MERL Coordinator - SRH Alliance

The SRH Alliance Ethiopia programme addresses critical SRH gaps affecting adolescents and youth in Ethiopia, particularly low SRH service utilization, high teenage pregnancy, SGBV, and limited youth-friendly services and enforcement of progressive SRH policies and legal frameworks. The Alliance strengthens service delivery and system strengthening, SRH information through coordinated, and localized dialogues and community engagement, and gender-transformative approaches, leveraging digital tools, meaningful and inclusive youth participation (MIYP), and multi-sector collaboration. It also advances enabling environment to empower young people and marginalized groups access, availability, acceptability and quality SRH and SGBV services.

The MERL Coordinator– SRH Alliance provides overall coordination of MERL planning, implementation, assessments, monitoring and evaluation of SRH Alliance program led by PIE and implemented by Alliance members including PIE, Amref Ethiopia and local implementing partners, ensuring the achievement of agreed objectives, results, and quality standards. The MERL Coordinator spearheads SRH Alliance Program Result Framework, Theory of Change, and contributes to the SRHR Alliance New initiative funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), running from June 2026 to December 2028.

The MERL Coordinator leads Monitoring, Evaluation, Researching Learning (MERL) systems for the SRH Alliance programme, ensuring evidence-based, adaptive, and accountable implementation across alliance members, government partners, and Alliance member platforms/CSOs. The role ensures high-quality data systems, joint learning, consortium coordination, and results-based performance aligned with SRH Alliance objectives.

Working with the Project Manager for the Alliance, Thematic Sector Lead -SRH, Program Insight team and SRH Alliance project team members, the MERL Coordinator leads MERL planning, collection, analysis, reporting, and utilization, ensuring compliance with Plan International’s MERL policy and gender-transformative, inclusive approaches. The role supports community feedback mechanisms, builds MERL capacity among staff and Alliance member partners, promotes results-based management (RBM), and drives evidence-based decision-making and learning throughout the project lifecycle. This position is critical for monitoring, evaluation, learning, and high-quality delivery of the SRH Alliance Program

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead baseline, midline, endline evaluations, assessments, and outcome harvesting to generate evidence and measure program impact.
• Ensure high-quality data management, analysis, visualization, and reporting, producing actionable insights, dashboards, and evidence for decision-making.
• Strengthen accountability systems, including Community Feedback and Response Mechanisms (CFRM), ensuring inclusive and timely engagement with target groups.Drive organizational learning by establishing learning agendas, documenting best practices, and promoting adaptive management across Alliance members.
• Build the capacity of staff, partners, and local CSOs in Results-Based Management (RBM), MERL systems, data management, and digital tools.
• Ensure the integration of gender equality, meaningful and inclusive youth participation (MIYP), disability inclusion, conflict sensitivity, and climate adaptation within MERL processes.
• Strengthen centralized information management systems and oversee qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis.
• Coordinate performance review meetings, disseminate learning products, and support evidence-based program improvement and policy influence.Promote meaningful participation of adolescents, youth, and persons with disabilities in monitoring and evaluation processes.
• Represent the SRH Alliance in technical working groups, research forums, and stakeholder platforms, while fostering partnerships with government, academia, NGOs, private sector actors, and Alliance members for learning, collaboration, and resource mobilization.

The Individual 

• Bachelor’s degree in Statistics / Economics/ Information Science / Reproductive Health or Public Health/ Development Studies or Sociology and related fields.
• A minimum of five years of progressive professional experience in MERL in related Alliance or Consortium programs/projects.
• Demonstrated experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection, tools development and analysis. 
• Strong experience in data analysis using statistical and analytical software such as SPSS, RSTATA, Python etc. and good enough in qualitative data analysis tool like Nvivo. Experience in the use of Digital Data Collection tools like Kobotool box, CommCare /and  data visualization tools like Power BI, Tableau etc.
• Experience in planning, budgeting, and coordinating consortium projects is implied but not explicitly listed.
• Strong interpersonal, communication and leadership skills
• Experience in working with similar program and Dutch MoFA funded MEAL framework is preferred

• Experience experience in working on SRH and/or related programs/projects.
• Experience in Results-Based Monitoring and PMERL is an asset.
• Experience in working on consortium projects and with local partners in similar program is an asset.
• Prior experience and expertise in applying MEAL strategies from a gender transformative and inclusive approach is desirable

Safeguarding Children and Program Participants (Safeguarding) and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI)

• Understands and puts into practice the responsibilities under Safeguarding and GEI policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), ensuring that concerns are reported and managed per the appropriate procedures.
• Ensures that all staff in the unit/function/department and SRH Alliance member partners are properly inducted on and understand their role in upholding Plan International’s safeguarding and GEI policies;
• Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in day-to-day work.
• Ensures that Plan Ethiopia contributes to Plan International’s global efforts to ensure safeguarding and GEI, including making sure that relevant reporting and data are submitted.