In Ethiopia, the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation (BMGF) will concentrate its health portfolio on strengthening the national and regional-level health institutions that oversee district level service delivery to help Ethiopia’s Federal Ministry of Health achieve its ambitious Health Sector Transformation Plan (HSTP).
To align in a country-led approach, the foundation’s Ethiopia Integrated Health and Nutrition Team (EIHT) will program investments to align resources and partners using a common approach: by supporting health sector leadership, governance, and accountability at the national and regional levels, and by delivering evidence-based, high impact health and nutrition services to strengthen Ethiopia’s health care system.
The EIHT is developing an approach to Monitoring, Learning, and Evaluation (MLE) that will:
- Track, assess, and evaluate its contribution to Ethiopia’s Health Sector Transformation Plan, health system performance, and service coverage outcomes;
- Monitor, assess, and evaluate the portfolio’s contribution to the health system consistent with its theory of change;
- Lead and create opportunities for adaptive management and learning during the EIHT’s implementation; and
- Contribute to strengthening in-country measurement systems and institutions.
The Senior Program Officer (SPO), Measurement, Learning & Evaluation (MLE) and Data, will be responsible for articulating, and further developing the MLE approach and lead in tracking/continuously assessing the progress made to health system performance through various investments aimed at strengthening National and RHB capacity. Success will require self-sufficiency, identifying key issues and priorities and focusing on these to deliver required results with minimal direction.
- Monitor, learn from, and evaluate the implementation of the foundation’s country health strategy, including both new and established bodies of work
- Provide accountability and ensure efficiency of performance management mechanisms. Oversee progress towards the EIHT's goals to ensure that expected milestones and deliverables are met and that any delays are understood, documented, and, as relevant, adjustments are made accordingly to get back on track. Continuously, review, refine and monitor key performance indicators
- Play a key role in strengthening and aligning with government measurement systems instead of creating parallel or vertical measurement approaches
- Work closely with key government agencies to keep abreast of and advise on strengthening in-country institutional capacity for measurement, learning and evaluation
- Work with the EIHT program officers and the Deputy Director to oversee regular project progress-tracking and lead the preparation of quarterly and annual narratives tracking progress against strategy targets
- Under the leadership of the Deputy Director, Ethiopia Health and Nutrition, work collaboratively with external partners and other stakeholders working in Ethiopia’s MLE and data ecosystem to identify synergies
- Develop and manage MLE investments, as required
- Contribute to strategy refresh, portfolio development, and cross cutting data initiatives with focus on coherent, integrated theories of change, measurable impact models, collaborations and implementation plans to ensure long-term sustainability and impact
- Spend significant amounts of time in the field actively learning from and practically monitoring how interventions affect the health outcomes of citizens
- Work on complex problems; analysis of situations and/or data requiring in-depth evaluation of various factors
- Exercise sound judgment within broadly defined practices and policies to select methods, techniques and evaluation criteria for obtaining results
- Independently identify issues, formulate and designs plans, and execute ideas for a major initiative
- Ensure that networks of stakeholders inside and outside the foundation are enabled toward a collective outcome
- Senior-level experience in monitoring and evaluation
- Experience working on large scale, complex health systems strengthening programs across multiple geographies
- Proven experience of working with, coaching, and mentoring government staff to improve data analysis and measurement systems
- Ability to critically design and evaluate MLE tools, surveys, surveillance systems, and evaluations
- In-depth knowledge of statistical methods, formative, summative, developmental and additive evaluation designs, qualitative and quantitative research methods, data collection and management
- Nuanced approach with quantitative and qualitative methodologies
- Good experience in health informatics
Education and Experience
- Minimum 8 years of experience in program design, implementation and oversight of MLE activities. 15+ years of experience preferred