Posted on June 26, 2012

print

Vice President for Strategic Learning, Research and Evaluation

Inspired by Judaism’s commitment to justice, American Jewish World Service (AJWS) works to realize human rights and end poverty in the developing world. AJWS is a Philanthropy 400 international human rights organization that works within the American Jewish community and its allies to promote global citizenship and social justice through activism, volunteer service, and education. In its first 26 years, AJWS has had extraordinary impact around the world, working in 32 countries and granting over $100 million to help grassroots organizations build civil society, foster economic development, expand access to education and health care, and advance human rights. AJWS sends over 400 American Jewish volunteers to the developing world annually and works with them upon their return to advocate for global social change in the United States. The $50-million organization has 120 national employees, 4 national offices, and 25 country representatives in Africa, Asia and the Americas. 125,000 activists and 60,000 donors support AJWS’s mission and vision. Throughout its history, AJWS has remained committed to its core values: essential dignity of every human being, sense of possibility, partnership and community, initiative and accountability, and humility.

AJWS recently completed a comprehensive strategic planning process that builds upon the organization’s success by clarifying our priorities, focusing and deepening our programmatic work, and ensuring AJWS’s sustainability as an enduring institution committed to justice. It offers a clearly defined road map to maximize our impact on the national and global stage. To ensure organizational effectiveness, AJWS is committed to embedding a workforce culture that embraces strategy management, evidence-based practices and clear metrics that demonstrate successful outcomes and opportunities for continuous learning, reflection and course correction, as needed.

The Position:

AJWS is seeking an experienced and innovative Vice President to join the executive team and be responsible for the overall strategic direction, leadership, development and management of a meaningful cross-organizational learning, research and evaluation system that enables the organization to powerfully demonstrate its impact in the world.

Reporting to the Executive Vice President, the Vice President will be responsible for leading all activities related to research, strategic learning, evaluation, and performance tracking of AJWS’s programs. Collaborating closely with his/her peers and staff across the organization, the Vice President will facilitate the development, implementation and monitoring of appropriate effectiveness indicators established to thoughtfully assess the performance of programmatic initiatives; identify and implement the operational structure, systems and evaluation tools needed to test and refine our theory of change; bolster our story-telling ability; and support the staff in developing the capacity to lead evidence-based, accountable programs.

The Vice President will also be responsible for implementing robust, formal learning processes that enable staff to review, reflect and contextually create meaning from their data and external trends so that it can be translated into easily understood stories that convey AJWS’s unique value and impact to numerous audiences. In addition, the Vice President will ensure that learning practices are embedded in the culture to facilitate ongoing strategy management enabling staff to use data to adjust approaches, ensuring that we are always eliciting the best work to realize our theory of change.

This individual’s responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

• Serve as a member of the executive team and participate in the development and implementation of strategic and tactical plans, as well as general management of the organization
• Lead the staff and other key stakeholders in establishing metrics for all AJWS programs --including effectiveness indicators and performance evaluation tracking plans that flow from the strategic plan and overarching organizational goals
• Increase the capacity of AJWS staff to develop and test theories of action and create plans that include goals, objectives, evaluations and measurement systems
• Identify and create a range of tools and resources needed for use in the gathering and management of monitoring and evaluation systems (e.g. forms, surveys, schedules, technology and information-sharing processes)
• Increase the capacity of AJWS staff to use identified evaluation tools and processes
• Embed continuous learning and reflective practices in the organization that will enable staff to regularly review the progress of strategies, track external trends and make course corrections as needed
• Increase the capacity of AJWS staff to produce reports for the board, funders, communications and other target audiences that highlight AJWS’s impact and unique contributions in the world by translating the evaluation information into easily understandable stories that reflect the organization’s unique value
• Serve a key role in the overall strategy management process
• Partner with IT to Identify and adopt a knowledge management system
• Stay abreast of trends related to measuring impact and effectiveness

The ideal candidate will possess:

• An advanced degree (strong preference for a PhD) in public policy, social science, or related fields, with a minimum of ten years of evaluation experience with a wide range of evaluation and assessment strategies, both quantitative and qualitative
• A minimum of 10 years of management experience; preferably some of which was in a not for profit environment
• Demonstrated success in all aspects of evaluation – evaluation design, research, monitoring, analysis, synthesis, and report writing and editing
• Demonstrated experience managing and developing a wide range of evaluations and assessments of programs
• Proven experience in transferring evaluation knowledge and skills, and developing this capacity in others
• Desire and ability to work collaboratively and thoughtfully as part of a committed, integrated team, and build strong relationships
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to communicate effectively and concisely (both in writing and orally)
• Strong attention to detail with the ability to solve problems, work independently, and excel in a high performance culture
• Ability to organize and prioritize work on multiple projects simultaneously and with a minimum of supervision
• Ambitious, innovative and creative
• Professional maturity, credibility, good judgment and ability to motivate others in a similar way
• Strong commitment to the mission and vision of AJWS with the ability to serve as a strong, compelling ambassador for the organization
• Thoroughly understand American Jewish World Service, its mission, policies, culture, values, history, key stakeholders, programs, and finances

Application Instructions

How to Apply:

For immediate consideration, please forward your resume and cover letter to opportunities@ajws.org and indicate your name and "VP for Strategic Learning, Research & Evaluation" in the subject line.

We thank you for your interest in career opportunities with AJWS. Due to high volume, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

AJWS is an equal opportunity employer and provides competitive salaries and benefits