Job Summary

• The MEL Manager leads KELIN’s institutional performance, monitoring, evaluation, and learning function. The role ensures that organisational and programme performance is measurable, evidence-driven, and informs strategic decision-making, resource allocation, accountability, and external influence. The role provides technical leadership across the Programme Leads, Research, and Communications functions to ensure that programme implementation is data-driven, lessons are systematically captured, and performance information informs strategy, visibility, and continuous improvement.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

MEL Strategy and System Development

• Lead the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of KELIN’s monitoring, evaluation, and integrated learning framework in line with the strategic plan.
• Design and maintain organisation-wide MEL systems, tools, templates, indicators, and reporting processes.
• Ensure that programme and institutional performance frameworks are clear, measurable, and aligned to strategic objectives, donor requirements, and accountability commitments.
• Provide technical guidance on theories of change, results frameworks, logframes, indicator reference sheets, and performance measurement plans.
• Set and enforce organisation-wide MEL standards, tools, and reporting requirements.
• Manage performance data and updates across all programme areas.
• Review results frameworks, indicators, and performance reports.
• Escalate persistent performance or data quality gaps to senior management.
• Lead tracking and reporting on the implementation of KELIN’s Strategic Plan (2026–2030).

Monitoring and Performance Tracking

• Oversee the routine collection, validation, analysis, and use of programme performance data across all thematic areas.
• Ensure timely tracking of outputs, outcomes, milestones, deliverables, and performance indicators.
• Guide and hold programme teams accountable for setting realistic targets, monitoring progress, and addressing performance gaps.
• Develop dashboards, summaries, and other tracking tools to support decision-making by management and programme teams.

Evaluation and Assessment

• Lead or coordinate evaluations, reviews, baseline studies, end-line assessments, outcome harvesting, learning reviews, and other performance assessments.
• Develop or review evaluation designs, methodologies, tools, terms of reference, and analysis plans.
• Manage consultants and external evaluators, ensuring the quality and usefulness of outputs.
• Ensure evaluation findings are synthesised and fed back into programme improvement, strategy refinement, and donor reporting.

Data Quality Assurance

• Establish and maintain systems for data quality assurance, including data verification, cleaning, consistency checks, and documentation standards.
• Conduct routine data quality assessments and support programme teams to address weaknesses in collection and reporting.
• Ensure that performance information is credible, complete, timely, and fit for internal and external use.
• Promote strong data governance practices, including secure storage, confidentiality, traceability, and responsible use of data.
• Enforce compliance with organisation-wide data quality standards and reporting protocols.

Strategic Decision Support

• Provide regular performance insights to senior management and the Board.
• Analyse trends, risks, and opportunities emerging from programme data.
• Support evidence-based planning, prioritisation, and adaptive management.

Learning and Adaptive Management

• Promote a culture of reflection, learning, and evidence-informed adaptation across the organisation.
• Facilitate periodic learning forums, review meetings, after-action reflections, and performance review sessions.
• Lead structured reflection processes and guide teams to identify lessons, good practices, bottlenecks, and opportunities for course correction.
• Document and share learnings to improve programme quality, institutional effectiveness, and organisational memory.

Reporting and Accountability

• Lead the preparation and quality assurance of MEL inputs into donor reports, management reports, board reporting, and institutional performance updates.
• Support programme teams to prepare accurate and evidence-based narrative reports.
• Ensure compliance with donor MEL and reporting requirements.
• Strengthen accountability to communities and stakeholders by promoting feedback mechanisms, transparency, and appropriate use of programme evidence.
• Ensure that performance reporting supports both donor compliance and internal strategic decision-making.

Programme and Cross-Functional Support

• Work closely with Programmes team to embed MEL throughout the programme cycle.
• Collaborate with the Research to ensure complementarity between research, evaluation, and routine performance monitoring.
• Work with the Communications to package results, learning, and evidence for external visibility and strategic communication.
• Support business development processes by contributing MEL sections, results frameworks, and measurement approaches in proposals and concept notes.
• Ensure alignment between programme delivery, research outputs, and communications by translating performance data into strategic insights, evidence products, and narrative content.

Capacity Strengthening

• Build and institutionalise the capacity of staff and partners in monitoring, reporting, indicator use, data quality, learning, and adaptive management.
• Develop simple guidance, tools, and training materials to improve MEL practice across KELIN.
• Coach programme teams on results-based management and evidence use.
• Support partners and sub-grantees, to meet KELIN’s expected standards for performance monitoring and reporting.

Planning, Coordination, and Administration

• Prepare annual and periodic MEL work plans, budgets, and performance reports.
• Coordinate internal reporting calendars and ensure timely submission of MEL deliverables.
• Maintain organised records of frameworks, datasets, assessments, reports, and supporting documentation.