MERL and Data Compliance Manager Full Time NEW

Position Title: MERL and Data Compliance Manager, Pathways to Scale (P2S)

Position Location: Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda or Ethiopia, with a strong preference for Rwanda

Reports to: Deputy Director, Pathways to Scale

Contract term: Full-time, 1 year renewable

Salary Scale: According to local salary scale depending on the final position location

Likely start date: August 2025

Application deadline: July 3, 2025

Languages: Fluency in English is required

Background

WUSC is a Canadian non-profit organization working to create a better world for all young people. We bring together a diverse network of partnerships with governments, businesses, civil society organizations and academic institutions who share this vision. Together, we develop solutions in education, economic opportunities, and empowerment to overcome inequality and exclusion for youth around the world, particularly young women and young refugees. WUSC currently works in 25 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Caribbean, with an annual budget of approximately CAD $40 million. We have 300 global staff collaborating with donors such as Global Affairs Canada, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office(FCDO), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Mastercard Foundation, and the African Development Bank.

WUSC is currently recruiting for a MERL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning) and Data Compliance Manager who will lead the design and implementation of robust, inclusive, and adaptive Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) system to support the start-up and implementation of a large five year multi-country project supporting the growth of women led enterprises, particularly those led by young rural women. Given the integration of a robust data platform as a key component of the project, the role will also oversee data protection compliance, ethical data use, and governance to ensure the secure and responsible management of all personal and enterprise information.

Funded by Mastercard Foundation, the project will deploy a combination of targeted business development and capital to support the sustainable growth of MSMEs led or owned by women. Businesses targeted will primarily be micro businesses in rural areas, however a subset of larger women-led businesses will also be supported to assess potential for impact on young rural women. The project will operate in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Ghana and Nigeria with a broad range of partners. WUSC will work in close partnership with an access to finance partner responsible for capital deployment, with WUSC coordinating business development services delivered in partnership with local Enterprise Support Organisations (ESOs). WUSC will lead a strong learning strategy which will assess various use cases for the deployment of both finance and business development services (BDS) and the impact on the traditionally underserved segment of young rural women. WUSC has the overall management responsibility of the project.

General Responsibilities

The MERL and Data Compliance Manager under the supervision of the Deputy Project Director provides strategic leadership in designing and implementing the monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning plan across the project’s multi-country operations. They will ensure that data collection, analysis, and reporting processes generate high-quality, inclusive evidence to inform program decisions and support accountability to donors and stakeholders. Working closely with program, gender, safeguarding, access to finance and donor teams, they will embed MERL practices into program delivery and foster a culture of adaptive learning and results-based management.

Additionally, the MERL and Data Compliance Manager oversees the ethical and compliant use of data, particularly in the context of the project’s data platform. This includes maintaining data protection protocols, managing compliance with national and international regulations, and advising on digital risks and mitigation. The manager serves as the focal point for data governance and collaborates with the access to finance (A2F) partner, ESOs and regulatory bodies to ensure responsible data use, while building internal capacity on digital safeguarding and privacy best practices.

Specifically, the MERL and Data Compliance Manager is responsible for the following:

MERL Leadership

• Design and oversee implementation of the MERL plan aligned with the project’s theory of change and results areas. regularly update the MERL Plan, in line with the donor’s Results-Based Management (RBM) principles, as well as organisational requirements.
• Work with the Deputy Project Director in the creation and implementation of the project’s learning agenda in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.
• Oversee the design and execution of learning studies, evaluations, and manage relationships with external evaluation and research consultants.
• With the support of the safeguarding and inclusion advisor, ensure MERL tools and processes are gender- and youth-responsive, and sensitive to inclusion of marginalized groups.
• Directly supervise and provide guidance to the MERL Officer.

MERL tools design and quality assurance

• Develop and regularly update all MERL tools and systems (including the Performance Management Framework) linked to key indicators for the purpose of informing program activities and reporting to the donor, supporting continuous evidence-based learning and adaptive management in the process, and documenting WUSC’s contribution to sustainable impact and change in complex systems.
• Promote the effective use of all collected data for learning and adaptive management, as well as for planning, reporting to the donor and developing communication products.
• Ensure that tools in use meet the needs of the project and that staff have the capacity to utilise them effectively for reporting and monitoring of progress.
• Ensure that data collected are reliable, accurate and complete – to the extent possible in the project context.
• Apply a continuous improvement approach toward all data collection processes.

Data Collection

• Ensure that MERL activities are completed in a timely manner to contribute to high quality evidence-based learning, planning and reporting.
• Manage on-going data collection processes, analyses and validation for project evaluation and learning purposes.
• Identify monitoring needs based on program implementation and collect data that effectively inform on-going progress.
• Ensure that accurate and complete MERL-related files and databases are set up, maintained and updated, in compliance with applicable data security laws and regulations, as well as organizational policies and recommendations.
• Support qualitative data collection for the purposes of documentation and dissemination of lessons learnt, case studies and stories of change.

Reporting

• Ensure timely and regular MERL data sharing with project colleagues to feed into reporting cycles in an efficient and timely manner, in accordance with organisational and donor’s standards.
• Ensure that regular updates on project MERL processes are communicated and shared with project staff across all partner organisations as well as with key stakeholders.
• Maintain and regularly update the project database and take lead in the production of data visualizations to complement high quality and evidence-based donor reports, as well as to contribute to the organizational project performance review process.
• Respond to requests for information from WUSC staff, project partners, and WUSC Senior Management.

Data Governance and Compliance

• Lead in the development of the P2S Data Protection Policy and its sensitization to project staff.
• Ensure the project’s data systems comply with applicable data protection laws.
• Develop and maintain data protection protocols including consent processes, privacy notices, and access controls across all data streams.
• Work closely with the A2F partner to ensure the data platform is MERL-ready, inclusive, and ethically grounded.

Capacity Building, Learning and Collaboration

• Identify training needs of staff and partners working on the project and recommend actions for improving MERL capacity.
• Provide high quality technical support on planning, development and implementation of the MERL plan to project staff and partners.
• Provide technical support and capacity building as needed to ensure project tools are being deployed effectively by project and partners’ staff.
• Foster a learning culture by facilitating regular evidence-sharing, after-action reviews, and learning retrospectives across internal and external stakeholders.

Work environment

• Ability to contribute to WUSC’s organizational culture that respects differences, including sex, age, ability, refugee or migration status, race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, and other identity factors.
• Support a working environment is free from sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (SEAH) and adheres to the corresponding WUSC safeguarding policies.
• Understand own responsibilities towards ensuring high standards of prevention and response measures for SEAH.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education

• Master’s degree in Monitoring & Evaluation, Development Studies, Data Science, or related field.

Experience

• A minimum of ten years of experience in the field of monitoring and evaluation of development programs, ideally in multi-country settings.
• Experience working with international development partners, international non-governmental organizations and donors. Experience working with Mastercard Foundation is an added advantage.
• Knowledge of International and African data privacy regulations.
• Experience with RBM concepts and principles.
• Experience in both quantitative and qualitative methods and tools for data collection and analysis is required.
• Proven experience conducting evaluations, data audits, and compliance assessments.
• Experience working with ethnically diverse communities and with projects implementing gender mainstreaming strategies.
• Demonstrated ability to link data to program learning and decision-making.
• Demonstrated understanding of AI technologies, data platforms, or digital MEL systems in development settings.
• Exceptional writing, analysis, and presentation skills.
• Experience with data visualization, dashboards, and AI-assisted reporting tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau, or custom ML dashboards).
• Strong interpersonal skills and cultural competence working with diverse teams and partners.

Assets

• Experience working with enterprise development, rural development, access to finance, or youth and women livelihood programs.
• High attention to detail and a proactive, solution-oriented mindset.
• Ability to work with a flexible schedule across multiple time zones.
• Ability to travel frequently for both domestic and international travels as required.

WHY WORK WITH WUSC?

Join Us. Our work is important, cutting-edge, and rewarding. We encourage curiosity, innovation, and flexibility. WUSC offers a dynamic international work environment with a diverse intercultural workforce. We offer employees exciting opportunities to apply their skills and gain experience all while making a difference in the lives of youth around the world. Employees at WUSC work hard to create lasting change in education, economic opportunities and empowerment.

APPLICATIONS

WUSC’s activities seek to balance inequities and create sustainable development around the globe; the work ethic of our staff, volunteers, representatives and partners shall correspond to the values and mission of the organization. WUSC promotes responsibility, respect, honesty, and professional excellence and we will not tolerate harassment, coercion, sexual exploitation or abuse of any form.

WUSC is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome and encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds and abilities. Accommodations are available upon request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process. Please note that only the candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

Tagged as: Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, World University Service of Canada