Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting, And Learning (MERL) Manager at UMATI

JOB ADVERTISEMENT

Chama cha Uzazi na Malezi Bora Tanzania (UMATI) established in 1959, is an autonomous voluntary National NGO originally incorporated under CAP 337 in 1973, established under the non-governmental organization Act No 24 of 2002 in 2019 with registration number 00NGO/R2/000231. UMATI is a full Member Association (MA) of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) accredited in since 2015.

UMATI works in partnership with the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Women and Special Groups, and Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG) with the goal of providing Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) education, information, and services in Tanzania. The association has a long leadership history in SRH Programs in Tanzania including pioneering in Family Planning (FP) services, SRHR programs for young people, integrated Clinics, and Community-based service delivery approaches.

UMATI wishes to recruit a qualified and experienced candidate to fill in the following vacant position;

Job title: Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting, and Learning (MERL) Manager

Reporting to: Head of Programs

Location: Dar es Salaam

Subordinates: MERL Officer

Job Purpose:

Working closely with the Programs team, the Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting, and Learning (MERL) Manager will have primary responsibility for implementing the M and E system and program outcome reporting. S/he will be responsible for scheduling and supporting learning, surveys, and evaluation events, and support work with program staff to improve the quality of field programs as well as the timely submission of M&E progress reports.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The MERL manager will have the following duties and responsibilities:

M&E Technical Support

• Strengthen UMATI’s monitoring, evaluation and learning system for the effective tracking of progress in the implementation of the strategic plan and projects using approved indicators and targets for measuring, progress and making recommendations for improvement;
• Work with the IPPF Africa Regional Office (IPPF ARO) MERL Team to introduce and implement the DHIS2 and Clinical MIS to ensure accurate collection of performance data from all projects and programs and to ensure that the information is fed into the National HMIS;
• Ensure consistent and continuous tracking of progress in the implementation of the Organization’s Strategic Plan and its key outcomes;
• Build the monitoring, evaluation, and data collection capacity of staff at HQ, Clinics, and project sites through initiating, organizing, participating, or conducting training sessions and evaluation workshops;
• Take the lead in the regular collection, analysis, and reporting on data from the Association’s entire program, and monitor data quality;
• Lead the implementation of baselines and other surveys, such as project reviews, midterm, and end-of-project reviews, and ensuring compliance with donor’s evaluation policies when applicable;
• Comply with the requirements of the reporting systems for preparing reports as per the Donor formats/requirements;
• Review the performance of existing management information systems to help identify potential modifications;
• Prepare for presentation and dissemination to the Association’s stakeholders – data; lessons learned, best practices, and the statistical, qualitative, and anecdotal evidence provided by UMATI Programmes and activities;
• Responsible for the production of supporting documents e.g., data summaries using dashboards, workshop reports, etc;
• Lead and contribute to the development of the Annual Business Plan and the Annual
• Performance Report including the review and use of UMATI’s service statistics;
• Establish a robust fellowship/internship programme in collaboration with Institutions of Higher

Learning and Research;

• Ensure UMATI generates peer-reviewed publications annually to share its work with academia and the SRHR Community of Practice; and
• Provide guidance, oversight, and capacity building for staff including and the MEL officers, interns/research fellows;
• Provide support to proposal development, particularly during the log frame and design discussions;
• Supervise the Project M&E Officers and Data clerks or their equivalents;
• Participate in the monitoring and evaluation component of the annual budget of projects;
• Keep abreast of developments in grant/program changes and progress in order to advise and recommend tools and strategies to increase program performances and results;
• Develop and cascade standard operating procedures to guide MERL activities to all project teams;
• Provide leadership to the MERL team with guidance from the Head of Programs by convening regular meetings, and supporting regular program team coordination sessions;
• Design Data Quality Assessments and audits tools and implement regular DQA together with other M&E and program staff;
• Conduct regular field monitoring/mentorship visits to support the implementation of RME systems and Continuous Quality Improvement/Quality Assurance (CQI/QA) initiatives

Coordination, Communications, and Representation

• Prepare or support routine reports, abstracts, presentations, project summary sheets, newsletters, etc, and present at conferences or meetings when required.
• Provide tools and technical support to project staff for documenting lessons learned and success stories;
• Produce monthly progress update bulletin to update the SMT on program progress;
• Prepare the program’s monthly and quarterly reports and submit them to the head of programs within the deadlines;
• Ensure M&E project tools and documents are in line with donors and work closely with IPPF MERL focal point;
• Represent the organization in national MERL-related technical meetings; TWGs and Review meetings as assigned by the Head of Programs
• Undertake other relevant duties assigned by the supervisor;

Qualifications/Experience Requirements:

• Master’s degree in Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Statistics, Computer Science, Development Economics, Public Health, or related fields;
• 8 years of experience in MEL with national or international NGOs; field/country office experience preferred with 2-3 years of supervisory experience;
• Significant experience in data management, including the use of quantitative and qualitative analysis software and report-writing skills;

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Must have experience in quantitatively analyzing MERL data and synthesizing findings for programmatic use;
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel (required) and at least one other statistical package such as STATA, or SPSS (preferred);
• Experience in designing and implementing qualitative studies, analyzing qualitative data, and generating learning for programmatic use (preferred);
• Experience in program design and M&E plan development;
• Ability to design M&E tools, surveys, surveillance systems, and evaluations
• Prior experience in non-governmental organizations working with SRHR preferred;
• Experience managing electronic data capture and working with real-time monitoring of data;
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and meet deadlines under pressure;
• Proven ability to work effectively in a team-oriented setting while also taking initiative to complete assigned tasks with high quality and within tight timelines;
• Technical content experience in one or more of the following areas preferable: health systems strengthening, Sexual and Reproductive Health and rights;
  High level of integrity;
• Good level of proficiency in Windows Excel and quantitative analysis;
• Strong interpersonal skills and managerial capacity;
• An effective communicator fluently both verbally and in writing Kiswahili and English;
• Ability to work both independently and as a member of a team;
• Willing and able to travel extensively within and outside Tanzania on UMATI business;

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

Interested candidates should submit an application letter indicating the position applied for and a detailed CV in one PDF document.

Applications should be submitted by 6th May 2023 to the Executive Director through email: applications@umati.or.tz The position should be the subject of the email application. Kindly note that only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

UMATI is an equal-opportunity employer. Women and people with disability are highly encouraged to apply.