Senior MERLA Advisor, Africa
Ipas

Job Info

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The Senior MERLA Advisor, Africa acts as a steward of Ipas's global monitoring, evaluation, research, learning, and adapting (MERLA) framework for Ipas's global strategic plan.
This role works closely with Ipas network nodes across Africa to provide context-specific technical support, facilitate collaboration between nodes, and support MERLA skill strengthening initiatives. Specifically, this role primarily supports Ipas's African country nodes to:
• Onboard and mentor new MERLA hires. Including in-person and remote training, guidance, and support on MERLA skills and adhering to Ipas Network Quality Standards
• Provide responsive and proactive technical assistance support to MERLA staff in African country nodes including in-person and remote support to: build MLE plans, develop research and evaluation protocols, develop and test indicators and new data collection tools, train data collectors, liaise with other Program Evidence and TEX staff to expand project capacity
• Leads/supports adaptation to local contexts of global tools, guidance, and processes for data management, analytics, donor reporting, data auditing, and data visualization and use
• Plays a key role in ensuring that global monitoring and evaluation is driven by and aligns with country needs and developments in the field
• Leads and/or supports across country and regional research to address evidence gaps in the field of abortion and SRHR
• May represent Ipas in regional meetings, conferences, working groups, etc.
Primary Responsibilities

• CAPACITY STRENGTHENING ACTIVITIES - Conduct capacity strengthening activities (in-person or virtual sessions) on key MERLA tools or software with staff from African nodes, as needed/requested. Key MERLA tools or software include, but are not limited to: use of global databases, mobile data collection platforms, quantitative and qualitative analysis software, data visualization platforms, and other analytic tools to enable use of evidence to monitor and improve programs and projects. Support nodes to follow Network Quality Standards and M&E Standard Operating Procedures.
• CAPACITY STRENGTHENING TOOLS/PROCESS - Support the use of learning tools throughout the project cycle, including theory of change, logic models, log frames, evaluations, and after-action reviews
• TEMPORARY GAP FILLING IN NODES - Provide monitoring and evaluation backstopping for new country offices, offices with limited research and MERLA staff, and offices with staffing transitions, as needed.
• GLOBAL MERLA STRATEGY/SYSTEMS - Act as liaison across nodes to develop and ensure global MERLA standard operating procedures, the Ipas M&E Guide, and global MERLA tools and processes are driven by best practices and country learning and priorities
• FUNDRAISING SUPPORT - Serve as MERLA lead or support to global, regional and country-level fundraising initiatives and proposal development in the form of evidence-based project design, technical writing, peer review, and co-creation of conceptual frameworks.
• MLE PLANS - Co-develop (or provide technical support to the development of) monitoring, evaluation and learning plans during project set-up for new projects with project team members by providing technical assistance on indicators, data management processes, data collection tool design/adaptation, and best practices
• DATA USE - Co-design and build user-driven tools and dashboards that support nodes to interpret and use results from monitoring, evaluation, and research for continuous quality improvement, learning and internal and external dissemination to stakeholders.
• ANALYSIS - Perform quantitative and qualitative analyses of monitoring, evaluation, and research data, for organizational and program decision-making, upon request AND/OR work with TEX colleagues to meet these needs
• REPORTING - Lead or support organizational and donor reporting on programmatic data and conduct in-depth analysis and evidence synthesis in support of the strategic plan and donor requests
• RESEARCH DESIGN LEADERSHIP - Lead and/or support research project development as primary or co-investigator, including preparing concept notes, study protocols, data collection tools, consent forms, proposals for funding, and managing the ethical approvals process
• RESEARCH IMPLEMENTATION - Hire, train, and monitor/supervise research teams, including data collectors and field supervisors, sometimes in multiple countries
• RESEARCH DISSEMINATION - Support nodes to prepare and execute dissemination plans to ensure research results are actionable and impactful, including representing Ipas at conferences, hosting internal and external webinars, developing factsheets/research briefs, and managing the submission process for peer-reviewed publications
• ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING - Stay informed of developments in the global field of MERLA to bring best practices to the work of Ipas.

Minimum Requirements

• Masters' degree in social science or public health discipline, or equivalent professional experience
• 8+ years' work experience in global reproductive health programs, especially experience in MERLA
• Experience in MERLA for global health programs, especially SRHR; including experience training others in MERLA related skills and processes
• Experience managing research and/or evaluation teams
• Experience using mobile data collection apps using ODK programming, CommCare, or similar programs
• Demonstrated ability to use data for decision-making and quality improvement
• Experience with word-processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software
• Experience with use of databases
• Experience with communicating data to various audiences and use of data visualization software (Power BI, Tableau, Excel, or others)
• Fluency in English, excellent written and verbal English, ability to effectively use language translation tools when needed
• Experience working in multiple African countries
• Willingness to travel internationally, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa, up to 40% time

Preferred Skills

• Proficiency in French and/or Portuguese, in addition to English
• Experience using statistical analysis computer packages (Stata, SPSS, SAS, R, or others) for inferential statistics
• Experience with qualitative data analysis and software (Dedoose, NVivo, Atlas.ti, or others)
• Research and/or evaluation budgeting experience

Competencies

• Supportive of a woman's right to choose and to have access to safe abortion services.
• Committed to uphold the highest ethical standards in MERLA practices
• Well-organized with the ability to track multiple projects and deadlines
• Ability to work successfully in a cross-cultural, team-based, global environment
• Understanding of and commitment to gender equity and social inclusion in a local and international context.
• Commitment to practicing shared leadership in a non-hierarchical team

Ipas is strongly committed to providing a work environment that is free from all forms of harassment, discrimination, and inequity. We recruit, employ, train, promote, and compensate our personnel without regard to race, age, sex, religion, national origin, color, creed, ancestry, citizenship, caste, ethnicity, regional identity, tribal identity, marital status, veteran status, disability, genetic information, gender identity, transgender status, sexual orientation, or any other personal characteristic protected by law or outlined by Ipas policy. Ipas acknowledges that these personal characteristics may differ in different contexts.

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