Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Advisor, Kira Ukuze Activity

Position Overview

Pact seeks a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Advisor for the USAID-funded Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Immunization, and Malaria Integrated Health (including family planning) Activity, hereafter referred to as “Kira Ukuze” (“Grow well”). This Activity will focus on facility-level interventions and collaborate with the USAID Integrated Community Health (ICH) Activity at the community level to improve the quality of, and demand for, service delivery interventions. This will be a $45M five-year (August 2024-August 2029), cooperative agreement. This position is subject to project award and funding. As this is a Key Personnel position, the candidate selected for this opportunity must have his/her candidacy confirmed by USAID. The location of this position is anticipated to be Bujumbura. Frequent travel to the provincial offices is anticipated.

Kira Ukuze will be the flagship Activity in the USAID Burundi Health Portfolio for Family Planning and Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health (FP/RMNCH) at the household and health facility level. Kira Ukuze will be the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) malaria service delivery Activity at the health facility level, working in public and private health facilities in seven malaria high-burden provinces. This Activity will also have to strongly collaborate with the Integrated Community Health Activity in these seven provinces, with collaboration focused on strengthening health facility and community health worker touchpoints, including building and enhancing the referral and counter referral system, supervision of Community Health Workers (CHWs), and reporting of data to facilities by CHWs, along with the delivery of integrated community case management of childhood illness, which includes malaria. Kira Ukuze will also collaborate closely with the USAID Integrated Community Health (ICH) Activity for community-level interventions outside of malaria.

The Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Advisor will lead the MEL team, supporting the Activity to develop an annual implementation plan to deliver key MEL services and providing MEL technical guidance. The MEL Advisor is accountable for delivering national-level results for this Activity. The MEL Advisor will partner closely with the Technical Director to promote coordination, collaboration, continuous learning, and adaptive management across all Intermediate Results of the Activity. The MEL Advisor will report to the Chief of Party.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide MEL technical leadership, creating and sustaining a culture of data use at all levels of the Activity.
• Lead the development and implementation of the MEL plan, taking into consideration all Activity deliverables and conditions, and ensuring robust monitoring of progress towards results, evaluating of Activity performance, and intentional learning to inform adaptation.
• Manage, supervise, and support the MEL team and ensure the team is responsive to the needs of the Activity.
• Oversee MEL capacity of Activity staff and ensure targeted capacity strengthening support to fill the gaps.
• Integrate collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) approaches, tools, and strategic throughout the Activity; lead the development and operationalization of a target research and learning agenda.
• Accountable for timely and accurate donor reporting which meets all cooperative agreement requirements, including submission of performance indicator data via quarterly and annual narrative reports as well as via the Development Information Solution (DIS) platform.
• Oversee the development and utilization of a centralized project data management system which aligns with the Government of Burundi’s national District Health Information System 2 (DHIS 2).
• Accountable for the development and ongoing oversight of a robust data quality assurance strategy using international best practices and tools to maximize data validity, integrity, precision, reliability, and timeliness at all levels.
• Oversee the systemization of mobile data tools and processes for collection and reporting on performance indicators.
• Oversee the design and roll out of MEL tools and processes for collection and reporting on performance indicators at all levels of results.
• Oversee MEL capacity of Pact partners and ensure provision of targeted MEL capacity strengthening activities on topics that may include ethical data practices, adaptive management, data quality, data analysis, and managing evaluations.
• Lead routine analysis of data for learning and adaptation; visualize and summarize data and communicate with senior staff. Integrate the use of innovative technologies, data platforms, and GIS mapping for data collection, management, and reporting, where appropriate.
• Oversee the development, review, and finalization of monthly, quarterly, and annual MEL workplans and budgets.
• Liaise with counterparts at international, government, non-government agencies involved in related activities and collaborate in promoting high quality resultants and complementary efforts.
• Serve as liaison to USAID MEL staff, technical working groups, implementing partner MEL staff. If needed, coordinate with an external evaluation team contracted by USAID to conduct a performance evaluation.

Basic Requirements

• Master’s degree (or equivalent combination of education and experience) in public health, health services research, informatics, population health, social or behavioral sciences, or related field. Master’s degree strongly preferred.
• 9+ years of experience working with international development programming and MEL systems, including qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis in a low-resource setting; 5 years of management experience.
• Demonstrated senior technical expertise in the field of health program MEL, including leadership in system development and implementation.
• Demonstrated experience in strengthening individual and institutional MEL capacity.
• Demonstrated MEL experience in the context of program delivery by a large consortium of organizations on projects of a similar scope and size.
• Demonstrated ability to work with diverse and large teams and to foster positive technical working relationships with counterparts and partners at different levels, across countries, organizations, and teams.
  Demonstrated supervisory skills, and ability to work well on a team.
• Progressively responsible experience in research and learning and/or monitoring and evaluation of Kira Ukuze activities, program beneficiaries, and program staff.
• Excellent organizational skills; excellent English and French oral and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated relevant technical skills in analyzing and interpreting quantitative and qualitative data and packaging the findings.
• Successful experience integrating participatory and empowerment MEL approaches.
• Extensive expertise in research ethics and Do No Harm requirements in sensitive research environments.
• Strong skills in M&E technical capacity development of others.
• Extensive knowledge and experience in reporting procedures, best practices, guidelines, and tools for monitoring, evaluation and learning, including impact evaluation.
• Extensive experience with data management systems, including cloud-based.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office programs, i.e., Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc., and the ability to use various commercially available statistical software programs.
• Demonstrated ability to work with diverse and large teams and to foster positive technical working relationships with counterparts and partners at different levels, across countries, organizations, and teams.
  Demonstrated supervisory skills, and ability to work well on a team.
• Progressively responsible experience in research and learning and/or monitoring and evaluation of Kira Ukuze activities, program beneficiaries, and program staff.
• Excellent organizational skills; excellent English and French oral and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated relevant technical skills in analyzing and interpreting quantitative and qualitative data and packaging the findings.
• Successful experience integrating participatory and empowerment MEL approaches.
• Extensive expertise in research ethics and Do No Harm requirements in sensitive research environments.
• Strong skills in M&E technical capacity development of others.
• Extensive knowledge and experience in reporting procedures, best practices, guidelines, and tools for monitoring, evaluation, and learning, including impact evaluation.
• Extensive experience with data management systems, including cloud-based.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office programs, i.e., Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc., and the ability to use various commercially available statistical software programs.

Preferred Qualifications

• Fluency in Kirundi strongly preferred.
• Burundian nationals are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Working knowledge of DHIS2.
• Strong data visualization skills including proficiency in data visualization software.
• Experience in integrating gender sensitive and social inclusive MEL.
• Knowledge and experience in complexity-aware evaluation methods.

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Pact is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, citizenship status, genetic information, matriculation, family responsibilities, personal appearance, credit information, tobacco use (except in the workplace), membership in an employee organization, or other protected classifications or non-merit factors.

At Pact, we recognize your impact, offer you opportunities and support your total well-being. Our comprehensive benefit offerings may include healthcare, retirement (8.8% to 13% based on service tenure) and savings plans, paid time off, disability and life insurance programs, learning and development opportunities, wellness programs as well as other optional benefit elections .
With the continuing impacts of COVID-19 around the world, we are taking action to protect the health and well-being of our colleagues and maintain the safety of the communities where we operate. Pact seeks an environment free from COVID-19 and prefers all employees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Attestation of vaccination status will be required for employment with Pact. Unvaccinated employees may be subject to additional health and safety requirements to include any federal, state and/or client restrictions.