Background to GOAL
GOAL is an International NGO established in 1977, currently operational in 13 countries world-wide with an annual budget of €65m. GOAL is currently in its second year 2 of a 5 year strategic plan covering the period 2012-16, with an integrated programme model in complex operating environments. GOAL works in the following sectors: Health (including WASH, Nutrition and HIV), Livelihoods and Children’s Empowerment and Protection Programming.
GOAL’s work is a mixture of Development programming and Humanitarian response, we consider one of our keys strengths to be our adaptive and responsive approach to local contexts.
How the GOAL Global M&E Advisor Role is Evolving
GOAL has invested considerably in the development of monitoring and evaluation over the past number of years; from the beginning where the post involved championing organizational investment in the scale up of M&E, to leading the establishment of country programme M&E units, and driving monitoring systems strengthening particularly in results based development programmes with a view to both donor and community accountability.
Our vision for the future is that while it is critical that these elements of the role will be maintained, increasingly we see this role as providing leadership within the organization in the area of knowledge management and acting as a facilitator of organisational learning.
This exciting role will provide an opportunity to drive the organisation forward in the areas of new technology, stakeholder accountability strengthening and humanitarian M&E and a further increasing our organisations’ reputation with donors, civil society and academia best practice and standards in the sector.
Key objectives of this role
• Leadership/ Championing Investment in M&E: Consistent with GOAL’s value for money ethos, the M&E advisor must effectively communicate the necessity and value-added from on-going and increased investment in the M&E amid a competitive funding environment and competing organisational priorities.
• Strategic Planning: Playing a central role in providing senior management with an evidence basis for strategic planning.
• Human Resources: supporting the GOAL HR function to hire and retain a high quality of M&E personnel in field. Line management of M&E professionals in the field and HO.
• Coordination: acting as information cross roads in the organisation between programme technical team, head office senior management and M&E field staff, external consultants, GOAL finance team and academics. Including:
Leading discussions and resolution of M&E technical issues which span sectors technical team advisors, in order to support the integrated programme approach GOAL has adopted.
Updating senior management regularly on M&E and any organisational implications
Coordinating with internal audit regarding risks identified through M&E units
Evaluations: being the head office lead on technical review of country programme evaluations proposed, sharing experiences in similar evaluation designs from other country programmes, coordinating with relevant technical advisors, seeking opportunities to pilot innovative evaluation designs using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Specific tasks would include:
Review of all evaluation terms of reference from country programmes and in coordination with the head of Programme Quality, provide HQ technical feedback and approval
Leading procurement of consultants services to conduct external evaluations
Establishing new and maintaining existing mechanisms to enable country programme technical recommendations to be tracked through to implementation
Coordinate multi country thematic/sector specific evaluations Dissemination/ Sharing of learning:
Sharing internal best practices found through evaluations with other country programmes, senior management, technical team members and within the M&E team in GOAL.
Sharing relevant journal/publication articles with technical team members on best practice or innovations that relate to M&E in their sector (Health, WASH, HIV, Nutrition, Livelihoods) Networking/Representation with Donors:
Attending and presenting at conferences and creating networking opportunities for GOAL in the M&E sphere with a view to learning and also demonstrating GOAL’s work
Preparing and presenting evidence based presentations for donors, governments or other stakeholders to demonstrate GOAL’s work Research:
Identifying research needs/ opportunities in conjunction with country programmes, coordinating a very focused set of research priority topics per year
Linking to or maintaining relationships with research institutes/ universities
Requirements:
- A primary degree in Development or related field with Masters level degree indicating experience in operational research, action research or associated field.
- Minimum 3 (three) years practical field experience in emergency and development humanitarian programmes, with a particular focus on planning, monitoring and evaluation.
- Knowledge and experience in qualitative and quantitative evaluation methodologies
- Knowledge and experience of participatory approaches to rural development
- Experience in report writing and proposal generation and familiarity with key donor monitoring and evaluation guidelines.
- Experience and skills in staff training and management.
- Appreciation of the aims and objectives of GOAL.
- Adept in use of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SMART and/or Epi Info, STATA, SPSS
- Fluent in spoken and written English with strong analytical skills
Candidates must be legally entitled to work in Ireland at the time of application
