Job title: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager
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Job location: Lusaka, Zambia
Salary: Local Terms and Conditions apply
Contract: Two-Year Fixed-Term Contract
Hours: Full-time
Sightsavers are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager to provide MEL technical support at a country level for a transformative economic empowerment programme across Africa. This programme aims to advance inclusive development and empower young people with disabilities, with a strong focus on young women. By creating access to dignified and meaningful employment, the programme will dismantle historical barriers and promote economic opportunities for underrepresented groups.
As the MEL Manager you will be responsible for implementing the MEL framework, ensuring adherence to the design and alignment with donor and organisational standards. Working as part of the country office team, you will coordinate MEL activities with programme staff and implementing partners, ensuring that data collection, analysis, and reporting are conducted to the highest standards of quality, ethics, and inclusivity, and supporting high-quality project delivery.
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The role also involves capturing and synthesising learning, identifying opportunities for continuous improvement, and actively contributing to cross-country knowledge sharing. As the MEL Manager you will ensure that MEL is conducted in an inclusive and participatory manner, in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The postholder is expected to travel within the country and occasionally to other programme countries, up to eight weeks per year.
Further responsibilities include;
MEL framework design and implementation
Support the design of the MEL framework (including MEL plan, data collection plan, data management plan, quality assurance protocols, results framework).
Work collaboratively with the country office team to ensure the project is delivered to the highest quality.
Ensure full and consistent implementation of the MEL framework, tools and processes.
Proactively identify opportunities to strengthen MEL processes, tools and data quality and raise with the MEL Manager (PMU).
Monitor use of the country MEL budget and ensure efficient use of resources
Programme monitoring and adaptive management
Support the design and rollout of data collection tools and surveys, paying special attention to accessibility for youths and young women with disabilities.
Conduct monitoring visits and gather feedback from participants and partners
Lead in the analysis and presentation of country level data.
Ensure the highest standards of data quality, including accuracy, completeness and timeliness.
Learning and knowledge sharing
Lead the implementation of the Action Learning Groups in country, ensuring learnings inform programme adaptations.
Actively facilitate and undertake learning activities in country.
Capture and document learnings from the project.
Develop country level learning products (e.g. case studies, newsletter contributions) for internal and external audiences.
Reporting and evaluation
Support the design and lead country implementation of baseline, annual, and endline data collection and analysis as directed by the PMU
Manage reporting against the country results framework and contribute to donor and organisational reporting
Contribute to mid-term and final evaluations, supporting the collection of data and ensuring alignment with the evaluation framework
As the successful candidate you will be educated to Masters level in a relevant field or subject (e.g. international development, social inclusion, social sciences) or hold equivalent experience in these areas. You will have a background in MEL within international development programmes, preferably in economic empowerment programmes, and have experience implementing MEL frameworks including data collection, analysis and reporting.
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Further requirements include;
Essential
Experience implementing an adaptive management approach.
Experience with collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data.
Understanding of data privacy, ethics and safeguarding in MEL.
Strong technical MEL skills including developing indicators, designing tools and managing data quality processes.
Ability to implement MEL frameworks with fidelity while adapting to local context.
Excellent analytical skills and ability to synthesise learning into actionable insights.
Desirable
Formal training in MEL methodologies, data analysis or project evaluation.
Project management qualification.
Experience working in a multi-country programme.
Experience of working in gender and disability inclusive programmes with a commitment to promoting equality of opportunity for marginalised groups including people with disabilities.
Experience working in a matrix-managed environment, demonstrating the ability to effectively collaborate with multiple managers and cross-functional teams.
Familiarity with DHIS2 for data collection and reporting.
This is a varied and involved position, and the above is not an exhaustive list of duties or required professional skills. Please see the Job Description for full details.
If you are passionate about driving systemic change and empowering young people with disabilities, we encourage you to apply.
Please submit your application, including your CV and responding to all of the profile and job-related questions, detailing your relevant experience and your motivations for applying. Please do not provide a separate covering letter as there is an opportunity for you to provide all relevant information within the application.
A role-typical task will form part of the initial assessment process, together with a further task at interview stage. We anticipate that interviews will be held in late December 2025/ early January 2026.
Please note that this role is subject to successful donor funding and the job description is subject to change prior to finalisation, based upon specific programme requirements.
As an equal opportunity employer, we actively encourage applications from all sections of the community. Sightsavers is a Disability Confident Leader and qualified people with a disability are particularly encouraged to apply. Sightsavers is an employer that does not tolerate any form of harassment and has zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse. All potential candidates will be subjected to rigorous background checks and controls.
Closing date: 9 November 2025
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