Senior Specialist, Strategic Information (SSSI) at The Center for Clinical Care and Clinical Research

Job Summary

• The project goal is to improve the health and well-being of children living with HIV and reduce HIV-related risk among uninfected children, adolescents, and young people by providing a suite of social welfare and related services that mitigate the multiple, layered vulnerabilities they are subject to and, in so doing, contribute to sustained HIV epidemic control and resilience, also sustaining epidemic control by improving the health and well-being of children living with HIV.

Job Responsibilities

• Under the supervision of the Director for Strategic Information (DSI), should be responsible for the coordination of all M&E-related activities of the project as contained in the THRIVE South AMEL Plan and other emerging M&E activities as may be directed by the DSI.
• As may be required from time to time, support the review and revision of the THRIVE South AMELP and the Performance Management Plan (PMP) to reflect any changes in the performance indicators and PEPFAR Guidance.
• Provide leadership in the development and regular reviews of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) across thematic areas of the project to reflect best practices and cross learning among the thematic areas.
• Attend relevant THRIVE South project management and technical meetings, including community of practice meetings to ensure close coordination between program, management, and M&E staff
• Foresee the overall planning and implementation of all strategic information activities related to but not limited to: MEAL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning), CLA (Collaborating, Learning and Adapting), Operations Research, Information Science/Health Informatics (SI), Special Studies, etc.
• As may be directed by the DSI, serve as a liaison between THRIVE Project and USAID or her agent(s) on MIS related activities and in turn provide overall technical support on database organization, maintenance, development and update, to project Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) and CSOs teams in the delivery of the project mandates in line with all USG accepted policies and procedures.
• Provided onsite support and guidance for the implementation and troubleshooting of the existing MIS systems and reporting portals used by THRIVE South, and CSOs such as NOMIS 3.0, NOMIS CHILD Monitor mobile app, USAID-supported APPR/DHIS and PEPFAR-supported DATIM (Data for Accountability, Transparency and Impact) and this will include but not limited to onsite installation, setup, data entry procedures, and data transmission, across all project states.
• Collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs (FMWA), USAID and her supported-Implementing Partners (IPs), OVC umbrella bodies such as Association of OVC Non-Governmental Organization of Nigeria (AONN) and other ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in the coordination of OVC response at the national level.
• In collaboration with the technical leads of M&E, CLA, HI, Database, develop a learning agenda for the project, and coordinate and harmonize the planning and delivery of trainings, workshops and other capacity development interventions for the THRIVE project across the five states.
• In collaboration with other thematic areas, provide technical support towards the preparation of program reports including but not limited to monthly, semi-annual and annual reports, quarterly reports, and ad hoc reports to donors with strict adherence to standards and timelines.
• In addition, support the development of abstracts, manuscripts, publications and presentation of studies and evaluation findings in local, regional and international seminars and workshops.
• Develop new programs and adapt existing ones to new applications as the need arises, and in collaboration with the HI unit and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) units carry out systems analysis related to the study of new applications, testing and revision of programs.
• Participate in national M&E technical working group (TWG) meetings to share best practices and ensure integration of the MIS platforms with the national management information systems for OVC.
• Collaborate with THRIVE management and CSO in planning, designing and undertaking program evaluations and special studies.
• Provide technical support to State Ministry of Women Affairs (SMWA) and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on the use and application of the various MIS (at the state, LGA and Community levels).
• Coordinate the preparation of monthly, semi-annual, annual, and ad-hoc reports from CSOs with strict adherence to standards and timelines.
• Support the development of electronic data entry questionnaires using appropriate data management applications and statistical packages, during periodic surveys and data analysis.
• Participate in the M&E technical working group meetings.
• Collaborate with THRIVE South management and CSO in planning, designing and undertaking program evaluations and special studies.

Minimum Qualifications

• The Senior Specialist Strategic Information (SSSI) will function as the State SI lead for Lagos State and will work collaboratively with the Database Manager and other thematic area leads in the coordination, supervision and monitoring of all Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) activities on routine basis and as the need may arise.
• S/he will serve as a liaison between the THRIVE South Project and the 6 CSOs in the state in SI-related activities and in addition provide technical support to the CSOs in the organization, maintenance and updating of all existing databases and management information systems (MIS) used by the project in data collation, management and reporting; at levels of reporting; such as the National OVC Management Information System (NOMIS), PEPFAR’s Data for Accountability, Transparency & Impact (DATIM and any other MIS.  
• As may be required from time to time, s/he will develop computer programs and troubleshoot databases to generate data, data/pivot tables and reports to respond to program and donor reporting requirements, on schedule and as the need arises.
• Support the planning and delivery of trainings, workshops and other capacity development interventions for CSOs and the project MEAL team at all levels.
• Collaborate with the Database Manager to ensure CSO understand the information needs of project stakeholders and donors and adhere to system requirements
• Mentor and support the THRIVE South MEAL Technical Specialist and CSO M&E officers to ensure they understand the OVC indicators, data elements, data requirements and report formats of each of the MIS used by the project.
• Provided onsite support for the implementation and updates of the existing MIS systems used by the project and CSOs and this will include but not limited to onsite installation, setup, data entry procedures, and data transmission.
• Provide support for collation and processing of NOMIS data reports and other related reports from the CSOs.
• Provide technical support to State Ministry of Women Affairs (SMWA) and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on the use and application of the various MIS (at the state, LGA and Community levels).
• Support the collection of GIS coordinates of project site locations and the development of service maps
• Support the implementation of THRIVE South Project Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for data management and website development.
• Support the preparation of monthly, semi-annual and annual and ad-hoc reports from CSOs donors with strict adherence to standards and timelines.
• Maintain an inventory of data collection and monitoring visits to partners on a regular basis to monitor M&E systems
• Ensure that CSOs participate in the data quality assessments (DQA), understand the recommendations for remedial action, and comply with those recommendations
• Support the organizational capacity assessments of the CSOs and implementation of the capacity building plans.
• Support the development of electronic data entry questionnaires using appropriate data management applications and statistical packages, during periodic surveys and data analysis.
• Develop new programs and adapt existing ones to new applications as the need arises, and in collaboration with CLA, HI and MEAL units carry out systems analysis related to the study of new applications, testing and revision of programs.
• Participate in the M&E technical working group meeting to help ensure that the MIS platforms are being implemented by all CSOs correctly.
• Attend relevant THRIVE South Project management and technical meetings, including community of practice meetings, to ensure close coordination between program, management, and M&E staff
• Participate in the M&E Working group to help ensure that the system is being implemented by all CSOs correctly.
• Attend relevant THRIVE South Project management and technical meetings to ensure close coordination between program, management, and M&E staff.

Qualifications and Skills

• Bachelor’s Degree in Social Science with emphasis in community-based (or OVC) Development Programme, Public Health, Statistics or any development related fields.
• At least 5 years of professional experience in implementing M&E for programs related to Health, HIV, OVC, TB, agriculture or food and nutrition security programming, of which at least two years with a NGOs.
• Demonstrated skills in M&E, data management and quantitative and qualitative research methodologies.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with government and civil society partners and communities as well as transfer knowledge to diverse audiences through workshops, training and meetings using participatory methods and adult learning principles.
• Proven leadership and inter-personal skills for effective teamwork; as well as the ability to work independently on a frequent basis, taking initiative, working under pressure, managing a variety of activities concurrently, and delivering outputs on schedule.
• Experience in managing a broad-based database, data management applications, statistical packages and MIS including MS Office (Excel, Access, power point), NOMIS, SQL, ORACLE, SPSS, STATA, etc.
• Ability to work effectively with government and civil society partners and communities as well as transfer knowledge to diverse audiences through workshops, training and meetings using participatory methods and adult learning principles.
• Ability to support partners working at a distance to achieve results against program objectives/targets.