MERL Development Adviser, Policy & Evaluation

New Zealand Government; Wellington; On-site; NZD 109,000 - 128,000; Full time

Job summary

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Wellington seeks a Development Adviser for Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL). The fixed-term role shapes evidence-informed decisions across NZ's IDC Programme, managing strategic evaluations and coordinating across projects.

You will advise on M&E frameworks, support business case design, and promote evidence use to improve development outcomes in the Pacific and beyond. Close supervision and stakeholder collaboration are essential.

Qualifications

• Experience in monitoring, evaluation, research and learning for policy
• Ability to translate evidence into policy and programme decisions
• Stakeholder engagement across diverse audiences

Responsibilities

• Managing and delivering a portfolio of strategic evaluation and research projects.
• Providing advice and support on monitoring, evaluation, research and learning frameworks, approaches and methodologies.
• Supporting the design of evidence-informed business cases, including problem analysis and intervention logic.
• Coordinating and supporting activity and project-level evaluations across the IDC Programme.
• Promoting the use of evidence and evaluation findings to inform decision-making, policy development and programme improvement.

Skills

Stakeholder engagement

Policy experience

Monitoring and evaluation

Research design

Communication skills

Education

Relevant graduate qualification

Job description

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Wellington seeks a Development Adviser for Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL). The fixed-term role shapes evidence-informed decisions across NZ's IDC Programme, managing strategic evaluations and coordinating across projects.

You will advise on M&E frameworks, support business case design, and promote evidence use to improve development outcomes in the Pacific and beyond. Close supervision and stakeholder collaboration are essential.