Senior Associate, Data Analysis, Monitoring, Learning, & Evaluation (MLE) at Evidence Action

Job purpose

The Senior Associate, Data Analysis, Monitoring, Learning & Evaluation (MLE), will synthesize, analyze, and extract actionable recommendations from information collected from all of Evidence Action’s programs as well as conduct in-depth analytics and guide visualization process. The role will require audit of data on the management information system (MIS) and analysis of various survey data, and systematic documentation of the analytical efforts used to reach the evidence-based recommendations. S/he will contribute to the development of appropriate visualization/dashboards, impact modelling, measurement, sampling, data mining and other statistical analysis. The ideal Senior Associate, Analysis will be extremely intellectually curious, service-oriented, and able to conduct, document, and explain complex analysis and research geared towards real-world improvements in the programs service delivery to millions of people throughout Africa. S/he should have a mix of programming and data analytics skills, business intelligence, machine learning, data science.

This position will be a critical piece of the Data Analysis team that operates within Evidence Action’s broader Monitoring, Learning, and Information Systems (MLE) team.

Duties and responsibilities

Research and learning agenda

• The Senior Associate, Analysis will lead the research and learning component of the program data:
• Contribute to the development of research and learning agenda of the program to ensure improvement of the program activities.
• Identify research questions and write research proposal.
• Write technical papers/one-pagers and disseminate results to program teams.
• Write and publish research papers.
• Form and lead a “Task team” that would be in charge of ensuring research pieces are produced within the required time.
• Develop or contribute towards the development of dissemination materials such as research abstracts, publications, policy briefs etc. to contribute to evidence generation in our areas of work e.g. building effective scale-ups, increasing program coverage, effective ways of working with communities, etc.

Operation Analysis

• Develop a deep understanding of program operational model and Theory of Change.
• Develop a visual presentation of the entire program implementation model or part of it and update them as programs evolve.
• Conduct a thorough analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data on program operation to identify areas of improvement and cost reduction.
• Lead analysis of GPS data collected by programs to inform data quality and improvement of program’s operation.
• Analyze and identify possible expansion area for programs based on disease prevalence, estimated impact of the program and cost-effectiveness.
• Build and update impact calculation model as well as review their assumption from time to time.
• From time to time, assist MLE management to consolidate program budgets and review monthly/quarterly expenditure report to align expenditure to budget.

Analysis

• The Senior Associate, Analysis will coordinate analysis activities of administrative and monitoring data for program teams.
• Identify and produce well-designed statistical measurements to express results of program data.
• Extract meaning, through analysis of program data to provide insightful interpretation of data.
• Provide key analytical and knowledge inputs from program data for articles, policy briefs, memos and major proposals
• Support data requests from the program team(s), and Evidence Action regional leadership as needed
• Lead consideration of the core research questions held by Evidence Action program teams that will facilitate operational and cost-efficiency improvements.
• Explore and analyze external/secondary data (e.g. DHS, WHO) that would help measure the impact of programs.

Quality Assurance

• The Senior Associate, Analysis will work with the MLE Lead, MLE to strengthen quality assurance/Quality Control for MLE.
• Develop quality assurance tools that will facilitate tracking and measuring progress.
• Train staff including MLE and Programs in using the designed QA tools.
• Support the MLE Lead in the development of Progress/activity Data quality reports.
• Support in the development of continuous activity dashboards for data quality improvement.
• Work with other MLE sub-department, programs, and partners to understand complex data systems and interfaces in order to determine or propose efficient processes for data collection, management, analysis and dissemination.

Information System

• The Senior Associate, Analysis will act as a link between the data Analysis/management team and the information system team to ensure information is easily accessible, understandable and usable.
• Supporting the Information Systems team in designing a data management platform and framework that allows for the easy synthesis of all program data.
• Support wireframing and development of dashboards, info-graphics and other visualization to support program decisions.
• Outside of the stated roles, the Senior Associate, Analysis will also be expected to support the Associate, Analysis in specific tasks as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in economics, statistics, mathematics, Actuarial science or any other similar quantitative field
• A minimum of 5 years’ working experience in an analytical and quantitative role.
• Strong working knowledge of statistical software packages such as Stata, R, MatLab, SAS etc. with the ability to learn and adapt to new programs (experience with Stata and excel highly preferred).
• Strong mathematical skills and proficiency in statistics to help identify patterns and trends and interpret data.
• A working knowledge of mobile data capture programming experience in ODK, SurveyCTO, KoBo is preferred .
• Experience of building and executing data management systems (experience with MySQL highly preferred, Previous programming experience will be an added advantage).
• Ability to manage and respond to varied tasks in a quick and efficient manner.
• Strong interpersonal and communications skills to work effectively with a team that is geographically dispersed.
• Self-directed/self-motivated personality, with proven ability to manage demands from multiple supervisors.
• Strong critical and analytical thinking skills.
• Intellectual flexibility and willingness to form and adjust opinions based on evidence.
• Quick to learn, motivated to self-teaching and capable of independently translating new knowledge into practice.
• Willingness to travel.
• Have a strong commitment to evidence-based practice and policy in the development field.
• Possess strong attention to detail and a genuine love of working with data.
• Be enthusiastic to develop personally and professionally as part of a growing global team.