Director of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL)

Department: M4D GSMA Entity: Foundation Location: London Position type: Fixed Term Contract Reporting to: Daniele Tricarico About the GSMA The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting more than 750 operators with almost 400 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. Our mission is to further the strategic, commercial, technological, developing world and advocacy interests of our members. The GSMA produces industry-leading events such as Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai, Mobile World Congress Americas and the Mobile 360 Series conferences. Every day we work to harness the power of mobile to achieve our industry purpose – Connecting Everyone and Everything to a Better Future – through four main activities: We provide strategic direction and thought leadership to our members We drive collaborative industry programmes aimed at maintaining operator relevance in the digital world We advocate for the industry to regulators, policy makers and society as a whole We convene the broad mobile communications ecosystem at our industry leading events About the Team The Mobile for Development (M4D) team drives innovation in digital technology to reduce inequalities in our world. Singularly positioned at the intersection of the mobile ecosystem and the development sector, we stimulate digital innovation to deliver both sustainable business and large-scale socio-economic impact for the underserved. Our unique research and insights platform advances digital innovations and implementations that empower underserved populations to build a better future. Our in-market expertise informs partnerships between the mobile industry, tech innovators, governments and the development sector. And our unparalleled convening power motivates conversations and inspires action. To date, we have impacted the lives of more than 220 million people. The Central Evaluation and Learning (MEL) team works across the Mobile for Development portfolio. M4D’s MEL team delivers in-depth, consistent, meaningful and exciting methodologies and results to understand and drive impact, deploy pragmatic and useful MEL to iterate on our approaches, and support and share action orientated learning Across all of M4D’s programmes we prioritise three key impact areas: climate, gender and, through the innovation fund mechanism, investment in scalable innovations. M4D’s portfolio-level MEL strategy is built around these three pillars and supported by a comprehensive learning agenda. The M4D MEL team is comprised of seven MEL specialists, embedded within M4D’s programme teams. The MEL Director is responsible for managing this team, setting and executing the MEL strategy for M4D, and providing in-depth technical support to M4D’s programme agenda. What the hiring manager says About the Role “We are looking for a MEL expert that can provide oversight and support cohesion to the talented MEL staff across M4D. The selected individual will communicate and collaborate with M4D leadership and donors to drive the direction of MEL for M4D and ensure learning is being robustly generated and shared” Daniele Tricarico, Senior Director, Central Insights & M&E Responsibilities As the maternity cover for the MEL Director, you will: Manage the M4D MEL team, and create a space for sharing and support between MEL staff in all programmes, promoting shared tools and approaches and cross-learning. Be a sounding board and support for excellent MEL practice and change management in the department, and provide feedback on project and programme level MEL approaches and reports. Support MEL team staff to ensure they can provide strong support and learning deliverables within programme team structures, giving structure to this cross-functional team. Manage and coordinate quarterly and annual reporting across programme teams. Facilitate cross-programme learning, engagement, and use of MEL data. Design and manage learning products according to M4D’s central learning agenda to ensure that Learning agenda – keep designing learning products for the learning agenda. Develop an approach to design MEL for new grants at an early stage, and ensure they have MEL support from the offset to deliver utilisation-focused project evidence. Create support lines to M4D leads, ensuring they have the evidence they need for reporting and decision making, and provide access to central MEL budgets to support them where appropriate. Design and manage evaluations and impact assessments to understand the effectiveness and impact of M4D portfolio as a whole, and for specific programmes. Be responsible for MEL team internal reporting, and support reporting to donors, especially for cross-programme grants. Make use of and take forward central MEL assets, including quantitative and qualitative databases and existing tools (including quantitative monitoring tables as well as more qualitative approaches such as outcomes harvesting), as well as identifying and creating new tools and approaches where required. Engage and build relationships with high profile stakeholders including sector and industry leaders and donors. Build M4D’s MEL network, forming partnerships with leading organisations and forums, and engaging with our existing partners. About You The successful candidate will have most or all of the following: Experience managing teams to deliver excellent MEL. Excellent stakeholder management and experience build networks and partnerships. Excellent communication and collaboration skills to bring together busy internal and external teams with different needs and approaches at all levels, across diverse cultures and geographies. Experience in designing and delivering MEL frameworks and evaluation approaches, and developing tools and approaches to support their team to do the same. Experience reporting to donors including FCDO, DFAT, SIDA, GIZ. Competency with quantitative and qualitative data, and the ability to oversee and utilise databases stored in SQL, Excel and Google sheets with support from the MEL team. Experience bringing together and sharing evidence which demonstrates a triple bottom line impact, across social, commercial and environmental metrics, including digital and ideally sectors which are relevant to M4D (including telecoms, digital and financial inclusion, utilities, agriculture, humanitarian). Motivation to drive evidence-driven decision making and co-develop new ways of working across the department. Contract type Fixed Term Contract (Fixed Term) Worker type Employee What We Offer Working at the GSMA offers you unparalleled access to the mobile industry. We offer a chance to truly shape the direction of mobile, whatever your role. By joining the GSMA, you will be exposed to a fast-paced rapidly evolving environment, working on global solutions, genuinely fascinating and industry-changing projects and a stimulating and dynamic environment designed to enable you to flourish. In addition to architect-designed offices and competitive compensation, our benefits include fantastic learning & development opportunities, generous holiday allowances, four additional days off for professional development and many others. To learn more about the GSMA, visit our career site, our LinkedIn page and our Twitter page. Being You at the GSMA We are one of the most diverse companies you will ever come across, we care deeply about equality and inclusivity and aspire to be the best at it. Your well-being and work/life balance is important so if you prefer to work flexi-time or a day from home, just ask. We’re keen to ensure everyone is equal, represented and connected so we particularly encourage applications from all demographics. The success of the GSMA year on year will continue to be contributed by people from all walks of life. Flexible Working Here at the GSMA, we are committed to being an inclusive employer and are happy to consider flexible working arrangements supported by our BeWell programme. Our BeWell programme provides comprehensive benefits, tools and initiatives to encourage a happy and healthy working environment. If you are interested in applying for this role with a flexible working arrangement, please talk to our recruitment team. If you're currently an employee at GSMA, please apply internally using the GSMAHub by clicking on ‘Career’ in your main Dashboard. About the GSMA The GSMA is a global organisation unifying the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovation foundational to positive business environments and societal change. Our vision is to unlock the full power of connectivity so that people, industry, and society thrive. Representing mobile operators and organisations across the mobile ecosystem and adjacent industries, the GSMA delivers for its members across three broad pillars: Industry Services and Solutions, Connectivity for Good, and Outreach. Connectivity for Good engages members, governments and civil society, to advance positive policy and spectrum outcomes, facilitate digital innovation to reduce inequalities in our world, and tackle todays’ biggest societal challenges such as digital inclusion, climate change and sustainability. Industry Services and Solutions underpins the technology and interoperability that make mobile work. Via our projects, working groups and promotional activities we facilitate the industry’s focus on areas such as 5G, Mobile IoT, fraud and security. And our technical services offer tools, data and resources to enable even more efficient and robust mobile experiences for users. Outreach provides the world’s largest platform, convening and informing the mobile ecosystem, at MWC Barcelona, Shanghai, Los Angeles and the M360 series, and through Mobile World Live and GSMA Intelligence with breaking news, insights and expert analysis. We invite you to find out more at gsma.com.