Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Specialist

Who is Water Mission?

Water Mission is a Christian engineering nonprofit that builds sustainable, safe water solutions for people in developing countries, refugee camps, and disaster areas. Since 2001, Water Mission has served more than 8 million people in 59 countries, sharing safe water and the message of God’s love. Water Mission’s global headquarters is in North Charleston, SC, and the organization has more than 450 staff members based in Africa; Asia; North, South, and Central America; and the Caribbean. Charity Navigator has awarded Water Mission its top four-star rating 15 years in a row, a distinction shared by only 1% of the charities rated by the organization. Working at Water Mission is as much a calling as it is a career, and we are searching for people with the courage, passion, and drive to help us change the world. Read more about our Statement of Faith and our Christian Mission.

What is the opportunity?

The Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Specialist is a key position within Water Mission, responsible for monitoring, evaluation, and research activities and ensuring that information collected is reflected upon, used to improve ongoing initiatives, and incorporated into high-quality reports. Reporting to the Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) Manager, the individual holding this position will be responsible for internal and external evaluations of program outcomes and impacts, including but not limited to the following: developing and managing relevant survey tools, evaluation knowledge management, and supporting and building up field staff engaged in evaluation efforts. This position works closely with all Project Managers, Program Directors, national staff, and partners involved in program implementation to ensure a coherent and comprehensive evaluation program is designed and implemented, lessons are learned, and experiences are shared across the various sectors and program teams. This is a full-time position that can be based remotely or at Water Mission’s headquarters in Charleston, SC and includes travel up to 25% of the time, mostly in developing countries.

A successful MEL Specialist will:

• Maintain a strong Christian witness to colleagues, partners, volunteers, the public, and those we serve.

• Engage and participate in prayer before and after team meetings.

• Lead and participate in biblically based staff devotions.

• Develop MEL materials including theory of change, results framework, pause, reflect and adapt plans for Water Mission’s programs, grant proposals and special projects.

• Assist in the development of evaluation and research study design for Water Mission internal initiatives, donor groups, and granting institutions including determining appropriate methods, developing data analysis plans, designing data collection tools and online surveys

• Implement evaluation and research studies in the field, including procuring qualified in-country research assistants, orienting Water Mission staff to study needs, coordinating research activities on the ground, and establishing data quality assurance procedures/processes across the ministry

• Lead analysis of resulting monitoring, evaluation and research data including data mining, and developing donor reports and data visualization dashboards

• Present data in various forums to both Water Mission staff and external stakeholders. Regularly share program outcomes and results with the programs team. Facilitate routine learning and action planning meetings with program stakeholders across the ministry

• Build internal monitoring and evaluation capacity in Water Mission Country Programs and Affiliate Programs, and recommend corrective programmatic action where required.

• Other duties as assigned.

What is required?

• Personal and growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
• Alignment with Water Mission’s Statement of Faith and core values of Love, Excellence, and Integrity.
• MA/S or equivalent in social science, public health, or international development.
• 2-3 years of experience in monitoring, evaluation, research, and reporting.
• International development experience, preferably in WASH.
• Advanced computer skills and significant experience developing data management strategies and systems, particularly web-based applications, and databases; mobile data collection experience preferred.
• Experience with qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methodologies.
• Experience designing and implementing surveys using mobile data collection software.
• Experience with statistical analysis software such as SAS, Stata, SPSS, or R.
• Team player who takes initiative and is a problem-solver.
• Ability to thrive in a highly fluid environment and respond to changing requests.
• Effective verbal and written communication, multi-tasking, and organizational skills.
• Prior experience living overseas and ability to work in challenging environments preferred.
• Fluency in written and spoken English required, proficiency in Spanish or French preferred.
• Ability to travel up to 25 percent of the time, mostly in developing countries. Most international trips are 10-14 days in length and require this person to ride in long car rides on rough terrain and stand for extended periods in hot weather.
• Commitment to the values and mission of the organization and ending the global water crisis.
• Legal authorization to work in the United States without sponsorship.
• Home internet bandwidth strong enough to support video conferencing and other job-related responsibilities.