Data Management Officer

About AKF’s Education Programme

AKF work in partnership with a network of local government schools, government education actors and systems, and civil society actors within education systems to co-develop and test affordable and scalable evidence-based models about how best to create quality, equitable learning environments and improve holistic learning outcomes for the most marginalised children. In Kenya, AKF delivers the Education Improvement Programme in the Coast Region. In partnership with a global consortium of private foundations, AKF is implementing a ten-year participatory learning improvement programme based in 1,000 government schools across ten countries. Using the principles of human-centred design and focusing on the key transition years of ages 5, 10 and 15 years old, the programme supports teachers and students to design and implement education micro-innovations. These low-cost and scalable innovations will inform and transform education systems to improve holistic learning outcomes for the most marginalised learners worldwide.

Purpose of the position

AKF is seeking a dynamic, enthusiastic, and self-motivated individual to ensure data is effectively collected and used to improve quality of programming and influence for AKF education programming. Working under the direct supervision of the MERL Coordinator, the Data Management Officer will be responsible for ensuring data quality, conducting real-time data analysis, and providing real-time feedback to diverse stakeholders engaged in AKF education programmes. The Data Management Officer will ensure that data is used by teams to improve programme implementation as well as supporting teachers and educational leaders to improve their understanding on the use of data to drive pedagogical and education system improvements. This role will demand the person to work within a dynamic, fast-paced environment and work closely with the broader Coast Region and East African education, programme, and monitoring and evaluation teams as well as the global team.

Duties and responsibilities

• Manage real-time data collection, analysis, and feedback to multiple education stakeholders.
• Verify the accuracy and completeness of collected data through regular quality checks.
• Ensure data integrity and security measures are in place.
• Provide training to staff on database utilization and best practices and building the capacity of team members in data management principles.
• Collaborate with the Learning and Assessment partners to track the programme activities and design processes in schools and maintain a database on the outputs for each phase of the process.
• Work closely with the AKF education team in making meaning of the data and findings coming through for programme iteration.
• Provide project information and feedback to communicate progress, challenges, learning, and upcoming priorities and workplans to the programme Coordinators and AKF education team.
• Propose, develop and/or adapt data maintenance software and resources for use.
• Engage and coordinate key partners, including the County Statistics department, at County level on data needs to ensure effective collection and management of data.
• Ensure project learning is effectively communicated through the internal and external feedback loops and that key partners have access to and understand the learning.
• Effectively engage AKF teams on learning opportunities to develop professional and technical understanding of data in education and Human Centred Design.
• Ensure all project funds are fully accounted for and liquidation is done in a timely manner to enable timely reporting including any other organizational resources.
• Any other duties as requested by the MERL Coordinator.

Key qualifications and experience

• Relevant undergraduate qualification including, education statistics, statistical analysis, Statistics, Economics, Social studies, Information Technology or Computer Science.
• Minimum 2 years of experience of working in ICT enabled data management systems to drive organisational and system learning.
• Have at least two-year experience collecting, analyzing, integrating, and evaluating data with exposure to a high volume of simultaneous tasks.
• Ability to design Data Collection Tools, Sampling Methods and Quantitative/Qualitative Data Analysis is required.
• Working knowledge of developing and extending Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) is an asset.
• Knowledge of online and offline, open-source data collection tools like kobo collect, database environment and/or project management software.
• Relevant experience working in education programming and international development is an added advantage.
• Excellent communication and inter-personal skills.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently and under pressure.