Director of MEAL

About Imagine Worldwide

All children have immense potential, but hundreds of millions don’t have access to the learning they need. Imagine Worldwide’s mission is to empower millions of children across Sub-Saharan Africa with the literacy and numeracy skills they need to reach their full potential. We provide an innovative education technology solution and implementation model to the global literacy/numeracy learning crisis using the onebillion application and various toolkits and systems to support implementation. Nine Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) across multiple countries and settings have shown dramatic learning gains, increased school attendance, and gender parity, all for less than $7 per child per year.

Imagine Worldwide partners with governments, organizations, and communities to provide child-directed, tablet-based learning that is accessible, effective, and affordable. We are a California-based (United States) nonprofit organization operating across seven Sub-Saharan African countries. Learn more on our website.

Role Overview

The Director of MEAL will play a critical role in carrying out Imagine’s mission to scale tablet-based learning solutions that enable children to become literate and numerate.  They will join a highly committed and collaborative team that is working together to empower every child everywhere to achieve their full potential. 

They will lead our monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEAL) strategy, build high-performing MEAL teams in our countries, and drive data-driven decision-making across program implementation. They will oversee MEAL managers in our portfolio countries, ensuring that the MEAL function delivers rigorous monitoring, analysis, and organizational accountability. This role provides thought leadership on measurement and evidence generation to drive decisions in real time to improve the learning experience and outcomes for children as well as operational effectiveness across Imagine’s global footprint.

Key Responsibilities

The Director of MEAL will report to the Head of Delivery and work in close collaboration with all global function teams and country delivery teams. The role will collaborate closely with the Director of Analytics to ensure data tools are fit-for-purpose. The Director’s responsibilities will include - but will not be limited to:

MEAL Leadership

• Oversee MEAL frameworks, indicators, and measurement plans across countries.
• Own and continually refine Imagine’s Theory of Change, ensuring monitoring, evaluation, and learning strategies are aligned with how Imagine enables improvements in learning outcomes
• Develop and maintain Master Data Management (MDM) definitions, procedures, standards, data review rhythms, and reporting deadlines in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders.
• Maintain an up-to-date repository of program metrics for internal performance reporting, proposals, reports, and external parties, donor materials, and communications.
• Ensure that program data is trusted, accessible, actionable, and aligned with organisational impact goals.
• Ensure program dashboards, visualizations, and data platforms are intuitive, accessible, and optimized for leadership, country, and function teams to promote data-driven decision-making across the organization
• Ensure alignment of all data sources (LMS, platform analytics, MEAL tools, partner systems) with master data standards.
• Establish robust data governance and quality assurance protocols for timely, accurate, and ethical decision-grade data collection.
• Collaborate with the Director of Analytics to ensure interoperability and a unified data architecture that enables a single source of truth across all systems.

Program Data Analyses and Reporting

• Lead the development of dashboards, performance reports, and analytic models supporting the Delivery teams, i.e. Programs, Global Supply Chain, and Regional Supply Chain. 
• Develop, test, and refine hypotheses related to the Theory of Change and challenge assumptions, using insights gained to drive program innovation and strategic learning:
• Formulate and pursue high-value programmatic questions that deepen understanding of product, program performance
• Oversee statistical analysis, segmentation, forecasting, and experimental design eg. A/B tests
• Collaborate with Directors to co-create data analysis plans for new initiatives, ensuring rigor and relevance
• Translate insights into clear narratives, visualisations, and recommendations for diverse audiences:
• Synthesize insights for the country teams, Senior Leadership Team, and Board, translating evidence into decisions that strengthen strategy, scale, and impact.
• Produce high-quality reports with accurate, compelling impact metrics and qualitative insights for funders, government, and external stakeholders, contributing to global knowledge on what works for edtech foundational learning program implementation
• Partner with Communications to ensure external messaging on our website, newsletters, annual reports, media, government reporting, social media is accurate, evidence-based, and reflective of Imagine’s impact
• Collaborate with Research and Technology on tool selection or development, survey implementation, and qualitative inquiry and analysis.
• Participate in cross-organizational initiatives, championing a culture of learning, accountability, and excellence.

Capacity Building

• Champion a culture of continuous learning—ensuring insights flow back into programme and product improvement.
• Build a strong data culture and develop data fluency across functions and country teams
• Drive uptake and utilization of dashboards and data resources by upskilling teams, and embedding the use of data in standardised ways of working, and raising delivery excellence.
• Build organisation-wide data literacy, including training on dashboards, data definitions, and quality practices.
• Support team members in interpreting and presenting financial and impact data clearly for internal and external audiences
• Develop, coach, and mentor all staff, strengthening data analysis skills, strategic thinking, and problem-solving.

Requirements

The successful candidate will possess the following competencies, experiences, and qualities: 

• Honours Degree or Post Graduate Diploma in Data Science, or Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL), or related fields. Master's Degree qualification preferred.
• A minimum of 10 years’ experience in data-related roles, of which 5 years must have been at a senior level with demonstrated experience in leading and implementing enterprise data management interventions
• Experience working in data management and comfort working with impact metrics
• Experience with building a data-driven culture in an organization to support better decision-making
• Experience working with remote or hybrid teams across multiple countries
• Experience working in the non-profit or social sector is an advantage

Specific skills (required)

Exceptional people skills and proven experience that include: 

• Demonstrate proficiency in data analysis, data cleaning, and data quality frameworks
• Excellent communication and storytelling skills for both technical and non-technical audiences
• Ability to build and maintain effective stakeholder relationships across the organisation
• Ability to lead, coach, and inspire a team of professionals
• Ability to work and collaborate effectively in multicultural environments and teams
• Ability to handle sensitive information with confidentiality
• Strong organizational skills and superior attention to detail
• Ability to display a high level of adaptability/flexibility

Compensation & Benefits

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience.

Location

The Director of MEAL must be based in Africa. The Director will frequently collaborate and coordinate with operations teams across Africa, the US, and the UK. The role is primarily home-based, with adhoc international travel for in-person team meetings, field support, or training, as needed.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis

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Imagine Worldwide is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.