Summary

Save the Children is seeking a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Director for an anticipated five-year USAID/Uganda Urban Health Activity. The goal of this activity is to address poor quality of care, congested public health facilities, uncoordinated referral system, weak community structures, limited private sector capacity, and gaps in enabling environment results in poor health outcomes in Kampala, Mukono and Wakiso.

Reporting to the Chief of Party, the MEL director will design, implement, and oversee all M&E, learning, research and knowledge management functions of this activity. The MEL Director will lead the development and management of the MEL Plan. The MEL Director will develop and maintain systems to collect data, lead efforts to regularly analyze data, and work with program staff to facilitate collaboration, learning, and adaptive management in line with the Ugandan government’s HMIS and data systems, including DHIS2 and mTRAC. The MEL Director will lead analysis to produce information on inputs, outputs, outcomes, and impact of the project to track progress against targets. They will collaborate with and oversee sub-grantees to provide feedback on data collection and indicators; analyze data reported from sub-grantees; and support training of MEL personnel in quality assurance methods. They should ensure the highest quality data reported from the national health MIS system/DHIS2. They will collaborate with the project team to design quality research to support learning, evaluation, and planning, and oversee the implementation of research efforts as well as analysis, dissemination, and use. The MEL Director will regularly present data to the project senior management teams, Government of Uganda, USAID/Uganda and implementing partners and produce MEL reports. This position will be based in Kampala, Uganda, for the five-year period of performance with frequent travel required to other project sites.

This position is contingent upon donor approval and funding.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

• Develop MEL plan and systems for capturing data and relevant information on project activities, beneficiaries, outputs, outcomes, and impact.
• Provide leadership, training, and mentoring to implement MEL activities (including designing tools, conducting data collection and analysis, and sharing and using data) to assess and improve program impact.
• Effectively rollout data collection and reporting systems to all staff and partners through training, site visits, manuals, and other technical support as needed.
• Collaborate across the project to ensure programming alignment to targets and indicators contained in project proposal and use the information from the MEL systems and tools to improve program effectiveness.
• Facilitate the collection and use of qualitative data and implementation learning to facilitate collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA), including using methodologies such as after-action reviews, most significant change, and pulse polls.
• Coordinate and support research and evaluation activities, including coordinating baseline, mid-term and final evaluations, and supporting donor and external reviews.
• Prepare high quality, accurate and timely reports for Save the Children, project partners, and donors as required, including using creative data visualization approaches to enhance data use for decision-making and adaptive management .
• Capture appropriate cost information to track financial indicators, including benchmarking information to analyze program effectiveness and cost-effective inputs.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) preferably related to statistics, research design, demography, public health, or a relevant field of study.
• Familiarity with the national Health Management Information System (HMIS) in Uganda and data systems including DHIS2 and mTRAC is essential.
• At least ten years of experience in monitoring, evaluation, and research related to public health programs, of which at least eight years of experience with programs of similar size and complexity funded by USAID or other donors.
• Demonstrated experience using collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) approaches to inform real-time improvements in program interventions and strategies as part of adaptive management.
• Experience planning, conducting and monitoring surveys and evaluations.
• Demonstrated ability to use data to influence programming, including through data visualization using PowerBi, GIS mapping and other similar platforms.
• Personal commitment to child safeguarding, child rights, gender equality, and social inclusion.
• Excellent English language writing and oral presentation skills.
• Fluency in other languages spoken in Uganda will be considered an asset.

Qualified local national candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

About Save the Children

No matter your role when you join Save the Children, each and every day you will challenge yourself to devote your skills, talent and expertise to changing the world for kids. It’s an ambitious goal, and a meaningful one no matter how you see yourself professionally: an accountant, a writer, a data analyst, a teacher, a driver, a designer, or any one of the hundreds of dozens of roles we’re looking to fill every day.

You see, Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Our work for children and their families requires that we commit—at every opportunity—to work together to identify and dismantle persistent systemic and structural racism, inequality, and any other forms of discrimination in this country and beyond. As an anti-racist organization, Save the Children will not tolerate discrimination in any form—in our employment practices, amongst our staff, in our leadership or toward the people we serve. We stand in solidarity with all people to fight for equal rights, justice, inclusion, and belonging.

We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse. In addition, it is Save the Children’s policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that aims to prevent and deter any actions and omissions, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that place children at the risk of any kind of child abuse. All our representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation.

Save the Children is committed to minimizing safety and security risks for our valued employees, ensuring all are given training, support and information to reduce their risk exposure while maximizing the impact of our programs for children and families. Our shared duty, both agency and individual, is to seek and maintain safe working conditions for all.