Learning Officer

TN United Kingdom; Horsham; Remote; GBP 30,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

Girls First Fund seeks a Learning Officer to implement their Learning Framework, focusing on evidence-based decision-making and learning from grantee partners. The ideal candidate will have expertise in monitoring, evaluation, and learning, with a commitment to feminist and participatory approaches. This role involves data management, analysis, and collaboration with grassroots organizations to support gender justice initiatives.

Qualifications

• At least 3 years of experience in MEL, preferably in feminist philanthropy.
• Strong understanding of feminist and decolonial MEL approaches.
• Experience working with community-based organizations.

Responsibilities

• Support implementation of GFF’s Learning framework.
• Manage data collection and analysis processes.
• Facilitate learning processes among grantee partners.

Skills

Fluency in Spanish

Fluency in English

Monitoring and Evaluation expertise

Qualitative and Quantitative Research Skills

Data Management

Excellent Writing Skills

Education

Master’s degree in relevant fields

Tools

Data visualization tools (e.g., Power BI)

Job description

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Girls First Fund (GFF) is seeking a Learning Officer who will work closely with the Director of Learning to implement the fund’s Learning Framework. The Learning Officer will carry out processes to support learning with and from grantee partners, contribute to evidence-based decision-making within GFF and in generating evidence, insights and learning to contribute to the global evidence base on ending child marriage. The ideal candidate is a strategic thinker and will have strong monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) expertise, experience working within funding institutions and with grassroots organizations, and a commitment to participatory, feminist, and partner-led approaches to knowledge production.

BACKGROUND

Girls First Fund is a donor collaborative supported by leading philanthropic organizations and individual philanthropists who have come together to champion community-led efforts so that all girls can live free from child marriage and create their own future. The fund was born out of a foundational belief – shared by the founding donors – that community-based organizations (CBOs) hold a unique position to develop locally relevant solutions, identify and engage girls most vulnerable to child marriage, understand the local cultural norms that enable child marriage to persist and engage local stakeholders. With support from Girls First Fund (GFF), over 180 organizations across eight focus countries are currently implementing strategies to prevent and respond to child marriage and gender inequality. In addition, Girls First Fund has recently launched Changemakers, a participatory global grantmaking mechanism which has added 12 new partners in 7 countries to our portfolio.[1]

Learning at Girls First Fund

Learning is central to our funding+ model and overall strategy. We approach learning as a transformative practice that strengthens our ability to make informed, values-aligned decisions and deepens our accountability to the organizations, communities, girls, and movements working to end child marriage. By embedding learning into every aspect of our work, we ensure that we remain responsive, grounded in evidence, and oriented toward meaningful, sustained change. We recognize that our success, along with that of our partners and others in our ecosystem, depends on uncovering reflections, experiences and knowledge, collecting relevant data, and generating meaningful insights. Our learning approach is informed by Feminist Evaluation, Developmental Evaluation and Emergent Learning.

The goals of our learning agenda are to:

• document the journey of GFF grantees to “deliver locally relevant, girl-led and/or -centered, gender-transformative strategies” in order to gather insights on how grantees do so i.e. how do grantees operationalize these strategies, where do the face obstacles in doing so, and how do these strategies contribute to the goal of "positive shifts toward gender equality”,
• better understand how GFF can best support the grantees in their journeys.
• generate learnings that will support GFF’s efforts to contribute to the broader philanthropic discourse on how to support and resource CBOs to impact child marriage through gender transformative strategies.
• contribute CBO-centered learning to the knowledge base of the broader international discourse and global efforts to end child marriage

We use ‘Learning’ intentionally instead of ‘Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL)’ to reject the field’s historical roots of mistrust, judgment, and sole accountability to donors. For us, learning centers contribution over attribution, it is not just about measuring progress, but interrogating systems and assumptions, it affirms that CBOs and girls are not just data sources but producers and holders of knowledge. By naming this aspect of our work as ‘Learning’, we signal what we value: reflection, curiosity, the lived experience and expertise of those driving change and generating insights that contribute to sparking and sustaining meaningful change.

[1] Learn more about GFF: https://girlsfirstfund.org/

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

The Learning Officer will be responsible for the following tasks:

Data Collection, Management and Analysis

• Support the implementation of GFF’s Learning framework, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and priorities.
• Collaborate with Program Advisors to analyze and share learnings, practices and ideas from our work with grassroots partners.
• Manage data collection and analysis processes, including reviewing and synthesizing data and stories from grantee reports.
• Conduct qualitative and quantitative data analysis as needed or supervise the process and writing up of findings and insights
• Develop and maintain learning tools and databases to track learning processes, progress and outcomes effectively.
• Ensure high-quality and ethical data management practices, including confidentiality and informed consent where applicable.
• Support the Director of Learning to cultivate and sustain a culture of learning within the organisation and support ongoing learning and reflection
• Facilitate learning processes within GFF and among grantee partners, including designing participatory learning sessions, webinars, and exchanges.
• Synthesize insights from grantee reports, evaluations, and external research to inform strategy and programmes.
• Support partners in strengthening their own monitoring, evaluation and learning capacities through training, resources, and ongoing accompaniment, including with support from consultants.
• Develop learning products, such as case studies, reports, and presentations, to communicate key findings.

Learning Culture & Capacity Strengthening

Dissemination of Insights & Learning

• Contribute to the development of relevant insights and learning outputs, such as the GFF annual report or thematic briefs.
• Collaborate with the Communications team to ensure key data, insights and learning are produced and disseminated.
• Respond to information needs and requests and produce materials that leadership team can use in virtual and in-person presentations and engagements (such as at panel discussions, board presentations and funding pitches/applications)
• Contribute to relevant sections of funding proposals to ensure alignment between partner capabilities and project requirements to articulate outputs, outcomes, and impact;
• Manage project timelines and other administrative tasks (such as drafting consultant terms of reference and contracts) to ensure a smooth running of projects.
• Document key learnings from projects, to inform our engagement / processes in future projects.
• Conduct learning calls and (site) visits to deepen the team’s understanding of the contexts we fund in, our partners’ work and the change being sparked and sustained by our partners.
• Support with collecting, analysing and presenting key information for funders on pilot learning projects and initiatives (for example, the FCDO pilot in Dominican Republic and Learning Grants in Guinea and Guatemala)
• Communicate directly with partners to coordinate participation in learning initiatives (such as learning calls, learning grants, reporting, and ad hoc research and evaluation projects).
• Work closely with GFF’s programs team to ensure insights and learning generated from within and beyond GFF inform our funding+ approach.
• Engage with external partners, networks, and coalitions to share knowledge, support collaboration on learning and coordinate regular engagement and learning from ally/peer organisations.
• Support internal reflection processes to strengthen GFF’s Learning approach, practices and tools.
• Contribute to relevant sections of funding proposals to ensure alignment between partner capabilities and project requirements to articulate outputs, outcomes, and impact;

Other Duties as Assigned

• Contribute to overall team efforts to refine systems and procedures in Girls First Fund’s programme areas
• Lead special projects or take on additional tasks as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Required:

• Fluency in Spanish and English (spoken and written).
• Knowledge of the global and regional (LAC) gender justice and child marriage landscape.
• At least 3 years of experience in monitoring, evaluation, and learning, preferably in feminist philanthropy, gender justice / girls and women’s rights organisations.
• Strong understanding of and experience with feminist and decolonial monitoring, evaluation and learning approaches.
• Experience working with community-based organizations and grassroots movements.
• Strong skills in qualitative and quantitative research methods, data management, and analysis.
• Excellent writing, synthesis, and presentation skills to communicate complex information in accessible ways.
• Ability to work independently and remotely while collaborating across a global team.
• Keep abreast of key evidence, insights and learning in the child marriage field as well as MEL practices
• Deep understanding of the context and constraints of grassroots organizations in the Global South;
• Experience in knowledge management and data analysis with a solid grasp of both quantitative and qualitative methodology is important;
• Demonstrated ability to work independently

Preferred:

• Familiarity with child marriage prevention and girls' rights programming.
• Experience using qualitative and quantitative data analysis and visualization software and data visualization tools (e.g., Power BI, MAXQDA, Impact Mapper).
• Background in facilitation, training, or participatory methodologies.
• Demonstrated knowledge of and experience in monitoring and evaluating within a philanthropic context is desirable;
• Master’s degree preferred in relevant academic fields such as Development Studies, Gender Studies, Evaluation etc

THE DETAILS

This consultancy is fully virtual.

Some international travel is expected, including the ability to travel to GFF core countries and infrequent travel to conferences/events.

The Girls First Fund is a project of Capital for Good, a US 501 C 3. We are committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion. Withour commitment to ensure diverse representation, we stronglyencourage applications from women, people ofcolor, people with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

The Girls First Fund and its fiscal sponsor, Capital for Good, are committed to the highest standard of safeguarding and protection. This consultancy is conditional upon the successful completion of background checks and compliance with our safeguarding policy is a contractual requirement.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested applicants should upload:

• A CV detailing relevant experience, and the contact information of two references.
• A cover letter outlining your alignment with GFF’s Learning approach, and relevant skills.
• A relevant writing sample

The due date to apply by is Friday June 6, 2025