Arlington, Virginia, USA

Remote position. The location for this position is flexible within countries where The Nature Conservancy is a registered NGO and has an already established office. This position requires working significantly across multiple time zones with team members in Africa and North America. This position is not eligible for relocation or immigration assistance. This position may require occasion travel (up to 25%).

#Li-remote #PDN

The mission of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is to conserve the lands and waters upon which all life depends. As a science-based organization, we develop innovative, on-the-ground solutions to the world's toughest environmental challenges so that people and nature can thrive. Our work is guided by our values, which include a commitment to diversity and respect for people, communities, and cultures. From a rewarding mission to career development and flexible schedules, there are many reasons to love life #insideTNC. Want to know more? Check out our TNC Talent playlist on YouTube to hear stories from staff or visit Glassdoor.

One of TNC's primary goals is to cultivate an inclusive work environment so that employees around the globe have a sense of belonging and feel that their unique contributions are valued. We know we'll only achieve our mission by hiring and engaging a diverse staff that reflects the communities in which we work. Recognizing that people bring talent and skills that have been developed outside the scope of a job, we take a holistic approach to recruitment that considers life experience in addition to the professional requirements listed in our postings. Please apply - we'd love to hear from you. To quote a popular saying at TNC, "you'll join for the mission, and you'll stay for the people."

The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Specialist, is part of the Project Finance for Permanence team within the Global Protect Oceans, Lands, and Waters Business Unit, and will report to the GEF Project Manager. The MEL Specialist is responsible for: 1) the delivery of the monitoring, evaluation, and learning outcomes of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded award, undertaken as part of the broader Enduring Earth Partnership; and 2) the monitoring of project activities and processes to ensure conformity with WWF's (the GEF Agency for the Project) Environmental and Social (ESS) Standards and effective delivery of the ESMF and other safeguards documents for the project as well as the project's gender action plans.

The MEL Specialist is a core team member of the Project Management Unit (PMU) managing a complex, multi-stakeholder, multi-disciplinary project. The GEF funded Enduring Earth Project aims to accelerate sustainable finance solutions to achieve durable conservation. The Project will catalyze conservation initiatives in Gabon and Namibia, and help to design a multi-country, durable finance mechanism in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama) to advance the achievement of goals set under the Global Biodiversity Framework and other development objectives. Implementation of the project will be done through the Enduring Earth partnership with three different partners leading national level implementation in each geography. A further component of the project is contributing to the knowledge base to accelerate future scaling in new geographies.

The MEL Specialist is responsible for all monitoring, evaluation, learning and related activities associated with the GEF-funded project, including tracking and reporting project implementation against project work plans and reporting progress towards outcome indicator targets. The MEL Specialist will also monitor implementation of the Project's ESMFs (Environmental and Social Management Frameworks) and gender action plans ensuring that safeguards requirements are effectively and timeously met. They will coordinate communication and reporting requirements in all matters pertaining to project monitoring and reporting with the sub-project teams. Technical support for this work will be provided by TNC subject matter experts or relevant teams within the Enduring Earth partnership.

The MEL Specialist will:

• coordinate MEL processes across project partners, ensure a shared understanding of MEL requirements, ensure timely collection of information, prepare and submit progress reports, and ensure that MEL activities support learning and adaptive management.
• maintain the overall MEL system of the project and will assist the Project Manager in preparing the 6-month and 12-month technical progress reports, and contributing technical updates on progress and challenges in the quarterly financial reports to WWF GEF. Through the collection and analysis of data inputs from project partners (gender disaggregated as required in the results framework),
• be responsible for reflecting on and adapting the project theory of change.
• ensure that activities result in the achievement of intended outputs and outcomes in a cost effective and timely manner, and that any challenges that may arise during implementation are brought to the attention of the PMU and Project Steering Committee(s).
• contribute to project team discussions regarding adaptive management.

We're looking for someone with strong experience in supporting a diverse, multi-disciplinary team. The ideal candidate should have exceptional communication and collaboration skills and experience designing, organizing, and directing complex projects. They will be comfortable serving as a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning subject matter expert on our team, as well as monitoring compliance with the safeguards requirements for the GEF funded Enduring Earth Project.

The MEL Specialist develops and maintains systems to collect and analyze information on outputs and outcomes of the GEF-funded project, as well as coordinates the work of safeguards staff in this GEF project. They manage the project's core MEL needs as well as monitor safeguards requirements and implement these functions in accordance with the commitments to and requirements of GEF, WWF and TNC.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Organizing and supervising the data collection of project indicators, entering the data into the monitoring database, analyzing the monitoring data, producing monitoring reports and documenting lessons learned and success stories;
• Monitoring implementation of WWF's ESS Standards as established in the GEF Project's safeguards documents, collecting and reporting grievances from the country-level Grievance Redress Mechanisms (GRMs) in Gabon and Namibia, and providing strategic guidance to project implementation.

• Master's Degree in science related field and 2 years of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience coordinating and working with cross functional teams.
• Experience developing and implementing complex projects or strategic initiatives in an unstructured environment.
• Experience researching, synthesizing, interpreting and communicating scientific information.
• Experience preparing reports of findings.
• Experience working and communicating with a wide range of people.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Excellent report writing, analytical and communication skills, including oral presentation skills, knowledge management and dissemination of findings in English.
• Experience with donor-funded project monitoring and evaluation processes, indicators, data quality control and reporting requirements.
• Experience incorporating project learning into adaptive management and knowledge management systems.

Since 1951, TNC has been doing work you can believe in. Through grassroots action, we have grown from a small non-profit into one of the most effective and wide-reaching environmental organizations in the world. Thanks to more than 1 million members, over 400 scientists, and the dedicated efforts of our diverse staff and partners, we impact conservation around the world

TNC offers competitive and comprehensive benefits packages tailored to the individual countries where we work. These may include health care benefits, retirement benefits, parental leave, paid time off, life insurance, and disability coverage as well as an employee assistance program and other life and well-being benefits. Learn more about our benefits on our Culture Tab on

We're proud to offer a flexible work environment that supports the health and well-being of the people we employ.

This position may be based in any country where TNC has an established entity, taking into consideration legal restrictions, such as non-national ratios and immigration processing times. For U.S. based applicants only, the starting pay range for this position is generally within the range of $65,300 to $103,500 for annual base salary and is based on location, qualifications, specific skills, and experience. This range only applies to candidates whose country of employment is the USA. For all other applicants, pay ranges will be in local currency, the pay range will be based on the local labor market, and not tied to the above pay range. Your geographic location will be confirmed during the recruitment and used to determine your actual pay range. Additionally, for all applicants, actual pay will fall within a range based on a variety of factors including, for example, the candidate's qualifications, specific skills, and experience.

To apply for job ID 54849, submit your materials online by using the Apply Now button at Need help applying? Visit our recruitment page or contact

The Nature Conservancy is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our commitment to diversity includes the recognition that our conservation mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people of diverse backgrounds, beliefs and culture. Recruiting and mentoring staff to create an inclusive organization that reflects our global character is a priority and we encourage applicants from all cultures, races, colors, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, military, protected veteran status or other status protected by law.

TNC is committed to offering accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application process. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please send a note to with Request for Accommodation in the subject line.

An attractive salary and benefits package is part of TNC's value proposition to our employees. TNC strives to provide competitive pay and bases salaries on the geographic location of the role committing to being equitable across groups and providing hiring salary ranges when possible.

Since we support flexible and remote work for our employees, many positions have a flexible location within countries where we're registered as a Non-government Organization and established as an employer. This may mean we're unable to provide a hiring salary range in the posting for some of our positions. However, candidates invited to be part of our interview process will be provided their location specific range upon request.