Senior MERLA Advisor, Africa

This position may work remotely from any of the following countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya/Alliance locations, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zambia. Compensation will be determined by the prevailing market rate in the employee's country, applicable statutory laws, Ipas's pay philosophy, and factors such as experience level and expertise.

About the role

The Senior MERLA Advisor, Africa acts as a steward of Ipas’s global monitoring, evaluation, research, learning, and adapting (MERLA) framework for Ipas’s global strategic plan. This role works closely with Ipas network nodes across Africa to provide context-specific technical support, facilitate collaboration between nodes, and support MERLA skill strengthening initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Onboard and mentor new MERLA hires, including in-person and remote training, guidance, and support on MERLA skills and adhering to Ipas Network Quality Standards.
• Provide responsive and proactive technical assistance support to MERLA staff in African country nodes, including:
  • Building MLE plans.
  • Developing research and evaluation protocols.
  • Developing and testing indicators and new data collection tools.
  • Training data collectors.
  • Liaising with other Program Evidence and TEX staff to expand project capacity.
• Lead or support adaptation to local contexts of global tools, guidance, and processes for data management, analytics, donor reporting, data auditing, and data visualization and use.
• Ensure global monitoring and evaluation is driven by and aligns with country needs and developments in the field of abortion and SRHR.
• Lead and/or support cross-country and regional research to address evidence gaps in the field of abortion and SRHR.
• Represent Ipas in regional meetings, conferences, working groups, etc.
• Capacity Strengthening Activities: Conduct in-person or virtual sessions on key MERLA tools or software (e.g., global databases, mobile data collection platforms, quantitative and qualitative analysis software, data visualization platforms).
• Support nodes to follow Network Quality Standards and M&E Standard Operating Procedures.
• Capacity Strengthening Tools/Process: Support the use of learning tools throughout the project cycle, including theory of change, logic models, log frames, evaluations, and after-action reviews.
• Temporary Gap Filling in Nodes: Provide monitoring and evaluation backstopping for new country offices, offices with limited research and MERLA staff, and offices with staffing transitions.
• Global MERLA Strategy/Systems: Act as liaison across nodes to develop and ensure global MERLA standard operating procedures, the Ipas M&E Guide, and global MERLA tools and processes are driven by best practices and country learning and priorities.
• Fundraising Support: Serve as MERLA lead or support for global, regional, and country-level fundraising initiatives and proposal development, including evidence-based project design, technical writing, peer review, and co-creation of conceptual frameworks.
• MLE Plans: Co-develop or provide technical support for monitoring, evaluation, and learning plans during project set-up, including technical assistance on indicators, data management processes, data collection tool design/adaptation, and best practices.
• Data Use: Co-design and build user-driven tools and dashboards to support nodes in interpreting and using results for continuous quality improvement, learning, and dissemination.
• Analysis: Perform quantitative and qualitative analyses of monitoring, evaluation, and research data for organizational and program decision-making, or collaborate with TEX colleagues to meet these needs.
• Reporting: Lead or support organizational and donor reporting on programmatic data, conduct in-depth analysis, and evidence synthesis in support of the strategic plan and donor requests.
• Research Design Leadership: Lead and/or support research project development as primary or co-investigator, including preparing concept notes, study protocols, data collection tools, consent forms, proposals for funding, and managing ethical approvals.
• Research Implementation: Hire, train, and monitor/supervise research teams, including data collectors and field supervisors, sometimes in multiple countries.
• Research Dissemination: Support nodes to prepare and execute dissemination plans to ensure research results are actionable and impactful, including representing Ipas at conferences, hosting webinars, developing factsheets/research briefs, and managing peer-reviewed publication submissions.
• Organizational Learning: Stay informed of developments in the global field of MERLA to bring best practices to Ipas’s work.

Requirements

• Minimum Master’s degree in social science or public health discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
• 8+ years’ work experience in global reproductive health programs, especially in MERLA.
• Experience in MERLA for global health programs, especially SRHR, including training others in MERLA-related skills and processes.
• Experience managing research and/or evaluation teams.
• Experience using mobile data collection apps (ODK programming, CommCare, or similar).
• Demonstrated ability to use data for decision-making and quality improvement.
• Experience with word-processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software.
• Experience with databases and data visualization software (Power BI, Tableau, Excel, or others).
• Fluency in English; excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; ability to use language translation tools when needed.
• Experience working in multiple African countries.
• Willingness to travel internationally, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa, up to 40% of the time.

Preferred Skills

• Proficiency in French and/or Portuguese, in addition to English.
• Experience using statistical analysis software (Stata, SPSS, SAS, R, or others) for inferential statistics.
• Experience with qualitative data analysis and software (Dedoose, NVivo, Atlas.ti, or others).
• Research and/or evaluation budgeting experience.

Competencies

• Supportive of a woman's right to choose and access to safe abortion services.
• Committed to upholding the highest ethical standards in MERLA practices.
• Well-organized with the ability to track multiple projects and deadlines.
• Ability to work successfully in a cross-cultural, team-based, global environment.
• Understanding of and commitment to gender equity and social inclusion in local and international contexts.