Associate Manager - Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) at eHealth Systems Africa

Purpose of the position

• The Associate Manager, Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) will provide technical guidance to develop project frameworks, M&L systems and indicators to capture performance results and provide effective, accurate and timely monitoring, evaluation and reporting of all project activities.
• He/she will supervise and manage the M&L component of all eHA’s projects and oversee the collection, management, analysis and use of project data, ensuring that lessons learned are integrated into project implementation to continuously improve quality of interventions and outcomes.
• The Associate Manager, MERL will also be responsible for designing and conducting assessments, operations research and evaluations to address project needs.
• The Associate Manager , Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning, will support eHA’s MERL department predominantly by applying MERL knowledge, skills and experience to support the design and implementation of MERL systems for eHA programs/projects.

What you’ll do

The Associate Manager, Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning , will support eHA’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning team predominantly by:

• Supporting the development and implementation of MERL strategy outlining M&E systems for data collection, targeting and tracking for impact assessments, learning activities and reporting in compliance with the requirements provided in the project.
• Ensure that program MERL activities (including assessments, quality assurance, monitoring, performance tracking and report, etc.) are completed and on time.
• Find avenues to continually strengthen the MERL systems by introducing new activities, increasing internal and government engagement with data, simplifying and/or automating existing activities, integrating TaRL data into government systems, etc.
• Streamline MERL tools, systems, analysis methods to bring uniformity across programs
• As needed, support the country teams / partners in designing MERL systems while ensuring that different stakeholder needs are met.
• Support rigorous research studies and evaluations by providing contextual knowledge for study design and analysis, and synthesizing learning into summaries.
• Contributing to the design of new strategies, portfolio review, cross-cutting data initiatives with focus on coherent, integrated theories of change, measurable impact models, scaling, collaborations and implementation plans to ensure long-term sustainability and impact.
• Supporting the collection and management of data for research, identifying relevance and applicability to team-specific M&L activities.
• Find opportunities across programs to conduct low-cost learning activities that align with the priorities in the organizational learning agenda as well as local needs
• Guide the process for identifying the key performance questions and parameters for monitoring project performance and comparing it to targets. Design the format for such performance reports.
• Liaise with staff (as relevant) to ensure that lessons learned and recommendations from M&E activities are used to modify existing programmes and in the design of new activities
• Adapt and implement tools and techniques to improve the quality and use of data for decision-making.
• Review monitoring reports. Analyze them for impact evaluation and to identify the causes of potential bottlenecks in project implementation.
• Support the development of new projects and proposals, in conjunction with the New Business Development team, to ensure standard practices
• Facilitate the management of project’s database

Who you are

• Master’s degree in public health epidemiology, demography, statistics, social sciences or related field or equivalent experience
• Minimum 6-8 years of work experience in monitoring and evaluating large, multi-year international health sector development projects (approximately $5 -10M per year)
• Minimum of 5 years of work experience and/or coursework in designing, implementing, or managing MERL systems or processes
• Proven expertise in quantitative and qualitative data mining and analysis methodologies, implementation research approaches, health management information systems, 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, NGO and private sectors.
• Must have extensive knowledge in MERL designs and implementation
• Must have exceptional communications and presentation skills, fluency in the English, strong teamwork and effective cross-cultural interpersonal skills.
• Excellent networking and relationship-building skills and the ability to interact with stakeholders and partner, both public and private
• Proactive, self-starter and able to work with minimal supervision
• Knowledge on writing technical reports and manuscripts, has the capacity to conduct literature and desk reviews with minimal support
• Proven data management and health programming experience
• Demonstrated use of Advanced Excel, Tableau, STATA, R, Power BI and Nvivo is required
• Possess a high level of attention to detail
• Must be self-motivated
• Available to travel to deep field for project quality purposes within Nigeria and internationally