OVERVIEW

TITLE: Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning

DUTY STATION: Dar es Salaam

REPORTS TO: Chief of Party

EngenderHealth’s vision is a world where sexual and reproductive health rights are respected as human rights, and women and girls have the freedom to reach their full potential. This emphasis on rights directly underpins EngenderHealth’s values and principles: choice, quality, and excellence. To achieve transformational change leading to true social and economic progress, EngenderHealth partners with diverse organizations across sectors with the shared goals of highlighting women’s value to sustainable development.

EngenderHealth is seeking expressions of interest from highly qualified candidates for the Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) position for an anticipated five-year USAID reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health project in Tanzania. Tanzanian nationals are strongly encouraged to apply.

JOB SUMMARY:

Working under the supervision of the Chief of Party (COP), the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Director will provide technical leadership, oversight, and strategic direction for MEL activities for an upcoming USAID-funded project in Tanzania. The MEL Director will be responsible for the development and implementation of the project related MEL activities, including operational research studies and the development of the Performance Management Plan (PMP). S/he will also be responsible for overseeing data collection plans and procedures ensuring effective, accurate and timely monitoring, validation and reporting of all project data. The ideal candidate will have experience in developing and implementing systems for adaptive management and learning. The MEL Director will supervise and manage a team of M&E staff to design and implement project MEL activities, ensuring that lessons learned are timely integrated into project implementation to continuously improve quality of interventions and outcomes. The MEL Director is responsible for documenting and disseminating project successes and challenges to USAID and other key stakeholders, and fostering strong linkages and relationships with the public sector. The MEL Director will liaise with consortium partners, PORALG and the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children to implement the MEL activities. This position is contingent upon donor approval and funding.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Technical oversight and management

Lead the team to develop and implement the project PMP in coordination with the CoP, the M&E team, and local stakeholders, to capture project performance and results, including routine service delivery data reporting, baseline and end-line assessments, and all monitoring for process and outcome evaluations.
Lead the development of qualitative and quantitative operational research and other evaluations, that are in-line with international standards and EngenderHealth Standard Operating Procedures.
Manage and ensure that routine annual planning, target setting and reporting of all program indicators is carried out accurately and in a timely manner.
Use evidence from multiple sources to contribute towards strategic decision-making and project planning.
Lead development of innovative ways of improving data collection and data entry (e.g. application of mobile phone technology).
Supervise and develop capacity of a team of MEL professionals.

Project monitoring and quality

Develop, implement procedures capture routine data collection for indicators addressing reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent health and other health areas to be specified by USAID.
Ensure high quality and timely data collection, as well as ensure harmonized data reporting.
Collaborate with the Tanzanian Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children to strengthen the existing HMIS system, including integration of community-level data, and support data for decision making sessions at the facility and district levels.
Develop and implement a Data Quality Assurance Protocol for the Program and ensure the quality of data through data verification procedures including routine data quality audits across all levels of data collection and reporting.
Ensure data quality audits are routinely carried out during the project life cycle, and in close collaboration with the MoHCDGEC and PORALG.

Data for decision making and adaptive learning

Improve the capacity of the MoHCDGEC, PORALG and Council Health Management Teams to analyze and use DHIS2 and other data for improved decision making.
Support strategic collaboration activities with key stakeholders to learn from evidence generated by the project and adapt interventions as appropriate.
Promote and support the dissemination of program results, lessons learned and success stories through various forum (conferences, technical briefs, peer reviewed publications) among the project team, the donor and other stakeholders.

Other

Ensure high-quality MEL implementation activities, which are consistent with the Tanzanian national M&E guidelines, protocols, information and reporting systems, and international standards.
Support the Chief of Part (CoP) to prepare quarterly and annual reports for submission to USAID.
Develop strategy, prepare workplans, and provide relevant data to enable production of all quarterly, semi-annual and annual reports.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

Must possess the following requirements with or without a reasonable accommodation.

PhD in public health, demography, epidemiology, biostatistics, social science or any related field.
Minimum seven years of work experience in monitoring and evaluating international health sector development projects, with strong preference for candidates previous experience working with the public sector in building and strengthening data collection and reporting systems.
Demonstrated experience working with USAID large-scale programs, including knowledge of USAID’s reporting requirements.
Proven expertise in quantitative and qualitative methodologies, data analysis and report writing.
Proven experience with health management information systems, including data quality assessments and manipulation of DHIS2.
Strong technical and analytical skills, including ability to analyze qualitative and quantitative data using one or more statistical software packages, such as SPSS, Stata, SAS.
Familiarity with Tanzanian health management information system, other national M&E systems, and DHIS2
Excellent analytical skills coupled with proven ability to display data that is appropriate for different audiences.
Demonstrated ability to use DHIS2 and DATIM for reporting or analysis
Excellent diplomacy skills and a proven ability to establish and maintain interpersonal and professional relationships with USAID, the Tanzanian government, program consortium counterparts and representatives from other key stakeholders such as NGOs, CSOs, and the private sector.
Demonstrated outstanding leadership, strategic thinking, and organizational, team-building, and representational skills.
Experience hiring and supervising personnel and ensuring they acquire the necessary training and skills to meet evolving project needs.

Demonstrated experience with PMP development and implementation

ESSENTIAL SOFT SKILLS:

Ability to coach, mentor and develop technical capacity of technical staff.
Excellent skills in facilitation, team building, and coordination
Excellent communication and writing skills, as well as negotiation and management skills.
Proven ability to multi-task, works independently, flexible and adaptable.

The position is subject to change based on procurement requirements and is contingent upon EngenderHealth being awarded the project, donor approval, and availability of funds.