Monitoring and Evaluation Expert; South America Fire

Monitoring and Evaluation Expert – South America Fire Fund (Remote Contractor)

CXL is seeking a Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Expert Lead consultant to join the South America Fire Fund team. This is a Fund‑level position responsible for designing, deploying, and managing the M&E framework across multiple intervention geographies and implementing partners in Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru. The M&E Expert Lead will be the primary point of accountability for ensuring that monitoring activities across the Fund's work streams (behavior change, technology and innovation, ecological restoration, and financial innovation) feed into a unified, credible evidence base aligned with the fund’s experimental design.

The consultant will oversee indicator finalization (in accordance with the approved fund strategy documents), data collection systems, partner coordination, and funder reporting throughout the life of the Fund.

• Finalize the M&E indicator framework in accordance with the strategy documents and experimental design, harmonizing definitions across all geographies and verifying targets following Year 1 baseline data collection.
• Assess and refine the overarching theory of change; lead development of sub‑theories of change for pilot areas and strategies, in collaboration with fund strategy and technical leads and partners.
• Develop and deploy standardized data collection templates for use by all implementing partners across the three ecoregions, ensuring they are adapted to local contexts (language, culture, etc.).
• Coordinate with remote sensing specialists on satellite data collection and analysis across all study sites, covering burned area, fire detection, and restoration metrics.
• Oversee Year 1 baseline data collection, including historical satellite analysis, site boundary delineation, landowner surveys, and variability assessments.
• Procure and manage a secure, real‑time data management platform capable of aggregating data across multiple geographies.
• Coordinate with technical team leads across all Fund work streams to integrate workstream‑level monitoring into the overarching indicator framework, reducing duplicative data collection.
• Manage M&E support staff, providing direction and quality control for their engagement with implementing partners and technical teams.
• Prepare annual funder reports and contribute to adaptive learning reviews, including at the Fund midpoint.
• Coordinate with the Fund’s independent external evaluator on design validation, Track 2 data spot‑checking, and mid‑term and final evaluations.
• Translate and adapt M&E frameworks for local partner use in Spanish and Portuguese.
• Participate in fund collaboration architecture for sharing lessons and approaches with the wider South America Fire Fund community of practice.
• Deliver a finalized indicator framework with locked definitions and verified yearly baselines and targets, stratified by geography and ecoregion.
• Deploy standardized data collection templates across all implementing partners.
• Produce Year 1 baseline report, including site variability analysis and boundary documentation.
• Deliver an operational data management system, procured and functional by the end of Year 1.
• Provide funder reports (at least every six months).
• Deliver adaptive learning review reports synthesizing evidence across all geographies, including at the Fund midpoint.
• Produce cross‑geography learning briefs and knowledge management outputs.

• Advanced degree in conservation, ecology, development studies, evaluation, statistics, or a related field.
• Minimum 7 years of experience designing and managing M&E systems for large‑scale conservation, natural resource management, or international development programs.
• Demonstrated experience with remote‑sensing‑based monitoring, including working with satellite data platforms used in tropical forest or fire management contexts.
• Experience managing data collection and reporting across multiple geographies and implementing partners.
• Strong quantitative skills, including experience with baseline assessment and variability analysis.
• Strong written communication skills; ability to produce clear funder reports and adaptive learning documents.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex M&E frameworks for community‑based and local partner use.
• Fluency in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

• Familiarity with quasi‑experimental evaluation concepts (e.g., before‑after control‑impact designs, statistical matching).
• Experience with tropical forest, fire, or land use conservation programs.