Consultant: Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager

The_Carter_Center

Consultant: Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager

The Carter Center is guided by a fundamental commitment to promoting human rights, alleviating human suffering, enhancing freedom and democracy, and improving health conditions. The Center seeks a highly qualified, motivated, and energetic consultant for the Center’s US Elections portfolio.

This position requires up to 10 days of work per month. 

Start date: May 15, 2025 

Location: Remote

Pay: Commensurate with experience 

Length of Assignment: Through August 31, 2025, with a likelihood of extension or contract renewal depending on performance 

The Democracy Program at The Carter Center works internationally to support and enhance participatory democracy in alignment with human rights. Starting in 2020, The Carter Center initiated efforts to assist elections in the United States. The project encompasses several key components: establishing nonpartisan election observation efforts, civic education, enhancing the electoral dispute resolution process, providing assessments of state media / social media ecosystems, contributing to electoral reform, and promoting principles for trusted elections.

The Carter Center aims to advance nonpartisan election observation efforts in New Mexico and Montana, building on pilot programs conducted in 2024, and among other states currently under review, such as Michigan, Tennessee, South Carolina, Nevada, Colorado, and Georgia. The nonpartisan observation efforts introduced and/or supported by The Carter Center will differ from existing partisan poll watchers and election protection groups. The objective is to provide credible and transparent information on the conduct of elections in each state through public reports. To support these initiatives, The Carter Center also offers analysis and resources on various aspects of the electoral process and election administration, including poll worker recruitment and training, as well as tabulation and audit procedures.

The Carter Center seeks an experienced Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) professional or firm to serve as overall MEL Manager for the program, ensuring that the Democracy Program’s US programming meets its designated indicators and produces its desired impact.

SUMMARY:

  • The MEL Manager is responsible for co-designing and implementing the Democracy Program’s US Elections team’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) activities
  • The MEL Manager will play a primary role in data collection and analysis, survey design and deployment, routine reporting, data visualization/generation, summit and presentation preparation, and issuing recommendations for future programming
  • The successful candidate will have a strong conceptual understanding of how MEL can be used to ensure programs contribute to The Democracy Program’s mission of supporting democratic resilience in the United States
  • The MEL Manager will co-design a strategy to assess whether participation in Carter Center US Elections programming has better prepared partners to be agents of change at a national, state or local level, depending on the intervention type
  • The MEL Manager will also co-design and implement approaches to assess and support long-term partner sustainability
  • This contract will run from May 2025 – August 2025 with a possibility of extension with effective performance

JOB DESCRIPTION:

  • Co-leads – in conjunction with program staff – the development and implementation of a robust MEL framework.
  • Conducts a comprehensive review of the program level theory of change currently in place as well as associated performance indicators and relevant metrics; provides recommendations as needed on adaptations to better capture program impact.
  • Assesses strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in the program’s data collection and reporting practices.
  • Reviews and tracks the submission of weekly reports, following up on any missing or incomplete data to ensure timely data collection and reporting.
  • Transforms weekly narrative data into monthly dashboard indicators, creating an accessible dashboard that is exportable to Excel databases for easy tracking and analysis.
  • Aggregates and presents annual program indicators in a concise and easily understandable format to highlight key trends and outcomes for project staff.
  • Designs and prepares presentation materials for virtual and in-person summits, compiling all participant-produced artifacts for future analysis.
  • Deploys and analyzes surveys for the Democracy Program to deliver detailed reports with actionable insights and recommendations.
  • Organizes and facilitates strategy summits to foster learning, collaboration, and strategy development among teams, compiling insights and materials post-event.
  • Monitor the quality of MEL implementation, addressing gaps and shortfalls as required.
  • Assist project personnel with tailored monitoring and evaluation tools and resources; support project personnel and partners in their use.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

  • At least 7 years of experience in program development, monitoring and evaluation, with at least 3 years of direct experience in building and managing MEL systems, data collection, data validation exercises, and building staff capacity on MEL.
  • At least 5 years of experience in managing staff and teams, preferably in a role that demonstrates the ability to work with remote/hybrid teams.
  • Excellent Communication and organizational skills.
  • Demonstrated experience working in a political or social context.
  • Familiarity with nonpartisan election observation, election protection and/or political party poll watching.
  • Proven track record of designing functional capacity assessment approaches.
  • Proven ability to establish productive working relationships across class and cultural contexts.

To apply, please fill out the form at the link below and attach a CV and Cover Letter: https://filerequestpro.com/up/uselectionsrecruitingThis position is contracted through The Carter Center. Applicants are accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Only applications submitted to the link above will be considered. Only those candidates selected for an interview or additional consideration will be notified by The Center. No separate emails, phone calls, or in-person contacts, please.