Inovasi 3 - Provincial Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (Merl) Officer in Kaltara

**INOVASI 3 - Provincial Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) Officer in Kaltara**

**Background**:
Indonesia’s Vision 2045 sets the goal for Indonesia to transition from a resource-based economy towards an advanced service, technology, and knowledge-based economy by the centenary of its independence (2045). The 2025-2045 National Long Term Development Plan emphasises the urgency of Indonesia’s human resource development to fully realise 2045 goals.

Faced however with persistent low student performance that is emblematic of a learning crisis, significant improvement in student learning will be required to reach Indonesia’s 2045 goals. Government of Indonesia (GoI) has started an ambitious program of education reforms. Successive education ministers have set out to modernise the education system through reforming the national curriculum and teaching and assessment approaches, to produce citizens with strong foundational skills, open minds, and inclusive values.

Australia is a long-term supporter of the Indonesian basic education sector, with continuous investments supporting education quality improvements for the past two decades, including through the INOVASI program (Phase 1 2016-2020; Phase 2 2020-2023) that focused on supporting acquisition of literacy and numeracy foundational skills in early grades classrooms; exploring local problems and solutions; and generating evidence to inform government policy development and practices.

This third phase of INOVASI (2024-2027) builds upon the existing program’s approach and lessons learned and takes the focus on the development of foundational skills through to the end of the primary grades. Phase 3 will engage with priority issues of Australia’s development policy: gender equality, effective inclusion of children with a disability, responses to the climate change challenge in education. It will focus on the challenge of policy implementation and the gaps that exist between national policies and practices at district and school levels, and use the well attested-success of INOVASI’s local problem-based approach to continuously support policy development for effective fit between policy and implementation context.

INOVASI Phase 3 is implemented in 25 districts and cities across Indonesia, in the provinces of West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, North Kalimantan, East Java, West Java, and Maluku. The program also works in Ibu Kota Nusantara (IKN)

The Program is managed by Palladium on behalf of the Government of Australia through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

**Purpose of the Position**:
The Provincial MERL Officer is responsible for the implementation of the MERL plans at the provincial and district levels. INOVASI’s MERL Strategy will describe (i) the program’s approach to assessing and reporting progress towards and achievement of End of Program Outcimes (EOPOs) and Intermediate Outcomes (IOs), (ii) how evidence generated by the MERL system will be used in program decision making, adaptation, communications, and policy dialogue, (iii) the program’s research agenda and how it will contribute to and support assessment of progress and achievement of IOs and EOPOs, and (iv) the resourcing and roles and responsibilities of the Performance and Learning (PNL) team. INOVASI’s MERL will also support key partners in improving their education ecosystem, learning quality, and learning outcomes of primary student’s foundational skills. Implementation of the MERL Strategy will involve the Jakarta PNL team as well as MERL personnel in each provincial team.

Under the supervision and direction of the Provincial Manager, the MERL Officer works with the provincial team to collect and generate robust evidence of how district education ecosystem works and improves, what interventions work, what does not, and under which circumstances, in support of assessing and reporting progress towards achievement of EOPOs and IOs.

In addition, s/he is also responsible for ensuring that data is adequately stored in the Program Data Management System (PDMS), training the team to use the PDMS, coordinating the analysis, and facilitating utilisation of the findings. Overall, the MERL Officer ensures an integrated and practical MERL practices across programs, districts within the province, and across provinces (for East and West Java).

**Duties**:Under the direction of the Provincial Manager a and in collaboration with the Monitoring and Learning Specialist, the Provincial MERL Officer will:

- Support the implementation of MERL Strategy and coordinate the provincial MERL plans across the province and all the targeted district partners.
- Support the Provincial Manager in developing the annual provincial MERL plan, covering the aspects of monitoring, evaluation (supporting national evaluation and local evaluation if relevant), research (supporting national research and local research if relevant), and learning. The plan should cover both the province,