SUMMARY

Position: Disaster READY Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Coordinator for the Australian Humanitarian Partnership Support Unit (AHPSU). This is a full time role based in Australia.

Period: 2 years. The Australian Humanitarian Partnership Phase II will be operational until 22 January 2027.

ABOUT ALINEA INTERNATIONAL LTD

Alinea is an international development consultancy providing technical and management expertise that helps people improve their lives. We work with governments, investors, companies and communities to create lasting change. Over 35 years, Alinea has successfully delivered more than 515 projects worldwide.

BACKGROUND

The Terms of Reference (ToR) outlines the roles and responsibilities for the AHPSU Disaster READY Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Coordinator. This role will be responsible for supporting monitoring, evaluation and learning for Australian Humanitarian Partnership (AHP) programming in the Pacific and Timor-Leste, primarily the long-term Disaster READY resilience program. The position is Australia based, ideally in Melbourne or Canberra, although other locations may also be considered. The role may also require some travel to Pacific Island Countries and Timor-Leste.

The AHP: Represents a 10-year humanitarian and disaster management partnership between the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and six leading Australian humanitarian NGOs: the Church Agencies Network – Disaster Operations (CAN DO); CARE Australia; Oxfam Australia; Plan International Australia; Save the Children Australia; World Vision Australia.

AHP focuses on enabling rapid response to sudden onset disasters, providing assistance to protracted crises globally, and supporting disaster preparedness and resilience in the Pacific and Timor-Leste through the Disaster READY program.

For more information: https://australianhumanitarianpartnership.org/

Disaster READY: Has been designed to support women, men, youth, children, people with disabilities and other vulnerable people to be better prepared and more resilient to disasters in selected Pacific countries and Timor-Leste. Now in its second 5-year phase, the program is being implemented by AHP partners and their local networks in Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste. AHP partners draw on networks and partnerships in the region to strengthen disaster preparedness and improve disaster management at community to government levels, focusing on disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA).

For more information: https://australianhumanitarianpartnership.org/preparedness

The AHP Support Unit: AHPSU was established in 2018. It is funded by DFAT and managed by Alinea International. The AHPSU represents a compact, agile and responsive team. The team works closely with Australian NGOs, their local partnerships and networks, the DFAT Humanitarian Division, specifically the Humanitarian Preparedness and Response Branch, and other key humanitarian stakeholders. Core responsibilities of the AHPSU include facilitating partnership; supporting monitoring, evaluation and learning, promoting innovation and continuous improvement; communications and visibility; and providing grant support.

The AHPSU team: Is a compact unit that includes the Partnership Director, Operations & Grants Manager, MEL Manager, Disaster READY Coordinator, Communications & Visibility Manager and Senior Communications Specialist, and two Program Officers.

The role

The Disaster READY MEL Coordinator will manage all monitoring, evaluation and learning activities to understand the collective impact and change resulting from the Disaster READY program and any AHP responses carried out in Disaster READY countries.

It is a strategic role requiring strong technical capacity, managerial capacity and the ability to form cohesive working relationships with NGOs and in-country implementers. The role will support capacity development, manage evaluations and lead on key themes including locally led humanitarian action, accountability to affected populations, gender equality and disability inclusion.

The successful candidate will drive a collaborative learning culture, focusing on learning for improvement, adaptive program implementation, and learning for influence. The successful candidate will demonstrate strong MEL technical capacity (both quantitative and qualitative, including data collection, analysis, visualisation and sensemaking), strong management and mentoring skills and robust partnership brokering and relationship-building qualities.

Duties and responsibilities

The Disaster READY MEL Coordinator’s primary responsibilities will include:

• Providing technical input to the implementation of the Disaster READY MELF, including maintaining and reviewing the MELF throughout the life of the program. This will be an iterative and participatory process involving facilitation and support of in-country partners.
• Socialising and building partner understanding and ability to effectively report at both outcome level – in order to track change and impact – as well as against core Disaster READY indicators. This may include supporting partners to collect and analyse data through collaborative processes.
• Commissioning and managing external independent evaluations. The outcomes from these evaluations will support agency-level, AHP-level and sectoral learning.
• Commissioning and managing meta and strategic reviews to deepen analysis and assessments of key aspects of disaster preparedness, risk reduction and climate change adaption work, and explore key cross-cutting issues such as inclusion and localisation.

• Support country partners in annual review, learning and planning events and support Disaster READY reflection and review processes. This includes convening lesson learned activities on Disaster READY to support AHP partners to integrate findings into their future practices, identify activities that can add value across the partnership, and ensure that appropriate learning is shared among all members of the partnership.

• Jointly leading the annual Disaster READY reporting process, ensuring high quality reports for DFAT, partners and broader audiences. This will also include data management of Disaster READY core indicators.
• Developing strong working relationships with in-country partners and MEL focal leads, ensuring regular interactions, formal and informal meetings, briefings and ongoing support mechanisms to assist partners to understand MEL requirements and to develop capacity where required. This includes reviewing partner reports and MEL systems and providing quality assurance to ensure that MEL is sufficiently built into partner program cycles and resourced. It will also include monitoring and supporting Disaster READY partners with their learning agendas in each country.

• Working closely with the Disaster READY AHPSU team. This will include working in collaboration with the Disaster READY Senior Communications Specialist to support appropriate sharing of information to Australian and overseas stakeholders and working with the AHPSU Disaster READY Coordinator on annual planning, program support, etc.

• Other duties, as required, and agreed by the AHPSU Disaster READY Coordinator and AHPSU Partnership Director.

Key Selection Criteria

Required

• At least 5 years’ experience in monitoring and evaluation or research (preferably in the international aid and development sector).
• Formal qualifications in monitoring and evaluation or research, or equivalent in experience.
• Experience working in Pacific Island Countries and Timor-Leste, including the proven ability to build relationships with and support (through mentoring, training etc) key partners in these contexts.
• Demonstrated experience in developing fit-for-purpose monitoring, evaluation and learning frameworks with a particular focus on complex programs and initiatives; and leading and managing MEL activities within complex program environments.
• Experience in data collection, storage and analyses, including the use of software such as Microsoft Excel and survey tools, as well as the coding of qualitative data.
• Experience in building capacity in M&E, ideally with smaller resource-constrained organisations.
• Good verbal and written communication skills in English.
• The ability to work effectively and collaboratively in a small team, to work independently as required, and to meet deadlines.
• Experience working with NGOs and/or with the Australian Government (DFAT).

Desired

• An understanding of Australia's humanitarian sector or development programs and/or an understanding of disaster preparedness, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaption and resilience.
• Experience and/or knowledge of key cross-cutting issues in the humanitarian sector such as GEDSI, locally led humanitarian action, accountability to affected populations, etc.

Additional information

Relationships

The position reports to the AHPSU MEL Manager and works day-to-day with the Disaster READY Coordinator. The position also works closely with the Disaster READY Senior Communications Specialist.

Priority relationships include DFAT officers (primarily within the Humanitarian Division and at Pacific and Timor-Leste Posts, Australian NGO partners (including in-country MEL leads and humanitarian and resilience program staff), and broader humanitarian sector stakeholders including national Red Cross societies, regional inclusion partners and UN agencies. On occasion, this position may have limited contact with children during participation in field visits.

Position & Salary

This is a technical position with salary negotiated up to AUD 120,000 including superannuation (depending on experience). Flexible working arrangements may be considered to meet the requirements for selected candidates. 

Location

The candidate will be based in Australia. The position may involve domestic and international travel.