Portfolio Performance and MELIA Assistant

Are you passionate about driving impact through effective project monitoring and evaluation? Join CIFOR-ICRAF, a global leader in research for sustainable development, and play a pivotal role in ensuring our projects deliver measurable results that align with our mission to protect biodiversity, combat climate change, and improve livelihoods.

As a Portfolio Performance and MELIA (Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, Impact Assessment) Assistant at the Quality for Impact (Q4I) unit, you will be at the heart of our efforts to enhance project performance monitoring and knowledge sharing across our dynamic portfolio. Your work will involve identifying and documenting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), ensuring alignment with organizational goals, and uncovering the stories of how our research creates real-world change.

In this role, you will extract, validate, and manage data within our internal systems (MyTREE/OCS), track evidence of knowledge uptake, and contribute to refining our MELIA practices. By organizing essential resources—like theories of change, logical frameworks, and evaluation reports—you’ll help build a robust MELIA knowledge base that supports informed decision-making at every level. Your contributions will ensure CIFOR-ICRAF’s research portfolio is driven by evidence, relevance, and innovation. If you are detail-oriented, data-savvy, and ready to make a difference in global development, we invite you to apply and help us advance a sustainable future!

Duties and responsibilities:

Support identification of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

• Review grant agreements and technical reports to identify institutional KPIs aligned with project objectives.

Support measurement of project-level KPIs:

• Analyze resources in the internal MELIA system (e.g., technical and evaluation reports) to inform KPI measurement; extract, validate, and input relevant data into the MELIA system; perform data cleansing, validation, and documentation to ensure accuracy and consistency; address data gaps, outliers, and inconsistencies while maintaining detailed records of processes; provide regular progress updates to the Quality for Impact (Q4I) Team Leader (TL).

Support assessment of research and knowledge uptake:

• Screen project documentation (e.g., technical, trip, and workshop reports; communication products); identify and log information on knowledge and research uptake by stakeholders in the MELIA system; upload relevant supporting documents and report progress to the Q4I TL.

Support evaluation of the portfolio’s MELIA strengths:

• Locate and catalog key MELIA documents, including theories of change (ToCs), logical frameworks, MELIA plans, and evaluation reports; upload these documents into the MELIA system for easy access and tracking; provide status updates to the Q4I TL on the availability of required documentation.

General administrative and support tasks:

• Perform other duties as assigned to support the team’s objectives.

Education, knowledge and experience:

• Minimum a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as Statistics, Economics, Social Sciences, Development Studies, Environmental Sciences, or a related discipline.
• Minimum 2-4 years of experience (including internships) in MELIA, data collection, or project performance tracking.
• Experience reviewing reports, extracting relevant data, and maintaining data systems is an advantage.
• Basic to intermediate proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including data entry, sorting, and basic analysis (e.g., formulas, pivot tables).
• Familiarity with data management or monitoring and evaluation tools (e.g., SPSS, Power BI, STATA, or similar) is an advantage.
• General understanding of monitoring and evaluation principles, including key concepts like KPIs, logical frameworks, and theories of change.
• Awareness of development or environmental project contexts, particularly in research or non-governmental organizations, is preferred.
• Proficiency in English (spoken and written) is essential.

Source: https://www.cifor-icraf.org/career/206844000032237130/portfolio-performance-and-melia-assistant/