About Palladium
Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 3,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.
Project Overview and Role
The goal of the USAID Enterprises, Employment, and Enabling Environments (E4) Activity is to increase employment and jobs through increased private productivity and competitiveness. The theory of change is: “For the number of jobs to increase, businesses must grow; and for businesses to grow, constraints preventing growth must be removed.” Following this logic, Palladium will focus on removing obstacles to growth at the firm level and will work to develop skills identified by employers or develop entrepreneurial expertise. Additionally, Palladium will work to address legal and regulatory constraints if they are determined to be significant inhibitors of firm growth. These efforts will result in the creation of new firms and jobs and the growth of existing firms.
Work performed under the E4 IDIQ is divided into three components:
Component 1: Enterprises – Fostering Competitive Industries
Component 2: Employment – Developing a Capable Workforce and Entrepreneurship
Component 3: Enabling Environments – Creating Conditions for Jobs and Investment
The E4 IDIQ regional office is located in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and country offices are located in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
This Opportunity
Over the last four years, Palladium has been successfully implementing the Future Growth Initiative (FGI) Task Order of the E4 Activity in all five Central Asian countries. This task order works to increase the competitiveness of high-growth industries to provide jobs and incomes for Central Asia’s growing workforce, propelling the region toward self-reliance. FGI is transforming market systems in ways that help high-potential firms and sectors grow, fostering market linkages to match the demand for workforce skills with training offered to youth and women, linking entrepreneurs to high-growth markets, and building more business- and worker-friendly policy environments and institutions to sustain private sector-driven growth.
The program has recently been extended until 2026 through the awarding of the FGI 2.0 Task Order. By building on FGI’s success and lessons learned, FGI 2.0 will work to increase the competitiveness of high-growth industries through a market systems approach that incentivizes private and public sector behavior change. The new task order will facilitate the regionalization of business advisory and enabling environment ecosystems, harmonize policies and regulations, foster trade and market linkages, and align the skills of women, youth, and vulnerable populations with private sector needs.
FGI 2.0 will take a partnerships-based approach, facilitating firm-level assistance, industry association capacity building, and regulatory reform under:
- Objective 1: Drive national-level, private sector-led economic growth and inclusivity in the five Central Asian Republics (CARs).
- Objective 2: Support competitiveness and job creation in each country, serving as the foundation for regional growth and integration.
- FGI 2.0 will also facilitate domestic and regional public private dialogue (PPD), policy reform and harmonization, and investment attraction efforts to support Central Asia’s integration into the global economy of the future.
Palladium seeks a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Manager for the FGI and FGI 2.0 Task Orders under the USAID E4 Activity. The Manager will lead the development and management of monitoring, evaluation, and learning data and systems for the final year of the FGI Task Order and the new FGI 2.0 Task Order. The Manager will also track, aggregate, and develop reports on the achievements of Component Leads on project indicators and targets, provide overall support to the team in evaluating progress, and contribute to project reporting and communications efforts. Activities performed under these Task Orders will cover Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Location
This position will be located in Almaty, Kazakhstan; Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; Dushanbe, Tajikistan; or Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Duration
The performance period of the USAID E4 IDIQ Activity will end on September 30, 2026.
Reporting and Supervision
The MEL Manager will report to the Chief of Party (COP).
Primary Duties and Responsibilities:
- Reviews project implementation activities to assess results and impact.
- Works with technical team members to ensure the MEL data capture system is implemented and data is collected from applicable project activities.
- Gathers and evaluates information and ensures that findings are accurately presented in all USAID reporting and tracking tools.
- Develops and designs systems to track progress against defined indicators.
- Collects and verifies information; maintains performance monitoring plans, reports, work plans, and monthly reports.
- Ensures project scope and activities are compliant with USAID policies.
- Coordinates closely with implementing partners to build cohesive measurement and results systems.
- All other duties as assigned by the COP and Project Management Unit.
Key Competencies Required
- Bachelor’s degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Statistics, Economics, or a related field.
- Fluency in English and Russian.
- Strong writing, reporting, and presentation skills in English and Russian.
- Relevant international business development service experience, preferably working on USAID economic development projects.
- Strong experience in gathering, organizing, and analyzing large amounts of data across multiple countries as well as the ability to design manageable, transparent MEL systems that report progress against indicators throughout the life of the project.
- Demonstrated expertise in designing rigorous quantitative and qualitative data collection systems and knowledge of methods for data analysis.
- Solid understanding of USAID regulations and MEL reporting requirements, preferably in the economic growth sector.
- Demonstrated experience with USG and/or other donor best practices and regulations in MEL.
- Experience in knowledge management and dissemination of research findings.
- Demonstrated ability to work in an ambiguous and rapidly evolving environment.
- Demonstrated ability to be flexible and respond to emerging opportunities and overcome barriers.
Competencies Preferred
- Master's degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Statistics, Economics, or a related field.
- Familiarity with Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA).
- Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Excel and MS Power BI data visualization tools.
Application Deadline
This application will close on September 5, 2023.
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion - Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.
Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com and we will be in touch to discuss.
Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.
How to apply
Please submit applications via this website: https://palladium.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/2/home/requisition/20153?c=palladium