Job title: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager PMU
Job location: Nairobi, Kenya
Salary: Local Terms and Conditions apply
Contract: Two-Year Fixed-Term Contract
Hours: Full-time
Sightsavers are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager to provide MEL technical leadership for a transformative economic empowerment programme across Africa. This programme aims to advance inclusive development and empower young people with disabilities, with a strong focus on young women. By creating access to dignified and meaningful employment, the programme will dismantle historical barriers and promote economic opportunities for underrepresented groups.
Responsibilities
As the MEL Manager (PMU) you will be the MEL technical lead for this new five-year multi-country economic empowerment programme. Leading the design, implementation, and improvement of a robust MEL framework will ensure all countries deliver high quality Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning.
You will provide oversight to country-level MEL Managers, champion the use of evidence and learning to inform strategic decision-making, and play a key role in engaging with the donor’s MEL team and other external stakeholders.
The postholder must ensure that MEL is conducted in an inclusive and participatory manner in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. You will also be expected to travel up to eight weeks a year.
Further accountabilities include;
Strategic leadership
- Deliver high quality, robust data collection and analysis that supports programme performance monitoring, learning and strategic decision making.
- Oversee the planning, execution and monitoring of MEL plans, adapting strategies to emerging issues and evolving needs.
- Monitor and evaluate programme performance in partnership with the Programme Director and PMU colleagues, identifying risks and opportunities and ensuring that MEL insights inform programme strategy and delivery.
- Manage MEL budgets to ensure strategic allocation and cost-effective use of resources, maximising the impact of MEL activities across the programme.
Technical oversight and capacity building
- Ensure high standards and consistency in MEL delivery across all programme countries.
- Deliver technical training and facilitate peer learning among country-level MEL Managers and other staff involved in MEL activities.
- Contribute to the development and implementation of management protocols and Delegation of Authority (DoA) frameworks to clarify roles, responsibilities, and reporting lines for MEL staff across the programme
- Ensure MEL data systems are fit for purpose, user-friendly and aligned with programme learning and reporting needs by overseeing their design and functionalist in coordination with database developers and managers from the Data Analytics and Reporting Team (DART)
- Ensure that the programme produces high quality, accurate and reliable data by developing and overseeing monitoring systems and data quality assessment protocols in collaboration with MEL and DART colleagues.
Learning synthesis and knowledge management
- Lead the development and implementation of robust knowledge management systems to capture, synthesise, and disseminate learning across countries and teams.
- Lead the production of programme learning products for dissemination to internal and external stakeholders.
Monitoring, reporting and evaluation
- Ensure programme results are effectively monitored and reported by coordinating with global MEL colleagues and DART, maintaining alignment with the results framework and organisational reporting standards
- Lead the design and coordinate the implementation of baseline, annual, and endline data collection and analysis
- Lead and coordinate reporting against the results framework and contribute to donor and organisational reporting
Stakeholder engagement
- Represent the programme’s MEL work to donors and partners, ensuring alignment with expectations and timely, high-quality reporting.
- Build strong relationships and work collaboratively with Country Directors and CO management to ensure alignment on MEL priorities and deliverables.
Risk management and quality assurance
- Proactively identify and manage risks related to MEL delivery, quality, data protection, and compliance, escalating issues to the Programme Director and Senior MEL Manager (Inclusion) as needed
- Lead MEL risk management and quality assurance processes, ensuring compliance with organisational and donor standards.
Skills and Experience
As the successful candidate you will possess a Masters in a relevant field or subject (e.g. international development, social inclusion, social sciences), or equivalent experience. You will have experience in a MEL leadership position within the international development sector working across different countries, preferably in economic empowerment programmes, and hold proven experience designing and implementing MEL frameworks and managing MEL in multi-country programmes.
Further requirements include;
Essential
- Experience using MEL systems and data to monitor project performance.
- Experience implementing an adaptive management approach.
- Experience mentoring MEL staff and building capacity across diverse teams and geographies.
- Experience facilitating or supporting Action Learning Groups including designing tools and guiding participatory learning processes.
- Understanding of data privacy, ethics and safeguarding in MEL.
- Excellent oral and written skills in English.
- Ability to travel for up to eight weeks per year.
- Existing and ongoing Right to Work in Kenya
Desirable
- Formal training in MEL methodologies, data analysis or project evaluation
- Experience working in a matrix-managed environment, demonstrating the ability to effectively collaborate with multiple managers and cross-functional teams.
- Experience of working in gender and disability inclusive programmes with a commitment to promoting equality of opportunity for marginalised groups including people with disabilities.
- Practical experience of DHIS2 for data collection and reporting.
This is an involved position, and the above is not an exhaustive list of duties or required professional skills. Please see the Job Description for full details.
Next Steps
If you are passionate about driving systemic change and empowering young people with disabilities, we encourage you to apply.
Please submit your application, including your CV and responding to all of the profile and job-related questions, detailing your relevant experience and your motivations for applying. Please do not provide a separate covering letter as there is an opportunity for you to provide all relevant information within the application.
A role-typical task will form part of the initial assessment process, together with a presentation / further task at interview stage. We anticipate that interviews will be held on 3 and 4 December 2025.
Please note that this role is subject to successful donor funding and the job description is subject to change prior to finalisation, based upon specific programme requirements.
As an equal opportunity employer, we actively encourage applications from all sections of the community. Sightsavers is a Disability Confident Leader and qualified people with a disability are particularly encouraged to apply. Sightsavers is an employer that does not tolerate any form of harassment and has zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse. All potential candidates will be subjected to rigorous background checks and controls.
Closing date: 9 November 2025
