Job Title: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager

Team Leader: yes

Department: Education & Research

Location: Tanzania, Kenya or South Africa

Work Remotely: initially, with return to office as needed

Travel Required: minimal

Position: FullTime
Reports To: Head of Education & Research

Gross Salary: $2261-$2619

Contract Type: Term/Consultancy

Organization Summary:

UBONGO is Africa's leading producer of kids' edutainment. As a non-profit social enterprise, we create fun, localised and multi-platform educational content that helps kids learn, and leverage their learning to change their lives. Ubongo reaches millions of families across Africa through accessible technologies like TV, radio and mobile phones. Our show’s Ubongo Kids and Akili and Me currently air in 31 countries across Africa, in Swahili, English, French, and Kinyarwanda. We are currently adapting the shows to even more languages including Kikuyu, Luo, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, and Twi. This is a great time to join an organisation that’s rapidly growing across the continent, and work with a creative and impact-driven team committed to reaching as many families in Africa with life-changing edutainment. 

Job Position: We are looking for a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manger.  Working at Ubongo won’t be easy, but it will challenge and excite you with lots of responsibilities, plenty of fun, and give you the opportunity to impact the lives of millions of kids every day.

We’re looking for a dynamic, creative and flexible Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager to expand and improve our Education & Research department. You’ll work closely with our MEL Officer (to be hired) and Head of Education to to create and implement a long term, monitoring, evaluation and learning strategy. . 

RESPONSIBILITIES: 

1. Developing, implementing and owning an organisation-wide monitoring, evaluation and learning strategy

Main Activities:  

• We are a learning organisation. Therefore it is expected that you will take the lead (with support from the Education and Research team and Operations team) to develop an organizational MEL strategy that measures (amongst other things) reach, engagement and specific learning outcomes.
• Owning overall MEL strategy and coordinating implementation with both the Ubongo team and our research partners. 
• Leveraging lean data for continual monitoring in situations where we cannot afford to do in-depth studies.
• Linking our learning from impact evaluations that are done to the internal goal setting that we do (OKRs). 

2. Leading the team on evaluating the educational impact of our products (as well as reach), so that we can prove that we are improving learning outcomes for children and their communities

Main Activities:  

• Ensuring that our products are rigorously evaluated, and that learnings from this testing are fed back into product development
• As well as studying the data we already have you will need to be able to create new data gathering methodologies
• Managing external research partners (including Universities and graduate student researchers) conducting research and assessments of Ubongo edutainment across Africa
• Creating a reporting framework for partners who use our content in their programs. 

3. Analysing, summarising and sharing results and learnings across the organisation and externally

Main Activities: 

• Keeping the Ubongo team up-to-date on best practices and relevant work in MEL, and making sure we stay on the cutting edge!
• Analyzing, summarizing and sharing results & learnings internally with our team (in such a way that is easy to consume) and externally with partners, to ensure that everyone is up to date. 
• Suggest to the team the most appropriate MEL software/tools that can be used
• Training Ubongoers and building on the existing capacity of our MEL in the company and the importance of establishing the correct measurement tools
• Bringing together all of our previous M&E work (including experimental studies, longitudinal research, surveys and reach data) for internal learning.

REQUIREMENT:

KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS:

Essentials:

• Extensive research experience including experience designing, leading and implementing studies.
• Confident and knowledgeable in study design, data analysis and field implementation of research projects.
• MUST have experience in educational research and impact evaluation, as well as communicating impact to various stakeholders, using leveraged data.
• Experience managing MEL programmes, preferably at organisational level - this role will be responsible for managing our MEL strategy across the entire organisation
• Highly organized! We have a lot of data, studies and different projects, and you will be in charge of keeping all of this data and reporting in order
• Located in either Tanzania, Kenya or South Africa, or have the right to work in either of these countries.
• Able to speak and work fluently in English
• Good at dealing with ambiguity and able to figure things out for yourself. 
• Willing to speak up for what’s right, when you see wrong, or when you think there might be a better way.
• Someone who loves kids. They’re why we do what we do. They’re running around our office all the time. Our kids’ music and videos will become part of your life (and constantly stuck in your head)
• Be willing to wear many hats!

PREFERRED:

• Knowledge of Kiswahili is a plus
• Previous experience designing and implementing behavioural research programmes or in researching educational media/edutainment
• Masters or higher in M&E, Education, Research or another related field

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

Benefits: 

Phew! You made it through that. The good thing is that there are also perks, like a delicious healthy lunch at the office, health insurance, pension payments of up to 10% (matching the value of your individual contributions), 28 working days paid annual leave (in addition to the public holidays) and you get to watch cartoons at work. 

Please note that only applicants who apply using this online form will be considered.  Those who come directly to the office with a CV or who email their CV to us will simply be referred back to this online form. 

So please save yourself time and effort by simply sticking to this form. THANKS!