DMEL Officer

Reports to:        Director of the Hivos Global Office Hub

Period:               6 years, starting with a one-year contract

Scope:               Global

Location:           Hivos Global Office, The Hague, the Netherlands

Hours:                36 hours a week (full-time)

Deadline:           10 December 2023

We are looking for an enthusiastic Design, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (DMEL) Officer to provide expertise and leadership on DMEL issues within Hivos. For 50% of your time, you will manage DMEL aspects of the EU System for an Enabling Environment for Civil Society, a new global program with a budget of EUR 30 million to be implemented in partnership with five global civil society partners across more than 80 countries. The other 50% of your time, you will contribute to DMEL aspects in program development and at organizational level.

About the EU System for an Enabling Environment for Civil Society program

The EU System for an Enabling Environment for Civil Society (EU SEE) is a six-year program that will engage and support civil society organizations across more than 80 countries where civic space is under pressure. Through this program, we aim to improve the capacity and ability of civil society partners to detect and respond to situations of a deteriorating or improving enabling environment, and address and contribute to structural and systemic prerequisites for such an environment.

The EU SEE Monitoring Index, a civil society-led monitoring system designed to continuously assess the state of the enabling environment for civil society across all EU SEE partner countries, will be at the heart of the program. It will be complemented by a comprehensive Early Warning Mechanism to support the anticipation and rapid response to emerging threats and opportunities by civil society and diplomatic actors. In addition, the program will develop civil society partners’ capacity to promote an enabling environment for civil society and amplify their voices in national, regional and global fora through knowledge exchange, policy dialogue and advocacy.

Led by Hivos, the program will be implemented by a global consortium of civic space and democracy support organizations and networks, including CIVICUS, Democracy Reporting International, the European Partnership for Democracy, Forus and Transparency International. The consortium will closely collaborate with EU counterparts at Brussels and EU Delegation level, as well as EU Member States.

As the Global Lead of the program, Hivos is responsible for effective global coordination and oversight over all activities and partners, as well as for managing the EU SEE Secretariat and associated governance bodies.

This EU-funded project has a budget of EUR 30 million and will be starting beginning 2024 for a duration of six years.

Job context

Program-level DMEL (50%)

The DMEL Officer coordinates all design, monitoring, evaluation and learning aspects of the EU SEE from a strategic and operational perspective in line with donor guidelines and internal Hivos procedures. You are the first point of contact for consortium members, the donor, the Global Program Manager and other Hivos colleagues on DMEL related issues.

You are responsible for developing and overseeing the global program M&E strategy in line with the Consortium-wide results framework, as well as for coordinating linking and learning across different program components and between partners on all levels.

You are a key team member of the EU SEE Secretariat, where you collaborate closely with five Hivos colleagues and additional partner staff. You report to and closely collaborate with the Global Program Manager, who is spearheading the entire program.

Organizational DMEL (50%)

Alongside your program-focused role, you support other core teams within Hivos with your DMEL expertise. This includes supporting the Business Development Team with technical DMEL input to their proposal development efforts, making sure they are aligned with Hivos and donor requirements and appropriate to partner needs. You provide support on a needs basis on aspects including Theory of Change development, formulating realistic results frameworks and developing effective MEL plans for future projects. You will also collaborate with the Evidence and Impact specialist and the Project Bureau to develop tools and finetune procedures for MEL as part of the project management way of working. This includes helping Hivos ensure quality collection of MEL data for its internal reporting cycles.

Responsibilities

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Coordinate the development and implementation of a global program M&E strategy to ensure harmonized and efficient qualitative and quantitative data collection in collaboration with the Global Program Manager
• Provide support to program staff and Consortium partners on how to inclusively plan, monitor & evaluate activities, including review and monitoring of project-based M&E plans to track results or identify gaps
• Ensure timely, high-quality M&E is delivered as part of regular formal and informal donor reporting and updates, and facilitate inclusive, participatory external evaluations
• Train and support program staff to leverage innovative inclusive M&E approaches to collect results and success stories

Learning

• Coordinate the development of a program learning strategy, including co-developing learning agenda and questions and leading a process of continuous re-evaluation, re-thinking, re-tooling and re-shaping of strategies, with program staff and partners.
• Facilitate a global partner and staff learning community that supports continuous improvement and exchange, including regular online meetings and occasional in-person events
• Engage with external audiences (donor, peer networks, platforms, etc.) in certain learning processes and outputs

Project Design

• Support Business Development Managers to develop effective MEL approaches tailored to individual program contexts and needs
• Support the development of effective and realistic Theories of Change through co-facilitation and technical input
• Review and refine MEL components included in donor proposals (results framework, MEL approach, etc.)

Organizational Learning

• Contribute to Hivos-wide learning by co-facilitating learning sessions on topics aligned with Hivos’ priorities
• Collaborate with the Evidence and Impact Specialist to support the collection and analysis of organizational-level results and data

Requirements

• A minimum of five years of work experience in project-level DMEL, particularly in an international not-for-profit/NGO context.
• A Master’s degree (or equivalent work experience) in social science, international development, human rights, or another relevant field
• Demonstrable knowledge and experience in using, adapting and improving quantitative and qualitative M&E systems, tools and methods.
• Experience in designing and facilitating learning activities, including participatory methodologies and inclusive facilitation (online and offline)
• Experience with (supporting) the design of funding proposals to bilateral, multilateral and philanthropic donors.
• A team player with strong professional integrity and cultural sensitivity.
• Proven ability to effectively document, share and profile lessons learnt and learning processes.
• Full professional proficiency in English; proficiency in another widely spoken language would be an asset (e.g. Spanish, Arabic, French, Swahili, etc.).

What we offer

In this position you will work at Hivos’ Global Office in the city center of The Hague. This is will be the primary location of the EU SEE Secretariat headed by you, with most other Hivos program staff to be located there as well.

Being part of the wider EU SEE consortium, you will be part of an international team with colleagues spread across the world.

We offer a contract for 36 hours per week based on Hivos Global Office labor conditions. The gross salary ranges from € 3.857 to € 5.132 per month based on a 36-hour work week.

We provide a laptop and travel expenses according to our commuting policies, as well as participation in our pension fund. Hivos additionally works according to a 50/50 schedule, which means you may work from home during half of your contract hours.

How to apply

Please submit a cover letter and CV by 10 December 2023 at the latest, by clicking on the ‘Apply here’ button. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and early applications are encouraged. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Candidates are highly encouraged to provide a clear track record in their CV and description in cover letter that matches the requirements of the position elaborated above.

If you are selected for the final stage of the selection process, please note that professional references and a certificate of conduct (VOG) will be requested due to our Safeguarding Policy. Exceptions will only be made, if there is a local legislation prohibition or when the candidate is unable to obtain such a certificate due to activities on LGTBIQ+ and Human Rights. We may check social media - unless applicants state they do not wish us to do so. Accuracy of information in the curriculum vitae will also be checked.

(*) https://www.hivos.org/who-we-are/our-organization/integrity/