Palladium develops and delivers solutions that create positive impact for communities, businesses, societies and economies. We transform lives and create enduring value by working with governments, corporations and non-profit organisations. Palladium is built on the idea that progress will be supported by four key pillars:

• International Development

• Strategy Execution Consulting

• Impact Investment

• Training and Events

We create positive impact through more than 100 current projects with more than 2000 employees operating in over 90 countries.

The Programme
The Economic Policy Incubator (EPI) is needed now more than ever to strengthen Nepal's economic policies and the economic policy process. Only sustained improvements in economic performance will enable the country and its people to support themselves, and post-earthquake reconstruction must come alongside efforts to build the institutional foundations for long-term prosperity.

Palladium International Limited, in partnership with South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics & Environment (SAWTEE) and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) will jointly implement the EPI, harnessing local ownership and anchoring the AiiN programme. The EPI will:

• Support stakeholders to analyse and consult on economic policy issues, linking research and dialogue to policy processes and to locally-owned reform initiatives.

• Directly promote improved policy on selected issues, helping Nepali actors to drive tangible and sustainable policy changes, with measurable effects on economic performance.

• Work with government bodies to improve economic governance and policy processes, strengthening institutions in a focused and problem-driven manner.

The Role
The MEL Manager will oversee and support the effective implementation of the MEL framework for the EPI programme. The position will be based in Kathmandu with the potential for intermittent travel to project and partner locations outside of Kathmandu. The role of the MEL Manager will be to track programme performance according to set benchmarks, contribute to structured internal decision-making processes and iterative learning, and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the project over the course of the initiative.

• Design of monitoring system

  • Develop a comprehensive understanding of the economic policy process and EPI's role in this, including programme objectives, implementation streams, coordination mechanisms and performance indicators;

  • Design, manage and implement systems for results-based monitoring of programme activities to ensure quality of outputs and achievement of performance targets;

  • Develop and implement structure for organising data generated by the programme, including a 'project dashboard'.

• Learning and adaptive management

  • Establish and facilitate feedback forums on a regular basis to share accumulated learning across within the team and advise programme decision makers on the improvements to activity design and implementation processes;

  • Support M&E Adviser to facilitate regular reviews of programme strategy and implementation experience;

  • Support development and revision of programme ToC and project-specific ToCs.

• Reporting

  • Collate information supporting monthly, quarterly and annual progress reports for programme activities;

  • Support development of lessons-learned notes, as appropriate.

• Research and Evaluation

  • Contribute to identification of formative research studies to be undertaken by the programme, including but not limited to political economy analysis;

  • Support or lead development of ToRs for formative research to be undertaken by the project;

• Coordination and capacity building

  • Work collaboratively to build the MEL capacity of the internal team and local partners, including grantees of EPI where appropriate;

  • Coordinate with other programmes to promote synergies across research, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, sharing of lessons learned and triangulation of observations, particularly across pillars 1 and 3;

  • Coordinate with independent evaluators, provided an independent evaluation is commissioned, to share relevant programme data and provide an overview of internal MEL mechanisms pertinent to third-party assessments;

  • Liaise with stakeholder and team members to collect and present success stories as well as highlight areas for improvement to be analysed during process evaluations and annual programme reviews.

Key Selection Criteria
In your application please demonstrate how you fulfil the requirements below:
Essential

• Minimum of 7 years' relevant experience in with exposure to M&E system design and implementation with responsibility for organizational/programme learning;

• Demonstrated understanding and experience of knowledge management and communication;

• Experience conducting monitoring or evaluation for DFID or another large bilateral donor;

• Bachelor's degree (Master's degree preferable) in a relevant subject such as social science, political science, organizational development, M&E or similar;

• Ability to work in both English and Nepali language;

• Track record of experience of M&E capacity development of partner organizations;

• Ability to effectively operateMS-Excel and other relevant software for effective MEL processes;

• Demonstrated facilitation skills dealing with internal and external stakeholders;

• Willingness and commitment to learn and improve; and

• A good analytical and problem solving skills;

Preferred

• Demonstrated formal training in the area ofmonitoring and evaluation a plus;

• Knowledge of gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) and experience of mainstreaming GESI;

• Good knowledge of value for money (VFM) approaches; and

• Experience implementing flexible/adaptive programming or designing monitoring systems to support this implementation.