About Bright Future
Bright Future is a youth development organization that empowers aspirational young people to make informed decisions about their careers and lives. Our programs equip youth with employability skills, mentorship, and access to real-world career exposure—enabling them to thrive with purpose, confidence, and potential.
Position Overview
The Head of MEAL & Learning Design will lead the development and implementation of a robust Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) framework across all Bright Future programs. This role ensures evidence-based decision-making, organizational accountability, continuous learning, and high-quality program design.
In addition to MEAL leadership, the role will integrate data-driven insights into curriculum development, ensuring that learning content, training modules, and youth engagement approaches are relevant, effective, and responsive to evolving needs. This is a senior leadership role requiring strong technical expertise, field experience, and a participatory, impact-oriented mindset.
Key Responsibilities
1. MEAL Strategy & Systems Development
- Design, lead, and oversee the implementation of a comprehensive MEAL framework aligned with Bright Future’s vision, theory of change, and program goals.
- Develop and refine KPIs, outcome indicators, and impact metrics to measure program effectiveness and youth outcomes.
- Establish and strengthen data management systems to support strategic planning, program scale-up, donor reporting, and advocacy.
2. Monitoring, Evaluation & Data Systems
- Lead the design and execution of baseline, midline, and endline studies across programs.
- Ensure timely, high-quality collection, analysis, and reporting of quantitative and qualitative data.
- Drive the use of digital tools, real-time dashboards, and data visualization platforms to track performance and outcomes.
3. Curriculum Development & Learning Design
- Collaborate with program teams to design, review, and refine youth curricula based on MEAL findings and learning insights.
- Ensure curricula reflect evidence-based practices, youth needs, employability trends, and contextual realities.
- Embed learning objectives, assessment tools, and outcome indicators within program curricula.
- Use evaluation insights to continuously improve training modules, facilitation approaches, and youth learning journeys.
4. Accountability, Ethics & Data Governance
- Design and strengthen feedback, grievance, and accountability mechanisms for youth, communities, and partners.
- Ensure ethical, inclusive, and secure data collection, storage, and usage in line with data protection laws and organizational policies.
- Promote a culture of transparency, accountability, and responsible data use across teams.
5. Learning, Reflection & Impact Use
- Facilitate regular program reviews, impact assessments, and reflective learning sessions with program and leadership teams.
- Translate data insights into actionable recommendations for program improvement and strategic decision-making.
- Promote adaptive programming and a strong organizational learning culture.
6. Capacity Building & Team Leadership
- Build MEAL and learning design capacity across internal teams through training, coaching, and tools.
- Lead, mentor, and manage the MEAL team, ensuring quality outputs and professional growth.
- Work closely with program, training, and partnerships teams to ensure alignment between learning design and impact goals.
7. Donor Reporting & External Engagement
- Ensure timely, accurate, and high-quality reporting to donors, partners, and stakeholders.
- Support proposal development, particularly in defining outcomes, indicators, learning frameworks, and evaluation plans.
- Represent Bright Future in external evaluations, learning forums, communities of practice, and knowledge networks.
Qualifications & Experience
- Master’s degree in Social Sciences, Development Studies, Statistics, Public Policy, Education, or a related field.
- 12–15 years of experience in MEAL, learning, or impact measurement within the development or nonprofit sector.
- Proven experience in evaluation design, theory of change, and mixed-methods research (quantitative and qualitative).
- Demonstrated experience linking MEAL insights to curriculum or learning program design.
- Proficiency in data and visualization tools (Excel, Power BI, SPSS/STATA/R, KoboToolbox, etc.).
- Strong people management experience and the ability to lead organizational change.
