Portfolio Results Advisor

Save the Children International has an exciting opportunity for a Portfolio Results Advisor to join our global team.

Team and Role Purpose

The Programme Delivery department drives the implementation of our strategy by ensuring that programme and advocacy delivery is done right first time – at scale, with impact and quality, on time, on budget and with compliance. We aim to strengthen and enable implementing offices’ ability to work in complex and hostile environments, be more locally-led, smarter in its sourcing, and with a smaller environmental footprint. The department leads comprehensively on the organisation's humanitarian and crisis response strategy, including prioritisation, programme quality, operational delivery and interagency collaboration and influencing.

Role purpose

The Portfolio Results Advisor ensures that the Save the Children Sponsorship programs have a robust system in place to generate high quality reporting about program results for children, and evidence of impact for accountability to stakeholders. Reporting to the Head of Results and Resource Centre, s/he is responsible for providing country-specific Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) technical assistance, when requested, and managing the Community of Practice for learning in the Sponsorship and social transformation programs. S/he will ensure that the appropriate tools, templates, and guidance are used to improve data and results reporting, including Total Reach and Sponsorship Annual Reports, with disaggregation as needed. S/he will lead global learning initiatives across the Sponsorship program to generate evidence on inequality and discrimination, working with colleagues across the movement to specify results achieved for children. This role will be the lead in managing knowledge across the portfolio, synthesizing evidence generated from evaluations to explain change for children across our Breakthroughs, while managing the evaluation pipeline for Sponsorship (baselines, midlines and endlines) and working closely with the global Research and Evaluation Unit. With CO and Sponsorship MEAL counterparts, s/he will work to identify capacity gaps in MEAL staff and program managers, and then develop tools, guidance and learning programs to ensure Sponsorship improve evidence generation and learning from Sponsorship programming. The Portfolio Results Advisor also ensures that we have strong accountability systems in place for all Sponsorship programming.

• Job Title: Portfolio Results Advisor
• Reports To: Head of Results and Resource Centre
• Work Pattern: Hybrid/Remote with flexible working options available
• Location: Any approved Save the Children International office location. For a full list of locations that Save the Children International can hire in, please visit: SCI Careers
• Required Time Zone: Any
• Contract Length: Fixed Term (2 Years)
• Right to Work: The successful candidate must have the right to work in the country where the role is based, for the duration of employment.
• Language Requirements: English
• International Travel: up to 10%
• Remit: Global

Principal Accountabilities

Support in MEAL capacity strengthening and system strengthening activities

• Lead the Sponsorship MEAL Leadership Group and host its monthly meetings to facilitate learning and cross-country sharing on cutting edge MEAL methodologies
• Actively participate or facilitate trainings, meetings, webinars, discussion forums or other means for improving the MEAL capacity of country teams.
• Provide guidance and training on suitable methodologies to routinely capture best practice, monitor performance and share learnings throughout the program cycle.
• Ensure strong accountability systems exist in all locally-led programming models in the assigned portfolio.

Lead global learning and knowledge management initiatives across the Sponsorship program to generate evidence on inequality and discrimination

• Contribute to building the new Global Sponsorship MEAL infrastructure including tools, guidance, templates, and digital platforms.
• Synthesize and generate evidence to specify results achieved for children versus baseline data and planned objectives, through both quantitative and qualitative techniques, including rubrics.
• Collaborate with colleagues to build a pathway for promoting a learning culture and on-going adaptive programming based on quantitative and qualitative data.
• Upload and tag documents to Resource Centre, SharePoint, OneNet (intranet), Research tracker and Sponsorship Learning Log, and support country teams to increase their self-sufficiency in this area

Produce results reports and synthesis of impact findings

• Work with country office colleagues and global teams to synthesize findings from evaluations and communicate key results achieved to senior leadership, marketing and communications staff including to the five Sponsorship-funding members.
• Consolidate results, including total reach, from Sponsorship Annual Reports to support production of the global Sponsorship Annual Report.
• Coordinate Learning Programme calendar of activities, webinars, dissemination opportunities

Provide technical assistance on MEAL to country programs

• Support the design and implementation of performance evaluations through collaboration with learning partners and internal teams, including the global Research and Evaluation Unit.
• Support country offices with integration into SCI MEAL systems; exit planning; and ensure MEAL plans are fit for purpose to capture results, research and learning.
• Apply the Sponsorship Program Design Guidelines and SCI MEAL Operational Standards to provide technical support on program cycle steps (situational analyses, performance evaluations, assessments) and in developing costed MEAL plans.
• Ensure effective organization, documentation and dissemination of 3-year lessons learned workshops in pilot countries.

Experience and Skills

Essential

1. Significant experience in monitoring, evaluation, and/or program learning.
2. Extensive experience with Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) systems in country offices and for projects involving multiple thematic areas.
3. Track record delivering participatory learning and coaching to build capacity of country office colleagues
4. Proven abilities in strategic thinking and planning, and to independently manage work plans and evaluate progress.
5. Expertise in Excel, PowerPoint and data collection IT platforms.
6. Advanced qualitative and quantitative data and research skills, including but not limited to study design, survey instrument design and use, establishing and measuring health and education indicators, sampling, data analysis plans, data cleaning, and statistical analysis.
7. Sound program cycle management experience and ability to work in a complex organisation structure.
8. Demonstrated ability to report, present and communicate results in English.
9. Strong ability to organise, host webinars and learning events across the movement
10. Proven ability to collaborate with all levels of staff and to motivate and mobilize individuals outside their reporting line to achieve agreed operational plans.
11. Highly organized and excellent administrative skills to manage competing priorities at one time and multiple deliverables over time.

Desirable

• KOBO or GIS software and data visualization techniques.
• Qualitative research skills and ability to consolidate data into useable formats for decision-making.
• Design and administration of effective accountability systems
• Experience developing learning/training sessions on technical MEAL tools.

Education and Qualifications

Essential

• Masters degree in international relations, research methods, evaluation or other relevant area.

Desirable

• Specialized training in monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning systems and approaches.
• Written language skills in French, Spanish or Arabic

Working at Save the Children International

Save the Children is the world's leading organisation for children, employing ~25,000 staff. We save children's lives. We fight for their rights. We help them fulfil their potential. Through our work in 116 countries, we put the most deprived and marginalised children first.

We know that great people make a great organisation, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

The work here is challenging but is also immensely rewarding. At Save the Children, you will be in good company, working with talented, like-minded individuals who are determined to ensure that all children survive, learn, and are protected. Your contribution will help ensure children's voices are heard at the highest levels, and that we achieve our global strategy, Ambition for Children 2030, and reach every last child.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Equal Opportunities

DEI is core to our vision, values and global strategy. Save the Children is committed to creating a truly diverse, equitable and inclusive organisation, and one which will support us in our vision to ensure every child attains the right to survival, protection, development, and participation.

We are committed to equal employment opportunities, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, disability, marital or civil partnership status, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, caring or parental responsibilities, age, or beliefs and religion. We are committed to diversifying our staff to better represent the communities we serve and actively welcome underrepresented groups to apply.

Reasonable adjustments will be made should any candidate invited to interview require this.

Application Information

Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application. A full copy of the role profile can be found at SCI Careers. It is recommended that you save a copy of the role profile as it will no longer be available after the advert closes.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and the job advert may be closed earlier than advertised subject to the volume of suitable applicants. Please submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.
Due to the high volume of applications we receive, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Candidates who are successfully shortlisted should expect to hear from us within 2 weeks of the advert deadline.

Our Recruitment Process

1. Application review by our recruiting team based on your CV and cover letter
2. Two-stage competency-based interviews with the hiring team
3. Some recruitment may include an additional assessment or case study stage, or a third stage interview
4. If successful, you will receive a conditional offer of employment, followed by your contract subject to passing background checks

We need to keep children and adults safe so our selection process includes rigorous background checks and reflects our commitment to the protection of children and adults from abuse. All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our Code of Conduct and all policies and procedures relating to Anti-Harassment, Health and Safety, Safeguarding, and DEI and Equal Opportunities.

Save the Children does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.