MEL Director

Pact is an international nonprofit that works in nearly 40 countries building solutions for human development that are evidence-based, data-driven and owned by the communities we serve. Founded in 1971, Pact works with partners to build resilience, improve accountability, and strengthen knowledge and skills for sustainable social impact.

Programs - Pact strives for a world where all people are heard, capable, and vibrant. The Programs Team helps realize this objective by bridging program management, technical support, and business development, enabling Pact to achieve its global strategy. We ensure program excellence through continuous learning, monitoring and evaluation and provide organizational and industry-wide thought leadership by leveraging a complementary set of cross-functional, multi-disciplinary skills, expertise, and experiences. The Programs team: influences progressive change through the development and implementation of global and regional strategies and business plans; supports advancement of innovative solutions; pursues new business opportunities; and drives effective internal and external engagement to maximize Pact’s impact across the globe. Across all aspects of its role, the Programs Department adheres to and promotes a culture of inclusion, accountability, and respect.

Pact is initiating a new activity in Liberia as part of the ACHIEVE project, a global project funded through the U.S. Department of State. The activity in Liberia will align with ACHIEVE’s overall strategic objectives which include achieving and maintaining HIV/AIDS epidemic control among pregnant and breastfeeding women, infants, children, and adolescents and improving integrated maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) and nutrition services. ACHIEVE’s Liberia MNCH activity will support the Government of Liberia to address existing MNCH gaps, improve maternal child health outcomes, and support interventions and priorities that will improve availability of and access to quality lifesaving MNCH services, and enhance health workforce capacity.

 

The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Director provides strategic guidance, vision, and management for successful monitoring, evaluation, and learning of the MNCH program. This role is critical to ensuring the generation and use of high-quality data to inform program design, implementation, and adaptation. This individual supervises MEL staff and ensures the strategic and functional integration of MEL activities, as well as active collaboration with sub-awardees, government, and donors. The MEL Director oversees all MEL activities, provides technical direction and support, ensures accurate reporting of results for program activities, and ensures the program aligns with donor requirements and Pact’s MEL quality standards. Further, the MEL Director oversees the data systems strengthening activities through a team of data visibility staff.

Technical Leadership in Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

• Lead the design and execution of the project’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Plan, ensuring timely collection, management, analysis, and reporting of quality data that meet donor and government reporting requirements.
• Ensure MEL strategies and activities are aligned with Government of Liberia’s national health guidelines, protocols, and reporting systems.
• Lead development of performance monitoring plans by identifying key performance indicators; and develop and oversee system for monitoring progress towards intended results.
• Design tools and develop strategies for data capture and data analysis for implementation of monitoring and evaluation of the project’s technical components and integration of interventions.
• Design and manage assessments and collection of performance indicator data for MNCH interventions.
• Oversee project data management approach, ensuring effective, efficient, and secure flow of data from collection through compilation, storage, analysis, and reporting.
• Institutionalize data quality into all MEL activities to ensure validity, reliability, precision, integrity, and timeliness of data, including through Routine Data Quality Assessments (RDQA) and implementation of corrective actions.
• Lead routine data review meetings to ensure data use for decision-making through review and interpretation of data, packaging and disseminating findings, and making recommendations for adaptation.
• Oversee activities to strengthen subnational health management teams to plan, manage, monitor, and evaluate their health programs.
• Ensure accurate and timely reporting to the donor and government through data analysis and visualization, writing,  and review of sections of narrative program reports and PowerPoint presentations.
• Ensure compliance with national, donor, and international best practice data governance policies, including human subjects’ protection, open data, and data quality standards.

 

Management and Other Responsibilities

• Lead and supervise a diverse team of MEL and Data Visibility staff, fostering a collaborative and high-performing team culture.
• Promote coordination and effective collaboration within the MEL team and across units within the organization.
• Collaborate with technical, program and finance teams to plan, budget, and manage MEL activities.
• Provide leadership and represent the project in MEL-related interactions with stakeholders including donors, government, and implementing partners.
• Ensure appropriate capacity development and supportive supervision for staff as appropriate in monitoring and evaluation procedures, data collection tools, and data management practices in alignment with the MEL plan.
• Participate in the senior management team, contributing to overall organizational leadership, strategy, and staff performance.

All other duties as assigned

• Master's degree with eleven (11) years work experience or bachelor's degree with at least thirteen (13+) years work experience
• Advanced degree (Master’s or higher) in public health, epidemiology, demography, statistics, information sciences, or related field.
• Minimum of 9 years of experience in MEL with at least 3 years’ experience in a senior MEL position on large health sector programs in Liberia, with a strong focus on MNCH.
• Demonstrated expertise working in a leadership capacity with international donors, senior government officials and policymakers.
• Proven track record of timely donor reporting, including high-quality narrative and PowerPoint performance reports and quality-assured performance metrics.
• Proven expertise in quantitative and qualitative methodologies, data quality assessments, data analysis, and presentation of data in meaningful way
• Experience in design and use of electronic MEL tools and software, including for data collection, management, analysis, and visualization.
• Proven in-depth knowledge understanding of the Liberian national health management information systems.
• Proven experience designing and implementing MEL systems for routine reporting.
• Demonstrated ability to coach and mentor staff and partners in MEL and data use.
• Strong management, coordination, teamwork and planning skills.
• Excellent verbal, written, communication, and presentation skills in English.
• Ability to travel nationally.

• Experience working with MOH on strengthening HMIS and local capacity for collecting, analyzing, and using data for decision-making.
• National candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.