Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Specialist at Malaria Consortium

Malaria Consortium is one of the world’s leading non-profit organisations specialising in the comprehensive prevention, control and treatment of malaria and other communicable diseases among vulnerable and under privileged populations. We increasingly find our work on malaria can be effectively integrated with other similar public health interventions for greater impact and therefore expanded our remit to include child health and neglected tropical disease interventions.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Specialist

Location: Abuja
Department: Technical     
Length of Contract:  Five years
Role Type: National     
Grade: 11
Travel involved: Up to 40%    
Child Safeguarding Level: TBC
Reporting to: Line Manager: Project Director
Hours: 40

Country and Project Background

• Malaria is highly endemic in Nigeria and it remains one of the leading causes of childhood and maternal morbidity and mortality in the country. Nigeria is deeply committed to making progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and it recognizes the fact that, without firm efforts to control malaria, achievement of the targets related to child mortality, maternal mortality, and reducing the burden of communicable disease will not be possible
• Malaria therefore constitutes a significant development challenge for Nigeria. Interventions for reducing malaria burden in the country are documented in the national malaria strategic plan with Government taking the lead in its implementation with the support of all the RBM partners.
• The DFID funded and Malaria Consortium led malaria programme, SUNMAP, provided technical assistance and other support to the Nigeria National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) covering the period 2008 to 2016. The anticipated follow on project, SUNMAP2 has been designed to strengthen the management and technical capacity of NMEP, State Malaria Elimination Programme (SMEP) and their stakeholders to drive the implementation of the National Malaria Strategic Plan, 2014 to 2020 and achieve its ambitious targets
• This will include short term technical assistance and technical assistance embedded in NMEP in key areas of programme management, evidence generation and use, and capacity building across all project outputs and ultimately reducing Nigeria’s malaria burden and strengthening the Government of Nigeria’s health systems capacity to ensure long term programme and impact sustainability.

Job Purpose

• The Senior MEAL Specialist will provide technical oversight and inputs (M&E design, statistical and analytical support), as well as other M&E support such as strengthening of M&E standards and quality in all project output areas
• In addition, he/she will drive the learning agenda working closely with the other technical experts in the project
• The position holder will directly contribute to performance monitoring against the project log frame and provide technical assistance on key results measurement work including surveys
• An important aspect of the role is to build the project capacity in accountability and learning as part of his/her routine M&E work
• This would include strengthening processes to identify lessons, best practices and explore systematic documentation of internal learning; building internal capacity within SUNMAP2 by supporting capacity building initiates as identified through capacity assessments. He/she will support and contribute to research study designs, oversee data management, and lead data analyses where needed
• The position holder will contribute to evidence base and support peer-reviewed publications, technical reports, conferences and presentations
• He/She will support long term technical assistance to the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) to improve the use of evidence and learning in decision making, planning and policy formulation.

Scope of Work

• The Senior MEAL Specialist will report in to the Team leader for SUNMAP2 and will be responsible for providing direct support and technical assistance in MEAL to the project and its partners
• The post holder will be a member of Malaria Consortium’s M&E Community of Practice (CoP) and is expected to line manage four direct reports
• The post holder will be responsible for ensuring that high quality
• M&E, Accountability and Learning mechanisms and approaches are implemented in SUNMAP2
• They will also be involved in commercial sector MEAL activities as part of the integrated project approach.

Key Working Relationships

• The Senior MEAL Specialist will work closely with members of the SUNMAP2 Senior Management Team (SMT), his/her direct reports, as well as the M&E Leaders of the M&E Community of Practice
• They will provide regular support to long term technical assistance (LTTA) to NMEP on evidence use and learning. In the implementation of surveys and other data collection activities, he/she will need to liaise with stakeholders such as the Federal Ministry of Health, State Ministry of Health, partner organisations, academic institutions and subcontractors
• As part of the accountability work he/she will have periodic communications with partner organisations
• Other key external working relationships include NMEP M&E Sub-committee of the Malaria Technical Working Group, MEAL networks and MEASURE evaluation

Key Accountabilities
Strategic Contributions (10%):

• Identify and implement approaches and methodologies to strengthen internal MEAL capacity
• Support the use of Malaria Consortium’s Projects Results System (PReS) to capture SUNMAP2 results and timely reporting against log frame indicators
• Lead the development and improvements in the projects value-for-money approach, as well as the regular use of the information for project management
• Contribute to development of project strategy papers, including the quality assurance of M&E components

M&E Contributions (40%):

• Provide technical support on results measurement designs and sample size calculations
• Organise and lead the implementation of surveys from design (e.g. sampling, questionnaire development, SOPs) to quality assurance of implementation
• Oversee data management of survey data, working closely with the IT team and state teams. This may sometimes require collaboration with other organisations, and will require compliance with ethical and other data protection regulations
• Conduct data processing and statistical analysis of survey and other epidemiological data
• Provide technical support in other aspects of M&E such as routine data collection, M&E plans and log frames
• Remain abreast of innovations in M&E and introduce them, when appropriate. These include, but are not limited to, innovative methods/technologies and methods for data collection/reporting that may improve or serve as substitutes for standard methods (e.g. mobile technologies for data collection, alternatives to household surveys)
• Support centralisation of all datasets and their corresponding documentation
• Facilitate the use of M&E and learning to inform quality improvement of project implementation and technical assistance
• Facilitate the use of information management tools such as dashboards to support decision-makers at national and state levels to make better use of data, include data from SUNMAP2.

Accountability, Learning, Sharing and Positioning (25%):

• Facilitate a learning agenda approach including accountability within the project and amongst key stakeholders such as NMEP and SMEP
• Develop and operationalise the learning agenda approach, and associated measurement indicators and documentation
• Develop guidance documents on how accountability should be implemented and monitored using the project results measurement framework. This may require checklists, SOPs or working instructions
• Lead the documentation of experiences and lessons learnt from the project including production of learning briefs, learning papers and general documentation (e.g. narrative reports, infographics)
• Disseminate lessons learned to national and global audiences through conference presentations, peer-reviewed publications, and technical reports
• Line manage four staff

Quality Assurance of Results Measurement and Technical Quality (10%):

• Contribute to the development and embedding of standards of MEAL quality
• Contribute to proposal development, including the quality assurance of M&E components

Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening (10%)

• Participate in building project capacity in MEAL such as drafting of MEAL training module and work guidance documents
• Work closely with long term technical assistance (LTTA) to NMEP to strengthen its institutional capacity to use evidence for decision-making and to capture learning
• Lead capacity building efforts to strengthen both individual and institutional capacities within the State Malaria Elimination Programme (SMEP) and LGA levels working with State level MEAL Experts
• In liaison with the Head of Monitoring and Evaluation and the CoP of M&E Leaders, support capacity building initiatives of the project’s M&E team and contribute to the organisation’s strategic objectives

External Representation (5%):

• Participate in national or regional technical working groups as relevant
• Make presentations at national, regional or global conferences showcasing the MEAL approaches we are using in the project

Qualifications and Experience
Essential:

• Postgraduate Degree in Epidemiology, Statistics or Public Health with a focus on M&E/ MEAL
• At least 8 years working in M&E role with an excellent understanding of MEAL approaches
• Significant experience in evaluation design and implementation of large-scale project M&E systems
• Experience in results and impact measurement for at least four different development projects
• Familiarity with Health Management Information Systems (HMIS) in Low and Middle Income countries e.g. DHIS2
• Experience in setting up standards of quality as well as internal quality assurance mechanisms
• Experience with value-for-money measurements.

Desirable:

• Significant knowledge in communicable disease control and particularly malaria
• Experience of supporting development of learning processes and structures, ideally in an NGO context
• Qualitative research experience.

Work-based Skills
Essential:

• Excellent statistical analysis skills including familiarity with software such as STATA, R or Statgraphics
• Excellent writing and presentation skills
• Management and mentoring skills with respect to junior staff
• Ability to work in a multicultural team
• Results-oriented attitude to work
• Ability to work independently with little support
• Expert competency level in reviewing, understanding and synthesising data for sharing with wider audiences
• Practical organisational skills with the ability to manage a fluctuating workload, prioritise and re-prioritise when necessary and meet tight deadlines
• Able to travel to SUNMAP2 supported states for up to one week at a time to oversee surveys or other data collection activities

Desirable:

• Able to develop and manage data bases, data entry systems (PDA or phone-based) and manage data collection/data management platforms
• Experience of working with Ministries of Health
• Familiar with spatial analysis including use of software such as QGIS

Core Competencies
Delivering Results:

• LEVEL D – Inspires wider teams to achieve outstanding results and to manage risks:
  • Proactively improves effectiveness and performance of other senior staff to increase ability to meet objectives, acquiring new skills when appropriate
  • Encourages mitigating risks amongst the teams/ groups they work with/ manage
  • Ensures the quality of all internal/ external work of own and others

Analysis and Use of Information:

• LEVEL D – Analyses the external environment confidently:
  • Generates a range of policy options and appraises them based on the internal and external evidence
  • Develops ways of applying new knowledge and ensures lesson-learning with self and wider team
  • Analyses the significance of external events and situations for Malaria Consortium

Interpersonal and Communications:

• LEVEL D – Communicates complex technical and/ or sensitive/ high risk information effectively:
  • Communicates complex operational, technical and strategic issues clearly and credibly with widely varied audiences
  • Uses varied communication to promote dialogue and shared understanding and consensus across a variety of audiences
  • Influences internal and external audiences on specific issues
  • Scans the internal and external environment for key information and messages to support communications strategies

Collaboration and Partnering:

• LEVEL C – Builds strong networks internally and participates actively in external networks and think tanks:
  • Builds strong networks internally
  • Participates actively in external networks and/ or think tanks
  • Engages with relevant experts to gather and evaluate evidence
  • Shares and implements good practice with internal and external peers

Leading and Motivating people:

• LEVEL C – Effectively leads and motivates others or direct reports:
  • Gives regular, timely and appropriate feedback
  • Acknowledges good performance and deals with issues concerning poor performance
  • Carries out staff assessment and development activities conscientiously and effectively
  • Develop the skills and competence of others through the development and application of skills
  • Coaches and supports team members when they have difficulties

Flexibility/Adaptability:

• LEVEL C – Supports others to cope with pressure:
  • Responds positively to change, embracing and using new practices or values to accomplish goals and solve problems and supports others to do the same
  • Adapts team approach, goals and methods to achieve solutions and results in dynamic situations
  • Sets realistic deadlines and goals for self or team

Living the Values:

• LEVEL C – Supports others to live Malaria Consortium’s values:
  • Demonstrates personal integrity by using role position responsibly and fairly
  • Cultivates an open culture within the wider team, promoting accountability, responsibility and respect for individual differences.

Strategic Planning and Thinking and Sector Awareness:

• LEVEL C – Keeps up-to-date with the internal and external environment:
  • Takes into account economic, political and other business factors when drawing up medium and long-term plans, covering both public and private sectors
  • Looks beyond the immediate operations to prospects for new business
  • Engages with appropriate internal and external sources to establish major influences on future plans.

Salary/Benefit

• NGN 7,481,250.

Application Closing Date
30th March, 2018.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Click here for more information (PDF)