Associate, Data Management at Evidence Action

Job purpose

The Associate – Program Data Management is a member of the PDM sub-team and the larger Monitoring, Learning and Information Systems (MLE) team, and is responsible for quality data management for both paper and electronic data across all the country programs including Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia and Nigeria. This is an exciting position that will involve managing data officer(s) and data entry clerks, cleaning and submitting data to program teams or analysis team for analysis. The person must be systematic and loves working with big data and attentive to details. S/he will work closely with other MLE teams to ensure data is entered as error-free as possible while adhering to set timeline

Duties and responsibilities

Data Cleaning

• Support data cleaning needs across all Evidence Action programs within the 5 countries of operation
• Be able to generate, clean and provide ad hoc datasets as may be required by different programs
• Be able to multi-task data cleaning assignments for different programs.
• Document all data cleaning processes and steps in the courses of his or her work
• Develop programs/code that checks the completeness and clean all program data
• Give timely feedback to the data collection team on the quality of data and area of improvement/training
• Any other Data Management task as assigned by their supervisor

Manage Data Entry and Management

• Lead the development of interfaces for data entry and manage data entry vendors and process, and make sure the process is done as per the agreed-upon timelines,
• Coordinate data entry process of all paper data in accordance with data entry protocols
• Work closely with the data collection team and data officer to ensure that hard-copies are filed and stored safely in a secure, well-organized, and well-documented repository, and the scanned paper data, where applicable, is stored safely
• Conduct discrepancy checks between data entry records, perform error checks and other data quality checks on the entered data
• Develop and implement a robust system of tracking forms for data entry so as to clearly distinguish those that have been entered against those that haven’t been entered.
• Handle and take responsibility for all equipment used for data entry, including laptops, tablets, flash drives etc.
• Keep track of any recurring data quality issues arising from the exercising with a viewing of informing when re-training is needed.
• Instantly make available entered data for further processing and use by the data team.
• Support the development of comprehensive data entry training manuals to suit the needs of different programs

Team Management

• Coordinate the training of data entry staff.
• Supervise the activities of the data entry casuals by ensuring that they all meet their daily targets, log the work done and conduct random checks on the quality of their work

Data Analysis

• Conduct quarterly analysis on the quality of work of data collection officer and provide feedback to data collection leads the highlighting area of further re-training.
• Develop comprehensive data cleaning guide write up for all data collected within the organization
• Verification and analysis of the accuracy of geodata collected for all installed dispenser
• Any other analysis to improve quality, completeness and accuracy of data that might be assigned by the Supervisor.

Key Performance Indicators

• Delivery of clean and complete program bi-monthly monitoring data within the required time.
• Quarterly update of dispenser database to include new dispenser and/or change the status of existing one to either functional or non-functional
• Maintain documentation of data cleaning done in the course of data cleaning (either in syntax or notes)

Qualifications

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree in economics, statistics, or any other relevant field
• Minimum of 2 years of experience in quantitative research methods and data management, preferably with large and/or complex datasets.
• At least 1-year full-time experience conducting data cleaning using Stata for large datasets (mandatory). Experience coding with other statistical software is an added advantage.
• Experience in working with and programming data entry interfaces using a variety of applications both purchased and open source. Knowledge of CSPro, ODK, KoboToolbox, Openclinica and Access will be an added advantage (CSpro and/or ODK highly preferred)
• Well conversant with the use of MS Office application especially Excel.
• Should have a real passion for working with data, be able to think and tell a story from the data (Key desirable)
• Ability to work under pressure in a working environment that changes suddenly to accommodate new data needs
• Strong interpersonal and communications skills to work effectively with a team that is geographically dispersed.
• Self-directed/self-motivating personality, with proven ability to manage demands from multiple supervisors while adhering to program deadlines and priorities.
• Strong critical and analytical thinking skills.
• High attention to details and well organized.
• Intellectual flexibility and willingness to form and adjust opinions based on evidence.
• Quick to learn, motivated to self-teach and capable of independently translating new knowledge into practice.

In addition, this position requires a candidate to:

• Have a strong commitment to evidence-based practise and policy in the development field
• Be enthusiastic to develop personally and professionally as part of a growing global team.