Our aim is for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong, and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.

The Vision and Strategy team has been established to support the whole Church in its embrace of and engagement with the national Vision and Strategy for the Church for the 2020s, and to support implementation of the Emerging Church programme.

The Funding and Learning sub-team are responsible for the award of approximately £100 M Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment (SMMI) annually, and effective oversight of existing grants, making it one of the largest funders in the country. As part of this role, the team stimulate, and release learning focussed on the Church’s strategic priorities and catalyse wider change in the Church through evaluation and communication of the impact from the major programmes of change funded to date. The team will champion the three strategic priorities:

• Missionary disciples – every churchgoer being helped to connect their faith with their daily life.
• Younger and more diverse – churches where all kinds of people are represented and valued.
• Mixed ecology – churches meeting in different ways to serve different people in their communities.

The Vision and Strategy team is building on a history of using monitoring, evaluation, and insight to inform strategic questions in the Church and continue to build an evaluative thinking culture to questions of mission in the Church.

This is a role which helps deliver the Vision and Strategy by ensuring that appropriate monitoring, evaluation and learning processes are in place for each project and funding stream of SMMI and overseeing distribution of funding where needed. Working with dioceses, external partner organisations and other bodies as agreed, enable Vision and Strategy consultants monitor performance, gather evidence through independent evaluations and support the release of lessons learnt within the Church. The role is critical in providing trustees full confidence in the use of funding and its impact, and as time allows support other national Church funding with technical advice on effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E).

Interviews will be held in Westminster on the afternoon of Friday 6^th October 2023 or the morning of Tuesday 10^th October 2023.

The main responsibilities for this role are:

Evaluation

• Lead on evaluating the portfolio of Strategic Mission and Ministry Investments:
  • Develop evaluation process, sharing best practice.
  • Commission 10-15 evaluations annually.
  • Build and hold relationship with cohort of external evaluators.
• Conduct or oversee reviews of specific streams of funding.
• Working directly with grantees to ensure that all live projects have a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) plan in place.
• Work closely with the Head of Funding and Learning to make sense of the evaluations emerging in terms of overall Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning strategy.

Monitoring (working closely with Lead Strategy and Impact Analyst)

• Lead on supporting grantees to align to the programme outcome framework developed by the Lead Strategy and Impact Analyst
  • Facilitating workshops to define indicators.
  • Create and share tools for capturing data on common outcome indicators.
• Lead on advising on effective and efficient processes for conducting annual reviews carried out by consultants or outsourced as agreed.
• Support the development of the new Grant Management System as technical expert advising on requirements to enable effective monitoring and evaluation.
• Support the gathering and dissemination of material evidencing the impact of funding, in line with the overall team MEL plan.

Learning (working closely with Learning Delivery and Infrastructure Lead)

• Manage and share learning from end of project evaluations or within project research.
• As demand arises from evaluations covering the same theme, enable the setting up and support of thematic learning communities.
• Support the dissemination of material evidencing the learning of funding.
• Support a culture of learning and evaluative thinking in dioceses, including learning plans.
• Provide technical support on monitoring of the CofE Vision and Strategy

Funding Strategy and Governance support

• Hold responsibility for the implementation of specific streams of funding or overseeing specific grants as allocated by the Head of Funding and Learning.
• Support the governance arrangements for the national Church funding, by preparing papers for the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board and inputting to papers for other governance bodies.
• Provide reviews at agreed intervals on the use of existing and new funding as required.
• Work with the Grant Manager (Strategy and Governance) to help assess the MEL Plans of funding proposals and other aspects as needed and providing clear summaries and advice to the Strategic Investment Board

It will be expected that about 20% of working time would be used on cross team projects, most of which would involve offering for particular limited term groups. These groups would be decided together by the whole team, and it would be expected that the line manager would sign off such requests.

The ideal candidate should have:

Essential

Experience:

• Substantial hands-on experience in supporting the M&E, of a large and high-profile programme of work or funding process and developing effective M&E management policies and processes.
• Experience in both delivering and advising on the M&E of funded projects.
• Experience of building excellent relationships and communicating effectively with staff and external stakeholders at all levels (including those at a senior level), demonstrating emotional intelligence, tact, and persuasive ability.
• Experience of disseminating the impact of and learning from substantial programmes of work or funding processes, including drafting reports, organising, and delivering webinars and face-to-face events

Skills/Aptitudes:

• Ability to demonstrate excellent oral and written communication skills.
• High level of attention to detail, particularly in relation to monitoring and evaluation and presentation of financial information
• Clarity of thought, analytical mindset, and ability to provide actionable insights.
• Evidence of report writing and summarising financial and qualitative information accurately, concisely, and clearly.
• Excellent planning and organising skills with proven ability to prioritise, manage time effectively (including meeting tight deadlines when required) and use initiative as appropriate.

Personal Attributes:

• Accuracy and attention to detail with strong administrative capabilities.
• Highly pro-active, demonstrating resourcefulness and energy.
• Discreet and dependable in observing confidentiality.
• Friendly, co-operative, and diplomatic manner, with the ability to work well both on your own initiative and as part of a team.
• An understanding of the Christian faith and supportive of the Church of England’s focus on growth.
• Desire and commitment to learn and develop in the role.

Knowledge:

• Educated to degree level (or equivalent) or relevant experience.
• Strong numeracy and literacy skills.
• Highly computer literate with a comprehensive working knowledge of Microsoft Office, in particular the creation and formatting of spreadsheets.
• Knowledge of best practice in grants management processes and techniques.
• Knowledge of monitoring, evaluation and learning techniques in the grant-making sector

Circumstances:

• There is a requirement to undertake visits to other sites across England and a need for flexibility to work outside office hours as required.

Desirable

• Experience of reporting within a governance process to trustees and senior stakeholders, including drafting and presenting reports and financial reporting.
• Knowledge, understanding and strong interest in resourcing mission and growth across the Church of England.

In the National Church Institutions (NCIs), we support the mission and ministries of the Church of England. We work with parishes, dioceses, schools, chaplaincies and other ministries, and with national and international partners including mission agencies, and other denominations and faith groups.-.

Find out more about working for the National Church Institutions by visiting Careers | The Church of England

NCI values

• We strive for excellence
• We collaborate
• We act with integrity
• We show compassion
• We respect others

We welcome everyone and we accept and value people for who they are and what they contribute, treating others in the way we would wish to be treated ourselves. We actively listen to and include others, encouraging and enabling everyone’s voice to be heard in discussions and decisions. When we disagree, we aim to disagree well with respect and kindness.

We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people. Even if you have never thought about working for us before, if you have the skills and experience we’re looking for then we would like to hear from you. If there is anything we can do to support you in your application please get in touch via email to hr.recruitment@churchofengland.org.

• As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively look to attract, recruit and retain those of you who are disabled.
• We are a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and welcome applications from those of you who have served in our Armed Forces and their families.