Job Title: Data Triangulation Consultant 

Position Type: Consultant

Duration: 1 year (as needed on quarter basis)

Posting Location: Addis Ababa

Application deadline: August 23, 2021

Background:

John Snow, Inc. (JSI) is a public health management firm, headquartered in the United States, dedicated to improving the health of individuals and communities throughout the world. JSI has been implementing public health work in Ethiopia for over 25 years.

JSI is implementing the five-year Digital Health Activity in Ethiopia, which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The purpose of this Activity is to support the Government of Ethiopia (GOE) to improve the quality of health services and create a sustainable health care system through the use of data for decision making, as well as to provide similar services to other countries in Africa or to respond to a crisis in Ethiopia (as needed). The primary objectives of the Activity are to 1) support information technology systems and data repository at all levels; 2) build a culture of data use; and 3) improve capacity and governance of MOH health information systems management.

One of the pillars of the DHA project is improving the culture of data use at all levels in the health system through building capacity of health care workers and administrators on various data use competencies and producing evidence and policy briefs from routine and non-routine data sources. In line with this, there are lots of data focused story needs from partners, decision makers and implementers. Taking this into consideration, well-organized story telling should be prepared and compiled together, analyzed and regularly shared for better decision making and project improvement. Availability of real time information from different data sources is equally important for timely decision making. To support this effort, Digital Health Activity (DHA) is collaborating systematically with other implementing partners nationally and in the regions, to generate real-time evidence by analyzing historical and current data from different data sources.  This SOW is prepared to establish a data-triangulation system in place which is geared to public health intervention. The Triangulation exercise will facilitate validation of data through cross verification from more than two sources and conduct robust analytical procedures. It will assess the consistency of findings obtained through different data sources and increase the chance to make decisions and improve the quality of data. To this contribution, DHA is looking for a consultant to work with a strong experience and background in data triangulation, analysis, and evidence generation to produce manuscript level reports.    

Rationale

The triangulation of data from the different sources has the following three main reasons. Firstly, since the exercise refers to the practice of using multiple sources of data or multiple approaches to analyzing data it will enrich and enhance the credibility of different reports. Secondly, it will help to generate exploratory questions that will be used to make course corrections or revisions. Finally, the result of this exercise is going to be more explanatory by supporting decision makers to get in-depth understanding of selected indicators.

Approach

This exercise will be a data-driven approach using different data sources such as national HMIS, Supply, COVID-19, and other related data sources. Availability of data and statistical power of the information will be tested after determining indicators of interest and administrative level. Secondary information (including qualitative information) will be also used to anchor the results of the study. In-depth statistical analysis will be conducted ranging from descriptive to multivariate, with appropriate weighting.

Responsibilities:

The data triangulation consultant will be responsible for leading data focused evidence generation for the health sector including identifying public health problems that require data driven evidence, identifying data sources and collecting the data, data processing, sharing evidence to government and non-governmental stakeholders, and preparing and submitting manuscripts for peer reviewed journals. S/he will liaise between technical teams and program teams in the full process.

Specific responsibilities 

The Data Triangulation consultant will focus at least on one thematic areas after consulting with FMOH and DHA, leveraging the already available routine and non-routine health and health related data. This exercise will be conducted in a phased approach. Specific responsibilities of the consultant will be:

• In consultation with MOH, identify public health problems or use cases for at least four rounds of advanced data analytics and evidence generation.
• Identify data sources, gather required data, analyze, and produce insights and evidence.
• Liaison between technical teams, government counterparts and program teams in mapping of available information.
• Work closely with the rest of the team in prioritizing area of focus.
• Conduct mapping of datasets and data elements from available sub systems, perform alignment and robust real-time data management.
• Create and maintain up-to-date catalog of related articles in a proper bibliography.
• Produce quality reports that provide insight to public health needs.
• Facilitate the organization of evidence sharing forums and present the evidence for important stakeholders.
• Facilitate the submission of manuscripts of data analytics work to peer-reviewed journal.
• Capacitate MOH and DHA staff on data analytics, evidence generation, storytelling, and manuscript preparation. 
• The Consultant is expected to coordinate and provide regular (weekly) updates on the advance of the data analytics and evidence generation work.
• Finalize and submit the documents by incorporating comments.

Expected deliverables

DHA is supporting FMOH in evidence sharing from several different datasets from routine sources like (HMIS, CHIS, commodities supply chain, regulatory information, COVID-19, surveys, surveillances,), and non-routine surveys and researches (EDHS, SPA, SARA, among others). Overall expected deliverables of the consultant at the end of the one year (phased in each quarter) contract period is the following:

1.  At least FOUR papers (equivalent to publishable manuscripts) submitted to reputable peer-reviewed scientific journals jointly with/without MOH partners.
2. At least one power point per manuscript as part of the continuing evidence sharing in the various health program areas.
3. Proceedings of at least FOUR evidence sharing forums prepared at the national level.

Job Requirements

Required Qualification and skills

• At least MA/MPH degree in relevant discipline; Data Science, Public health, Research, Statistics, Monitoring and Evaluation, or related field is required
• At least ten years of experience working on public health data focused report production.
• Experience in leading a manuscript published in reputable journals
• Knowledge and experience in use of Excel/CSV, SQL, STATA, R and /or SPSS and bibliography organization softwares (such as Procite, EndNote, BibTeX, RefMan and RefWorks) is strongly desired
• Exceptional ability to analyze multiple sources of data to identify data trends.
• Knowledge of/experience with the main existing electronic health information systems in use in Ethiopia (DHIS2, eCHIS, and EMR) is a plus
• Knowledge of/experience with the Ethiopian Health Extension Program (HSTP, IRR and HMIS) is a plus

JSI/WEI is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer committed to workplace diversity. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all qualified applicants and employees without regard to age, race, color, national origin, ancestry, creed, religion, gender, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, sexual preference, genetic information, political affiliation, or protected veteran status in any employment decisions. M/F/V/D.

How to Apply

Interested and qualified applicants should follow the below instruction and apply through the online application form no later than August 23, 2021.

Fill out the online application form using this form: Online Application Form. If you don’t fill the online application form, your application will not be considered. Submit your resume and cover letter to dhtechnicaljobs@jsi.com

NB: You must include the name of the position you are applying for in the subject line of the email. If this is not included, your application will not be considered. Any application received after the closing date will not be considered.

1. Application deadline: August 23, 2021.