Director Surveillance and MERLA/Senior Technical Advisor at RTI International

Position Summary

RTI International is seeking a Director Surveillance and Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning and Adapting (MERLA) for a USAID-funded malaria surveillance and monitoring project in Tanzania. The purpose of this project is to support the Government of Tanzania (GOT) to reduce the burden of malaria and to move towards the long-term goal of malaria elimination. The Surveillance and MERLA Director will be responsible for the development and management of the surveillance, monitoring, evaluation and reporting activities of this program. The position will be based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Key Responsibilities

• Leads the project’s MERLA systems and approach, including developing and managing the project’s relevant performance indicators, baselines, and annual targets, as well as ensures compliance to USAID and PMI requirements.
• Leads the project’s support to GOT in state-of-the-art malaria surveillance, both on mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.
• Develops project’s research agenda and oversee research activities.
• Develops project’s learning agenda and oversee learning activities.
• Supervises the collection, analysis and reporting on performance indicators by other project staff and counterparts, preparing data tabulations, reports, and presentations to support project activities.
• Leads, supports and/or contributes to advanced programmatic data analyses to successfully implement the project and, overall, help Tanzania to progress towards malaria elimination.
• Oversees preparation of monthly, quarterly and annual progress reports on the status of project implementation; contributes to other project reports such as annual work plans.
• Regularly reviews and updates the project’s MEL plan.
• Provides oversight for project results reporting and management in collaboration with COP and project technical staff.
• Supervises and mentors 3–4 technical project staff.

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Minimum Requirements

• Master’s Degree in public health, demography, sociology, epidemiology, biostatistics, psychology or a related field.
• Min. of 12 years’ experience in monitoring, evaluation, surveillance, and research related to large-scale health development programs.
• Previous experience working in Tanzania in the field of surveillance, research and M&E.
• Excellent knowledge of data collection protocols for quality data collection, audit verification.
• Exceptional ability to analyze multiple sources of data to identify data trends and provide recommendations on project implementation.
• Demonstrated experience and familiarity with public health surveillance surveys, research methodologies, qualitative and quantitative research methods, data analysis, sampling methods, and establishment of surveillance and MEL systems in developing country contexts.
• Demonstrated experience leading and building the capacity of MERLA staff in a decentralized setting.
• Demonstrated track record in disseminating programmatic and research outcomes and findings at national and international conferences, as well as in the published literature.
• Strong knowledge of USAID MEL reporting procedures.
• Must have strong oral and written communication and presentation skills in English (tested FSI R4/S4). Must be proficient in Kiswahili.
• Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite applications. Experience and familiarity with DHIS 2 and statistical software packages.
• Willingness and ability to travel frequently within Tanzania.
• Local nationals are strongly encouraged to apply.