Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) Specialist

About Us:

Karandaaz believes that every Pakistani deserves to be Financially Included and Economically Empowered. Our Mission at Karandaaz is to Foster economic growth and create jobs through financial inclusion of unbanked individuals and unserved enterprises.

Karandaaz Pakistan is a not-for-profit organization, based out of Islamabad, registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan under Section 42 of the Companies Act 2017. We are supported by Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). Karandaaz is governed by an eminent board who set the strategy of the organization and steer it towards achievement of its objectives.

Position Summary:

The MEL function at Karandaaz Pakistan is committed to advancing evidence-based learning to better assess our impact and monitor results to continuously improve our programs. We are seeking an experienced, skilled, and enthusiastic MEL specialist to play a key role in advancing MEL across the organization. The Karandaaz MEL team has a specific focus on Learning and endeavors to ensure that program teams regularly adjust and improve project execution through a continuous feedback cycle incorporated within our work.

Job Responsibilities:

MEL specialist will be working in following functional areas;

1.Evaluations and Assessments (40%): This is the most technical and critical area of the function and the MEL specialist is required to:

• Collaborate and coordinate across different workstreams of the organization to identify projects and investments for different MEL interventions.
• Design and deliver baseline, process and impact evaluations, data quality assessments, and case studies, independently and through third-parties. This will involve designing the evaluation/assessment in line with mutual objectives of MEL and the proramme teams, and either executing these projects in-house or through an independent consultant. As a result, developing budgets and coordination with support teams is essential for engaging relevant resources.
• Manage outsourced MEL consultants and firms to ensure quality and timeliness of deliverables – this also includes following processes to onboard third-party suppliers, contract management and processing payments upon satisfactory completion of the deliverables. The MEL specialist is expected to be in close coordination with consultants, engaging in all processes from instrument design, to data collection and the development of the final report.
• Disseminate findings of the evaluations and assessments through leading workshops and presentations with internal and external stakeholders.

2. Monitoring of Portfolio and Results (25%): The MEL specialist is required to:

• Collaborate and coordinate across different workstreams to identify projects and investments for program implementation monitoring.
• Conduct program implementation visit/ spot checks to a select program portfolio and develop a detailed progress monitoring report that includes an assessment of the project vis-a-vis results matrix and the logframe and quality assure the data obtained time to time. These monitoring activities will enable MEL function to identify potential evaluation and assessment.
• Collect, collate, triangulate and analyze the data obtained from different sources to monitor performance against stated objectives and the results matrix. This data/analysis is reported to a number of internal and external stakeholders.
• Attain fluency in economic models used by Karandaaz to track development results of its credit and investment portfolio. Support the MEL and program teams in updating the models with new investment data.

3. Reporting (20%): There are a number of reports that are produced to periodically to meet corporate requirements of the organization. MEL specialist is required to lead/ support in developing:

• Periodic progress reporting to the sponsors and the Board.
• Annual directors’ report
• KRN impact report

The MEL specialist is expected to develop an in-depth understanding of the FCDO and BMGF focused logframe and results matrix respectively. Through this understanding, the MEL specialist will provide input from an impact perspective to all program teams as and when required.

4. Institutionalization of MEL function, Budgeting and Work planning (15%): As the organization grows the MEL function is learning and evolving to strengthen its institutional capacities. The MEL specialist is required to work with Head MEL and contribute to:

• Develop MEL Work workplan and prepare budget forecasts for each year
• Develop progress narrative on work plan for KRN Board and management
• Identify improvement areas in functional requirements, operational efficiencies and MEL strategy and propose recommendations on M&E frameworks, organization-wide MEL practices and standards, data collection instruments and methods.

Eligibility:

Desired Skills and Experience:

Competencies: The role requires a combination of behavioral and technical competencies from the candidate.

• Competency 1 – Best Practices in Evaluation/ Assessment Approaches and Methods: The candidate must have domain knowledge, and have demonstrated experience of leading, managing and delivering evaluations and assessments.
• Competency 2 – Data Analysis and Acquiring Data: The candidate has knowledge of different research methods, data collection approaches and have demonstrated experience of collating, analyzing and presenting of data as per the customer needs.
• Competency 3 – Monitor, learn and adapt: The candidate demonstrates learning curve and ability to adapt changing situations.
• Competency 4 – Working Together: The candidate demonstrates experience to work across different function and is able to engaging others to influence others for functional requirements.

Candidate Profile:

• Minimum Bachelor’s Degree in Economics, International Development or related social sciences field or equivalent. Certifications in MEL desirable.
• A minimum of five (5) years of experience in monitoring and evaluation, research, or a similar field.
• Demonstrated experience with quantitative and qualitative research methods, including the design and administration of quantitative research tools, sampling methodologies, qualitative instruments such as focus groups discussions, in-depth interviews, etc.
• Understanding of quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques and software (STATA, SPSS etc).
• Experience working with donor-funded projects, preferably the BMGF and FCDO.
• An understanding of impact investing in SME financing and Digital Financial Services is highly desirable.
• Proficiency with software such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other statistical software is highly desirable. This should be coupled with strong data management and analytical skills, excellent writing and presentation skills. Fluency in written and oral English is required.
• Ability to travel to different locations in Pakistan, as required.

Culture and Values at Karandaaz:

Karandaaz Culture is guided by our values of Innovation, Collaboration, Accountability, Respect and Equity (ICARE). These values shape our choices on what we do and how we do it, both with colleagues internally and partners externally. We also believe that we are all responsible for creating a great place to work and are constantly looking to hire individuals who bring the same level of passion and commitment to the purpose of the organization.

If you believe in Karandaaz vision and values and feel excited about the work we are offering, please send us your application for this position to careers@karandaaz.com.pk clearly mentioning the position title in the subject line. We will be accepting submissions till 26th July, 2021.

Karandaaz is an equal opportunity employer. Women and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply.