Impact and Learning Manager

Position description

Reports To: Civitates Fund Director
Location: Brussels (Belgium). Possibility to work remotely for exceptional candidates residing in an EU country.
Contract duration: Permanent
Position Type: Full-Time
Salary: 4,100-4,500 euros/month gross (53k-58k euros/year gross). This is a Belgian salary range with the 13th salary and holiday pay.

About Civitates

Civitates is the European Democracy Fund.

It is a philanthropic pooled fund that was established in 2018 to defend and promote democracy and civic space in Europe. Since its inception, it has supported more than 60 organisations in 18 countries with a total amount of €20 million.

Civitates’ grant making and capacity building programmes are structured along three portfolios or “sub funds”:

• Civic Power – to strengthen the resilience of pro-democracy civil society organisations;
• Tech and Democracy – to address the role of social media in spreading disinformation;
• Media – to foster independent, public interest journalism across Europe.

Civitates is hosted by the Network of European Foundations (NEF) in Brussels and has a small team of four staff.

Position Overview

The Impact and Learning Manager is a newly created position to advance Civitates’ mission by supporting collective learning and exchange, evidence-based decision-making and communication.

In close collaboration with the Civitates team, this role is responsible for managing the fund’s impact and learning system and reporting materials for internal and external audiences. This role bridges data, reflection, and storytelling to showcase the fund’s impact, identify opportunities for improvement and support evidence-informed decisions.

For a full job description, see here.

Key Responsibilities

Impact and Progress Tracking

• Manage day-to-day activities related to the impact and tracking frameworks for the fund and the sub-funds;
• Coordinate with other team members and support reporting and data gathering from grantee partners throughout grant duration and lead sense-making efforts;
• Support the Senior Programme Managers with reviewing the capacity-building activities for grantees partners such as the Funding Plus grant programme;
• Maintain data sets up to date and analyze quantitative and qualitative data, including the outcome tracking frameworks for each of the three sub-funds;
• Analyze grantees’ progress and provide relevant data for grant renewal or exit decisions.

Learning and Knowledge Management

• Collate and present internal and external learning data to inform strategic and operational decisions by the team and by the Steering Committee and working groups members;
• Curate learning tools and products and coordinate learning and reflection moments around Civitates’ key learning questions throughout the year;
• Organise and curate internal and external knowledge products and resources;
• Organize and facilitate learning sessions, workshops, and webinars for Civitates and NEF staff, grantee and foundation partners, and other stakeholders.

Communications and Reporting

• Prepare clear, actionable impact and learning reports and presentations for internal and external audiences around key moments in the annual planning cycle;
• Lead on the production of the Civitates annual report;
• Document case studies and stories of change to highlight insights and good practices across Civitates’ subfunds and liaise closely with colleagues to ensure timely and effective distribution to relevant audiences;
• In coordination with other team members, provide evidence and insights to develop fundraising and communication products.

Capacity Building for Grantee Partners

• Support the capacity building of Civitates’ grantee partners in their impact tracking and learning capabilities, including coaching or technical support as needed;
• Organise and facilitate sessions during grantee convenings focused on monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL), impact tracking, and reflective practice;
• Work closely with the Senior Programme Managers to design and deliver agendas for grantee convenings that include meaningful opportunities for peer learning and skills development around impact and learning;
• Contribute to the development and dissemination of MEL tools, templates, and resources tailored to the needs of grantee partners across the three sub-funds.

Systems and Technology

• Develop and maintain user-friendly databases and dashboards for data management and visualization with subfund-level data;
• Identify and integrate innovative tools, applications and technologies to enhance analysis, reporting and communication.

Qualifications

Required Skills and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, international development, public policy, or a related field; advanced degree preferred;
• 5-7 years of relevant experience in monitoring, evaluation, and learning roles, preferably within philanthropic or nonprofit organisations in Europe;
• Good understanding of impact tracking methods and tools, including both quantitative and qualitative approaches;
• Proven ability to implement impact tracking and learning systems;
• Excellent analytical skills, with experience in data visualization and software tools (e.g., Excel, Tableau, Power BI, or similar);
• Exceptional communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to synthesize complex data into accessible formats;
• Proficiency in English.

Desirable Skills and Experiences

• Familiarity with the philanthropic landscape and pooled funding mechanisms;
• Experience working in Central and Eastern Europe and/or good understanding of the political context in that region;
• Experience with leading capacity building/mentoring programmes;
• Experience with participatory evaluation methods and a commitment to equity-focused MEL approaches;
• Multilingual skills are a plus.

Competencies

• Strategic thinker with a proactive approach to problem-solving;
• Collaborative and team-oriented, with strong interpersonal skills;
• Adaptable and able to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment;
• High attention to detail and a commitment to quality and accountability.

Personal Style and Behaviours

• Commitment to the vision, mission and values of Civitates;
• Actively encourages and feels at home in a diverse and inclusive working environment – commitment to supporting diversity, equality, and inclusion in workplaces;
• A sense of humour, humility and collegiality;
• Capacity for self-reflection and a commitment to learning and growth;
• Comfortable and able to work within a remote team.

Benefits

• Dynamic, international work environment;
• Flexible work conditions and opportunities for personal and professional growth;
• A supportive and cohesive team;
• Additional benefits include homeworking allowance, phone allowance, meal and eco vouchers, extra holidays, enrolment into a pension scheme and hospitalisation insurance;
• An inclusive work culture that values diversity within a driven team.

Application instructions

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