Director, Monitoring, Evaluation and Research

Supporting an AIDS-Free Era

Background:

John Snow, Inc. (JSI), a Boston-based public health management firm dedicated to providing high quality technical and managerial assistance to public health programs throughout the United States and the developing world, is currently recruiting for a Director of Monitoring, Evaluation and Research (ME&R) for the USAID-funded project, Supporting an AIDS Free Era (SAFE) in Zambia.

The USAID SAFE: Supporting an AIDS-Free Era Program directly supports the Government of Zambia’s (GRZ) long-term vision of becoming a nation free from the threat of HIV and AIDS by 2030. Over the next five years (2017-2022), the program will work to reduce HIV mortality, morbidity, and transmission, while improving nutrition outcomes and family planning integration in three provinces: Central, Copperbelt, and North-Western. The USAID-funded initiative is implemented by John Snow, Inc., in collaboration with Abt Associates, mothers2mothers, and the Catholic Medical Mission Board.

We are looking for someone that is passionate about numbers and using data to drive the project agenda and achieve results; a strong leader that has great interpersonal/people skills, can build relationships, and is results focused; and someone with a very strong foundation in M&E and have the ability to coach, mentor, and build local M&E capacity. The right candidate is someone that can interpret and package program results and ensure these results are disseminated to key audiences and used to influence future programming.

Position Title: Director, Monitoring, Evaluation and Research

Position Type: Full Time

Location: Lusaka

Job Summary:

The Director of Monitoring, Evaluation and Research (ME&R) is a full time position based in Lusaka and is responsible for overseeing the monitoring, evaluation, and research (M&ER) and knowledge management activities under USAID/SAFE.  The Director ME&R’s primary responsibilities are to (1) organize and coordinate routine data collection and analysis, interpret, and report on project results to stakeholders at all levels of the project; (2) develop and implement a learning agenda related to the projects service delivery innovations and process; and 3) link M&E and Communications activities to effectively use program information within the project and with external stakeholders. ME&R activities will be designed to enable program managers in the field to identify problems and their causes, and improve overall program performance. The ideal candidate will be an effective people-centered, results-oriented leader.

ME&R activities will assess and report on project outputs and life-of-program effects and results, providing USAID and the host government with a record of progress, effectiveness and lessons learned. The overall approach is expected to provide decision-makers with accurate, practical and useful information (both quantitative and qualitative) in a consistent, timely, and cost-effective manner. The Director will work closely with all program staff to ensure the integration of M&ER activities across all activities and with communications/knowledge management (KM) activities. The Director ME&R will work closely with the Chief of Party (COP), the Deputy Chief of Party, the technical team, and the ME&R team, including the Communications team, as well as the JSI/Boston-based backstopping team. The Director ME&R will be a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) and report directly to the COP.

JSI will consider local Zambian or international staff for this position. Candidates will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so please do not wait to apply.

Responsibilities:

• Provision of overall technical oversight to the ME&R team, local government (LG)
  and partners on strategic planning and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of
  program activities including data collection, analysis, quality assurance, and reporting;
• Supervise the ME&R team, including facility-based Strategic Information Assistants;
• Provide technical leadership in ME&R including monitoring the performance of all Activity Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (AMELP) indicators;
• With technical and communications team, develop an approach to analyze and strategically using M&E data within the project and for external stakeholders;
• Prepare regular reports for the COP, the USAID/SAFE SMT the technical team, the JSI/Boston advisors;
• Promote evidence-based planning and decision making through use of program data as well as supplemental data sources, including DHS and ZPHIA;
• Oversee routine data quality assurance processes;
• Advise and train staff to perform their appropriate M&E tasks that include, but are not limited to data analysis, HMIS strengthening, quality improvement, applied technology, surveys, conducting data quality audits (DQAs) and subsequent data quality improvement;
• Direct development of data use and visualization tools such as dashboards;
• Serve as the focal point for ME&R and liaise closely with the technical team, other aspects and strategies of the program to ensure consistency in the ME&R approach;
• Develop and/or supervise weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual reports for submission to USAID, MOH and other stakeholders including ad hoc USAID and MOH requests; and
• Participate in national-, regional- and district-level M&E related meetings and
  workshops.
• Oversee development and implementation of a learning agenda which addresses critical questions in implementation and management of HIV, family planning, MNCH, and nutrition activities.
• Work in collaboration with technical leads and HQ advisors to develop project’s Theory of Change (TOC) and learning questions;
• Participate in the development and submission of articles for peer reviewed journals;
• Participate in the development of abstracts, posters and oral presentations for international conferences.
• Any other tasks as assigned.

Desired Qualifications:

• A master’s degree or higher in public health, social sciences, or other related discipline; PhD preferred;
• Minimum 10 years of ME&R senior level leadership experience in international health projects in a technical capacity; preferably including several years with USAID-funded projects;
• Demonstrated applied skills in ME&R methods and innovations, data analysis, and use of data for systems strengthening projects/programs;
• Experience in the ME&R of HIV projects, PEPFAR experience required;
• Experience in the routine ME&R of family planning, MNCH, and nutrition programs;
• Demonstrated leadership working with other technical experts in ME&R in the international community and at the host country level;
• Open mindset and a history of using innovative approaches, with excellent critical thinking, problem-solving and leadership skills;
• Demonstrated expertise in rigorous quantitative and qualitative research and analytical methods;
• Proven experience in research/study design and implementation, including design and data analysis of quantitative and qualitative studies and rapid appraisals;
• Demonstrated hands-on practical experience setting up and managing ME&R systems for health programs;
• Excellent report writing, analytical and communication skills, including oral presentation skills;
• Ability to work in diverse settings with public, private and NGO sectors;
• Ability to tailor data collection approaches to local needs, interests, and capabilities;
• Ability to convey ME&R results to non-technical stakeholders and generate interest in the use of ME&R data/results for programmatic improvements;
• Demonstrated capacity to oversee development/implementation of work plans, reports and presentations;
• Excellent interpersonal, teamwork, supervisory, communications and mentoring skills;
• Regional experience in Africa; experience in Zambia is desirable;
• Strong communication skills in English.

.