Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) Advisor

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The Public Health Institute (PHI) is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting health, well-being, and quality of life for people throughout California, across the nation and around the world. As one of the largest and most comprehensive public health organizations in the nation, we are at the forefront of research and innovations to improve the efficacy of public health statewide, nationally, and internationally.

PHI was distinguished as one of the top 50 "Best Non-Profit Organizations to Work For" by the Non-Profit Times in a national search.

Job Location:Washington, DC

Telework Eligible:Yes, at least 3 days per week in-person reporting at Washington, DC office.

Remote Eligible:No.

A. Summary Statement:

The Public Health Institute (PHI) is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting health, well-being, and quality of life for people throughout California, across the nation and around the world. As one of the largest and most comprehensive public health organizations in the nation, we are at the forefront of research and innovations to improve the efficacy of public health statewide, nationally, and internationally.

We are hiring for positions under the Global Health Training, Advisory, Support Contract (GHTASC) in support of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Global Health (GH). These roles deliver institutional support services in a wide range of technical areas at the junior, mid-, senior, and expert levels.

USAID's Bureau for Global Health supports health programs in partner countries, advances measurement and innovation in areas relevant to overall Agency health objectives, and transfers new technologies through its own programmatic work, coordination with other donors, and a portfolio of grants. Global health is a global good with consequences that not only affect the people of developing nations, but also directly affect the interests of American citizens.

The Office of Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition, within USAID's Bureau for Global Health (GH/MCHN), serves as the Agency's technical and policy lead on maternal newborn and child health, immunization, nutrition, and environmental health, with a focus on preventing child and maternal deaths and improved nutrition, and supporting other related Agency priorities. Cross-cutting activities managed by the Office in support of this goal include private sector partnerships, social and behavior change, MCHN policy, multilateral partnerships, gender, innovation, monitoring, evaluation, research/research utilization and learning (MERL), knowledge management and knowledge translation.

MCHN's Research and Policy Division (GH/MCHN/RP) is responsible for technical leadership, guidance, and coordination to advance a systematic approach to the use of measurement related efforts including innovation, monitoring, evaluation, research/research utilization and learning to accelerate the uptake, sustained and effective use of, and scale-up of maternal, newborn, child, water, and sanitation (WASH) and nutrition programming. RP is one of four divisions in the MCHN Office, which also includes the Maternal and Newborn Health Division, the Child Health and Immunization Division and the Nutrition and Environmental Health Division. RP staff support the MERL needs of other MCHN Divisions as well as USAID Missions, the Bureau for Global Health, and the Agency at large.

B. Position Summary:

The Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) Advisor will primarily support the Office of Maternal Child Health and Nutrition's office as a PHI Institutional Support Contractor (ISC). In this role, the mid-level Monitoring, Evaluation Research and Learning (MERL) Advisor for Maternal, Child Health and Nutrition (Advisor) will conduct data analysis and provide technical assistance, and capacity building in monitoring, evaluation research, and learning (MERL) in support of achievement of preventing child and maternal deaths (PCMD). The Advisor will be responsible for undertaking practical, measurement and data visualization approaches focused on the highest priority problem areas and interventions relevant to the needs of USAID PCMD priority countries. The incumbent will undertake analytical work in support of efforts to inform strategic plans and programmatic decisions of the Agency, the Global Health Bureau and USAID country missions. The Advisor will provide technical assistance in MERL and the Agency's Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) approach focused on the work of MCHN and relevant mission bilateral projects and initiatives.

Major Areas of Responsibility:

• Contribute to USAID's global technical leadership in MERL focused on measurement, data use, and reporting on MCH, Nutrition and WASH.
• Provide expert MERL support to USAID/W, Missions, and USAID global and bilateral projects.
• Contribute to USAID's annual reporting, portfolio reviews and budget development processes and support special initiatives.
• Support and as appropriate conduct analysis, documentation, knowledge management and dissemination activities working in collaboration with other MCHN technical advisors and the office's communications team.
• Communicate on MERL issues and priorities with USAID mission and USAID/W technical staff to help stakeholders consider technical priorities and measurement issues.

Employment Type: Full Time

Full salary range for this position is $97,500 to $152,620 per year, with the starting salary determined based on candidate's knowledge, skills, experience, as well as budget availability.

C. Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Global/HQ Technical leadership in MCHN data analysis, monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning

• Conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses of MCHN data, external data sets, and USAID surveys and evaluations to provide input into strategic planning, policy development, MERL reporting, and future program design related to advancing achievement of PCMD.
• Respond to recurrent and ad-hoc data analytic requests from MCHN/RP measurement team leader, MCHN office leadership and Technical Advisors, the MCHN Communication Team, and relevant leadership and working groups, as requested.
• Manage the MCHN Measurement team knowledge management practices including data collection, organization, sharing of results, and storage working in partnership with the MCHN Office's Knowledge Management Advisor and MCHN/Communication Team, as appropriate.
• Support global sharing and adoption of MER best practices from the USAID MCHN Program as well as other global health partners.
• Develop and maintain data dashboards and other approaches for MCHN HQ and mission related activities to provide data insights on needs, progress, and challenges to achievement of program cycle and the PCMD vision.
• Coordinate with relevant Global Health Bureau data staff to facilitate data validation, reproducibility, and ensure results are accessible to cross-office audiences and increase the visibility of the RP Division's work.
• Serve as the MCHN office indicator owner for the MCH Performance, Plan, and Report (PPR);
• Participate in relevant internal USAID MERL, and M&E technical working groups, task forces, and professional meetings.
• Participate in professional continuing education, skills training, and USAID training activities, as appropriate; and,
• Prepare and submit papers to professional journals and meetings related to MCHN MERL/M&E.

Support to Country level MERL for Mission and host country programs and action plans.

• Conduct analysis of internal USAID management data including Mission Operating Plans (OP) and PPR as well as external data sources to support effective and impactful mission program cycle planning and implementation.
• Provide technical and analytical support to PCMD countries and serve as MCHN liaison and/or data lead for one or more PCMD MCHN Pivot country mission teams; and,
• Provide technical support and guidance to USAID missions on measurement of PCMD for planning, implementation, impact, and reporting as well as build capacity of mission staff for effective use of MERL for planning, implementation, and reporting.
• Ability to travel internationally to developing country program sites up to 25% of the time.
• Work at least 3 days per week in-person at Washington, DC office.

D. Qualification Requirements:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Master's degree with 6 years of relevant experience, bachelor's degree with 8 years of relevant experience, Associate's degree and 10 years of relevant experience, or High School graduate and 12 years of relevant experience.
• US Citizenship or US Permanent Residency with the ability to obtain and maintain a Facility Access clearance is required. For Permanent Residents, this means having resided in the US for at least 3 of the past 5 years.

Other Qualifications:

• Strong organizational skills.
• Experience with data, implementation research, and monitoring and evaluation programs; preferably USAID programs.
• Knowledge of USAID rules, regulations, program cycle, and CLA toolkit.
• Demonstrated skills in data analysis, strategic planning, monitoring systems, program coordination and implementation, and evaluation; preferably related to maternal and child health or other public health programs.
• Proficiency in Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep or other data visualization software.
• High level of proficiency in Google Suite: Sheets, Slides, Docs, Drive and related applications
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with experience delivering technical presentations to a broad group of technical and non-technical audiences
• Strong interpersonal, facilitation, and team building skills, and ability to work across agencies and cross-culturally with diverse teams on sensitive issues
• Ability to be effective in high-pressure situations, handle multiple tasks simultaneously, problem solve in a fast-paced environment and set priorities
• Demonstrated ability to work independently
• Familiarity with maternal and child health indicators and data systems, preferred but not required.
• Experience creating and implementing knowledge management practices, preferred but not required
• Experience with working against ambitious completion deadlines for data cleaning, data analysis, and data visualization, preferred but not required.
• Willingness to travel internationally, up to 25% of the time
• Ability to work at least 3 days per week in-person at Washington, DC office.

E. Competencies:

• Innovation: Takes initiative to propose new ideas/approaches and demonstrates ability to find new and better ways to accomplish work.
• Client Service: Communicates with clients, handling any issues politely and efficiently; understands and is available to clients; maintains pleasant and professional image.
• Accountability: Takes ownership of work responsibilities and holds high standards. Keeps commitments and takes appropriate actions to ensure obligations are met. Pursues efficiency and effectiveness and adheres to organization policies and procedures.
• Interpersonal Skills: Works in cooperation with others and communicates effectively with co-workers, supervisors, subordinates, clients, and other outside contacts.
• Continual Learning: Assesses and recognizes own strengths and weaknesses; pursues professional development that is aligned with organizational role, contribution, and goals; proactively shares knowledge with others to foster learning across the organization.

F. Application Information:

Prior to submitting your application, your resume must include relevant paid and non-paid experience showing dates held with month, year and hours worked per week for each position. Please ensure that all relevant experience and education is documented on your resume. There is no limitation to resume length; updates to resumes will not be accepted during the interview and selection process.

FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT (FLSA) STATUS

This position is classified as exempt based on the job duties. However, based on the FTE, salary level of the employee, or federal/state/local laws, the employee may be classified as nonexempt.

EEO Statement

The Public Health Institute is committed to a policy that provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, medical condition including genetic characteristics, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identification and expression, sexual orientation, and to make all employment decisions so as to further this principle of equal employment opportunity. To this end, the PHI will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, medical condition including genetic characteristics, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identification and expression, sexual orientation, and will take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are offered employment and employees are treated during employment without regard to these characteristics.

For further information regarding Equal Employment Opportunity, copy and paste the following URL into your web browser: http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf

ADA Statement:

The Public Health Institute is committed to providing access and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, activities and employment for individuals with disabilities. To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Recruitment Team at least 48 hours in advance at Recruitment@phi.org.

To apply for any position, you must create an account on the Public Health Institute'sjob application site. After creating your account, you may search the open positions and apply for the specific position that interests you. Please note, mailed and emailed applications will not be accepted.

This position described in this announcement falls under a contract with the Federal Government, and therefore is subject to the provisions put forward in OMB Circular A-76 which prohibit contractors from performing inherently governmental functions. Specifically, employees placed in agency positions will not perform inherently governmental functions, nor supervise any personnel other than the contractor's own staff, nor make final decisions or sign documents that commit the U.S. Government.

We're so pleased the Public Health Institute is an organization you would like to work with. Do you have questions about this opportunity? If so, email our recruitment team atRecruitment@phi.org.

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