United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Start Fund Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer

About the Start Network

The Start Network is a consortium of 24 leading NGOs working together to connect people in crisis to the best possible response. In order to meet the needs of crisis-affected people in a future of great uncertainty and complexity, we believe that the humanitarian sector must change. We promote a way of working that enables international and local humanitarian actors to coexist. We envision a self-organising system where the agencies best placed to respond to a crisis are empowered to do so. To realise this vision, we are working to catalyse a humanitarian sector that is more diverse, decentralised and collaborative.

The consortium works in three principal areas 1) Start Fund (financing for emergency response); 2) Start Build (strengthening civil society capacity); and 3) Start Beta (creating platforms for partnerships and learning). Innovative financing mechanisms and anticipatory crises response tools are also being developed. The network extends to nearly 7,000 partner agencies, comprised of over a quarter of a million staff working in 200 countries and territories. The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Team is presently hosted by Action Against Hunger UK.

About the role

The Start Fund confronts old challenges with new solutions based on the evidence generated through its rapid humanitarian responses. It is constantly iterating based on this evidence and thus requires a flexible and adaptive approach to monitoring, evaluation and learning. Currently, the Start Fund MEL Team services the Network on nearly £30 million of humanitarian response programming through a bespoke Learning Framework that emphasizes: light and simple processes, peer review, utilization-focused approaches, accountability, sharing and influencing good practice, innovation and strategic leadership.

The Start Fund MEL Officer will provide support in implementing the Start Fund Learning Framework to maximize uptake and impact of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) within the Start Network. This person will play an integral part in knowledge and information management for the Start Fund’s programme of humanitarian response projects and deliver key learning outcomes for the Network as a part of a passionate team of practitioners at ACF-UK. They will work closely with the Start Fund MEL Manager, the Start Fund Senior MEL Officer, the Start Team (currently hosted by Save the Children) and Start Network members to help ensure a consistent and improving quality of user-oriented, accessible products.

This includes: providing support to projects, improving knowledge and information management systems, managing databases, writing case studies and learning summaries, tracking projects’ progress and being a champion of learning within the Network. The Start Fund MEL Officer will also have experience providing administrative support both for enabling high-functioning team and for supporting smooth-running of committees. As with any member of the Start Team, they will bring rigor, passion and strong people skills to build relationships and broker partnerships for collaboration within the Network and broader sector.

As this is a hosted position, the successful candidate may rotate to another Start Network member in the event that ACF-UK ceases to host the Start Fund MEL team. The Start Network endeavors to provide a new global public good to the humanitarian sector to transform emergency response and preparedness. The Start Fund MEL Officer within the MEL team will contribute to the evidence base and learning that will enable this radical change to happen.

For further information on the role, please visit our website to download the job description.

Closing date: 5th October 2015.

Unfortunately due to the number of applications we receive we are only able to contact shortlisted applicants. Thank you for your understanding.