Save the Children is the world's leading independent organisation for children. We work in 120 countries. We save children's lives; we fight for their rights; we help them fulfil their potential. We work together, with our partners, to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. We have over two million supporters worldwide and raised 1.9 billion dollars last year to reach more children than ever before, through programmes in health, nutrition, education, protection and child rights, also in times of humanitarian crises. Following a major transition, our international programmes are now delivered through a merged operation with 15,000 staff, managed through seven regional hubs and reporting to a relatively small, central office

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Learning and Evidence Specialist will lead in generating evidence that will support the design of high impact, relevant programmes, and demonstrate the impact of Save the Children (SC) work on children’s lives in Sudan. This work will support Technical Specialists to create linkages for the use of evidence for Innovative Programme and Policy work. S/he will create an agreed Learning Agenda for Sudan CO and will build an effective system of Learning and Evidence to facilitate evidence based decision-making using reliable data. S/he will also help strengthen country office’s research capability and support their ability to advance analytical work on quality child rights programming. This position will also institutionalize evidence uptake and learning practices of adaptive Child Rights Programming geared towards achieving lasting outcomes for children.

The position holder will particularly support thematic programs with research design and implementation with a focus on the baseline and end-line evaluations as well as operational researches and assessments designed to fill key knowledge gaps. S/he also oversees the quality and standardization of evidence and learning framework and tools and works closely with program implementation and program quality staff to ensure appropriate evidence and learning for all major projects.  

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Leadership and Management

·         Provide overall supervision and leadership on the Learning and Evidence functions and strategy in the country office

·         Lead the development and implementation of a coherent and coordinated Research, Evaluation and Learning agenda and plan aimed at improving quality outcomes for children and demonstrating what works for children in different contexts of Sudan and why

·         Provide supervision, mentorship and professional development to staffs on Learning and Evidence system

·         Ensure MEAL evidences (evaluation & research reports, IPTT, project performance/action trackers, output tracker, etc) are used for management decision making and continuous performance improvement

·         Synthesizes data and disseminates evidence for programme improvement, advocacy, and campaign purposes

·         Network and develop strategic partnerships with national and international research institutions and Save the Children technical leadership in evidence building

·         Provide support and advise the Head of MEAL in leading, design and implementation of comprehensive MEAL system in the CO

Research, Evidence and Learning Uplift and Capacity Building  

·         Working closely with the Head of MEAL, design SCI’s approach to Evidence and Learning, setting down the minimum requirements (following SCI standards) and ensuring that it complements and forms part of the overall MEAL system

Promote all aspects of evidence and learning through training and capacity building for multiple 

·         internal and external stakeholders including MEAL staff and PDQ Leadership to support the creation of an organizational culture that prioritizes learning leading to quality programming

·         Participate in Country Office CSP process oversight, tracking implementation of commitments and ensuring that research and learning form the foundation of program design

·         Lead on the application of SCI Theory of Change (Innovation, Scale, Be the Voice and Partnerships) with particular reference to Research, Evaluation, Learning and Impact

·         Oversee special studies & assessments that will require oversight from the Technical Specialists and include baseline and end line surveys, operational research on identified interventions

·         Support analysis of Sudan Country Office Research, Evidence and Learning capabilities, interest and ambition and develop a tailor-made enhancement plan

·         Ensure that research and evaluations are delivered to the highest standards and systematically contribute to Country Office Learning Agenda;

·         Build a pool of reliable consultants who are able to deliver high quality outputs and products.

System Design and Management

·         Keep track of all assessments, project evaluations and other studies in coordination with technical specialists / project managers, design evaluation TORs, provide briefings to consultants and provide logistical support to ensure evaluations happen smoothly

·         Champion knowledge management through the development and use of platforms that store and display evidence and learning that is made accessible and actively used

·         Clearly set and implement standards for ethical, adaptive, and appropriate evidence and learning systems and provides strategic and technical guidance to address systemic weaknesses in the evidence and learning framework and system

·         Champion the use of accountability data and community participation analysis to influence strategic decision-making and advocacy

·         Capture and disseminate lessons learned from evaluations and follow up on action planning, maintain a lessons learned database

·         Ensure that learning is accessed and used as an integral part of programme design and implementation

Programme Development

·         With the Head of MEAL, feed into programme and proposal design to ensure that new programme design is based on previous learning and it has appropriate resources to capture learning for evidence based effective management of programs  

·         Make sure that technical advisors have easy access to learning documents for reference purpose

Communication and Reporting

Ensure effective storage of assessment, surveys and evaluations and/or organizational knowledge on the shared folders, and to use this knowledge base to promote learning across the organisation

·         Produce case studies, best practices; lessons learned and project audit documents for internal and external use

·         Coordinate, collaborate and oversee best practice consolidation with all thematic areas, and ensure that the knowledgebase appropriately maintained for optimum use

Support technical specialists and project managers in producing One-pagers describing the project, key activities, approaches, outcomes and impacts

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Minimum of advanced degree (Masters) in an area of social development, economics, statistics or other relevant discipline.
• Must be an analytical, organized, resourceful, and responsible individual with 7 plus years expertise with proven experience in undertaking and leading researches and evaluations in both emergency and development contexts
• Demonstrable track-record in research/evaluation designs, methodologies, data management, data analysis and analytical reporting
• Experience of designing and managing knowledge management systems, an awareness of learning methodologies and experience of leading learning events
• Demonstrated commitment to creating a learning culture
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including presentation skills
• Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures
• Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mind-sets
• Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner, and to use innovative forms of communication
• Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies

• Fluency in English, both verbal and written essential

          Commitment to Save the Children values

Females are strongly encouraged to apply for this post.

Disclaimer: Save the Children International does not charge any kind of fee at whichever stage of the recruitment process and does not act through recruitment agents. SCI will be undertaking child-safeguarding checks for all candidates. Selected candidate will asked to provide police checking prior to signing contract. 

To apply go to : https://stcuk.taleo.net/careersection/jobdetail.ftl?job=210002MU&lang=en