Introduction to the Role
Girls Not Brides is seeking an experienced Head of Impact and Strategy Performance to lead the organisation’s monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) and impact function. As a leader within the Learning, Evidence and Impact Directorate, you will oversee the Impact team and work closely with the Director to shape the organisation’s vision for monitoring strategy performance against our results framework and impact measurement. You will ensure Girls Not Brides has the systems, tools, evidence/data and compelling stories needed to demonstrate progress against our strategy.
In this role, you will provide leadership on MEAL systems and organisational planning processes, reporting and collaborate across teams to ensure our work is impactful, aligned with our strategic priorities and results are tracked, shared and used to inform decision-making. You will strengthen organisational MEAL and performance frameworks and ensure we generate and communicate clear, credible, and compelling evidence of our impact to key audiences.
About You
You are a seasoned MEAL, strategy performance and impact leader with a strong track record in shaping organisational impact strategies, designing complex measurement systems, tools and guiding teams to produce high-quality evidence of results. You excel at turning data into insight to influence decision-making and fostering a culture of accountability, learning and adaptation. You are an exceptional communicator with strong writing skills and a clear understanding of how to convey impact to diverse stakeholders, including funders and external allies. You thrive in international environments and bring a collaborative, inclusive and values-driven leadership style. Above all, you are motivated by the mission of Girls Not Brides and committed to ensuring the organisation can clearly demonstrate its impact and contribution to meaningful change for girls around the world.
Contract
- This is a fixed-term contract for 2 years.
- The successful candidate must have the right to work in the country that they are based (Kenya, India, or UK) at the time of applying, and for the full duration of the two-year contract.
Key Responsibilities
Lead Girls Not Brides’ strategy performance and impact measurement
- Lead the organisation’s monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) and impact measurement strategy, ensuring alignment with the organisational strategy.
- Oversee the design, implementation and continuous improvement of MEAL systems, tools and processes across the organisation, ensuring they are robust, coherent and consistently applied.
- Oversee high-quality data collection, analysis, and reporting across all projects, programmes and organisational initiatives, enabling evidence-based decision-making and adaptive programming.
- Oversee organisational evaluations and impact assessments, ensuring methodological rigour and relevance.
- Working together with the Head of Research, Evidence and Learning, support the integration of evidence and learning into organisational planning, and strategy performance management, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
- Oversee strong coordination between portfolio management, MEAL, and organisational performance frameworks.
Lead organisational strategic planning, performance monitoring and reporting
- Lead the annual organisational planning process, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and cross-team coherence.
- Support the Director of Learning, Evidence and Impact to shape and drive the organisation’s vision for evidence-driven decision-making.
- Advise (senior) leadership on strategic strategy performance trends, risks and opportunities.
- Oversee organisational reporting processes, including the preparation of regular progress reports to senior leadership and the Board of Trustees, donor reporting and annual reporting.
- Oversee the development of robust, consistent portfolio management systems and processes to deliver against donor commitments in line with the organisational strategy.
Support Impact communication and storytelling
- Ensure close collaboration between the Impact, Development, and Communications teams to deliver consistent, high-quality impact communication to various stakeholders.
- Oversee the development of the annual Impact Report and relevant inputs to the Trustees Annual Report, ensuring it reflects robust evidence, compelling insights and clear organisational accountability.
- Ensure the organisation has strong impact stories, case studies and data to communicate to donors, partners, members and the Board to demonstrate progress and influence change.
Team leadership and management
- Lead and manage a globally dispersed Impact team and set clear shared and individual performance goals to meet team and organisational objectives.
- Foster collaboration across cultures, geographies, and time-zones; promote professional development, care, inclusion, and wellbeing.
- Represent Girls Not Brides in high-level MEAL, evidence and impact spaces, contributing to thought leadership and sector learning.
- Stay abreast of emerging MEAL methodologies, accountability standards and sector innovations, ensuring Girls Not Brides remains at the forefront of impact practice.
Wider Organizational Responsibilities
- Commit to the mission and vision of Girls Not Brides, putting these at the forefront of all planning, work and actions.
- Uphold the core values of Girls Not Brides in all areas of work and interactions with colleagues, members, partners, and other stakeholders.
- Comply with Girls Not Brides’ policies and processes, including for safeguarding, diversity and inclusion, the code of conduct and data protection.
- Ensure that internal databases and monitoring information are kept fully up-to-date.
- Commit to ongoing personal development and learning.
- Fulfil any other reasonable requests for the advancement of Girls Not Brides.
Qualifications & Experience
Essential Experience, Skills, and Attributes
- Demonstrated leadership of MEAL and organisational impact functions within gender equality, development or human rights contexts.
- Proven ability to design, implement and oversee organisation-wide MEAL and performance frameworks, including complex evaluations and impact assessments.
- Advanced technical expertise in MEAL, including theory of change, results frameworks, indicators, evaluation design and mixed-method approaches.
- Solid understanding of organisational performance management, including strategic planning and reporting processes.
- Proficiency in MEAL tools and systems (e.g. data collection platforms, dashboards, CRM systems).
- Strong track record of translating data, evidence and strategy performance into clear insights to inform decision-making.
- Experience producing high-quality, audience-focused impact communications (e.g. reports, donor outputs, dashboards) and managing external consultants or research partners.
- Strong people management skills, with experience building inclusive, high-performing teams, supporting professional development, and overseeing planning and budgets.
- Excellent analytical, writing and communication skills, with the ability to convey complex information clearly to diverse audiences.
- Strong organisational and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities effectively.
- A collaborative, inclusive and values-driven leadership style, with strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work across cultures, geographies and time zones.
- Strategic mindset, able to balance big-picture thinking with attention to detail, and a strong commitment to the mission and values of Girls Not Brides.
Desirable
- Experience working on gender equality, girls’ rights, or related thematic areas.
- Fluency in French and/or Spanish.
- Experience in using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in MEAL and impact measurement.
