Manager, Data Analytics and Learning, WCA at Evidence Action

Job purpose

• The Manager, Data Analytics and Learning will be the head of Data Analytics and Learning within MLE and will be responsible for promoting the use of data for decision making as a point person between the program teams, Government, implementing partners and the larger Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation (MLE) department in the West and Central Africa (WCA). The Manager is responsible for leading data innovative initiatives with a view of improving efficiency and effectiveness in our data processes and usage.
• The biggest contribution to this position is the ability to convert key monitoring and evaluations (M&E) outputs to program improvements in the West and Central Africa Sub region.  

Duties and responsibilities

Capture and share key learning and performance information across Programs

• Create standard M&E and lessons learned presentations for interactive meetings with Evidence Action Programs, and which can be used for stakeholder meetings. 
• Identify and take advantage of various platforms to represent MLE and Evidence Action on the sub regional and global stage as far as data and evidence is concerned, and hence contribute towards data transparency within the organization. 
• Make contributions towards the MLE newsletter, sub regional, regional, global, internal and external publications.

Facilitate Program Engagements with the MLE team

• Conduct regular planning meetings with Program Leads to identify MLE requirements, lead in program MLE M&E ‘diagnostic’ i.e. understanding program need for data and translating that back to the MLE team and seeking out learnings for the program both from the program verticals and functional horizontals in the matrix.
• Develop and strengthen tools and platforms of collaboration (eg Asana, Box, Team Calendar, Mailing Lists, etc), that 
• Support Programs with periodic donor reports, including acting as the custodian of various program and donor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and coordinating data inputs from MLE to be included in the reports.

Lead in the delivery of innovative data solution

• Develop and maintain high-quality data flow systems that will ensure efficient (timely and high quality) data flow from the data collection team, to the data management team, to the Management Information System team.  
• Proactively support the Global Communication team in the development, improvement and maintenance of the organization data dashboards. 
• Research, Identify, Promote and facilitate the scaling up of proven M&E tools and approaches (data innovation):
• Develop practical guidelines for identifying areas that require "data innovation", working through long list of possible solution and piloting/evaluating selected short list of potential/promising solutions. 
• Collaborate with the other MLE departments to review current data collection methods/processes and tools for efficiency and effectiveness 
• Take lead in Information technology innovation talks with the global IT team for any support or product feature discussion.
• Participate in further development, modification and improvement of the existing modules, including designing data visualization templates to increase access to and usability of the data. 
• Support the MLE monitoring design team to design and set up framework for the monitoring and analysis of key performance indicators for the Evidence Action Programs. 
• Work closely with MLE departments to access leading international thinking to develop usable and relevant M&E frameworks for Evidence Action Programs in the West and Central African Sub-region.
• Take the lead in conducting secondary research to supplement the available evidence of the effectiveness of the program implementation strategies and methodologies.
• Coordinate and sometimes take the lead in ad hoc field research projects, as need may arise. 

Support Monitoring and Evaluation Design:

• Support the MLE Strategy team to design and set up framework for the monitoring and analysis of key performance indicators for the Evidence Action Programs.
• Work closely with MLE departments to access leading international thinking to develop usable and relevant M&E frameworks for Evidence Action Programs in the sub region.
• Take the lead in conducting secondary research to supplement programs data
• Coordinate and sometimes take the lead in ad hoc field research projects, as need may arise.

Key performance Indicators

• Build an effective data processing team from data programmers, to information systems and analytics experts.
• Timely sharing of programmed surveys for review by the QA-QC team and data collection by the field team.
• Seamless flow of data from the field collection team to the data analysis team
• Represent MLE in all data related talks with the different stakeholders i.e programs, government and other implementers and ensure MLE activities are well understood and received.
• Fully functional data tracking and visualization system for all program data
• Fully function data storage and backup systems for all program data on secure cloud systems i.e Amazon Web Services and Box.
• Develop data coordination schedules and protocols between the various MLE departments.
• Train Senior associates, Associate, interns and other none data related staff on data systems and understand their role in ensuring effective usage of the same.
• Effective system implementation of new software and data handling tools through proper evaluation and piloting, training and mobilisation of relevant stakeholders.

Requirements

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (Master’s preferred) in economics, statistics or related social sciences
• A minimum of 4 years of experience including 2+ managing a team of researchers/analysts 
• Familiarity with a range of data processing, statistical, and geospatial software packages
• Excellent report writing skills, coupled with ability to use infographics to tell data findings, trends, insights and stories – to both data savvy and non-data savvy audience. 
• Extensive knowledge of data visualization and presentation software  
• Interest in applying research, evidence and data-driven decision making to large-scale Programs with an appreciation for practical and logistical constraints 
• Strong interpersonal and communications skills to work effectively with a team that is geographically dispersed 
• Ability to think strategically and critically, and to bring imagination to solving problems with substantial complexity and ambiguity
• Quick to learn, motivated to self-teach and capable of independently translating new knowledge into practice
• Ability to meet deadlines, sometimes within short notice. 
• Willingness to travel as needed to support Evidence Action Programs

Working conditions

• Typical working hours are from 8.00am to 5.00pm with a one (1) hour lunch break, between 1.00pm and 2.00pm, However due to the nature of the job might be times when you will be expected to work outside the office hours.

Physical requirements

• None

Direct reports

• Associate, Information Systems- DHIS2 Developer in MLE-Delivery
• Associate, Data Analysis
• Associate, Program Data Management