Director of Research and Evaluation At Jacaranda Health

Job Description: Director of Research and Evaluation

Location: Nairobi, Kenya with 10% travel

About the organisation

Jacaranda Health is a Kenya-based non-profit organization working to ensure that all women and their families have access to affordable, high quality and patient-centered maternal and newborn healthcare. We partner with the government to roll out innovative programs that improve outcomes in public health systems. We are now working with over 200 hospitals serving ~250,000 women and babies across 10 of Kenya’s largest counties and are scaling our impact to a national level and exploring expansion to other countries. Our two flagship programs focus on increasing health-seeking behavior amongst pregnant women/new moms through digital health (“PROMPTS”) and improving provider knowledge and skills to handle emergency obstetrics through a mentor model (“MENTORS”). Please visit www.jacarandahealth.org for more details.

We have a deep commitment to data, measurement, and impact evaluation – we have built strong in-house capacity and have partnered with world-class academics on research activities to understand how to design and implement better maternal health services. We have achieved global recognition for our work and are supported by a group of partners and advisors that include leading names in the maternal health community of practice.

As we grow, we see an exciting opportunity to expand our research capabilities. The scale of our programs and our ability to capture great data have led to a growing number of requests to partner on implementation research into some of the most interesting questions facing the maternal health community – encompassing implementation science, human resources for health, digital health, and health financing.

We are seeking a Director, Research and Evaluation to help shape and manage our fast-growing research programs and partnerships. You are ambitious and entrepreneurial, and excited about research that drives real program design and impact, and to answering questions that will influence practices globally.

What you’ll do

The Director, Research and Evaluation (DRE) will implement Jacaranda Health’s research agenda by leading rigorous, high quality studies that inform and improve the organization’s programming, with the goal of improving the quality of care for mothers and babies. The DRE will work with the Executive Director to craft a research and learning strategy, oversee a team of research managers and coordinators to implement these strategies, collaborate with local and global academic superstars, and shape knowledge products (papers, presentations) to further our organizational mission and vision.

Duties and Responsibilities

You will

● Shape our research strategy: You’ll work with the Executive Director (Africa) to craft a R&E strategy that positions formal research studies internally within Jacaranda’s growing programs and identifies how the organization can leverage research outputs to influence global agenda on improving maternal and newborn health.

● Lead study design and deployment: You will design studies that are feasible within the context of Jacaranda’s work in public hospitals, aligned with program goals and that will produce actionable results.

● Provide project management and oversight: You are excited about managing and building the capacity of a team of research managers and coordinators to execute projects that are high quality, fit within budget and scope, and are completed in time.

● Be an effective collaborator: Jacaranda has a strong network of academic, NGO and private sector partners, and you will be able to manage these relationships to ensure a healthy and productive collaborative atmosphere.

● Lead fundraising for research studies: Responding to relevant RFPs, crafting concept notes and having conversations with donors is second nature to you. Although you won’t do this alone, a key part of the role is identifying and securing funding for implementation science research.

Qualifications and Experience

● Advanced degree (Masters or PhD) in public health, social sciences research, or related field

● Passionate about social impact and applying rigorous research methods to real-world challenges and questions

● Minimum 5 years post-graduate work experience leading quantitative and/or qualitative evaluations, with experience in East Africa preferred

● Strong technical ability in a variety of evaluative science methodologies, including mixed methods research

● Exceptional communication and project management skills – you will be serving as a consultant and liaison with outside research partners

● A history of publishing journal articles in peer reviewed journals, policy briefs and similar knowledge outputs

● Experience developing research protocols for IRB review and managing IRB correspondence and requirements

● Proficiency in quantitative statistical analysis, with demonstrated experience in one or more of these software: Stata, SPSS, SAS, or R