Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Principal Technical Advisor

Overall Responsibilities:

This position provides expert MEL (Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning) technical support to a portfolio of projects in francophone countries. Please note that spoken and written French and English proficiency are required for this position.

As a member of the home office Strategic Information (SI) MEL team, the MEL Principal Technical Advisor (PTA), provides leadership for project support, business development, and MEL strategic priorities. Under the leadership of the MEL Lead, the MEL PTA provides technical expertise in all MEL functions and for technical areas such as health system strengthening, health facility services, universal health coverage, supply chain, and pharmaceutical system strengthening. Responsibilities will include, but are not limited to, the following:  

• Leads the development and implementation of MEL plans and systems, with a focus on using data to strengthen projects and decision-making.
• Develops or facilitates the development of project learning agendas and methods to answer learning questions.
• Develops IRB-compliant evaluation protocols and tools based on project objectives.
• Develops and tracks indicators through dashboards and other compelling data visualizations.
• Participates in and oversees data quality assurance processes.
• Helps prepare for and participates in routine project performance reviews.
• Contributes to the compilation, analysis, and documentation of aggregated results at output and outcome levels and contributions to long-term health impact from a portfolio of MSH projects.
• Leads the MEL sections of proposals, including developing Theories of Change and thought leadership on MEL methods.
• Brings a data-driven approach to supporting projects with knowledge management and learning activities.
• Promotes and facilitates a culture of data use for decision-making and adaptive management within projects and across the organization.
• Contributes to MEL team strategy, thought leadership, and annual planning and other tasks provided by PDG/SI leaders.
• Leads trainings on MEL topics.
• Mentors junior SI staff in the activities listed above.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Required:

Master’s Degree in public health or other advanced course work in a related field (e.g., population health, epidemiology, biostatistics, demography).

Preferred:

Doctoral degree in a related MEL or public health discipline.

Experience

Required:

• Approximately 15 years of experience in MEL or research for global health.
• Significant experience providing MEL support to large, complex health projects implemented in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), including designing MEL plans and supervising their implementation.
• Hands-on experience in designing and delivering face-to-face and virtual workshops, including learning agendas, theories of change, research ethics, protocol and instrument development, and approaches to enhance utilization of MEL findings.
• Experience leading and mentoring on data management and analysis (quantitative and qualitative).
• Strong experience in designing and developing MEL systems at the proposal development stage. This includes developing an overall project MEL approach that is responsive to the programmatic rationale as described in results frameworks or similar tools; developing MEL plans, performance monitoring plans and any other tools and/or approaches needed for developing a robust MEL function for new projects.
• Experience managing and building capacity of SI junior staff.
• Written and spoken proficiency in English and French.

Preferred:

• Experience developing MEL guidance documents to guide MEL at the organizational level.
• Experience providing MEL mentorship.
• Experience of living and working in LMICs.

Knowledge & Skills

Required

• Track record of experience in monitoring, evaluation, and research of international/global health projects implemented in low-resource settings.
• Advanced skills in quantitative and qualitative data analysis for international/global health projects.
• Proven skills in at least one statistical package software for quantitative data analysis (SPSS, STATA, R, etc.).
• Experience with at least one statistical package software for qualitative data analysis (Nvivo, Atlas.ti, Dedoose, etc).
• Experience with designing and implementing electronic surveys is desirable.
• Understanding of and experience using HMIS databases (especially DHIS2), and of understanding the value of interoperability.
• Advanced evaluation and study design skills.
• Experience writing and presenting researc