Senior MEL Specialist

Research Triangle Institute (RTI) has over 30 years’ experience assisting governments, communities, and the private sector. As a not-for-profit, independent research institute based in North Carolina, USA, RTI has roughly 6,000 employees with global experience implementing international development projects. RTI’s Sustainable Growth & Resilience (SG&R) technical unit within the International Development Group brings together RTI experts and capabilities across food security, agriculture, energy, environment, water, governance, and economic opportunity. SG&R will leverage RTI’s experience designing and delivering multisectoral programming and technical solutions to respond to climate change, build resilience, and promote economic growth around the world. 

SG&R’s Environment portfolio has delivered innovative, locally driven, evidence-based solutions in local and institutional capacity building in natural resource governance and environmental policy, countering wildlife and environmental crime, forest and protected area management, sustainable landscapes, climate change and resilience, livelihood development, and economic growth. 

Project Description 

End Wildlife Crime is a five-year activity that builds upon the successes of prior USAID/RDMA CWT activities, notably the USAID Wildlife Asia Activity and the USAID Reducing Demand for Wildlife Activity. To combat the ongoing demand for wildlife parts and products, the EWC activity will build and expand upon this work by taking a whole of society approach. The activity will encourage all people, including young people, women, Indigenous communities, faith-based groups and environmental organizations, to join efforts in protecting wildlife and expands the role of civil society to become active participants in the fight against illegal wildlife trade. 

Position Description 

RTI is seeking a Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Specialist for an environment program. The Senior MEL Specialist will be responsible for overseeing all MEL activities on the project.  

This position will report to the Chief of Party and will be based in Bangkok, Thailand.  

• Oversees all monitoring and evaluation activities and is responsible for quality and timely reporting against the Activity Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan (AMELP). 
• Manages the mobilization of international, national, and local MERLA expertise from partners. 
• Oversees MERLA activities implemented throughout all result activities and assists building local capacity on data collection, management, and sharing. 
• Leads the development, implementation, refinement, and harmonization of the project’s MEL system; works with technical staff to develop and operationalize indicators, set targets, and monitor (including data collection tool development) progress in accordance with the activity contract. 

• Trains staff and partners on MEL system operations, collection methods, storage, and analysis.  
• Contributes to project efforts to build the technical, systems, and operational capacities of local partner organizations and other relevant stakeholders. 
• Responsible for the development of the learning agenda (in collaboration with technical staff and partners) and leads the planning for learning activities such as periodic analyses, pause and reflect sessions, or other learning events to support feedback loops that inform project learning and adaptation. 
• Contribute to and/or lead writing sections for contractual reporting requirements, such as quarterly progress reports, workplans, and annual progress reports. 
• Establish systems for gathering, reporting, and analyzing performance data and indicators in compliance with USAID guidelines and best practices, and integrate data collection and learning throughout all project activities.  

• Bachelor’s degree and 12 years of experience, or master’s degree and 10 years of experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience. 
• Experience managing monitoring, evaluation, CLA, and reporting systems, particularly pertaining to locally led and locally relevant development, private sector engagement, and inclusive development. 
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English. 
• Experience in Southeast Asia. 

Preferred Qualifications: 

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in MEL and data analysis. 
• Experience in program evaluation and implementation research. 
• Experience building capacity of partners and stakeholders for data collection and use for learning. 
• Demonstrated experience with developing and implementing learning agendas, activities, and events into programming to support improved implementation. 

For application submission, please click here. All application should be submitted online to the provided link.