Senior Evidence and Insights Manager

• The successful candidate will be responsible for managing and supporting the MERL requirements across a portfolio of Girl Effect’s work. At the programme level, this will include support throughout the programme lifecycle during the design and implementation. The role also requires leading and managing evaluation and research work to respond to cross-cutting organisational needs whether looking at impact across many countries, applying a thematic lens such as on Sexual and reproductive health or looking at particular aspects of our Theory of Change. Knowledge Management, communication and learning will be an important part of the role, ensuring that evidence gathered is accessible, well understood and feeds into all aspects of Girl Effect’s work.

This is an exciting role that requires the successful candidate to work on a range of areas as follows:

Strategic

• Understand the business strategy and align research design and programmes to this, ensuring that our data and evidence can deliver against organisational objectives
• Support the development of research and evaluation strategies that address organisational needs and gaps
• Understand and develop MERL systems that respond to donor reporting requirements in close collaboration with Girl Effect’s country offices and senior leadership as well as donor counterparts
• Engage proactively in the development of proposals and design of programmes, supporting teams to develop theories of change, logframes and indicators for new programmes
• Support the development and communication of Girl Effect impact narratives based on established and emerging evidence and research from our programmes

Technical

• Confidence leading existing and developing innovative research methods (including digital data) that reflect social and behaviour change research strategies including the theories of change used for the design of these programmes
• Support the development of programme monitoring and evaluation frameworks and support country teams in quality assurance and regular reporting
• Commission and manage research agencies to conduct evaluations both cross cutting and country specific; write requests for proposals and Terms of Reference for studies; review research tools; advise on sampling strategies and methodologies; and review analysis and reporting
• Manage rigorous qualitative designs to provide insights both before and during implementation using a range of qualitative methods
• Manage large quantitative data sets (including social media datasets) and supervise complex statistical analysis (regression, SEM, factor analysis, segmentation, power calculations)
• Translate complex analysis and outputs into easy-to-digest formats for both internal and external stakeholders and to meet the needs of a variety of audiences

Capacity building

• Line management of a small team of E&I staff and more generally the capacity building and support of local E&I country team members
• Provide peer review and quality assurance support for all evidence and insight work both global and in country
• Design and run training sessions to meet skills gaps in the organisational evidence and insight function

Who you are

The successful candidate should be proactive and collaborative, you will be working with all departments within Girl Effect. You should also be flexible and responsive as some of the work will require quick turnaround. Specifically the candidate should:

• Have strategic know-how, and can spot opportunities for research work to inform organisational strategy and decision making, support the development of proposals, refine content, monitor and evaluate programmes
• Can implement creative and novel research approaches in their work, using creativity to solve complex challenges
• Be confident in designing complex quantitative and qualitative research projects to meet challenging briefs, particularly relating to measuring social and behaviour change
• Have experience and/or understanding of social and behavioural change theories of change and underlying research and evidence in this area
• Have digital experience and/or understanding in order to conduct digital research to optimize and evaluate digital products and content
• Have excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Have experience relaying research findings to varied audiences particularly to those without research expertise, bringing to life the results in a way that resonates with key stakeholders
• Shows excellent attention to detail and prioritises quality and rigor in their work
• Have great collaborative skills and experience working with a range of stakeholders to deliver on areas of work
• Have experience managing teams to complete multi-country research projects working with local agencies and partners to execute the work
• Have excellent organisation and project management skills, be able to develop and drive research processes and timelines and deliver to work plans
• Be able to manage budgets and design research programmes that provide excellent value for money
• Be versatile and flexible in managing moving and changing timelines and briefs, in a busy and challenging environment
• Have experience and or knowledge of developing and managing knowledge management systems to ensure easy access and sharing of research findings
• Have strong cultural awareness and sensitivity about the cultures within which Girl Effect operates
• Have commitment to realising the potential of girls and to the vision and values of Girl Effect

Desirable

Technical/theoretical knowledge in one or more of Girl Effect’s thematic areas (e.g. gender, sexual and reproductive health, mental health or economic empowerment)

• Experience working with digital analytics data (e.g. META analytics, Google Analytics etc)
• Background in evaluating programmes that relate to women and girls
• Experience in training and mentoring others in research methods, data analysis and reporting

Minimum experience required

• Substantial experience with a minimum 10 years in applied research and/or monitoring and evaluation in international development
• Postgraduate degree in social sciences, international development, gender or related field
• Experience working in international development or non-profit sector