MERL Director in Canberra, Australia

About the Program

Investing in Women: Women in Inclusive Sustainable Economic Recovery (IW) is a multi-country Australian Government initiative in Southeast Asia that seeks to accelerate women’s economic empowerment through increased and equitable opportunities in the private sector, contributing to inclusive, sustainable economic recovery and growth in targeted countries. Our objective is to support women to thrive in the workplace and succeed in business.

IW continues the ambitious agenda of advancing women’s economic empowerment through:

• Workplace Gender Equality (Workstream 1) – We support Business Coalitions that work with influential businesses on shifting workplace cultures, practices, and policy barriers to achieve workplace gender equality, with member companies together employing more than one million people;

• Enabling Policy Reforms (Workstream 2) – We support locally identified reform agendas that promote women’s workforce participation, generate support for the business case for WGE, and build the case for the value and importance of the care economy to business, the economy and women’s economic empowerment;

• Campaigns and Communities of Practice (Workstream 3) – We support locally driven campaigns in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam that highlight positive examples of gender equality to strengthen public support for women’s economic participation. Through fostering a community of gender equality advocates, IW will continuously build evidence that supports the broader adoption of progressive attitudes and behaviours; and

• Gender Lens Investing (Workstream 4) – We work to increase investment in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that disproportionately benefit women in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. We do so by increasing capital providers’ demand for Gender Lens Investing strategies and products, catalysing the supply of financial instruments available to small businesses owned or led by women, and investing in the growth of SMEs that support women through a ‘fund of funds’ strategy.

In collaboration with corporations and business leaders, policymakers and implementers, capital providers, entrepreneurs, and advocates, we are working with those who are driving change for women’s economic equality in our region. More information about Investing in Women can be found on the website: www.investinginwomen.asia

About the Opportunity

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the MERL Director will be the principal liaison point between DFAT, IW and program partners on MERL activities and is responsible for:

• Setting the strategic direction for IW’s MERL System, including demonstrated leadership on system coherence, relevance, alignment and evaluation.

• Implementing the activities which comprise the IW MERL System (either directly, through the MERL team or via management of technical advisory inputs);

• Ensuring the System is efficiently meeting the program’s information needs; and

The purpose of the IW MERL system is fourfold:

• To build the evidence base in the development of Southeast Asia-specific business cases for WGE and WEE, and thereby support advocacy for shifting practices and attitudes and investments related to WGE and WEE.

• To enable accountability to the Australian public and DFAT, specifically reporting on how the funding was used and what it achieved.

• To support IW management and partners to track progress against the mutually reinforcing outcomes, learn how/why change is occurring and inform decision-making for continuous improvement.

• To ensure the learning from an innovative aid investment serve to inform future DFAT investments and contribute to wider development learning. This relates specifically to better understanding how to work effectively with and through the private sector as well as effective strategies to influence policy and social norms in the digital age.

Specific duties of the MERL Director include:

• Provide leadership and quality assurance of all aspects of MERL System design and delivery, including ensuring they are underpinned by robust conceptual frameworks for gender equality and women’s economic empowerment;

• Proactively ensure the MERL system’s key questions, performance indicators, and focus of data collection aligns with the (evolving) information needs of the Program;

• Work with DFAT in relation to MERL and to ensure that the MERL System provides data that is relevant to DFAT’s reporting requirements;

• Provide strategic leadership to program staff and partners to develop and agree data collection, reporting and dissemination approaches that are technically robust, fit-for-purpose and efficient;

• Work collaboratively with partners and ensure the MERL team supports capacity building with the IW implementation team and partners;

• Guide, coordinate and provide technical leadership on all MERL frameworks, designs, methods and outputs;

• Provide strategic leadership and implementation oversight to IW research partnerships, the research agenda and knowledge management, the program learning cycle, and contribute to program communications;

• Oversee reporting and dissemination of MERL results (in collaboration with other parts of IW) including supporting the development and delivery of the agreed Annual Work Plans;

• Initiate continual innovation and improvement in the use, analysis and reporting of program data and insights;

• Provide strong leadership of the MERL team to deliver all MERL Reports to a high standard, in line with the MERL Framework, and work collaboratively with the rest of the IW Team to provide high quality inputs to other IW reports;

• Ensure effective planning and budget management. Demonstrate effective people management and team capacity development.

• Plan for adaptive learning and capacity building with the IW implementation team and partners and report against progress.

• Oversee an annual update of the MERL System to ensure it is still relevant to the Program’s information needs, and is meeting these needs efficiently;

• Ensure IW meets all MERL objectives as agreed in Annual Plans and other key documents.

Employment type and location: Project based role based in Canberra, Australia or Manila, Philippines. Other remote work locations in Australia and Southeast Asia will be considered.

Duration: Up to 30 June 2027; anticipated to commence in November 2024

About You

The candidate we seek has excellent interpersonal skills, demonstrated experience to effectively work with remotely-based MERL team members, and excellent oral and written communication skills in English.

In addition, we seek an individual who meets the Key Selection Criteria given below.

Key Selection Criteria

For your application to be considered by the Panel, interested applicants must submit a response to each of the following Key Selection Criteria (KSC):

KSC 1: Master’s degree or Post-graduate studies in social sciences, preferably with a focus on M&E, data collection/research and analysis of data;

KSC 2: Minimum of 10 years’ experience as an M&E professional, preferably working for M&E programs funded by DFAT;

KSC 3: Strong leadership skills, experience in effective staff supervision, and the capacity to contribute to building a team focused on high quality deliverables and outcomes;

KSC 4: Experience engaging with senior internal and external counterparts and private sector stakeholders to coordinate and execute evaluation activities, disseminate findings and build knowledge capacity;

KSC 5: Management and supervision of qualitative research studies and demonstrated experience of quantitative and qualitative evaluation methodologies for demonstrating impact, effectiveness and efficiency; and

KSC 6: A track record in analysis and reporting to generate measurable impacts and in-depth understanding of how and why changes are occurring.

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single requirement for a position. At Abt Global we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you are excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every role requirement, we encourage you to apply in any case. You may be just the right candidate for this or for other roles.

How to Apply

We are an equal opportunity employer and encourage applications from experienced and capable women.

Please submit your application online. Upload your cover letter, CV and response to the KSCs. Submit your CV and KSC response as a single Word or PDF document, and address how you meet the requirements of this role. We are unable to proceed with an application without the KSC statements.

Closing Date: 20 October 2024, AEST, 9:59 PM

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Abt Global is a mission-driven, global leader with a proven track record in complex program implementation in the international development sector. We offer bold solutions and technical excellence in Health, Economic Growth, Governance, Research & Evaluation, Environment & Energy, Gender Equality & Social Inclusion. Working with our many partners, we have driven measurable social impact for more than 55 years, to achieve our mission of improving the quality of life and economic well-being of people worldwide. We operate in remote and challenging environments and employ more than 3,700 staff in over 50 countries. For more information about us and what we do, visit our website at www.abtglobal.com (http://www.abtassociates.com/)

Equity

Abt Global values individuality and celebrates difference with a strong commitment to all forms of diversity and equality including racial equity, gender, sexual diversity and disability inclusion. We strongly encourage people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to apply for this position. We offer flexible work arrangements and a culturally safe environment for staff members from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Safeguarding

We are deeply committed to safeguarding, to protect and prevent harm and abuse to individuals we work for and who work for us. Our recruitment and selection procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation. We will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, child abuse, sexual abuse or exploitation in any form, and expect everyone to be treated with respect and dignity.