Senior Program Officer- Senior Research and Learning Manager At Results for Development Institute

Results for Development (R4D) is a leading non-profit global development partner. We collaborate with change agents around the world — government officials, civil society leaders and social innovators — to create strong systems that support healthy, educated people. We help our partners move from knowing their goal to knowing how to reach it. We combine global expertise in health, education and nutrition with analytic rigor, practical support for decision-making and implementation and access to peer problem-solving networks. Together with our partners, we build self-sustaining systems that serve everyone and deliver lasting results. Then we share what we learn so others can achieve results for development, too.

We have a unique and vibrant culture at R4D. Diversity, equity and inclusion are at the heart of our work environment and help advance our mission. Diversity—of ideas, identities, perspectives and backgrounds—is vital to who we are and what we do. We seek people who embrace these values and will help reinforce them. Our work culture is collaborative, creative and entrepreneurial. We operate based on trust and respect. Teams across the organization frequently collaborate on programmatic work and support each other in continuously building a better R4D.

Practices

Teams across the organization frequently collaborate on programmatic work and support each other to continuously build a better R4D. This position will work across two different practices at R4D – Health and Evaluation & Adaptive Learning (EAL).

The Health practice works with change agents to strengthen health systems in low- and middle-income countries by conducting analysis and research, identifying problems, supporting planning, policy development and capacity building, and facilitating collaborative learning. We help them design and implement reforms that draw on global experience adapted to local contexts, using monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems to identify issues and adjust policies and implementation.

The EAL practice conducts targeted research using methods such as formative research and rapid experimentation to answer questions relevant to donor and practitioner strategies. By using proven evaluation methods for adaptive management purposes, we work with partners to design, experiment with, and evaluate solutions to accelerate their impact.

Opportunity

R4D is seeking a Senior Program Officer- Senior Research and Learning Manager to lead work developing and implementing learning and research activities for the Health and EAL practices at R4D, mostly focusing on projects supporting improving mixed health systems on the The Frontier Health Markets Global Technical Assistance (FHM Global TA) program.

The Frontier Health Markets Global Technical Assistance (FHM Global TA) program will focus on supporting local actors to improve the ability of health markets to meet supply-side capacity gaps and consumer preferences, contributing to equitable provision of and access to high-quality family planning and other health services and products in mixed health systems. With a focus on countries where USAID currently supports family planning and other health activities, FHM Global TA will build on existing evidence and previous investments in strengthening the role of the private sector. It will use systems thinking to catalyze new ideas, partnerships, and innovative approaches to address key market challenges, and support the introduction, scale up, and sustainability of quality healthcare delivery in the private sector, promoting resilient and robust markets.”

The Research and Learning Manager will provide technical direction to activity teams on Health and EAL projects, supporting their application of adaptive learning practices and innovative evaluation methods. This includes rapid experimentation and timely feedback loops to test, adapt, and improve on solutions. This individual must have experience in designing and implementing a wide range of mixed method learning activities; in leading processes to review and analyze evidence to inform priorities for action; and in facilitating collaboration among multiple partners including consortium partners, USAID representatives, government stakeholders, and local implementing partners.

The role is currently remote due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will eventually be based in Washington, D.C. or Nairobi, Kenya. The position will report to the Adaptive Learning Director of the global MHS support project.

Responsibilities

• Support the project’s Adaptive Learning Director on the implementation of a global, regional, and country-level learning agendas to facilitate adaptive management and continuous improvement across a variety of mixed health systems activities, building on and connecting across several country buy-ins.
• Independently manage associated learning partnerships and processes, theory of change development, and quality improvement cycles at the regional and country-levels, ensuring timely accomplishment of activities and effective sharing of learnings across project levels.
• Establish clear learning engagement goals and results that can be tracked and summarized over time; design and improve in-country activities to meet established goals using continuous quality improved and adaptive learning approaches.
• Facilitate relationship building, collaboration, and learning with consortium partners (especially those directly contributing to MEL actions), USAID representatives, government stakeholders, and local implementing partners, ensuring appropriate, coordinated, and joint planning.
• Support the Adaptive Learning Director to manage learning events and processes, working with technical team members to ensure ongoing adaptations to programmatic activities and ToCs as new evidence is generated.
• Promote peer-to-peer learning, knowledge sharing and application, and evidence and data utilization in support of continuous quality improvement.
• Provide technical guidance to activity teams in the design and implementation of research activities to support iterative learning and adaptive processes.
• Work closely with the Project M&E Manager and Communications Manager on the preparation of internal and external MEL reports

· Liaise with other R4D teams working on MEL for systems change, connecting best practices across R4D practice areas.

• Other responsibilities as agreed upon with the Health and EAL teams.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in relevant subject areas including health, international development, or a related field +7 years of experience. Relevant experience includes mixed health systems strengthening; private sector engagement; organizational learning and development; evidence to policy action; continuous quality improvement.
• Demonstrated understanding and application of M&E and adaptive learning practices—both “traditional” project monitoring methods (logic frames, key performance indicator tracking, etc.) and newer methods emerging for MEL of complex systems change (continuous qualityimprovement, outcome harvesting, contribution analysis, process tracing, etc.).
• Strong track record of designing and implementing a wide range of mixed method research approaches that effectively integrate quantitative and qualitative data to demonstrate and capture change, identify effective intervention design, and highlight project contributions.
• Experience synthesizing learnings, presentation of data analysis for various audiences (e.g., policymakers, program managers, field staff, community stakeholders.), and facilitating the use of learning products for improved policy and practice.
• Familiarity with USAID M&E/monitoring plans and learning agenda desirable.
• Demonstrated ability to work across teams, with government stakeholders, USAID, and partner organizations. Building teams and fostering collaboration to achieve goals, meet milestones, and produce high-quality donor deliverables.
• Experience facilitating learning and knowledge sharing processes while establishing and managing dynamic feedback systems to capture experiential learning and unintended consequences.
• Excellent oral and verbal communication skills in English, including the ability to present complicated and detailed data to activity and project leads. Knowledge of French an asset.
• High level of organization, attention to detail, professionalism, and reliability.
• Ability to prioritize and manage work in a fast-paced environment across multiple projects and work streams with competing time/resource demands.
• Ability and willingness to travel internationally as needed.