Consultant – Feminist MEL Consultant

Background

Inspiring Girls and Grassroots Networks for Inclusive and Transformative Education (IGNITE) is a feminist initiative led by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), in partnership with Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF-Africa) and the René Moawad Foundation (RMF), and funded by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) through the Support Fund for Feminist Organizations (SFFO).

IGNITE works in seven countries across Sub-Saharan Africa and the MENA region (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, DRC, Ethiopia, Jordan, Lebanon, and Nigeria) to empower adolescent girls and advance gender-transformative education by supporting feminist and youth-led CSOs. The project combines grant-making with collaborative capacity sharing in finance, administration, technical support, and research.

Unlike traditional funding models, IGNITE prioritizes mutual capacity strengthening, peer-to-peer exchange, and grassroots knowledge, aiming for sustainable, locally driven impact and the transformation of power dynamics in the development space.

Purpose

The purpose of this consultancy is to lead the implementation of the IGNITE MEL strategy. The Feminist MEL consultant will lead the design and implementation of appropriate and innovative methodologies, conduct quantitative and qualitative data collection, and take a lead role in using analytical tools to clean and extract the data produced. As a technical member of a project delivery team, the MEL consultant will be expected to report to the IGNITE project Director and will be responsible for the overall technical design and delivery of the MEL system for the project. S/he will work in close coordination with the MEL WG constituted by the MEL coordinators from each consortium partner-in support of technical delivery of the project. S/he will support the MEL activities for the project, according to key requirements and specifications.

S/he will support the preparation and drafting of the technical products in English/French, incorporating feedback from the consortium team, as required. The consultant will work according to project workplans while coordinating with other team members to ensure these adhered to.

Objectives and Scope of work

The Feminist MEL Consultant will be responsible for leading and coordinating all Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning activities under the IGNITE project across Africa and MENA. Specifically, the consultant will:

• Lead the endline and case studies exercises

• Produce a final endline/case studies report

• Online participation to the May internal retreat

• Support project closure / organize lessons learned meetings with working groups

• Update/finalise the project dashboard

• Facilitate MELTWG meetings

• Project coordination support

• Support on the production of the final factsheet

• Update/finalise ITT

• Support drafting of final report

• Manage feedback mechanism

• Support proposal development

• Coordination with VPRU MEAL team IRC

Deliverables

The consultant’s deliverables for this consultancy are as follows:  

• Lead endline analysis workshop with MELTWG

• Final endline/case study report along with raw data and analysis

• Final ITT and dashboard

• Support drafting final project report

• Lessons learned reports for each working group (with support from Project Coordinator)

• MELTWG MoM

Timeline

The timeline is scheduled to commence in  1 April 2026 until 31 December 2026, aligning with the project’s anticipated duration. The detailed timeline for the consultancy milestones will be mutually agreed upon between the selected consultant and the relevant stakeholders. Flexibility in setting the timeline will ensure that the workplan process is well-paced and efficient, accommodating any unforeseen challenges or adjustments required during the course of the project.

Qualifications and Expertise

The ideal consultant should possess the following qualifications: 

• An advanced degree in International Development, business administration, management, education, social sciences, gender studies or a related field focusing on monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL).

• Clear understanding of feminist and women’s rights CSOs and feminist movements

• Experience working with feminist movements and grassroots organizations across Africa,

• Demonstrated experience in designing and implementing MEL and action research and collaborating with education organizations and projects in diverse contexts and settings.

• Strong knowledge of the CSO landscape in Africa and MENA.

• Ability to develop standardized processes and quality assurance tools and mechanisms

• Experience in compiling and synthesizing data and information.

• Experience leveraging data collection and analysis to develop communications products to inform strategic decision-making .

• Strong analytical and research skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information into clear and concise reports.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

• Strong skills in building and nurturing relationships with a wide range of stakeholders from diverse contexts.

• Prior experience in organizing and facilitating online learning events and workshops.

• Ability to work independently and as part of a diverse team.

• Proficiency in online meeting platforms, collaborative tools, facilitation and participatory methodologies.

• Ability to develop engaging session plans and agendas and experience in designing and delivering training materials and capacity enhancement interventions for CSOs.

• Fluency in English and French is mandatory

Work setup

This is a remote position. Any travel costs,  if a travel is requested, will be covered by the Project. The MEL consultant will report to IGNITE Project Director and closely collaborate with the IGNITE PMU and consortium teams. Regular communication and updates will be necessary throughout the consultancy period. The consultant should be open to feedback and promptly address any inquiries or clarifications from the IGNITE Consortium. Consortium partners will support and facilitate connections and communications between the grantee partners.

Ethics and Confidentiality:  

The consultant is expected to adhere to feminist values, uphold data confidentiality, and obtain ethical clearances and consent from CSOs where relevant. All information shared by grantee partners, individual consultants, or the IGNITE with the consultant will be treated as confidential and utilized exclusively for the purpose of the current consultancy.

Only qualified candidates (based on their experiences in their curriculum vitae) will be invited to submit their proposals  and important guidelines for the RFP submission will be shared with them.