Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Director

Amref Health Africa is an African-led international health development organization headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. Founded in 1957 as the Flying Doctors of East Africa to bring critical health services to remote communities, Amref Health Africa envision to bringing lasting health change for Africa in more than 30 countries across the continent. With a focus on women and children, the organization strives to overcome the most critical health challenges facing the continent: maternal and child health, HIV & TB, malaria, water and sanitation and health systems strengthening. Amref Health Africa in Ethiopia has been working in Ethiopia since 2002 in close collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health implementing a range of projects in maternal, neonatal and child health, reproductive health, health systems strengthening, health workforce development, water and sanitation, HIV/AIDS and non-communicable diseases across the country, supported by a wide range of multilateral and bilateral donors, corporates and foundations. 

Amref Health Africa would like to recruit Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Director based in Addis Ababa (Country Office) and will report to Chief of Party.

As a key member of senior staff and the point contact person for all MEL related issues, the MEL Director will be accountable for coordinating all the MEL program activities of the Ethiopia USAID Integrated Youth Activity (IYA) and achieving all MEL related program results. S/He will provide the MEL technical leadership and guidance to all activity elements and provide ongoing technical assistance to activity implementing partners; and development, implementation, and maintenance of effective monitoring, evaluation and reporting systems that reflect the priorities of IYA. The position will work in close partnership with activity staff and government institutions to oversee all MEL activities.

 Key Area

Responsibilities

Technical leadership

• Serve as core member of the activity leadership team responsible for providing MEL strategic and technical leadership to the Activity
• Provide technical leadership and support to the activity and partner staff in fostering a culture of learning across the activity, engaging youth, staff, partners, and stakeholders in learning and adaptation
• Supervise, mentor, and build capacity of the activity M&E staff
• Develop the overall Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan (MEL Plan) and annual implementation plans for the activity’s M&E systems, in collaboration with senior Activity staff and USAID

Reporting, collaborative learning and adaptation (CLA)

• Oversee the activity’s CLA process in collaboration with the Technical Director and Program Director to ensure that the activity’s CLA approach is applied and the Activity learnings inform implementation
• Monitor the activity’s MEL Plan to systematically document activity performance for Activity technical leads and the Activity leadership team
• Ensure timely and accurate submission of the activity reports to donor, including progress against targets set in the award agreement, annual work plan, quarterly, and annual reports

Monitoring and evaluation and learning

• Coordinate data collection at the activity sites to monitor program development and ensure timely compilation and reporting of data
• Communicate information obtained through M&E interventions to the activity staff, consortium members, and various external stakeholders, notably donors and partners
• Capture and document lessons learned; Lead series of finding dissemination events to share with stakeholders
• Support the Chief of Party in coordinating the mid-term and final activity evaluations

Capacity building and quality assurance

• Build MEL capacity of the staff
• Conduct field visits to monitor the quality and completeness of data
• Regularly review data collection processes, perform data quality assessments, and make adjustment as needed.

Job Requirements

Required Qualifications and Experience

• Master’s Degree or higher in Education, International Development, or a closely related field;
• Minimum of 7 years of relevant experience leading and designing and implementing M&E and learning systems on complex USAID-funded initiatives from the activity initiation to closeout;
• Experience in relevant technical areas, such as survey and research tool design, data collection, statistical analysis, qualitative research, and dissemination of results;
• Knowledge of the major evaluation methodologies (qualitative, quantitative, mixed method, and impact) and data collection and analysis methodologies;
• Demonstrated commitment to creating a learning environment in an activity including experience managing and providing ongoing training to M&E field officers;
• Familiarity with USAID policies, rules, regulations and reporting requirements;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English and Amharic.

In addition, successful candidates must be willing to travel more than 30% of the time within Ethiopia and periodically internationally. Ethiopian nationals are highly encouraged to apply.

This job posting is for an upcoming grant opportunity, and will be based on the award.

How to Apply

If you would like to join Amref’s team, please quote the position/reference number in the subject matter and send your CV and application letter with remuneration requirements and contact details of three work-related referees, through Etrecruitment@amref.org, ethiojobs.com or to the Human Resources Department, Amref Health Africa by P.O Box 20855/1000, Addis Ababa.

The closing date for submitting applications is April 18, 2021. We regret that only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Note: Telephone call to the office is strongly forbidden. Candidates MUST refer the position title on the subject line of their email and application.

• Amref Health Africa is an equal opportunity employer and has a non-smoking environment policy.