Room to Read - Research Monitoring & Evaluation Director

RESEARCH MONITORING & EVALUATION DIRECTOR GLOBAL GIRLS’ EDUCATION & GENDER EQUALITY DECEMBER 2021

About Room to Read Private Sector Brain, Nonprofit Heart We’re people from around the world, from diverse industries, who are passionate about education. Taking best practices from our diverse disciplines, we live our values by improving lives.

We’re personally invested in the nations where we work; from places like Tanzania and South Africa to Bangladesh and Cambodia, 87% of us are from the countries where we work.

Efficient Financially, Effective Globally We maximize our resources and hold ourselves accountable to our partner communities, investors, and internal stakeholders. We set ambitious, measurable goals and track them.

Ever a learning organization, we take calculated risks and use creativity to accomplish goals.

And we build upon our partnerships to grow sustainably and create systemic change around the world.

Best In Class Our programs and fiscal efficiency have earned consistently positive recognition from the media, as well as from leaders in the nonprofit and corporate sectors. We are proud to have a reputation that is strong and authentic as an innovative leader in global education. Our work and impact is validated by respected journalists, academics, policy makers and our peers.

Room to Read believes that World Change Starts with Educated Children.

We envision a world where children can pursue a quality education that prepares them to be fulfilled and make positive change — in their families, communities and the world.

Founded in 2000, Room to Read is achieving this goal by providing support during the two most critical time periods in a child’s education: primary school for literacy acquisition and secondary school for girls’ education.

Our Literacy Program trains and coaches teachers, creates quality books and curricular materials and establishes libraries filled with diverse children’s books in local languages that can be enjoyed at school or home.

Our Girls’ Education and Gender Equality Program helps girls build skills to succeed in secondary school and make key life decisions by

providing life skills curriculum, opportunities for mentorship and peer support, and family and community engagement.

Learn more at www.roomtoread.org.

Room to Read collaborates with local communities, partner organizations and governments to test and implement innovative models that can be integrated into the education system to deliver positive outcomes for children at scale.

To date, Room to Read has reached 23 million children in over 48,000 communities across Bangladesh, Cambodia, Grenada, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, United States, Vietnam and Zambia, and plans to benefit 40 million children by 2025.

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Research, Monitoring & Evaluation (RM&E) at Room to Read Quality RM&E is core to Room to Read’s mission, programmatic objectives and organizational culture.

The importance of our RM&E work is reflected throughout Room to Read’s current Strategic Plan “Vision 2025”, and the Global RM&E Report (issued Dec 2020) provides an overview of RM&E work for our Literacy and Girls’ Education Program.

The Global RM&E team is responsible for setting the overall strategy for RM&E with an emphasis on measuring the impact of our programs, generating learning and program improvements, and innovating measurement metrics and methodologies. Through our RM&E work we are committed to filling key evidence gaps, both in the sector and at country level for government partners, as well as reporting on our global

indicators, and supporting funder reporting and business development with respect to RM&E. We are committed to intensifying our thoughtleadership activities to expand dissemination of our research findings, best practices and lessons learned. We will be more deliberate and focused about sharing our longitudinal data and outcome research with government ministries. And even more importantly, we will work with government leaders and ministries of education to identify ways in which evidence gained through our work can be shared and institutionalized by the public sector, with the goal of better outcomes for all young people.

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Responsibilities •

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The Role Role:

Research Monitoring & Evaluation Director – Global Girls’ Education & Gender Equality •

Location: New York, Washington or London (office and home-based) Salary:

Competitive

Contribute to the leadership and overall strategic direction of RM&E at Room to Read, with an emphasis on our girls’ education and gender equality through education portfolio.

Collaborate with program and operations departments at the global and country level to expand and improve our RM&E framework aligned with our evolving girls’ education and gender portfolio. The framework will include implementation monitoring, performance indicators, student/teacher/school/system-level assessments, alumnae surveys, evaluations, and research studies.

Lead a small technical team within the Global RM&E team to implement the girls’ education and gender RM&E portfolio, lead evaluation and research designs for custom projects across Asia and Africa, provide technical assistance to country-level RM&E teams, contribute to proposal development and create RM&E-focused evidence

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Develop and implement strategies to innovatively measure outcomes related to girls’ education and gender quality at multiple levels, including individual, school, community, and system levels.

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Iterate and optimize Room to Read’s life skills measurement framework.

Support the Girls’ Education Program team with the design of gender assessments.

Strengthen Room to Read’s research and evaluation methods and technical capacity globally.

Develop and manage to portfolio and project level budgets. Design and implement competitive procurement processes for data collection, research partners and consultants.

Lead the development of publications focused on Room to Read girls’ education and gender equality data and evidence to increase visibility in the sector and policy influence at the country level.

Serve as the primary Room to Read representative for girls’ education and gender equality RM&E portfolio through publications, presentations and membership in sector working groups.

Motivate, inspire, and support team members and colleagues. Develop capacity of more junior team members.

International travel to Room to Read countries and other destinations up to 30% of time (when safe to do so).

Job Summary This position is part of the Global Office Research, Monitoring and Evaluation (GO RM&E) team within the Program Design and Technical Assistance Department (PDTA). The RM&E Director for Global Girls’ Education and Gender Equality is a new position being created

to bolster the RM&E strategy and portfolio for Room to Read’s girls’ education and gender equality programming and to expand technical leadership for the organization overall. This position will report to the Vice President of Global RM&E (based in Washington DC).

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Candidate profile Required: •

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Robust knowledge of RM&E for girls’ education and gender equality in education, including frameworks, research and evaluation strategies, measurement approaches, and the existing evidence base.

Extensive experience leading the design and implementation of an array of research and evaluation projects in developing countries, ideally with a focus on girls’ education and gender equality programming.

Strong quantitative analysis skills, with proven ability to work with data software packages such as SPSS/STATA. Ability to design and produce high-quality complex technical reports with innovative analyses and data visualizations.

Experience developing and delivering compelling technical presentations to the sector.

Strong leadership skills, with a history of developing strategies and managing towards the achievement of goals.

Proven ability to collaborate across diverse teams and deliver high-quality, complex RM&E solutions.

Experience with engaging policy makers and influencing outcomes at the sector level.

Experience with competitive procurements, project management and budget development and management.

Prior success working closely and building

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relationships with diverse groups of people.

Orientation toward capacity building of more junior colleagues.

Ability and desire to travel frequently internationally.

10+ years of relevant experience.

Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.

Legally eligible to work in desired location, no sponsorship provided.

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Experience leading highly-skills technical teams.

Experience with digital transformation strategies to support data collection, analysis and visualization.

Experience working in an implementing organization context.

To be successful at Room to Read, you will also: •

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Have passion for our mission and a strong desire to impact a dynamic nonprofit organization Be a proactive and innovative thinker who achieves results and creates positive change Have a very high level of personal and professional integrity and trustworthiness Embrace diversity and a commitment to collaboration Thrive in a fast-paced and fun environment

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How to Apply All correspondence, at this stage, should be via Oxford HR. To apply for this post, click on the “Apply” button on the job advert page, complete our online application form, and submit your CV and cover letter as two different documents, which should be prepared before applying as they will be considered in the application process.

The cover letter should be no more than two pages long and explain why you are interested in this post and how your skills and experience make you a good fit.

The documents should be saved in MS Word in the following format: Your First Name-Your Last Name-Document Name-Date (mmyyyy) e.g., Malika-Cook-CV-122021RoomtoRead.

Timeline Closing Date 06 February 2022

About Oxford HR Equality Statement Room to Read is proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to identifying and developing the skills and leadership of people from diverse backgrounds. Staff are expected to work collectively and individually to promote a constructive and sensitive approach to others from a variety of backgrounds, where the work of others is valued and respected.

Selection Process All candidates will receive an update regarding their application after the closing date. We advise candidates to add the role email to their safe senders list and regularly check their spam folder.

Queries If you have any queries on any aspect of the appointment process, need additional information, or would like to have an informal discussion, please email roomtoread@oxfordhr. co.uk in the first instance.

First stage interviews w/c 14 February 2022 Final interviews late February/early March 2022

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