Monitoring, Evaluation and Research (MER) Officer at African Population and Health Research Center

APHRC’s Data, Measurement and Evaluation (DME) unit has received funding from the Children’s Investment Fund (CIFF) to carry out an independent external evaluation of the project “The Digital Dividend: A Smart Contract for Equitable Health Care Outcomes’’ implemented by PharmAccess International (PAI). The project which is being implemented in Kenya (Kisumu and Kakamega counties) and Tanzania (Manyara region) uses a digital platform to enable pregnant and lactating women to access healthcare services through a ring-fenced wallet on their phones at a network of contracted clinics. The intervention is intended to directly benefit about 30,000 women in Kenya and Tanzania who will benefit from the improvements in provider services. The external evaluation is expected to take place from July 2020 to July 2022.

The DME unit therefore seeks to recruit a Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Officer to support the evaluation activities of the Digital Dividends Project.

Duties/Responsibilities:

The MER Officer will organize the routine assessment and evaluation field level activities for the Project in Kisumu and Kakamega counties in Kenya, and the Manyara Region in Tanzania. S/he will track and assist in data collection activities at health facilities to inform routine data quality assessments (DQA), base-line, mid-line, and end-line surveys. The MER Officer will be supervised by and work closely with the M&E Specialist at APHRC. S/he will have the following major responsibilities:

• Project coordination and management
• Coordinate with PAI program teams to ensure that routine quality assessment and evaluation data collection aligns with program implementation processes and timelines.
• Facilitate and recommend (as needed) updates to electronic data collection tools and oversee quality control on data entry via tablets for both routine quality assessments and evaluation.
• Ensure evaluation resources are applied efficiently and effectively to achieve objectives within established timeframes according to routine quality assessments and evaluation plans.
• Make sure that deliverables are completed according to plan and are of high quality, in accordance with the overall evaluation and DQA plans.
• Foster and maintain good working relationships with internal and external stakeholders such as PAI, CIFF, and project beneficiary communities/health facilities.
• Monitor and manage enumerators during DQA and evaluation data collection in project regions of Kenya and Tanzania: check progress and assist in resolving challenges or issues, in collaboration with the M&E Specialist and the Data Visualization Officer.
• Data Quality Assessments and Evaluation
• Accurately collect, enter, compile and clean DQA and evaluation data to report progress towards project objectives with minimal errors.
• Support the M&E Specialist and Evaluation Lead in preliminary quantitative and qualitative analysis of M&E data as needed.
• Provide feedback as required on field level observations and monitoring results to the Project Evaluation team.
• Under the guidance of the M&E Specialist, support in reviewing and finalizing the DQA and Evaluation plans, and contribute to drafting of work plans, data collection tools, and field monitoring tools for each assessment activity.
• Work with Project Evaluation Team to provide timely updates and reports on DQA and evaluation activities as needed.

Qualifications and experience:

• The ideal candidate will have demonstrated experience in conducting research/data collection, preferably with expertise in health facility surveys, health services register data abstraction, DQAs, and quantitative data management skills:
• Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Social Sciences, Public Health, Monitoring and Evaluation, Epidemiology, Project Management, and Evaluation, or other relevant fields.
• 2 to 5 years of relevant working experience in managing field-level data collection of quantitative and qualitative data for M&E, DQAs, health facility assessment, and/or research.
• Demonstrated experience in conducting quality checks during quantitative and qualitative data collection, and data entry using electronic tools.
• Demonstrated experience and knowledge in quantitative and qualitative data cleaning and analysis and in drafting reports of M&E, DQA or research results.

Preferred demonstrable skills:

• Certification or specific training in Statistics, Information Management and/or Data Management
• Ability to work independently, virtually, and communicate efficiently using virtual platforms. The present working environment requires for most of the work to be conducted virtually, there will be need to travel to the project counties to conduct DQAs and evaluation data abstraction at health facilities.
• Strong ability to organize work, meet deadlines, maintain composure, prioritize work under pressure, coordinate multiple tasks, and maintain attention to detail.
• Good interpersonal and problem-solving skills, creativity and flexibility, ability to coordinate and build consensus.
• Proficiency in English and Swahili is required.