Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Director

Jhpiego is an international, non-profit health organization affiliated with The Johns Hopkins University. For 40 years in East and Southern Africa, Jhpiego has empowered front-line health workers by designing and implementing effective, low- cost, hands-on solutions that strengthen the delivery of health care services, following the household-to-hospital continuum of care. Jhpiego partners with organizations from the community to the national levels, building sustainable, local capacity through advocacy, policy development, human resources for health and quality and performance improvement approaches. For further information about Jhpiego, please visit our website at www.jhpiego.org.

Jhpiego invites applications for the following position(s) on the Family Health and Nutrition Project (FHN).

The Family Health and Nutrition Project (FHN) is a five-year, USAID-funded project that will contribute to reduction of maternal mortality and under five mortality through collaboration with Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ), Ministry of Health (MOH), communities and other local partners to improve health system performance and to deliver high-quality, accessible reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition (RMNCAH&N) care.  Working in four provinces, Eastern, Luapula, Muchinga, and Southern, FHN will work with MOH provincial and district counterparts to deliver high-quality services, strengthen health systems, and increase community engagement.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Director

Position Reports To: Chief of Party

Position Supervised: KM and Learning Advisor

Location: Lusaka

Position Summary

The MEL Director will develop project results frameworks and systems to capture performance results and provide effective, accurate and timely monitoring, evaluation and reporting of all project activities. The MEL Director will supervise and manage MEL activities and oversee the collection, management, analysis and use of project data, ensuring that lessons learned are integrated into project implementation to continuously improve intervention quality and outcomes. The MEL Director is responsible for documenting and disseminating project successes, challenges, and lessons learned. The MEL Director will also be responsible for designing and conducting assessments, operations research and evaluations to address project needs.

The MEL Director will liaise with consortium partners and the Ministry of Health to implement monitoring, evaluation and learning activities. The MER Director will work with health facilities and communities to strengthen the optimal use and reporting of HMIS data.

Responsibilities

Technical Leadership

• Provide MEL leadership and direction to ensure the project achieves goals, objectives and targets
• Champion holistic approaches to collaboration, learning and adapting (CLA), including design and implementation of an action-oriented project research and learning agenda, routine analysis of available health sector data sources, and application of best practices in knowledge management
• Lead project activities providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Health in strengthening the national HMIS at all levels, including community level, as well as optimizing use of routine HMIS data for decision-making and program improvements
• Cultivate strategic relationships and alliances with MEL counterparts in other projects, national institutions, and key stakeholders, leading initiatives to learn from project data and adapt intervention strategies as appropriate
• Ensure project compliance with USAID monitoring, evaluation, research and open data policies
• Represent project in public and professional circles through meetings, conferences and presentations

MEL System Development and Management

• Oversee the development and implementation of the Activity Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan (AMELP) to efficiently track performance and use results of assessments, routine monitoring and evaluations over the life of the project
• Develop and oversee implementation of robust context-appropriate systems for data collection, quality assurance, analysis and reporting on activity outputs/outcomes and program quality
• Ensure alignment of project systems and approaches with Zambia national monitoring and evaluation guidelines, protocols, information and reporting systems
• Ensure relevant data is entered into Jhpiego’s organization-wide performance management system designed to capture, analyze, and disseminate project data
• Lead results reporting to USAID by providing written documentation on MEL activities and results for progress and annual reports, as appropriate
• Ensure protection of participant data and confidentiality during all monitoring, evaluation and research implementation and dissemination processes
• Oversee and conduct targeted assessments, evaluations and operations research ensuring compliance with Zambian Government and Johns Hopkins University institutional review board policies

Management

• Supervise and support a team of MEL professionals, ensuring high-quality implementation of all MEL activities
• Train and mentor project staff and implementing partners in monitoring and evaluation methods, tools, and systems

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in public health, demography, statistics, social sciences or related field or equivalent experience

• Minimum 10 + years of work experience in monitoring and evaluating large, multi-year international health sector development projects (approximately $5 -10M per year)
• Proven expertise in health management information systems, data quality assessments, quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methodologies, implementation research approaches, data visualization and reporting
• Demonstrated strong management, coordination, teamwork and planning skills with proven ability to function effectively with multiple host-country counterparts in both the public and private sectors
• M&E experience in health systems strengthening and reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition services
• Familiarity with Zambia health management information system and other national MER systems
• Experience and understanding of the USAID guidelines, reporting frameworks and systems
• Strong technical skills, including ability to process and analyze data using one or more statistical software packages, including at least one of the following: SPSS, Epi-Info, Stata, R, MS Excel. Proficiency in Microsoft Office.
• Experience hiring and supervising personnel and ensuring they acquire the necessary training and skills to meet evolving project needs
• Excellent diplomacy skills and a proven ability to establish and maintain interpersonal and professional relationships with USAID, host-country counterparts and representatives from other key stakeholders such as NGOs, CSOs, and the private sector
• Demonstrated outstanding leadership, strategic thinking, organizational, team-building, and representational skills
• Expertise in research to practice—identifying and adapting best practices to specific project contexts
• Excellent skills in facilitation, team building, and coordination
• Excellent verbal, written interpersonal and presentation skills in English
• Ability to coach, mentor and develop technical capacity in regional and national projects and technical staff

To apply, please send your application letter and curriculum vitae only in a single document, stating the position and location in the subject line to the Human Resources Manager: [email protected].

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted

Closing date is Friday September 24, 2021