Monitoring and Evaluation

Opportunity International Australia is seeking a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Associate to support our mission to help break the cycle of poverty. Working within Opportunity's Health program and reporting to the Program Director, the Monitoring and Evaluation Associate is a key contributor to the effectiveness of our work.

Based in either India or Bangladesh, the role will suit a passionate, collaborative and self-starting analyst with strong interpersonal skills, experience in the not-for-profit sector and alignment to our mission.

Why join Opportunity?

• We enjoy a strong sense of purpose
• We care for and value our team, and provide a friendly and supportive environment
• Competitive salary
• Winner of the XRef Best Workplace Award 2024

The Organisation

Motivated by the parable of the Good Samaritan, Opportunity International Australia seeks to end poverty in developing countries – one family and one community at a time. By providing small loans to families in need, Opportunity helps them grow their own businesses and generate sustainable incomes so they can lift themselves out of poverty with dignity.

To break the cycle of poverty for good, Opportunity also increases families' access to healthcare and quality education, while strengthening communities to reduce the risk of gender-based violence – creating a new future for generations to come.

The Impact

By joining Opportunity International Australia, you become an integral part of a transformative mission that goes beyond fighting poverty - Opportunity aims to end it. Through innovative programs and microfinance initiatives, Opportunity creates sustainable pathways for economic growth, entrepreneurship, and financial inclusion. The goal is to develop resilience and opportunity by expanding primary health system capacity, with a core focus on India, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

Opportunity has a growing, innovative, and dynamic portfolio of Health projects establishing telemedicine clinics and hybrid models to support healthcare access, innovative social business and fintech/health tech partnerships, resilience against gender-based violence and strengthening community health education.

The Role

The M&E Coordinator will be part of a Programs team working to leverage the core assets and competencies of microfinance institutions (MFIs) – their capacity for social mobilisation, established networks in high-need communities, and high levels of trust – to offer scalable and sustainable health programs.

A passion for international development to serve the world's most disadvantaged, and an alignment with Opportunity's mission, value and purpose, is critical.

Core responsibilities include:

Provide support to partners to establish and strengthen M&E systems and research plans in collaboration with the Opportunity Programs team

• Ability to work efficiently across a broad portfolio of programs and projects in multiple countries, while prioritising the need for evidence-generation support
• Contribute to the design, planning and execution of the M&E system of Health projects including development of theories of change and strategic frameworks (Results Frameworks, Log Frames)
• Develop Monitoring and Evaluation plans to cultivate a learning agenda and inform supporter/donor communications
• Develop data collection, analytics and feedback mechanisms
• Help determine performance and impact indicators and targets with a focus on implementation science.

Support day-to-day project management and M&E against program targets and budgets

• Work closely with implementing partners to understand their context, systems, and limitations, and support them to gather the data required for program monitoring and evaluation
• Receive and manage data in various formats from partners, and take responsibility for combining, cleaning, categorising, and organising this data to ensure consistency and usability
• Build capacity of partners and collaborate to implement monitoring systems and design monitoring tools for projects, for example the Australian Government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trading (DFAT) reporting and quarterly Partner Performance Reports
• Develop data collection tools, monitor project activities, outputs and progress towards anticipated results.

Support analysis and reporting

• Cleaning, sorting, categorising and organising data, and analysing quantitative and/or qualitative data
• Produce internal analysis and dashboards to support program decision-making and learning
• Perform hands-on data manipulation and cleansing using spreadsheets, databases, and other tools to prepare datasets for analysis
• Work with data platforms, databases and select technologies to capture, organise and visualise data
• Determine data analysis procedures and use of quantitative or qualitative analysis tools
• Review and synthesise monthly, quarterly or annual reports depending on project requirements
• Feed into maintaining Opportunity's standards of M&E as articulated in internal operating manuals
• Disseminate Opportunity's programmatic insights as appropriate to donors and stakeholders in Annual Report, Impact Reports, white papers, articles, events etc, in consultation with Opportunity's Communications Team
• Manage third-party vendors or subject matter experts as needed
• Other responsibilities as needed.

About You

Essential:

• Bachelor's degree; Master's level or above preferred with research and field experience in statistics, public health, gender issues, international development or a related discipline
• Relevant professional experience, ideally managing similar research and M&E projects related to primary health services, or gender issues in low- and middle-income markets
• Exceptional skills in problem-solving and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, as well as structuring and executing impact evaluation studies
• Strong proficiency in data cleaning, manipulation, and integration using spreadsheets, databases, and data visualisation tools (e.g. Power BI, Tableau, Excel, Google Sheets)
• Demonstrated ability to work with diverse data sources and formats, and to produce clear, actionable insights for internal program teams
• Excellent communication skills in English (including synthesis and presentation), and fluency in one or more major languages in South Asia or South-East Asia (Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Bahasa)
• Strong interpersonal skills and proven ability to build effective relationships with implementing partners, especially in multicultural and remote work environments
• Ability to understand and adapt to partner contexts, systems, and limitations, and provide practical support to improve data quality and reporting.

Advantages:

• Knowledge of financial inclusion, public health or development sector programs, alongside global development donors, and/or NGOs
• Experience convening communities of practice and other organisational learning practices, and tracking best practices in M&E
• In-country programs implementation experience in India, Bangladesh, Nepal or other low- and middle-income markets.

Your proactive and professional approach, coupled with the ability to work in alignment with the values of the Christian ethos that motivates Opportunity, will be key to your success.

Opportunity is a child-safe organisation. The successful candidate will be required to undertake a National Police Check and adhere to Opportunity's Child Protection Policy, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment Policy and Safeguarding Code of Conduct.

Opportunity International Australia believes a diverse workplace is a happy workplace and encourages applications from people of all different backgrounds, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people from CALD backgrounds and people with disabilities. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, marital or parental status. Should you require a reasonable accommodation to be made for your application to be assessed Opportunity would be more than happy to discuss how that can be arranged.

Your proactive and professional approach, coupled with the ability to work in alignment with the values of the Christian ethos that motivates Opportunity, will be key to your success.

Opportunity is a child-safe organisation. The successful candidate will be required to undertake a National Police Check and adhere to Opportunity's Child Protection Policy, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment Policy and Safeguarding Code of Conduct.

Opportunity International Australia believe a diverse workplace is a happy workplace and encourage applications from people of all different backgrounds, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people from CALD backgrounds and people with disabilities. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, marital or parental status. Should you require a reasonable accommodation to be made for your application to be assessed Opportunity would be more than happy to discuss how that can be arranged.

How to apply

Please submit your CV with a one-page cover letter explaining why you are interested in this role and working at Opportunity to 
Taylor Deacon-King
 (tdeacon-) as soon as possible. Applications will be reviewed on an immediate basis and applications without a covering letter will not be progressed.