management, coaching, and mentoring. Facilitate conflict and problem resolution between dotted line staff and line managers, when needed. Coordinate plans and priorities with regional staff and external research, monitoring, and evaluation consultants and/or long-term partner institutions.

Public and Board Accountability (10-20% of effort):
Collaborate with program staff, VP Programs, and Chief Operating Officer to produce annual progress reports on field program successes, challenges, and learning. Collaborate with communications staff on the production of OA’s Annual Report and in making evaluative information available on the OA public website.

Oxfam International MEL Network Participation and Influence (10-15% of effort):
Influence Oxfam International norms, standards, and mental models about high quality MEL. Participate in and contribute to products and processes agreed to by the MEL network. Ensure that performance data from OA’s work is provided to the Oxfam International Secretariat’s MEL Coordinator.

EXPECTATIONS FOR THE POSITION:
• Stay abreast of professional standards, trends and issues affecting responsibilities, and demonstrate continuous learning
• S/he will work effectively and collaboratively in support of building a team-based culture of work, will perform all duties appropriately for a multi-cultural environment, treating all persons with dignity and respect, and will be familiar with and committed to Oxfam America mission and goals.
• Periodic travel will be required up to 10-20% of time.
• Participate wisely in social media, upholding Oxfam’s professional standing and brand.
• Engage in participatory, consensus seeking, and context-sensitive leadership and management

QUALIFICATIONS:

Required:

Education:
• Masters degree in a field relevant to monitoring, evaluation, learning, and accountability in international development.

Experience and Core Competencies:

• Minimum 10 years of progressively senior experience in international development, including five years of hands-on work in projects and programs in developing countries, management of staff and teams, and demonstrated ability to engage with and influence in a global environment.
• Thorough knowledge and understanding of MEL standards and requirements of major philanthropic, governmental, multilateral donors.
• Demonstrated experience in developing participatory MEL systems based on mixed method approaches and implementing “utilization-focused” evaluation.
• Firm understanding of the differences and similarities of rights-based and needs-based approaches to poverty eradication and social justice
• Passion for staff and team management/development, coaching, mentoring, and building authority and influence through networks, coalitions, and collective action, including demonstrated abilities in negotiation and conflict prevention, resolution, and management in organizational context
• Systems thinking, and skills in identifying leverage points for change
• Creative and innovative in measuring and evaluating hard-to-measure phenomena, and willingness to experiment and learn with others in the process
• Adept at synthesizing large amounts of data and information, and distilling this in ways that enable practical action
• Able to communicate complex ideas in simple, direct ways so that management, staff, and partners can engage in high quality MEL processes
• Proven strategic and operational planning and budgeting skills
• Demonstrated proficiency with the applications in Microsoft Office and Internet.

Preferred:
• Advanced degree specifically in monitoring and evaluation, organizational learning, or one that strongly emphasized social science research methods
• Knowledge of or fluency in any of the languages of the regions in which OA works. (Spanish, French or Arabic)
• Ability to use Web 2.0 technology for communication and learning purposes
• Competent in statistics and statistical software packages, such as STATA or SPSS+
• Competent in a qualitative software package, such as NUDIST or ATLAS TI
• Strong facilitation/training skills and public presentation skills

Apply to this position online via:
http://hire.jobvite.com/j/?aj=o37JVfwy&s=DevNetJobs  

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