Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer

Reporting to: CEO
Key relationships: Grants Manager, Grants Officer, Grants Administrator and Communications Officer
Location: The Rufford Foundation Office, Central London. Staff must work a minimum of 2 days per week from the office. There may be occasional travel overseas.
Benefits: 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, attractive employer contribution-only pension, private medical insurance cover, excellent working environment.
Hours: Full-time, 35 hours a week, Monday to Friday.

About The Rufford Foundation

The Rufford Foundation is a grant-making charity that provides funding for nature conservation programmes and projects.

The flagship Rufford Small Grants Programme awards funding to individuals working in developing countries who are starting on the ladder of conservation research and establishing pilot programmes. Since its inception in 1999, the Rufford Small Grants Programme has given over £37 million through more than 6,100 grants to projects in over 150 countries. The programme identifies scientists and practitioners at the early stages of their careers and provides targeted support to enable them to achieve their goal of making a difference in terms of conservation. A searchable database of Rufford Small Grants projects can be found on our website.

In 2023, we started to pilot our Organisational Grants funding stream to provide core, multi-year funding to small local NGOs to help them strengthen their financial and institutional capacity to ensure long-term viability.

This is an exciting time to join The Rufford Foundation, as the postholder will play an essential role in encouraging grantees to apply for further funding. This new role will sit within the conservation team to coordinate the delivery and oversight of Rufford Small Grants.

Rufford Small Grants are renowned for being an important milestone in the careers of conservationists and researchers who may have limited experience in designing and delivering projects. We are very aware that unforeseen issues may arise and are considerate towards requests for project changes. The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Officer will review all project updates and reports to track project changes and to monitor project delivery against proposed plans.

The Rufford Foundation is involved with other conservation donors and practitioners looking at the evidence of conservation effectiveness and supporting learning from success and failure. We fully understand that conservation projects may not succeed as planned and that evaluating small grant project impacts over short timescales (1-3 years) is problematic. The MEL Officer will take this into account when reviewing project progress and evaluation reports.

The ideal candidate will bring previous experience of reviewing (or drafting) donor reports, have excellent analytical and communications skills and be able to demonstrate a strong understanding of biodiversity conservation, ideally with some practical knowledge of conservation in countries where the foundation funds projects. Experience of coordinating work with grantees, including review of workplans, deliverables and budgets, would be highly desirable.

We are keen for the MEL Officer to use their expertise to design a MEL framework to help our grantees with their project proposals, and The Rufford Foundation to evaluate the impact of work across the Rufford Small Grant and Organisational Grant portfolios. The MEL Officer may also support grantees with their own project evaluations.

Principal Responsibilities

Rufford Small Grants

• Review narrative and financial reports for Rufford Small Grant projects, including comparative analysis of results versus original proposals.
• Draft brief summaries of the results of each project, highlighting project changes and outcomes, sharing these with colleagues in writing and at team meetings.
• Compile key achievements delivered through Rufford Small Grant projects.
• Make recommendations for Rufford staff to follow-up with grantees about further Rufford Small Grant funding.
• Work with colleagues to develop reporting guidelines and update our reporting templates.
• Support grantees with understanding and meeting Rufford reporting requirements – this might be done through online or in-person meetings with individuals or groups.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records of grant-related activities specifically related to the review of Rufford Small Grant project reports.
• Using background material drafted as part of a recent consultancy, to develop high-level indicators for conservation and capacity building, lead in formalising an evaluation framework for The Rufford Foundation across all grant-making.
• Develop a systematic process to monitor the careers of previous grantees to measure the impact of our funding.
• Produce graphs, tables and short reports on Rufford Small Grants on a regular basis.

General

• Support with monitoring and evaluation of Organisational Grants including review of annual reports and gauging progress against annual plans.
• Cultivate strong relationships with colleagues, grantees and external contacts.
• Explore opportunities for grantees to draft pieces to promote their work through Rufford communications channels.
• Provide administrative support on grant-making processes as required.
• Represent The Rufford Foundation at events in the UK (online and in-person) and overseas to promote Rufford Small Grants to relevant audiences and ensure the foundation is well connected with conservation and donor communities.
• Ad hoc work in support of the Grants Manager and CEO.
• This job description is not exhaustive, and the role may evolve.

Person specification

Experience

• At least 5 years’ experience of working within an environmental or biodiversity conservation NGO.
• Grant-making or project reporting, ideally within the conservation sector.
• Reviewing donor reports for conservation projects, including drafting feedback for grantees to address queries raised.
• Excellent planning, organisational and administrative skills.
• Knowledge of monitoring and evaluating conservation projects.
• Candidates will ideally have completed an MSc in an environmental/conservation- related discipline.
• Demonstrable understanding of planning and delivering field-based conservation projects, preferably within countries where Rufford funds projects, would be advantageous.

Skills and abilities

Essential:

• Strong interpersonal skills with proven ability to build and maintain positive relationships with colleagues, grantees and collaborators.
• Interest in connecting with other conservation donors and others working in conservation and capacity building.
• IT literate with experience of using online application and review systems.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Good research, analytical, and administrative skills.
• Able to manage a consistently busy workload.
• Excellent time management skills and ability to prioritise tasks and work to deadlines.
• Good team player who enjoys working within a small, friendly team.
• Capable of working under their own initiative.
• The job holder may be requested to travel overseas as part of their work.
• Must have the right to work in the UK on a full-time basis.

Desirable:

• Ability to communicate in a second language, e.g., French, Spanish or another language.

We regret that we are unable to consider applications from those who have a time-limit on their visas. This role is not eligible for UK Visa Sponsorship.