Senior Officer, Learning & Impact

Position: Senior Officer, Learning and Impact

Status: Full-time, indefinite

Team: First Response Fund

Reports to:  Director, First Response Fund

Language(s): English, French desirable

Location: Remote

Starting Salary Range: $85,000+ CAD

Deadline for Application: November 2, 2026, 11:59pm ET

ABOUT THE FIRST RESPONSE FUND

The First Response Fund (FRF) is a new global pooled fund, currently in its pilot phase, that seeks to resource humanitarian responses led by feminist civil society organizations - by leveraging women’s and feminist funds’ (W/FF) funding capacity, reach, and relationships with women’s rights and women led organizations (WROs/WLOs) across regions.

Twelve feminist and women’s funds (along with Prospera, the international network of women’s funds) worked together to design the First Response Fund centering the strategies of local WLOs/WROs in ODA-eligible countries, providing resources and accompaniment via a global network of over 50 Women’s and Feminist Funds. FRF represents an innovative advance on localization because it moves core, flexible resources to local WROs/WLOs for the life-saving, humanitarian services prioritized by their communities.

FRF is a new initiative that builds on the existing expertise of WROs/WLOs doing critical humanitarian response and of W/FFs resourcing these groups. We are creating an accessible channel for donors to resource the humanitarian activities of WROs.

FRF is hosted by the Equality Fund, a feminist fund based in Canada, resourcing feminist movements through global grantmaking, gender-lens investing, policy advocacy, and feminist philanthropy. Launched in 2019, the Equality Fund has activated $100 million to date which flows to more than 1,800 organizations working across 100 countries.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Reporting to the Director, First Response Fund, the Senior Officer, Learning & Impact drives the implementation and adaptation of the First Response Fund (FRF) monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) strategy, in alignment with the Equality Fund’s Learning and Impact strategy. The Senior Officer plays a critical role in data collection and analysis from FRF’s partners, impact measurement, and knowledge management and ensuring these processes are timely, accurate, and compliant with Equality Fund and donor standards, collaborating closely with Manager, Learning and Impact and the wider Strategy, Innovation and Impact team.

The Senior Officer independently and accountably tracks progress against key indicators, demonstrates partner and FRF impact through analysis and interpretation of qualitative and quantitative data, and facilitates dissemination of results and learnings. The Senior Officer is also responsible for leading evaluative activities, managing effective reporting, stewarding relationships, and contributing to strategy development for the First Response Fund. The work of the Senior Officer, Learning and Impact contributes to strengthening the evidence base of the impact and effectiveness of localization, while also demonstrating the various ways in which feminist MEL can be operationalized to collect and analyze this type of evidence.

While embedded within the FRF Secretariat, the Senior Officer maintains a dotted line of supervision with Equality Fund's Learning & Impact (L&I) team to ensure cross-organizational alignment, methodological rigor, and shared learning. The Senior Officer coordinates directly with the L&I team to ensure FRF’s MEL processes integrate seamlessly into the organization’s broader social change frameworks and institutional reporting standards.

SCOPE & RESPONSIBILITIES

Design and implementation of MEL framework, strategy, and tools

• In collaboration with the Director of First Response Fund and the Manager of Learning and Impact, leads the implementation of FRF’s MEL framework that accompanies the overall grantmaking strategy and theory of change;

• Leads the design and implementation of tools and processes to ensure tracking and reporting of key indicators to bilateral and philanthropic donors, such as FCDO (UK) and Global Affairs Canada..

• Collaborates internally and externally to improve FRF’s MEL framework, data collection and analysis tools and processes in alignment with best practice in the humanitarian sector and donor reporting requirements.

• Leads on managing FRF’s external partnerships focused on learning and impact measurement (e.g. third party monitoring, evaluations, partnerships with think tanks and researchers).

Data collection, management, analysis and sensemaking

• In collaboration with Learning & Impact and Global Programs colleagues, continuously improves tools, design, and implementation of pilot projects for non-traditional/innovative reporting methods, such as audio and video reporting, use of instructional videos, and revised content and format of tools and reports;

• Contributes to the collection, validation, and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from FRF’s grantee partners and translates field-level evidence into actionable learning;

• Works cross-functionally to identify, write, compile and communicate compelling impact stories and narratives for reports and knowledge products;

• In collaboration with the Grantmaking Operations team, supports the quarterly update of grantmaking basic statistics to meet Equality Fund’s internal and external reporting requirements;

• In collaboration with FRF Director and Officer, supports Milestone, Progress, and Final Report reviews, as well as implementation of data collection tools and processes to track and demonstrate the impact of women’s and feminist funds’ accompaniment model, and ongoing redesign for the use of Salesforce for MEL;

• Implements the Learning and Impact data analysis strategy to report on aggregate and thematic/regional impact on gender equality outcomes;

Dissemination of results, reporting, and partner capacity strengthening

• In coordination with the Learning and Impact team, compiles and presents key grantmaking data and crisis-informed insights for use across the Equality Fund.

• Ensures compliance with institutional and bilateral donor reporting requirements; leads writing of internal briefs and external narrative reports to funders (for example, interim reports, inception reports and FRF Annual Report), associated Performance Measurement Frameworks, as well as other knowledge products and communications materials as required;

• Disseminates impact data through presentations and preparing reports, briefs and talking points for internal and external audiences (ie. Impact Library, data shareback sessions with partners, proposals, joint advocacy efforts, etc);

• In close collaboration with FRF Director and EF Program Managers, supports partner MEL capacity strengthening through creation of MEL webinars using key insights provided by the programs team and supporting with specific MEL capacity strengthening needs of partners as required;

• Supports responses to internal and external data requests; provides current First Response Fund  data to key stakeholders and databases upon request.

Other horizontal organizational activities

• Contributes to and supports organization wide Learning & Impact efforts; Serves as the primary bridge between the First Response Fund and the L&I team, actively participating in L&I team meetings.

• Contributes to and supports FRF updates to the Internal Impact Library and design and implementation of participatory grantmaking models across grantmaking streams;

• Acts in accordance with our policies around nurturing a safe and respectful work environment; never engaging in harassment, coercion, sexual exploitation or abuse of any form, or anything else contrary to our code of conduct.

QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES

Experience

• Undergraduate degree or equivalent training in social science, international development, or a related field.

• At least 5 years of direct experience in Monitoring, Evaluation,