The Senior Regional Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager is the most senior MEL position in the region and is tasked with providing leadership across the MEL function, ensuring the foundational building blocks for managing to impact are in place. Primary responsibilities include: developing and rolling out standards; backstopping staff; directly managing evaluations, audits, and research projects; supporting recruitment and onboarding new staff; supporting new proposal development; and developing MEL management systems.  Additionally, the Senior MEL Manager will manage a Data Specialist as a direct report and facilitate his/her work in developing and maintaining technology systems for data collection and utilization. The Senior MEL Manager position requires strong technical MEL expertise, but is also fundamentally a leadership position. Success in the roles requires effective communication with senior staff, an ability to build and manage relationships remotely, strong project management skill, and strategic thinking.

The Southern Africa portfolio includes 20+ projects, ranging from small pilots with lightweight MEL approaches, to large scale (>$20M) value chain projects with multiple MEL staff across several countries. Some projects focus on agriculture or food processing, however, the majority are part of TechnoServe’s Entrepreneurship Practice. Therefore, while this position will be embedded in the Southern African Region, it will collaborate closely with Entrepreneurship Practice leaders to develop and advance best practices. This will involve providing some direct support to projects throughout TechnoServe’s global portfolio.

This position sits within TechnoServe’s Global Impact Team and reports to the Global Impact Director, based in Washington DC. At TechnoServe, in order to promote project learning and smooth adaptive management, most MEL staff report to project or country directors. Having the Global Impact Team sit outside of these reporting lines allows it to remain objective while providing high-level leadership, coordination, and backstopping.