Asia Pacific: Regional Research & Evaluation Manager

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

The Regional Research & Evaluation Manager plays a key role in driving and improving efforts to measure, capture, and demonstrate the impact of Internews’ work at local, regional, and global level. Working closely with HQ-based impact staff, project directors, country representatives, and Internews’ regional team, they are responsible for leading the design and delivery of high-quality research and evaluation within the Asia-Pacific region. This includes providing technical support for the development and implementation of MERL frameworks, approaches, plans, and systems at the proposal and project start-up phase, securing appropriate budget for the delivery of MERL activities, devising mechanisms to monitor quality and gather insights to share with the implementation team at regular intervals, and taking a hands-on approach to completing research and evaluation tasks where needed and where gaps arise.

The Regional Research & Evaluation Manageris responsible for the overall quality of the monitoring, evaluation, research and learning of the Asia-Pacific programs. They work with project staff to increase their skills in gathering, analyzing, synthesizing, and reporting quantitative and qualitative data, and with Internews partners to build and improve their monitoring and evaluation capacities. They take responsibility for ensuring absolute clarity around MERL roles and responsibilities from project to project, including consultants and research agencies. They will also make a substantial contribution to shaping and delivering a wider global strategy to innovate and expand efforts in this area, as well as communicating Internews’ impact to internal and external audiences. They will also support external evaluations. The Regional Research & Evaluation Manager will be a curious and proactive self-starter with significant research expertise and a passion for sharing this with colleagues.

LOGISTICS

This role may be based remotely in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, or Thailand. Candidates must have independent work authorization in their location that does not require employer sponsorship.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so candidates are encouraged to apply soon.

This is a limited-duration position, with an expected end date of 6/30/2025.

OUR COMMITMENT TO FOSTERING A CULTURE OF BELONGING

We are an organization of dynamic, mission-driven individuals who are passionate about our core values and about supporting positive change in the world. We pride ourselves on our commitment to innovation and flexibility. We believe that diverse teams are strong teams and work to support an ethic of belonging, dignity, and justice for all people. Our current team includes a mix of genders, parents and non-parents, and people of multiple races, nationalities, ages, sexual orientations and socioeconomic backgrounds. We are an EEO employer and encourage candidates of all races, genders, ages, orientations, ethnicities, and national origins to apply, and welcome those with alternative backgrounds and experiences.

DAY-TO-DAY TASKS will include:

Oversee the design and implementation of high-quality monitoring, research, and evaluation activities within the region:

• Advocate for high quality, usable research, and evaluation to be embedded across projects in the region, including helping to build research and evaluation literacy, interest, and concrete skills where these are needed.
• Oversee or design MERL strategies and activities at the proposal development stage, effectively balancing the needs of partners, donors and the Internews research agenda to deliver impactful research activities that yield meaningful data.
• Develop systems and processes to ensure all MERL plans for Internews projects in the region are well-designed, aligned with Internews Theory of Change, properly costed, and implemented, including through sub-awards, adapted as needed, and that the data yielded meets quality standards, and are appropriately managed, analyzed and reported by partners and Internews staff.
• Lead research projects from design to delivery, including the developing high-quality TORs, sourcing, securing, and managing research partners, and ensuring research findings are effectively communicated.
• Provide technical guidance to colleagues working on MERL at project level in the region, identifying opportunities for additional training and support to help them achieve their goals.
• Ensure all colleagues working on MERL in the region receive a full induction to Internews’ tools, systems, and processes and can participate within the global team.
• Collaborate with Global Impact and Learning team to improve research, monitoring and evaluation practices across the organization.
• Conduct and manage research and evaluation tasks at project level.
• Present M&E data, research, and evaluation findings to donors and stakeholders.
• Perform other duties as assigned by Internews management, including communication and grant management tasks.

Drive and support the development and implementation of the Internews research agenda and evidence base for Internews’ work:

• Shape the Internews research agenda by identifying data and evidence gaps related to the 2024-2026 strategy.
• Identify opportunities to conduct research addressing these gaps across different projects within the global portfolio and design research initiatives that enhance or go beyond donor requirements.
• Identify and share research findings through internal or external fora which exemplify project, programmer impact or contain insights which are useful for internal or external learning, ensuring high quality, relevant research is put into wider use.

Contribute to the refinement and rollout of tools and processes for high-quality implementation:

• Ensure the appropriate selection of Internews’ tools and approaches, and that these are implemented to the highest standard, exchanged for more appropriate tools where needed and continually developed on the basis of feedback and the needs of partners.
• Lead or contribute to the development of guidance notes to ensure that Internews’ tools and approaches are properly budgeted and implemented.
• Contribute to application and improvement of Internews’ internal database, Program Source.
• In all duties, uphold Internews’ Core Values and demonstrate commitment to fostering a culture of Belonging, Dignity, and Justice.

QUALIFICATIONS WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

• English language skills required. Other Asian or Pacific language skills is a plus.
• University degree in social sciences field, preferably with a focus on research and evaluation or related field OR equivalent lived/professional experience.
• A minimum of 7 years’ experience in monitoring and evaluation of large internationally funded democracy and governance programs, preferably media development programs.
• A minimum of 2 years’ experience in management positions and supervising staff
• Demonstrated ability to communicate MERL requirements and outcomes to project colleagues and other stakeholders.
• Proficiency in evaluation design and development of indicators. Good working knowledge of statistics and ability to obtain, analyze and interpret data and present findings in written and oral form.
• Experience in quantitative and qualitative data collection/survey design, implementation and analysis.
• Familiarity with common assessment frameworks such as social network analysis, organizational capacity assessments, and principles of survey design and analysis; familiarity with digital safety/security assessments is an asset.
• Competent in qualitative methodologies and participatory assessments.
• Competent in MS Excel, word processing, Power Point and experience using statistical programs such as SPSS.
• Demonstrated understanding of USAID and other donor approaches to media development and familiarity with efforts to apply a media lens to development work.
• Experience in other challenging environments and flexibility to apply lessons learned from other contexts.
• Understand and demonstrate commitment to upholding Internews’ Core Values.