Regional Research & Evaluation Manager – Asia-Pacific
Position Summary Expectations - Duties, Responsibilities
Job Position: Remote Work
Purposes:
The Regional Research & Evaluation Manager is responsible for the overall quality of the monitoring, evaluation, research and learning of the Asia-Pacific programs. S/he works with project staff to increase their skills in gathering, analysing, synthesising and reporting quantitative and qualitative data, and with Internews partners to build and improve their monitoring and evaluation capacities. S/he takes responsibility for ensuring absolute clarity around MERL roles and responsibilities from project to project and including consultants and research agencies, and s/he will also make a substantial contribution to shaping and delivering a wider global strategy to innovate and expand efforts in this area, as well as communicating Internews’ impact to internal and external audiences. S/he will also support external evaluations. S/he will be a curious and pro- active self-starter with significant research expertise and a passion for sharing this with colleagues.
Restrictions: None
Funding: Direct
Reports To: Regional Director, Asia-Pacific
Works closely with: Country Representatives/Project Leads
Supervision: One Regional MERL Specialist
- Oversee the design and implementation of high quality monitoring, research and evaluation activities within the region:
- Advocate for high quality, usable research and evaluation to be embedded across projects in the region, including helping to build research and evaluation literacy, interest and concrete skills where these are needed.
- Oversee or undertake the design of MERL strategies and activities at proposal development stage, effectively balancing the needs of partners, donors and the Internews research agenda to deliver research activities which demonstrate impact and yield meaningful data.
- Develop systems and processes for ensuring that all MERL plans for Internews projects in the region are well designed and based around the Internews Theory of Change, properly costed and implemented, including through sub-awards, adapted as needed, and that the data yielded meets quality standards, and are appropriately managed, analysed and reported by partners and Internews staff.
- Lead research projects from design to delivery, as required. This includes the development of high quality TORs, sourcing, securing and managing research partners, and ensuring research findings are communicated as needed.
- Provide technical guidance to colleagues working on MERL at project-level in the region, including identifying where individuals might benefit from additional training and support to help them realise their goals.
- Ensure all colleagues working on MERL in the region have a full induction to Internews’ tools, systems and processes and are able to participate within the global team.
- Work with Global Impact and Learning team to improve research, monitoring and evaluation practices across the organisation
- Conduct and manage research and evaluation tasks at project- level.
- Present M&E data, research and evaluation findings to donors and stakeholders;
- Other duties as assigned by Internews management including communication and grant management tasks.
- Drive and support the development and implementation of the Internews research agenda and evidence base for Internews’ work:
- Help to shape the Internews research agenda by identifying gaps in data and evidence linked to the 2024-2026 strategy, identifying opportunities to conduct research to meet those gaps across different projects within the global portfolio, and designing research projects which sit outside or enhance donor obligations.
- Identify and share research findings through internal or external fora which exemplify project or programme impact or contain insights which are useful for internal or external learning, ensuring high quality, relevant research is put into wider use.
- Contribute to the refinement and rollout of tools and processes which contribute to high quality implementation:
- Ensure the appropriate selection of Internews’ tools and approaches, and that these are implemented to the highest standard, exchanged for more appropriate tools where needed and continually developed on the basis of feedback and the needs of partners.
- Lead or contribute to the development of guidance notes which ensure that Internews’ tools and approaches are appropriately budgeted and implemented.
- Contribute to application and improvement of Internews’ internal database, Program Source.
- To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
- Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- English language skills required. Other Asian or Pacific language skills is a plus.
- Relevant university degree in social sciences field, preferably with a focus on research and evaluation.
- A minimum of 7 years’ experience in monitoring and evaluation of large internationally funded democracy and governance programs, preferably media development programs.
- A minimum of 2 years' experience in management positions and supervising staff
- Demonstrated ability to communicate MERL requirements and outcomes to project colleagues and other stakeholders.
- Proficiency in evaluation design and development of indicators. Good working knowledge of statistics and ability to obtain, analyze and interpret data and present findings in written and oral form.
- Experience in quantitative and qualitative data collection/survey design, implementation and analysis.
- Familiarity with common assessment frameworks such as social network analysis, organizational capacity assessments, and principles of survey design and analysis; familiarity with digital safety/security assessments is an asset.
- Competent in qualitative methodologies and participatory assessments.
- Competent in MS Excel, word processing, Power Point and experience using statistical programs such as SPSS.
- Demonstrated understanding of USAID and other donor approaches to media development and familiarity with efforts to apply a media lens to development work;
- Experience in other challenging environments and flexibility to apply lessons learned from other contexts;
- Understand and demonstrate commitment to upholding Internews’ Core Values
