Consultant: Senior Associate Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL), CATALYZE 92 views

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Consultant, CATALYZE

Company Overview:

About Palladium – Palladium is a global leader in the design, development and delivery of Positive Impact – the intentional creation of enduring social and economic value.  We work with governments, businesses, and investors to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. With a team of more than 3,000 employees operating in 90 plus countries and a global network of over 35,000 experts, we help improve economies, societies and, most importantly, people’s lives. 

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion – We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.  

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com

Safeguarding – We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse.  All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.

Project Overview and Role:

The consultant will serve as the Senior Associate Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) and will assist CATALYZE’s Sr. M&E Manager in providing strategic guidance including oversight of M&E work in individual countries and regions under the CATALYZE project. This position is located in Washington DC with the possibility of working 100% remote or work a hybrid schedule.  

USAID CATALYZE, a $250 Million USAID-funded 5-year project implemented by Palladium, works with businesses, investors and other key market actors to solve the world’s most pressing challenges by unlocking private sector financing for development impact, especially in underserved social sectors and frontier countries. CATALYZE is implementing multi-year activities in over 20 countries, with funding from 17 buy-ins from USAID Missions, Bureaus, or Independent Offices.

The CATALYZE project:

• Develops a pipeline of financeable transactions in targeted geographies and sectors
• Supports financial intermediaries in developing countries to build or strengthen local financial ecosystems
• Links financeable opportunities to sources of capital, structuring funds, and closing complex transactions
• Identifies and assesses blended finance approaches, supporting agency-wide learning and development
• Develops risk mitigation tools, such as country- or sector-specific blended finance platforms or funds, pre-investment feasibility studies, and other tools that incorporate risk mitigation features
• Provides catalytic capital, via the grant’s mechanism, for seed funding, co-funding, and performance grants that will unlock private financing.

You and Your Career:

If you are a problem-solver, collaborator, and doer, and you have expertise in Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, we are interested in hearing from you. We are a learning organization and provide growth opportunities from the start.  We pride ourselves on giving you the freedom, resources, and guidance to chart a fulfilling career.

 Primary Duties and Responsibilities: 

The Senior Associate for Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) for USAID CATALYZE will assist Sr. Monitoring and Evaluation Manager in:

• Support development/revision of the CATALYZE Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) plan based on the CATALYZE project strategy
• Support development of CATALYZE MEL standards, policies, and structure for managing MEL across CATALYZE current and new buy-ins
• Support development and management of systems to aggregate and visualize program data, including dashboards to facilitate data use including analysis for learning and adaptive program management
• Complete basic research and analysis assignments and provide summarized findings in a clear, concise and understandable manner, with objectives, relevant facts, data, and conclusions presented as required.
• Support development of standard MEL tools, templates, and guidance notes.
• Develop and/or implement processes and/or methodologies to assist in the tracking and monitoring of program and/or teamwork progress, data, and other relevant information (e.g. budget forecast, accrual,), ensuring specific information required is captured and maintained to meet established record-keeping and documentation requirements.
• Coordinate and/or participate in internal meetings to develop and maintain a knowledge of team and program objectives and work progress and demonstrate this understanding in the execution and completion of assigned work.
• Assist with the execution of program, and/or team plans by performing administrative (e.g. invoice processing, data entry, travel and meeting coordination, etc.) and programmatic assignments in accordance with established expectations and timelines.
• Prepare and/or support the preparation of selected materials (scope of works, work plans, presentations, etc.) and communications. Complete initial drafts of assigned reports and updates for dissemination to internal and external audiences, including donors and other key program partners, ensuring proper and accurate formatting, spelling, and grammar usage as well as inclusion of required content.
• Serve as the point of contact for general requests for information or questions concerning team and/or programmatic activities/work and provide responses, directing those which are more complex or require more specific detailed responses to Sr, M&E Manager.

Other MEL related duties as assigned by the Sr M&E Manager.

Required Qualifications:

• Deep understanding of USAID MEL required.
• Experience designing and implementing MEL systems for economic growth programs focusing on finance and at least two (required) or more (preferred) of the following thematic areas: private sector/SME development, access to finance, agriculture/agribusiness, education, workforce development, youth, or gender
• Flexible thinker interested in collaborating with others in a team environment (required)
• Formal training in monitoring, evaluation and learning – either academic or on-the-job (required).
• Ability to think strategically, creatively, and to find innovative ways to respond to emerging organizational and project needs (required)
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to write technical documents in English (required)
• Motivated self-starter comfortable working with many staff and colleagues working remotely (required)
• Ability to fully use the Microsoft Office Suite including Excel, Word, PowerPoint and the Teams collaboration suite (required)
• Experience training or coaching on teammates from diverse technical backgrounds in MEL (preferred)
• Some experience of using software for descriptive statistical analyses as well as experience using pivot tables (preferred).
• English fluency required; competency in other languages (French, Spanish) preferred
• Ability to travel to lower- and middle-income countries as needed (required).

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion – We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status. 

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com.

Safeguarding – We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse.  All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.