Counterpart International is currently seeking a MEL Director to support the anticipated Iraq Civil Society Activity (ICSA) opportunity. The overall objective of ICSA is to increase citizen engagement in the public sphere, especially among women and youth, while supporting civil society organizations (CSOs) to connect to and empower citizens and one another, thereby enhancing CSO resilience, increasing its credibility and effectiveness. The expected result is a more active and inclusive civil society sector that effectively fosters change and contributes to a more equitable and democratic Iraq. This position is full-time and will serve through the life of the project.  

Qualified Iraqi nationals are strongly encouraged to apply.

• The MEL Director will be responsible for overseeing the program MEL team and leading all program MEL activities;
• Design and implement the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Plan;
• Develop learning and adapting tools and methodologies, quality data collection processes documentation, analysis, and reporting;
• Develop and execute a plan for review, analysis and communication of activity and project results;
• Consolidate all monitoring reports on a quarterly basis and analyze results to produce quarterly, annual, and ad-hoc reports for submission to USAID;
• Organize and provide additional MEL training to staff as necessary;
• Review data collection processes and refine the MEL system on an annual basis at least;
• Design and facilitate capacity-building initiatives for grantees on monitoring, evaluation, and learning.
• Manage oversight of local partners and intermediaries on their M&E activities, including the initial performance assessment of pilot approaches and annual performance assessments of the Activity.
• Ensure that program learning is documented regularly and used to inform strategic and management program adaptation.

• An advanced university degree or a bachelor’s degree with an additional four years in international development, political science, statistics, economics, or another relevant field.
• Minimum of seven years of relevant field-based MEL experience, with significant experience working in a senior role, preferably on stabilization, governance, conflict management, or human rights programs.
• Experience coordinating or managing teams of MEL staff and partners on complex projects required, preferably with an international NGO on USAID funded project.
• Experienced in providing capacity building to staff, partners, and other stakeholders in knowledge management, actionable learning and adaptive management approaches.
• Experience and strong conceptual knowledge of USAID’s adaptive management and MEL tools, frameworks, approaches and best practices. Experience training staff and partners in MEL is preferred.
• Experience with program evaluation design, implementation, and application of findings.
• Demonstrated experience working with data management systems and M&E platforms in an operationally challenging environment.
• Demonstrated experience and skills in data analysis using Excel, data collection apps, Access, and statistical packages such as Stata, R or SPSS.
• Skills in GIS tools such as QGIS, ArcGIS or Google Earth Pro are preferred.
• Experience with adaptive management approaches highly preferred.
• Previous experience working in Iraq is required, including working with MEL partners to implement the project.
• Experience working effectively with government officials, non-governmental partners, and USAID and/or other donors.
• Experience working with diverse staff.
• Adaptable and sensitive to cultural and religious diversity.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate fully and effectively, both oral and written, in English and Arabic are required.