Monitoring & Evaluation Officer

Job Description

Job Title: Monitoring & Evaluation Officer (1)

Location: Monrovia (and oversight of North Central Counties-therefore requiring frequent travel and stay)**

Reports to: Monitoring & Evaluation Advisor**

Breakthrough ACTION Liberia is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to lead social and behavior change (SBC) programming in 12 counties. Led by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP), Breakthrough ACTION partners include Save the Children, ideas42, and Think Place. The vision of the Breakthrough ACTION Liberia project is to deliver effective, high quality social and behavior change (SBC) activities in Liberia that will result in improved demand and use of health services for malaria; maternal, neonatal, and child health (MNCH); nutrition; family planning/ reproductive health (FP/RH); adolescent health; and water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) and engage communities in behaviors to prevent zoonotic and non-zoonotic infections in line with the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA).

Summary: The M&E officer will be responsible for supporting in-country program research, monitoring, evaluation and learning (RMEL) activities and oversight of Breakthrough ACTION Liberia’s M&E activities at the county, district and community levels. S/he will be expected to work in close coordination with county health team, USAID implementing partners, and civil society organizations. S/he will report to the M&E Advisor and work in close consultation with the SBC and Advocacy teams as well as the Field Managers based in the counties. S/he will also be responsible strengthening RMEL capacity and promoting collaboration among government partners and other non-governmental stakeholders in the counties.

Specific duties & responsibilities:

I. Theory, Frameworks & Models

• Demonstrates knowledge of public health, communication and/or social psychological theories.

II. Research & Evaluation

Research Design

• Supports JHU and local Liberia IRB protocol development and approval process

• Assists with design of formative and evaluative research as well as program monitoring and evaluation plans

• Maintain file of IRB approvals

Tools Development

• Supports development of R&E quantitative and qualitative data collection tools

• Supports development of mobile and electronic data collection tools w/Support

Field Work

• Support Sr. M&E staff with development of drafts of RFP for MEL data collection and reviews competitive proposals

• Support development and implementation of field training

• Support MEL data collection and quality assurance in the field per approved IRB protocol

• Applies basic sampling principles to draw a sample at the field level for surveys

• Undertakes daily review meetings in the field with enumerators during data collection.

• Problem solving in the field

Dissemination

• Contributes to the development of MEL reports and manuscripts (includes scientific writing) presentations, posters, blogs and other products, using writing that is accurate, clear with logical flow, and appropriate for different audiences

• Develops data visualization resources including from virtual dashboards for reports and other products

• Helps prepare presentations of MEL findings and/or presents findings at external and internal meetings and conferences, and with local and community stakeholders

III. Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL)

MEL Design and Data Analysis

• Conducts literature reviews to support MEL designs, IRB protocols w/direction

• Assists with identification of key indicators and development Performance Monitoring Plans (PMPs) for the Breakthrough ACTION project.

• Manages a data monitoring system in real time (SMS monitoring, online monitoring etc.)

• Manages dashboards and provides data visualizations

• Assists with monitoring of project activities and tracks/reports on progress against indicators

• Supports compilation and analysis of monitoring data to provide program feedback

IV. Statistics and Analysis

Quantitative Analysis

• Assists with R&E data cleaning and data preparation for analysis

• Contribute to quantitative analysis using statistical software (STATA, SPSS, R, SAS) and interpretation w/Direction

Qualitative Analysis

• Assists with R&E data preparation and codebook development for analysis

• Contribute to qualitative analysis using software (Atlas.ti. Nvivo, Dedoose and others) and interpretation w/Direction

VII. Collaboration and Communication**

• Involves and fully informs team members and supervisors on progress of tasks in a timely way.

• Works directly with and supports program staff at HQ and in the field as needed

Minimum qualifications (mandatory): Bachelor’s degree (BA, BS, etc.) in communication, public health, or related behavioural and/or social sciences with at least 5 years of relevant experience.

Preferred qualifications: Master’s degree (MA, MPH, etc.) in communication, public health, or related behavioural science with 5 years professional experience in monitoring, evaluation and research of USAID funded public health programs.

Special knowledge, skills, and abilities:

• Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and set priorities.

• Familiarity with mobile data collection applications like COMM CARE, ODK is a plus

• Willingness to learn and develop new skills; self-driven with a high sense of quality and ability to meet tight deadlines.

• Strong data analysis skills for both qualitative and quantitative data, familiarity with STATA or SPSS.

• Familiarity with DHIS-2 systems.

• Familiarity with Microsoft Office, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and other related software.

• Fluent in English, both written and spoken, excellent written and oral communication skills.