Senior Program Evaluation Specialist at Navanti

Position Description

• Navanti is seeking a Senior Program Evaluation Specialist responsible for providing technical support to the team leader and the evaluation. The senior program evaluation specialist will ensure a rigorous and high-quality evaluation process in the methodology and approach of the evaluation. Under the guidance of the MEL Support Activity, the team leader is expected to work closely with the USAID/Nigeria-HPN team. The specialist is expected to have done a similar evaluation in sub-Saharan Africa, or other countries with similar context.
• The Senior Program Evaluation Specialist will be supported by the team leader, subject matter expert, a malaria program specialist, and an evaluation specialist. The Senior Program Evaluation Specialist will consult with and facilitate input from all team members throughout the evaluation.
• The team will use a combination of literature review, mixed methods through focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews to gather insights to answer the evaluation questions. The team is also expected to propose an evaluation methodology/approach as required to respond to the evaluation questions.

Locations (Evaluation Coverage):

• Akwa Ibom, Benue and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)

Responsibilities

The Senior Program Evauation Specialistmust demonstrate good knowledge evaluation, malaria programming, health services delivery at primary and secondary health care levels, and health service planning and programming. S/he should show demonstrable expertise in monitoring and evaluation, malaria services, community mobilization, behavior change communications, and service delivery research. The Senior Program Evaluation Specialist will:

• Participate in the evaluation kick-off session with USAID/Nigeria.
• Conduct desk review of the activity and support malaria service, SBCC, and service delivery contextual issues and social inclusiveness understanding of the evaluation.
• Work with the evaluation specialist and other team members to design the data collection instruments and ensure they address all evaluation objectives.
• Lead stakeholder analysis with particular attention to malaria service, SBCC, and service delivery
• Coordinate with the team leader and other team members to conduct interviews.
• Interpret and analyze qualitative and quantitative data.
• Support in preparing reports of research findings.
• Work with the team leader and other team members in planning, developing, coordinating, and administering research tools.
• Perform quality assurance reviews of both quantitative and qualitative data.
• Support the team leader and other team members in writing or editing technical reports and summaries of findings.
• Work with the team leader and other team members to perform desk reviews and identify additional information required for analysis.
• Work with the Team Leader and other team members in preparation and presentation of the In-brief and Out-brief to USAID/Nigeria and other stakeholders as requested.
• Support the team leader and other team members in developing the draft Evaluation report with support from the team members, taking into consideration feedback from the Out-brief presentation.
• Work with the team leader and other team members to respond to USAID comments on the draft report, incorporate USAID/Nigeria staff comments into the final version of the report, and finalize the report.
• Work collaboratively with team members throughout design, implementation, analysis, and report writing to complement each other's areas of expertise

Qualifications

The candidate is expected to have the following qualifications :

• S/he will have at least a master’s degree in public health, Economics, Demography/Population Studies, Sociology, or any other relevant social science and at least eight years’ experience working in public health and evaluation/research in Nigeria. Three of these years should be in public health/social science research at a senior level; and being able to demonstrate a clear understanding of the key performance indicators of the Activity.
• Experience in malaria and health system strengthening in Nigeria is strongly desired.
• Key experience and expertise in the use of DID analysis and contribution Analysis for program impact evaluation is strongly required.
• This person shall serve as the in-country point of contact for the evaluation if the international consultant is unable to be physically present and therefore should be thoroughly grounded in qualitative survey methods of data collection such as focus group discussions (FGD), key informants/ in-depth interviews (KII/IDI) and data transcription.
• S/he should have a good understanding of the contextual and operational challenges of health care delivery in Nigeria especially at the primary healthcare level;
• Strong communication skills, both interpersonal and written, to fulfill the technical and managerial responsibilities proposed.
• S/he must demonstrate high command of English language written and verbal fluency.