Senior MERLA Advisor

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 for this position will be determined by the prevailing market rate in the employee's country
* and the applicable statutory laws, in addition to Ipas's own pay philosophy and other factors, such as the employee's experience level and expertise.

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. Specifically, this role primarily supports Ipas’s African country nodes to 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 in‑person and remote support to build MLE plans, develop research and evaluation protocols, develop and test indicators and new data collection tools, train data collectors, and liaise with other Program Evidence and TEX staff to expand project capacity; lead/support adaptation to local contexts of global tools, guidance, and processes for data management, analytics, donor reporting, data auditing, and data visualization and use;

play a key role in ensuring that global monitoring and evaluation is driven by and aligns with country needs and developments in the field; lead and/or support across‑country and regional research to address evidence gaps in the field of abortion and SRHR; and may represent Ipas in regional meetings, conferences, working groups, etc.

• CAPACITY STRENGTHENING ACTIVITIES Conduct capacity strengthening activities (in‑person or virtual sessions) on key MERLA tools or software with staff from African nodes, as needed/requested. Key MERLA tools or software include, but are not limited to: use of global databases, mobile data collection platforms, quantitative and qualitative analysis software, data visualization platforms, and other analytic tools to enable use of evidence to monitor and improve programs and projects.
  
  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 back‑stopping for new country offices, offices with limited research and MERLA staff, and offices with staffing transitions, as needed.
• 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 to global, regional and country‑level fundraising initiatives and proposal development in the form of evidence‑based project design, technical writing, peer review, and co‑creation of conceptual frameworks.
• MLE PLANS Co‑develop (or provide technical support to the development of) monitoring, evaluation and learning plans during project set‑up for new projects with project team members by providing 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 that support nodes to interpret and use results from monitoring, evaluation, and research for continuous quality improvement, learning and internal and external dissemination to stakeholders.
• ANALYSIS Perform quantitative and qualitative analyses of monitoring, evaluation, and research data, for organizational and…