Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Officer, LHSS Bangladesh

Job Description

Project Description

The LHSS Project is USAID’s flagship initiative in integrated health systems strengthening, with a goal to help low- and middle- income countries transition to sustainable, self-financed health systems as a means to support universal health coverage. The project will support country-level efforts to reduce financial barriers to health care, ensure equitable access to essential health services for all people, and improve the quality of health care. Equally important, it will equip host countries to sustain progress after the project ends. It will do so by ensuring that local institutions and organizations have the technical capacity and expertise to independently design, implement, and manage continued health system strengthening activities.

Job Summary

Abt Associates seeks a qualified Monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) Officer for the upcoming USAID-funded Local Health System Sustainability (LHSS) Bangladesh Activity. USAID Bangladesh is supporting the Government of Bangladesh in its efforts to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030. Bangladesh has directed attention toward improving coverage, efficiency, and quality of essential health care services, with a particular focus on improved governance, stewardship, financing, monitoring, and community engagement in urban areas. It is critical to achieve UHC that the GOB strengthens its capacity and commitment to financing self-reliance of the health sector.

LHSS’s work will span three key objectives:

Objective 1: Improved governance in financial management and health service delivery

1. Assist GOB to strengthen regulatory functions to establish the National Health Security Office
2. Improved public financial management for health
3. Improved coordination among urban health stakeholders
4. Increased domestic resource mobilization

Objective 2: Models for financial protection (FP) and service delivery (SD) tested and scaled

1. Provide technical assistance to existing financial protection models
2. Develop and implement new service delivery models in urban areas
3. Provide technical assistance to strengthen existing urban health functions
4. Strengthen civil and community oversite and engagement with health service delivery in urban areas

Objective 3: Increased private sector investment for health

1. Identify and design potential models for blended finance instruments to advance health outcomes

Key Roles and Responsibilities

The MEL Officer will have the following duties and responsibilities:

• Assess, adapt, and implement the project MEL plan, indicators, and learning agenda, including defining relevant indicators for the LHSS Bangladesh team and measurable milestones within the team’s sustainability plan. Update the MEL plan as needed throughout the project’s implementation.
• Work with MEL stakeholders in the MOHFW and the LHSS Home Office MEL team to adopt LHSS’s results framework for Bangladesh that establishes a causal pathway from activities and outputs, to intermediate results, and ultimately to the program’s desired outcomes and impact.
• Engage stakeholders and partners in Bangladesh to select a set of common indicators and measurement approaches that will align LHSS activities with the needs of Bangladesh.
• Execute a rigorous approach to MEL to measure performance toward specific goals and objectives, including quantitative, qualitative, and participatory methodologies.
• With home office, LHSS Bangladesh staff, and others as needed, collaborate in the design of data collection tools, schedules, and analysis methods in line with global project’s work plan management and monitoring system.
• Ensure data accuracy for reporting indicators across the LHSS Bangladesh Activity, and timely reporting on indicators against expected project results.
• Engage in efforts to strengthening a culture of learning at local levels with local stakeholders, including during trainings and other facilitated stakeholder engagements.
• Contribute to quarterly strategy reviews as well as drafting core components of program progress reports to USAID.
• Coordinate and oversee local research activities conducted by Abt and LHSS project partners, including contributing to quality assurance of research design, methods, and analysis, and ensuring adherence to ethical research practices and compliance with Institutional Review Board (IRB) requirements.
• Help guide the project’s overall learning agenda to derive lessons learned and best practices from project activities, and contribute to quarterly program reporting.
• Support the interpretation of MEL findings for project planning, decision-making, course-correction, and communication of implementation successes and challenges.
• Collaborate with the LHSS Home Office MEL team to ensure alignment with project-wide MEL processes and reporting requirements.
• Provide technical guidance, training, and mentorship to LHSS Bangladesh project staff on MEL. Ensure timely and accurate reporting on MEL indicators, and successful implementation of MEL systems at all levels of the project.

Within the LHSS project, the MEL Lead will be supported by LHSS home office-based operations, finance, MEL, and technical expertise. The MEL Lead will report to the Chief of Party.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in statistics, social science, development economics or a related field and 8 to 10 years of experience in data management and analysis for M&E, learning, and adaptive management.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing MEL systems on complex donor-funded development projects. Experience implementing MEL activities on health system strengthening projects is desirable.
• Experience managing MEL for USAID programs is desirable.
• Demonstrated expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research methods, and experience conducting statistical analysis.
• Experience leading and managing research projects that adhere to rigorous methodological and ethical standards.
• Skills in qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, and establishing MEL systems. Demonstrated ability to lead baseline data collection and analyses
• Familiarity with health topics highly desirable; knowledge of urban health and/or health financing desirable
• Knowledge of and experience with M&E frameworks, and reporting systems.
• Expertise in adaptive management, organizational learning/development, systems mapping, development of Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA)-related tools, CLA thought-leadership, and providing inputs on how CLA may lead to improved development outcomes
• Proficiency in Excel, Word, and other MS Office software; data analysis software such as SPSS or Stata.
• Demonstrated leadership skills and ability to work collaboratively and independently.
• Proficient English writing/speaking skills required.
• Fluency in Bangali required.
• Strong communications, interpersonal, and presentation skills required. Ability to communicate program data and results to a variety of stakeholders, including program management staff, donors, and researchers.
• Bangladesh nationals are encouraged to apply.

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s degree and 6-8 years of relevant experience

About the Organization

Abt Associates is a global leader in research, evaluation and program implementation; driving innovation and measurable impact for more than 50 years. What sets us apart is our evidence-based and multi-disciplinary approach to solving tough challenges in health, social and environmental policy and international development.

Specific areas we work in include:

• Health
• Education and workforce development
• Climate change and the environment
• Food security and agriculture
• Housing and communities
• Survey and data collection

Abt is a mission-driven company with a staff of 2,600. Our focus is on using evidence and cutting-edge methods to improve the lives and economic well-being of people worldwide.