🇸🇱 Job Vacancy @ Population Services International (PSI) – Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (ME&L) Specialist

Job Description 

Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (ME&L) Specialist (EpiC Sierra Leone)

Job Type: Consultancy/Independent Contractor

Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone

Start Date: To be determined.

End Date: To Be determined.

Reports to: Country Project Manager- EpiC SL

Grade: TBD

Background Introduction 

Population Services International (PSI) is a network of locally rooted, globally connected organizations working to achieve consumer-powered healthcare — people-centered health systems that ensure quality, affordable care wherever and whenever it is needed. Our origins in sexual and reproductive health have grown into a broader mission. Today, we work with the public and private sectors as well as local communities, prioritizing people’s voice and choice and developing solutions to meet their essential health needs. Over the past five decades, we have helped push boundaries, break taboos, set trends, and develop innovative solutions to complex global health challenges.

There are over 9,000 “PSI’ers” around the world. It’s a diverse group of entrepreneurs and professionals with an unusually wide range of backgrounds – from the medical industry to the music business – all with unique skills we bring to the job.

PSI Sierra Leone seeks to recruit, on an “independent contractor basis” the services of an M&E Specialist to assist with, amongst other pieces of work, data management for the Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC) Project activities which are aimed at increasing the coverage of COVID 19 Vaccination in Sierra Leone.

Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC) is a five-year global project funded by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).  EpiC receives COVID-19 funding to bolster health systems necessary to address COVID-19 and reduce cases of reemergence.

Currently, EpiC and its consortium members implement COVID-19 activities in more than 45 countries worldwide.  The project delivers high-quality technical assistance at the community, facility, district, regional and national levels and builds relationships with relevant partners working to address COVID-19.

In Sierra Leone, EpiC works hand in hand with Sierra Leone’s Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) to identify and address gaps that are not currently covered by other partners throughout the country but more especially in the 7 districts that have the lowest COVID-19 vaccine uptake.

General Objective of the Position 

Reporting to the EpiC Sierra Leone Country Project Manager and working closely with the M&E Coordinator for the organization, the MEL Specialist will take a leadership role in developing and supporting EpiC Sierra Leone project’s data management, utilization and reporting through the EpiC Global Infolink’s database platform. The support will include data collection, cleaning, validation and visualization, co-leading administration of the project’s activity data base. The MEL Specialist will also work with the global EpiC M&E team on co-design and oversight of implementation of new components of routine data collection (by adding to existing database).

The MEL Specialist will lead the ongoing capacity building and skills maintenance in data management and utilization for program quality improvement among the EpiC Sierra Leone country project team. The position will contribute to consolidating and building EpiC project’s evidence and knowledge resources and showcasing the impact of our covid-19 vaccination work both internally and externally. The MEL Specialist will also support the EpiC project team and its implementing partners in oversight and guidance on Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) activities. The position will work very closely with the Impact Malaria program M&E team, and when needed, also provide guidance to other program colleagues within the country office.

The specific job functions are as follows:

• Leadership on routine & periodic activity data collection and management
• Provision of routine covid-19 vaccine management information system backstopping to the EpiC SL team
• Technical ME&L assistance to the EpiC project team
• Contribute to the learning agenda of the project.

Key Responsibilities

• Work with the Project Manager (EpiC) and the M&E Coordinator to contribute to strengthening the EpiC Project MEL systems.
• Manage routine data, including data cleaning and entry in the global EpiC Infolink’s software platform to ensure timeliness, completeness, consistency and quality.
• Leading the design and testing of data collection, data entry and supervision tools
• Creating data analysis plans and effectively implementing them
• Undertake critical review of existing data collection forms & reporting tool to identify gaps and feed this to the EPI M&E team for further action.
• Liaise /coordinate with the central DHIS2 unit of the MOHS and other partners to share with them critical and relevant covid-19 vaccine data-related findings from the field aimed at strengthening the overall system.
• Ensure timely and complete reporting and feedback of routine data system, including data quality review, relying on support from the EpiC program Team.
• Provide technical leadership for the development, validation and implementation of data collection tools and processes, including the adaptation and improvement of the existing suite of quantitative monitoring tools for EpiC Sierra Leone.
• Coordinate regular review of data at national and district levels to identify any trends, patterns or unexpected changes, and to support data for decision making with the rest of team.
• Implement processes for tracking progress of routine monitoring (new data tracker detailing reporting elements and their periodicity for tracking, monthly deadlines for receiving data and estimated processing time at country level)
• Coordinate EpiC Sierra Leone project team’s ongoing skills building and provide in-house guidance on the appropriate use of the database.
• Contribute to evidence generation, documentation and information-sharing on covid-19 vaccine integration by working with the EpiC Project Communications Officer to co-author articles and success/ change stories.
• Presenting at conferences and meetings evidenced-based data for internal and external stakeholders.
•  Maintain active involvement/ participation in external technical MEL working groups, and other technical bodies, as appropriate, based on the project’s needs.
• Carry out additional tasks, as delegated by the Project Manager and PSI Sierra Leone Country Representative.

Qualification and experience

• A Masters’ degree in a relevant field mainly public health, epidemiology, statistics/demography. etc.
• At least 3 years of proven experience in monitoring and evaluation in reproductive, maternal child health, or a related field
• Quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis management skills, specifically with database management (preferably in DHIS2) and survey instruments development (preferably in Kobo Toolbox or ODK)
• Experience conducting monitoring, evaluation and research in a global public health setting.
• Solid technical background in Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health and other related aspects
• Competence in qualitative and quantitative analysis software programs (SPSS, Epi-Info, SAS.etc.)
• Ability to guide, coach and oversee others to produce accurate, timely results and products collaboratively.
• Technical writing and strong presentation skills to both internal and external audiences
• Willingness to travel to the field.
• Must be able to work in a dynamic and complex environment.
• Excellent written and verbal English language skills

Interested candidates should submit CV, professional certificates and cover letters indicating the position they are applying for and submit online to the email [email protected] /before the 30th June 2023.

Population Services International is an Equal Opportunity Employer, promoting gender, equity and diversity.

PSI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages applications from qualified individuals regardless of actual or perceived race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, personal appearance, matriculation, political affiliation, family status or responsibilities, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions or breastfeeding, genetic information, amnesty, veteran, special disabled veteran or uniform service member status or employment status.