MEAL Project Lead, World Bank GFF CIVIC Pillar II

About Us Action Against Hunger leads the global movement to end hunger. We innovate solutions, advocate for change, and reach 28 million people every year with proven hunger prevention and treatment programs. As a nonprofit that works across 55 countries, our 7,122 dedicated staff members partner with communities to address the root causes of hunger, including climate change, conflict, inequity, and emergencies. We strive to create a world free from hunger, for everyone, for good. Action Against Hunger USA is part of the Action Against Hunger International network. As an independent NGO, Action Against Hunger USA currently manages operations in 8 countries: Kenya, South Sudan, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Zambia and Haiti. I. Job Summary Action Against Hunger seeks a MEL Project Lead for the recently awarded community-led adolescent health and nutrition program funded by the World Bank GFF x CIVIC Platform. Position Duration: This is a grant-funded, fixed-term position expected to continue through June 2028. The GFF x CIVIC Platform is a partnership between the Global Financing Facility (GFF) and the World Bank’s CIVIC: The Civil Society and Social Innovation Alliance. This partnership has been formed to further strengthen the role of civil society and youth-led organizations (CSOs and YLOs) in advancing health and nutrition outcomes for women, children, and adolescents. Pillar 2: Scaling Community-Led Solutions for Adolescent Health and Nutrition enables youth and civil society groups to engage effectively in the development and scale-up of effective programs to improve access, equity, and outcomes in adolescent health services. This pillar empowers youth and civil society organizations to shape and scale innovative, community-driven solutions that improve adolescent health and nutrition. Rather than funding direct service delivery, it enables CSOs and YLOs to participate meaningfully in the design, evaluation, financing, and policy integration of effective adolescent health programs, ensuring sustainability and systems change. The MEL Project Lead will have primary responsibility for guiding monitoring, evaluation, and learning to ensure evidence generation and cross-country learning. They will lead the design, management, and implementation of systems necessary to ensure quality monitoring and reporting of the project’s MEL plan agenda. This role will report directly to the Project Director and will oversee two full-time project staff; the Knowledge Management Officer and MEL Coordinator. They will also work closely with internal and external stakeholders including GFF x CIVIC, youth and adolescent organizations, relevant country teams, and technical experts. Delivery: II. Essential Job Duties • Design, manage, and oversee the development and implementation of a comprehensive program MEL plan and indicators aligned with GFF CIVIC goals and donor requirements. • Build, manage, and continuously strengthen the MEL system to ensure timely, accurate, and reliable data on program progress toward adolescent health, nutrition, and resilience outcomes. • Ensure MEL systems and digital tools are developed through participatory processes and reflect the program’s Theory of Change. • Support, alongside the consortium partners, the design and implementation of studies to monitor project progress, as well as special research and evaluation activities • Oversee the program’s learning agenda, ensuring alignment with global adolescent health priorities and GFF CIVIC’s strategic direction. • Build MEL capacity (i,e. identifying capacity gaps, supporting them to create M&E plans, etc), within the project team and among partners to ensure consistent application of MEL standards and practices • Support CSOs in their qualitative and quantitative data analysis, including survey design, sampling, and data quality assurance. • Produce timely, high-quality reports, dashboards, and data visualizations to communicate program results and trends effectively. • Facilitate reflection and learning sessions in coordination with the knowledge management consortium partner to ensure that MEL data informs adaptive management and decision-making. • Work closely with technical advisors to integrate MEL priorities across all project activities and technical areas. • Participate in global and regional learning forums, working groups, and policy discussions to ensure learning flows between country implementation and global GFF dialogues. • Ensure strong accountability mechanisms and effective feedback loops to strengthen program transparency and responsiveness. III. Required Qualifications • Bachelor’s degree or higher in Social science, public health, or related field with a concentration on monitoring and evaluation, statistics, research or related field • 7- 10 years’ experience designing, managing and/or implementing health and development monitoring systems, data quality assurance, database management, data analysis and use, and reporting, with at least five (5) years designing and managing/implementing evaluations, and analyzing qualitative and/or quantitative data internationally IV. Required Skills & Experience • Familiarity with MEL system related to H&N programming, such as DHIS2, adolescent nutrition adolescent health, and reproductive health programs is highly desirable. • Experience working with the World Bank preferred. • Experience in dealing with various stakeholders such as local partners and governments • Experience with major donor regulations and reporting procedures and systems are preferred. • Demonstrated experience in using research and monitoring information for decision making and program adaptations, especially in health programs • Demonstrated experience using digital technologies to support monitoring, evaluation and analytics • Knowledge of theories of change (TOCs), logic models, health and nutrition indicators, MEL plans, data quality assurance, data utilization, and gender and youth integration into MEL. • Demonstrated experience building the capacity of host country counterparts in improving data quality, data management and analysis, and use of data for understanding program performance and solving problems • Demonstrated experience managing a team, with the ability to work both independently and as a member of a larger team • Experience using and knowledge of MEL principles relevant to fragile settings and nexus contexts • Excellent oral and written communication skills, with fluency in English and French is required.