School Meals Accelerator TDY Evaluation, Monitoring & Reporting

About the School Meals Accelerator:

School Meals Accelerator (the Accelerator) is the fifth and newest initiative underthe School Meals Coalitiondesigned to support governments to scale and strengthen their national school meal programmes and turn their ambitions into real impact. Acting as a network catalyst and convenor the Accelerator mobilizes resources andexpertisefrom the right partners to deliver strategic technicalassistancewhere it matters most.

The Accelerators mission: unlock the full potential of national school meal programs by improving design scaling investment and fostering collaboration across education health and food systems. It embraces a systems-thinking approach adapts to country priorities and thrives in deep collaboration among global regional and local actors. The Accelerators ambition: to help low- and lower-middle-income countries reach anadditional100 million children by 2030 making school meals a cornerstone of human capital development and a global standard of care.

The Acceleratoroperatesin conditions of high complexity. Because itoperatesas a network facilitator rather than a traditional organization its work spans multiple countriesorganisationsand institutional logics andseeksto support system-level change rather than the delivery of predefined solutions.

For this reason the Accelerator has adopted a systemic leadership approach which accepts that pathways to change are non-linear and progress depends on learningadaptationand collaboration across boundaries. Working in this way places ongoing demands on those involved and requires leaders whoare able towork productively with uncertainty difference and incomplete authority whilemaintainingaccountability for results. Joining the Accelerator team therefore means being part of a first-of-its-kind development enterprise: a systems-focused effort to drive lasting country-led change that requires a willingness to learn adapt and be shaped by the work as it evolves.

Purpose of this role:

This role is part of the Engagement Teamof the Accelerator whichisresponsible forensuring that the Acceleratorsengagementat the political levelcontinues to enable andfacilitateits work generating more supporttapping into diverse networksand deepening relationshipsthat cancontinue to create afavourableauthorizing environmentfor the initiative.The Evidence Monitoring & Reporting Consultant strengthens SMAs results reporting and adaptivelearning functions.The postholder leadsday-to-daymonitoring andend-to-endreporting workflowsincluding donor reporting periodic management reporting annual and midterm reviewsand ensures information isaccuratetimely and aligned with SMAs systemiclearning-orientedapproachrather than a traditional monitoring and evaluation role.

A core part of the role is to leadvalue captureprocesses by systematicallyidentifying documenting and synthesizing emerging patterns system shifts and learning from Accelerator country engagements. By curating evidence and translating it into cleardecision-readysystem narratives the consultant supports adaptivedecision-making strengthens collective sensemaking and ensures that SMAs work reflects real system change.

The role promotes disciplined monitoringof key performance indicatorssystems-oriented measurementhigh-qualityreporting and continuous learning across countries and workstreams contributing to SMAs mission of delivering credible insights accountability andsystem levelinfluence.The postholder is also expected to coordinateclosely with the School Meals Coalition Secretariat and other global initiatives to ensure aligned approaches shared messaging and coherent support to countries.

Responsibilities

1) Evidence & Results Management

• Operationalize and evolve the measurement framework (indicators baselines targets milestones) including systemsoriented indicators that capture emergent change (patterns norms incentives relationships) andmaintainingreference sheets and datacollection schedules with the SMC Data & Monitoring Initiative.

• Collectvalidate and synthesize quantitative and qualitative data from SMA teams governments and partners; integrate stakeholder perspectives to surface weak signals and contextual factors that inform adaptation.

• Maintain trackers dashboards and evidence files fortimelysensemaking; run routine monitoring cycles (monthly/quarterly/biannual) follow up on data calls and conduct descriptive analyses toidentifyemerging patterns and anomalies.

• Produce short evidence products (summaries visuals tables) for reviews and briefings; document limitations assumptions and improvement actions to reinforce data quality responsible evidence of use and alignment with SMAs systemsinformed narrative.

2) Reporting

• Lead the preparation of major reporting products (Annual Report Annual Plan midyear and endofyear updates) ensuring accuracy coherence and alignment with SMAs measurement framework and systemic narrative.

• Manage endtoend reporting workflows coordinating contributions across units conducting quality assurancemaintainingversion control and stewarding internal review and clearance processes.

• Draft and integrate clear compelling narrative content linking evidence country examples systembehaviours and partner contributions generating a single coherent story across all reporting products.

• Produce andvalidatedata annexes indicator tables visuals and methodological notes ensuring compliance with donor expectations internal standards and SMAs visual and narrative identity.
  

3) Value Capture & SystemsLearning

• Identifyand track emerging system shiftsincluding changes in norms incentives collaboration patterns resource flows and decisionmaking processespaying attention to weak signals and early indicators of change.

• Develop lighttouch analytical and sensemaking products that synthesize what is changing in the system and why translating insights into actionable guidance for leadership and country teams.

• Document emergent learning from country engagement surfacing positive deviances and leverage points and supporting adaptive decisions and realtime adjustments across workstreams.

• Curate continuous learning flows into reporting leadership briefings and strategy processes strengthening collective sensemaking and embedding systemsinformed adaptation across SMA.
  

4) People Leadership Ways of Working & Culture

• Model SMAs systemic leadership mindsetsby practicing inclusive engagement constructive feedback transparency and crossteam collaboration; reinforce shared standards disciplined documentation and coherent communication flows across dispersed teams and workstreams.

• Demonstrate strong political and cultural awarenessin interactions with governments partners and colleagues while upholding data protection safeguarding and donoharm principles across all evidence and reporting activities.
  

5) Learning Continuous Improvement & Knowledge

• Lead valuecapture and learning cyclesbyidentifyingemerging system shifts patterns and weak signals; synthesizing insights from monitoring data and qualitative inputs into accessible products (e.g. briefs snapshots learning notes) that inform strategic decisions and adaptation.

• Facilitate and embed collective sensemakingby supporting afteraction reviews reflection sessions and leadership discussions;maintainlearning repositories update tools and guidance and translate complex systemlevel learning into clear narratives and visuals for internal planning reporting and strategy processes.