Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Specialist – Kenya Digital Health Ecosystem Activity at ICF Incorporated

• ICF is seeking candidates for the role of Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Specialist for the anticipated five-year, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Digital Health Ecosystems program in Kenya. The purpose of this five-year activity is to increase country ownership and management of one national integrated and comprehensive sector-wide health information ecosystem to achieve health systems outcomes of equity, quality, and resources optimization. The program will build on and strengthen local capacity in digital health technologies’ adoption to promote the use of an integrated and comprehensive digital health ecosystem, lead systems evolutions management, and sustain health systems outcomes of equity, quality, and resource optimization with broad based partners from the private sector, North American Technology giants and both local and global academia. The position is likely to be based in Nairobi Kenya.
• The MEL Director manages all aspects of the activity monitoring, research, evaluation, learning, and reporting. The Director manages and analyzes information and reports to the Chief of Party (COP) and provides the activity team with feedback on progress toward the achievement of key results as stated in the activity annual work plans M&E plan. The MEL specialist ensures that the team collects, analyzes, and disseminates accurate data consistently and timely, aggregates project-generated knowledge and lessons learned through routine monitoring and evaluation of the activities.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and refine the overall activity M&E plan and key performance indicators ensuring that all activity components have end-of-the-activity and annual indicators (inputs, output, outcomes, and impact), established baselines and measurable and achievable targets.
• Work with the activity team and collaborate with Kenyan counterparts on developing activity indicators, including their definitions, measurement, process of data collection, analysis, interpretation, presentation, and reporting.
• Lead a team of MEL experts in the ongoing development of the activity’s overall monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system, including indicator selection and adaptation, data collection, data analysis, and reporting.
• Provide technical oversight to systematic collection, analysis, synthesis, use, translation, and dissemination of data and learning to inform internal and external decision-making.
• Keep abreast of Kenya’s health and socio-economic statistical indicators and provide timely updates to ensure effective planning and adapting. This includes keeping up with current policies and operational plans to align activity metrics.
• Provide timely qualitative and quantitative information for quarterly and annual progress reports, programmatic updates, success stories, briefs, newsletters.
• Lead the development of tools and resources that support local implementing partners’ efforts to improve the monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) capacities of their programs and local partners.
• Ensure compliance with the activity’s MEL requirements and reporting.
• Liaise with activity’s technical team and country programs to establish appropriate targets for annual work plans.
• Lead the development of the activity’s learning agenda and related implementation activities.

Required Experience/Qualifications

• Master’s degree or equivalent in international development, monitoring and evaluation, public health, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experiencing implementing monitoring and evaluation activities for complex programs in Kenya.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in providing technical support, setting up and managing M&E systems that track performance as per the objectives of this activity (e.g. performance against each result area) and in the application of statistical methods and database management.
• Demonstrated experience focusing on results and impact in health system strengthening with strong strategic vision and an understanding of systems approaches to programming and monitoring, evaluation, and learning.
• Demonstrated experience in fostering a culture of continuous improvement and adaptive management.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing monitoring and evaluation frameworks as well as measuring program results, including those related to the concepts of health coverage, quality, social and behavior change, self-reliance, gender, and youth.
• Demonstrated experience building monitoring, evaluation and learning capacities of country-level staff, including government, civil society, and private sector.
• Experience using one or more statistical software packages, including at least one of the following: SPSS, Epi-Info, Stata, MS Excel
• Fluency in English is required.