Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Youth Program Evaluator

🎯 Role Definition

This role requires an experienced Youth Program Evaluator to lead monitoring, evaluation, and learning efforts for youth-facing programs. The evaluator will design rigorous evaluation frameworks (including logic models and theories of change), implement mixed-methods data collection, analyze outcomes and impact, and produce evidence-based recommendations that improve program effectiveness, demonstrate impact to funders, and support strategic decision-making. The ideal candidate combines technical M&E expertise with a deep understanding of youth development, participatory approaches, and ethical practices when working with young people.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Program Coordinator (Youth services or education programs)
Monitoring & Evaluation Officer / Associate
Research Assistant with experience in youth-focused projects

Advancement To:

Senior M&E Manager / Head of Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning
Director of Programs (Youth Services)
External Evaluation Consultant / Research Director

Lateral Moves:

Program Design Specialist (Youth)
Data & Learning Lead
Impact Assessment Consultant

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead the design, implementation, and ongoing refinement of comprehensive monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) frameworks and logic models tailored to youth programs, ensuring alignment with program theory of change and donor requirements.
Develop measurable indicators, performance metrics, and monitoring tools (quantitative and qualitative) that capture short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes for diverse youth populations.
Design and manage baseline, midline, endline, and follow-up evaluations — including sampling strategies, data collection protocols, and timelines — to rigorously assess program effectiveness and impact.
Lead mixed-methods data collection efforts including household and youth surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, participatory evaluation exercises, and observational checklists, ensuring ethical consent and child protection standards.
Conduct advanced quantitative analysis (descriptive statistics, regression, propensity score matching, difference-in-differences, multi-level models) using tools such as R, Stata, or SPSS to estimate program effects and causal relationships.
Conduct robust qualitative analysis (thematic coding, narrative analysis, framework analysis) of interviews and focus groups to surface contextualized insights about youth experiences and program mechanisms.
Design and oversee data quality assurance systems, including data validation protocols, double-entry checks, inter-rater reliability for qualitative coding, and routine data quality assessments with field teams and partners.
Manage primary data collection teams and external research vendors, including recruitment, training on instruments and ethical procedures, field supervision, and performance monitoring to ensure high-quality, reliable data.
Synthesize evaluation findings into concise, compelling written products (evaluation reports, policy briefs, learning notes) and visual assets (dashboards, infographics) tailored for donors, program teams, youth stakeholders, and policy audiences.
Translate evaluation evidence into concrete, prioritized recommendations for program adaptation, scale-up, or discontinuation, and collaborate with program managers to develop action plans for implementation.
Create and maintain data dashboards and visualization tools (Power BI, Tableau, or Excel dashboards) that provide timely, actionable performance information for program managers and leadership.
Coordinate and manage relationships with funders, local partners, government stakeholders, and youth advisory groups to ensure transparency, alignment of evaluation priorities, and uptake of findings.
Lead or co-develop cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses to inform resource allocation decisions and provide evidence for scaling high-impact youth interventions.
Ensure all evaluation activities comply with ethical standards, privacy regulations, and child/youth safeguarding policies, including secure storage of sensitive data and anonymization procedures.
Facilitate learning and capacity-building workshops and training sessions for program staff, partners, and youth participants to strengthen local M&E skills and promote data-driven decision-making.
Conduct rapid assessments and performance reviews in response to programmatic challenges, emergencies, or donor ad-hoc requests to inform timely corrective actions.
Implement participatory evaluation approaches that meaningfully engage youth as co-researchers or co-evaluators, ensuring their voices and lived experiences shape evaluation questions and interpretation of results.
Maintain and curate data repositories and codebooks, ensuring metadata and documentation are complete for reproducibility and future secondary analyses.
Lead dissemination activities including presentations at internal and external learning events, donor briefings, and conferences to communicate key findings and promote evidence uptake.
Monitor and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) across multiple project sites, identifying trends, risks, and opportunities for program improvement and scale decisions.
Support proposal development and program design by providing M&E budgets, evaluation methodologies, baseline study plans, and monitoring frameworks to secure funding and operationalize new interventions.
Stay current with cutting-edge youth development research, M&E methodologies, and best practices (including adolescent-friendly measurement, outcome harvesting, and developmental evaluation) and integrate innovations into evaluation design.

Secondary Functions

Provide technical input to data management systems (HMIS or custom databases) to streamline data capture, storage, and retrieval for youth program teams.
Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory analyses to answer emerging program questions and hypothesis testing.
Contribute to the organization’s knowledge management efforts by archiving evaluation outputs, lessons learned, and best practices in accessible formats.
Collaborate with communications teams to translate evaluation results into media-ready stories, case studies, and social media content that highlight youth impact.
Participate in proposal reviews and donor reporting cycles to ensure M&E sections are feasible, evidence-based, and budgeted appropriately.
Mentor junior M&E staff and interns, offering technical coaching on analytic methods, reporting, and stakeholder engagement.
Maintain vendor contracts and scopes of work for third-party evaluators, ensuring deliverables and quality expectations are met.
Help refine program indicators and data collection instruments based on iterative learning and user feedback from program staff and youth participants.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) design and implementation for youth-focused programs, including logic model and theory of change development.
Survey design, sampling strategies, instrument development, and piloting for adolescent and youth populations.
Advanced quantitative analysis: regression analysis, causal inference methods (difference-in-differences, propensity score matching), and experience with R, Stata, or SPSS.
Qualitative methods expertise: focus groups, key informant interviews, participatory tools, and thematic coding using NVivo, Atlas.ti, or manual frameworks.
Data visualization and dashboard creation with Power BI, Tableau, or Excel for performance monitoring and stakeholder reporting.
Indicators development and results framework construction aligned with donor logframes and international standards (e.g., OECD DAC, SDG indicators).
Data management and cleaning best practices, including database design, version control, secure storage, and anonymization techniques.
Evaluation project management: designing evaluation timelines, budgets, procurement of external evaluators, and vendor management.
Cost-effectiveness and basic economic evaluation methods to assess value for money.
Ethical standards for research with minors, informed consent/assent procedures, child protection and safeguarding protocols.
Familiarity with mobile data collection platforms (e.g., KoboToolbox, ODK, SurveyCTO) and digital data pipelines.
Report writing and structured dissemination for diverse audiences, including donors, policymakers, and youth participants.

Soft Skills

Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to translate complex findings into clear, actionable recommendations.
Stakeholder engagement and facilitation skills for collaborating with youth, community leaders, donors, and government partners.
Cultural sensitivity and commitment to equity, inclusion, and participatory approaches when working with diverse youth populations.
Analytical and critical thinking to interpret mixed-methods data and draw evidence-based conclusions.
Attention to detail and strong organizational skills for managing multiple evaluation activities and data quality processes.
Coaching and capacity-building mindset to transfer skills to local staff and partners.
Adaptability and problem-solving in dynamic field contexts and constrained resource environments.
Time management and prioritization under tight reporting deadlines.
Teamwork and collaborative leadership to drive interdisciplinary learning and program improvement.
Confidentiality and professional ethics when handling sensitive youth data.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences, International Development, Education, Public Policy, Statistics, Psychology, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in Monitoring & Evaluation, Development Studies, Public Policy, Social Research Methods, Statistics, or a closely related discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Monitoring & Evaluation / MEL
International Development / Development Studies
Education / Youth Development
Public Policy / Public Administration
Statistics, Data Science, or Social Research Methods

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–7 years of progressive experience in monitoring and evaluation, research, or program evaluation roles with youth-focused projects.

Preferred:

5+ years of demonstrated experience designing and leading mixed-methods evaluations for youth programs.
Experience working in low-resource or international environments and familiarity with donor-funded program cycles (USAID, DFID/FCDO, UNICEF, EU, foundations).
Experience managing field teams and external evaluators, and producing high-quality donor reports and dissemination materials.
Prior experience using statistical software (R, Stata, SPSS) and qualitative analysis tools (NVivo, Atlas.ti) is strongly preferred.
Demonstrated experience with child protection policies, ethical research practices with minors, and participatory approaches involving youth.