Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Officer

International-Union-For-Conservation-of-Nature; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 44,000; Full time

Job summary

The IUCN is seeking a Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Officer at its Cambridge office. The role focuses on designing and delivering monitoring, evaluation and learning activities across projects, ensuring robust reporting to donors and institutional stakeholders.

The MEAL Officer will enable adaptive management and risk analysis to improve project outcomes. Fixed-term role (up to 12 months) based in Cambridge, reporting to the Centre MEAL Coordinator.

Qualifications

• Design and implement monitoring, evaluation, and learning plans per IUCN requirements.
• Coordinate M&E activities with the project team.
• Support donor reporting against the project results framework and indicators.
• Contribute to institutional reporting using IUCN indicators.
• Facilitate adaptive management and quarterly risk analysis.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement planning, monitoring and evaluation approaches.
• Coordinate M&E activities with the project team.
• Input to donor reporting against project results and indicators.
• Input to institutional reporting against IUCN indicators.
• Facilitate adaptive management based on M&E data and findings.

Skills

Monitoring & Evaluation

Data analysis

Reporting to donors

Risk analysis

Adaptive management

Project coordination

Job description

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Officer

Vacancy #: 7720

Unit: Monitoring Evaluation and Learning

Organisation: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Location: Cambridge Office, Cambridge, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Reporting to: Centre Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Coordinator - Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Team

Work percentage: 100%

Grade: P2

Expected start date: 01 January 2027

Type of contract: Fixed-term (up to 12 months with possibility of renewal)

Closing date: 22 November 2026

BACKGROUND

The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) is a membership Union composed of both government and civil society organisations. IUCN's mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature, and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. With over 75 years of experience, it harnesses the experience, resources and reach of its more than 1,400 Member organisations and the input of more than 15,000 experts. IUCN is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it. The IUCN Secretariat has offices located all around the world and is headquartered in Gland, Switzerland. Every four years, the IUCN membership adopts a quadrennial Programme that guides the work of the Union, especially that of the IUCN Secretariat. The Secretariat implements the IUCN Programme through a growing portfolio of over 400 projects across the world that are designed to respond to country, donor, and IUCN priorities.

JOB DESCRIPTION

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

This position supports the design and implementation of the following IUCN standards for Performance and Accountability within projects in which IUCN is the executing agency/entity:

• The design and implementation of planning, monitoring and evaluation approaches and instruments at proposal stage and in accordance with IUCN's requirements (e.g., situation analysis, risk analysis, theory of change (ToC), logical framework, indicator selection, performance measurement framework, monitoring evaluation and learning plan, baselines, surveys, etc.).
• The implementation of monitoring, evaluation and learning activities, in coordination with the project team.
• Input and analysis to aspects of project reporting to donors, namely against project results framework and indicators. Project donor reporting is the responsibility of the Project Manager.
• Input to the project(s) contributions to institutional reporting against IUCN indicators. Institutional reporting is the responsibility of the Country Office / Programme Manager.
• The facilitation of adaptive management and learning throughout the project(s) based on monitoring and evaluation data and findings.
• The facilitation of risk analysis processes on a quarterly basis, based on the project's risk register defined for the project.
• Support the project manager to monitor and update the project's data and status in the IUCN Project Portal.
• Input to the finalisation and closure of projects according to IUCN requirements.
• The management of required independent project evaluations, including contribution to ToRs development, review of