Monitoring and Evaluation Officer , Kaduna at FHI360 120 views0 applications

FHI 360 is a nonprofit human development organization dedicated to improving lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions. Our staff includes experts in health, education, nutrition, environment, economic development, civil society, gender, youth, research and technology – creating a unique mix of capabilities to address today’s interrelated development challenges. FHI 360 serves more than 70 countries and all U.S. states and territories.

Description
Alive & Thrive is an initiative to save lives, prevent illness, and ensure healthy growth and development through improved breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices. In its first five years (2009 to 2014), A&T demonstrated that innovative approaches to improving feeding practices could be delivered with impact and at scale in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Viet Nam. Alive & Thrive continues its work there and is supporting others to scale up nutrition by applying and adapting tested, proven approaches and tools in Burkina Faso, India, Southeast Asia, and Nigeria. Alive & Thrive is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the governments of Canada and Ireland.

Job Summary/Responsibilities

• The A&T Nigeria State IYCF M&E Officer will work closely with the A&T M&E Advisor in Abuja, the Lagos State Team Lead, and the Nigeria technical leadership team led by the A&T Nigeria Project Director.
• The State IYCF M&E Officer is responsible for providing technical assistance (TA) and program oversight in the design and implementation A&T Nigeria’s M&E portfolio in Lagos state. This portfolio will be focused on the design, implementation, and monitoring of the A&T program components and its partners’ implementation of these.
• The program components include: advocacy, interpersonal communication, performance of frontline workers, community mobilization, mass communication, and the strategic collection and use of data.
• The position is responsible for providing IYCF M&E technical and program input through coordination, collaboration, and participation in discussions with partners (and through technical assistance and training as requested) in line with the Government of Nigeria’s National Strategic Plan of Action for Nutrition (2014-2019), specifically the FMOH; international donors; private/commercial and NGO agencies and projects; other partners and stakeholders in Lagos state to help with tracking and reporting on the improvement of breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices.
• The position will also provide this support to the A&T Nigeria technical leadership team’s work to integrate IYCF messages, materials, tools, and indicators within these entities and their programs.
• The State IYCF M&E Officer will also help develop and implement an integrated M&E system for A&T to track the inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes of each of A&T Nigeria’s core activities, whether directly carried out by A&T or by its international and local subcontractors and partners.
• In this regard, the Officer will also oversee quality control and timely production of required project data, tools, materials and products relevant to M&E, including any operational research and baseline/end line surveys.
• This position will communicate, connect, and coordinate with other A&T HQ and A&T Nigeria office technical staff, subcontractors, partners, government and NGO stakeholders, and international donors to ensure successful design and implementation of the M&E portfolio of activities expected. This position will also play a role in disseminating lessons learned from M&E at national and state forums.

Program Summary

• The Nigeria A&T IYCF social and behavior change program focuses on improving rates of early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, timely introduction of complementary feeding, and minimum dietary diversity for infants over six months old.
• A&T will work across the public, commercial/private, and NGO sectors to improve IYCF through A&T’s four components: advocacy, interpersonal communication and community mobilization, mass communication, and strategic use of data.
• At the national level, A&T will predominantly work with its public, private/commercial, and other partners (e.g., UNICEF, Scaling Up Nutrition and other national IYCF initiatives) to improve the implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of key IYCF policies (e.g., Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes; maternity entitlements; work place policies; breastfeeding-friendly health care and delivery facilities).
• A&T will also work in two states-Lagos (metropolitan) and Kaduna (urban and rural)-to apply the four components to reach households, communities, and facilities with targeted, age-appropriate social and behavior change communication (SBCC) messaging on IYCF practices.
• Specifically in metropolitan Lagos, the Nigeria program (as an example only) might work with the State Primary Health Care Board, proprietary and patent medicine vendors, licensed traditional birth attendants, major public and private maternity centers, social franchise-oriented private organizations, faith- and community-based organizations, and related on-going projects to improve advocacy; interpersonal behavior change communication (counseling), and community mobilization efforts to reach pregnant women and new mothers; and use mass communication (through broadcast and digital channels) to further extend the reach of IYCF messages, provide follow-up counseling, and improve the social norm around IYCF practices.
• In rural and urban Kaduna, the Nigeria program (as an example only) might work with the State Ministry of Health, the Federation of Muslim Women Associations of Nigeria, the Market Women Association, and related health initiatives by the Dangote Foundation, USAID, Clinton Health Access Initiative, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Primary Health Care initiative to improve advocacy, interpersonal behavior change communication, frontline worker performance, and community mobilization; and use mass communication (through broadcast and digital channels) to improve the social norms for IYCF among stakeholders and public and private frontline healthcare providers.
• At both the national level and in the two states, while the emphasis will be to build the capacity of the public sector to improve IYCF practices, the involvement and resources from the private and commercial sectors will be pursued to advance IYCF policies, expand the promotion of positive social norms, and extend timed and age-appropriate behavior change messaging through private and commercial facilities to households and communities.
• Formative research will be conducted to further understand target populations and audiences (stakeholders, providers, beneficiaries), and monitoring systems will be established to ensure that program inputs, outputs, and outcomes are tracked and fed back into improving the program.

General Roles/Responsibilities

• Facilitate the use of data to develop and implement A&T programming in Lagos state.
• Provide capacity building (TA and training) as needed in strategic collection and use of IYCF data.
• Assist the M&E Advisor to develop/refine M&E plans for A&T programming in Nigeria including suggesting possible indicators and proposing M&E strategies to collect data for chosen indicators based on the plan of action and project log-frame.
• Provide TA to IYCF partners & A&T sub-grantees in Lagos state to improve the quality of M&E to track the inputs, processes, outputs, and outcomes of the supervisor-health care worker-community volunteer connection to the community and households. This may include TA to develop M&E plans, including suggesting indicators and proposing data collection strategies, activities, analysis and reporting formats.
• Provide input on the design and implementation of qualitative studies and quantitative surveys for IYCF, including sampling strategies, survey instruments, survey implementation, data analysis, report writing, and dissemination of results. This may include household surveys, trials for improved practices (TIPS), sentinel surveillance, lot quality assurance sampling, focus group discussions, in-depth interviews.
• Design, conduct and/or actively participate in designing and conducting short, focused evaluation exercises, operational research at designated sites, with topics determined in cooperation with public, private/commercial, and NGO sectors at national and/or state level; and A&T country office and/or HQ staff, to shed light on operational issues concerning implementation of A&T programming in Lagos state. Share data and lessons learned from these exercises with local, national, and regional partners to continue to build the knowledge base of IYCF.
• Work with HF staff on IYCF documentation, data analysis and data display.
• Collect, analyze, and make IYCF data available for decision making in A&T state office.
• Help interpret and disseminate data on IYCF and ensure that results are reported to clients and partners.
• Keep abreast of international developments concerning M&E strategies for IYCF programs and share state-of-the-art information, tools, and approaches with A&T Nigeria and partners.
• Participate in various state working groups and task forces related to M&E for IYCF.

Specific Roles:

• Provide TA, coordination, and implementation support to the Lagos state Ministry of Health as requested, to include mapping of current IYCF M&E interventions and developing subsequent actions to fill in gaps or strengthen on-going activities.
• Provide TA and training to Lagos state stakeholders on the strategic collection and use of data to track inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes. This will include assisting the M&E Advisor with oversight of baseline work and the set-up of M&E frameworks that will track input, process, output, and impact of at-scale state advocacy, IPC and community mobilization, and mass communications activities.

Other:

• Contribute to the development of A&T annual work plans, budgets (especially the M&E component) and project reports, and ensure timely reporting and responses to requests for information to HQ.
• Present/disseminate program results, based on program experience, M&E and evaluation data to GON platforms, projects and partners, and other professional colleagues and organizations in Nigeria.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in public health, nutrition, demography, statistics, or related field, with emphasis on quantitative analysis. Master’s preferred.
• Experience working in Lagos state preferred.
• At least 3 – 5 years of M&E experience in Nigeria (similar global experience may be acceptable) required with at least 1 year in a role providing technical input to a large scale nutrition or public health/development project.
• Public health/nutrition field experience in designing, implementing, monitoring and reporting on various types of service delivery platforms (i.e. interpersonal communication, community mobilization and mass communication).
• Experience in analysis and interpretation of quantitative data, including experience drafting reports based on quantitative data.
• Experience working with routine health facility and community reporting tools and the District Health Information system.
• Fluency in Yoruba will be an added advantage.