Organization: SINA (Social Innovation Academy)
Location: Uganda; frequent travel to refugee settlements & SINA communities
Contract: Full-time, 12-month renewable | Start: ASAP | Deadline: Rolling
About SINA
SINA empowers marginalized and refugee youth to become social entrepreneurs in regenerative, self-organized communities guided by “freesponsibility” (freedom held together with responsibility) and the SINA Framework. More than half of our communities operate in displacement contexts. MEL needs to be lived and embodied. It is something we co-own and learn from together to grow collectively. You won’t be monitoring from the sidelines. You’ll be a co-learner embedded in a dynamic, self-organized community ecosystem.
Role purpose
You steward a practical, participatory and adaptive MEL practice that turns experience into evidence and evidence into action across SINA communities—tracking changes in wellbeing, growth mindset, personal income and job creation—while keeping data accessible locally and pooled centrally for portfolio learning.
How you’ll contribute
Start from what exists (theory of change, surveys, tools), then improve, simplify and standardize where it helps. Pilot → learn → adapt and train
Change in people (four core indicators across the SINA empowerment journey):
– Growth mindset through collective narratives and a short validated mindset survey.
– Wellbeing through low-barrier tools chosen with communities (life maps, blob tools, brief indices)
– Income through context-fit proxies (assets, consumption patterns, simple vignettes) and
self-reported change.
– Jobs and enterprise creation through light employment checks, enterprise records and founder reflections.
Health of each SINA community (supportive rhythms, not audits):
– Quarterly community health reflections through three lenses—quality, engagement,
regularity—with brief evidence used for supportive conversations, not appraisal.
– A one-page stage/cycle tracker per community (planned vs delivered sessions, continuity
across phases, expected vs actual timelines).
– Facilitator-guided learner check-ins at key transitions (confidence and agency, inclusion
and safety, “what I need next”).
– Light tracking of public storytelling
Data that flows and does no harm
Clear, lean SOPs and ethics (consent, confidentiality, do no harm). Data is housed centrally and remains community-visible through simple dashboards and short briefs.
Capacity that lasts
Practical training for SINA community focal points on interviewing (with gender-aware matching, and female-to-female as default where appropriate), bias awareness (courtesy bias, social desirability, selection), consent and safeguarding, data hygiene and basic analysis/visuals and how to interpret and use their data.
How you’ll work together
– Partner closely with MEL focal points and relevant circle roles in each SINA Community;
convene a simple peer practice to swap tools, make sense of results and
co-improve methods.
– Interface with roles in SINA Global (e.g., Fundraising) to keep indicators coherent, ethics
aligned and portfolio dashboards useful; bring tension-backed proposals through
governance so improvements stick.
– Enable, don’t gatekeep: keep templates, instruments and data guidance open by default
and coach for self-reliance so communities can run MEL confidently without you present.
Use and learning (including donor reporting)
Turn data into decisions. Surface good practices and enable cross-community support. Maintain a living MEL Learning Log (what changed, why, with evidence). Co-create donor-ready outputs—contribution analyses, annual impact summaries and brief stories—so external reporting also strengthens internal learning.
Your profile
Must-have
– Substantial MEL practice in refugee/displacement or low-resource settings with strong
facilitation and fieldwork experience (typically 5+ years or equivalent responsibility).
– Demonstrated participatory, mixed-methods approaches that communities actually adopt.
– Hands-on with Kobo/ODK and Excel/Google Sheets; solid qualitative methods (interviews,
focus group discussions, narrative synthesis).
– Clear spoken and written English and strong communication in diverse groups.
– Values fit: self-organization, humility, co-creation and freesponsibility.
– Self-drive and thriving without much supervision.
– No specific degree required.
Nice-to-have
Fluency in French, Kiswahili, Arabic, Somali or other languages common among refugees in Uganda. Trauma-informed practice. Lived displacement experience is strongly preferred.
Equal opportunity
We especially encourage people with lived displacement experience, individuals without university degrees and women to apply.
Safeguarding and data protection
Uphold SINA safeguarding and do-no-harm practices; ensure informed consent; anonymize and store sensitive data securely.
What we offer
Purpose-driven work with autonomy and tangible impact. An award-winning, self-organized culture with growth pathways. Compensation discussed with shortlisted candidates.
How to apply
Email info@socialinnovationacademy.org with the subject “Senior MEL Steward” and attach: a CV (max 3–4 pages); a short cover letter focused on participatory MEL leadership (max 1 page); two samples (a redacted dashboard/report and a brief note on a MEL tool you designed or adapted); and two references we can contact. We are excited to hear from you!