Senior Program Officer, Evaluation and Adaptive Learning
Addis Ababa
Domestic – Evaluation and Adaptive Learning /
Full-Time Exempt /
On-site
Results for Development (R4D) is a leading non-profit global development partner. We collaborate with change agents around the world — government officials, civil society leaders and social innovators — to create strong systems that support healthy, educated people. We help our partners move from knowing their goal to knowing how to reach it. We combine global expertise in health, education and nutrition with analytic rigor, practical support for decision-making and implementation and access to peer problem-solving networks. Together with our partners, we build self-sustaining systems that serve everyone and deliver lasting results. Then we share what we learn so others can achieve results for development, too.
We have a unique and vibrant culture at R4D. Diversity, equity and inclusion are at the heart of our work environment and help advance our mission. Diversity—of ideas, identities, perspectives and backgrounds—is vital to who we are and what we do. We seek people who embrace these values and will help reinforce them. Our work culture is collaborative, creative and entrepreneurial. We operate based on trust and respect. Teams across the organization frequently collaborate on programmatic work and support each other in continuously building a better R4D.
Position title: Senior Program Officer
Practice: Evaluation and Adaptive Learning
This position is based in Addis Ababa and the person in this role will work out of the R4D office in Addis Ababa.
Practice/Department:
The EAL practice conducts targeted research using methods such as formative research and rapid experimentation to answer questions relevant to donor and practitioner strategies. By using proven evaluation methods for adaptive management purposes, we work with partners to design, experiment with, and evaluate solutions to accelerate their impact.
Position Summary:
The Senior Program Officer will serve as the primary coordinator for several Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) workstreams for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)-funded Ethiopia Market Shaping Capacity Improvement Project (EMSCIP). EAL seeks to look beyond standard, traditional monitoring, evaluation, and learning activities to support innovative monitoring and evaluation processes to measure outcomes in complex environments.
R4D’s EAL Practice is a highly matrixed team with team members working on projects across the organization. The EMSCIP project is led by R4D’s Market Shaping Practice (MSP); the MEL workstreams that the Senior Program Officer will manage are fully integrated into EMSCIP and the broader MSP portfolio of work in Ethiopia. This role will require continuous, close collaboration and communication across multiple R4D Practices (EAL and MSP) and offices (US and Ethiopia).
To be successful in this role, the Senior Program Officer will need to be a strong and proactive communicator (verbally and in writing), think creatively and ‘outside of the box,’ and be both self-motivated and collaborative.
Responsibilities:
- Stakeholder Engagement (internal and external)
- Coordinate across the EAL and MSP teams to ensure all relevant internal R4D stakeholders are aware of activity progress and able to provide inputs at appropriate points in the project timeline. This includes maintaining communication with the different teams through regular check-ins on an agreed upon cadence
- Serve as a key point of contact for the MEL workstreams with Government of Ethiopia partners, such as the Ministry of Health and the Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Supply Service (EPSS). This includes the Quantitative and Market Shaping Directorate (QMSD) and the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Directorate within EPSS
- Liaise between all internal and external stakeholders to ensure all interests are aligned and accounted for
- Contribute to co-creation workshop design and delivery, including co-facilitating sessions and developing presentations to convey findings to stakeholders
- Conduct desk reviews, literature reviews, and document reviews
- Track progress of MEL workstreams against work plans and work closely with EAL Associate Director and Market Shaping Associate Director to ensure timely execution of MEL activities
- Coordinate the data collection activities for a large-scale health facility survey to monitor availability of health commodities in public health facilities. This will include:
- Drafting survey tools and research protocols
- Facilitating IRB review of the study tools and protocols
- Drafting a Scope of Work (SOW) for a third-party data collection partner
- Facilitating the contracting of a third-party data collection partner
- Facilitate quality control measures as part of oversight of third-party data collection partner
- Plan and coordinate interviews with key stakeholders to gather evidence for the learning workstreams
- Draft pre-analysis plans
- Analyze qualitative and quantitative data that will be used as evidence for each of the MEL workstreams
- Draft sections of reports and key deliverables for funders
- Identify opportunities to further support broader MEL opportunities across the Ethiopia country office portfolio
- Some domestic travel to oversee data collection activities (up to 5%)
- SPO: bachelor’s +7 years of experience or master’s +5 years of experience
- Experience in market shaping, supply chain, public sector health, or health systems strengthening required
- Experience facilitating MEL or adaptive learning activities highly preferred. Basic understanding of quantitative research and experience analyzing data in Stata, a plus
- Strong communication and facilitation skills, particularly in facilitating co-creation among diverse stakeholders required
- Experience serving as a point of contact for and collaborating with Government of Ethiopia partners in the health sector
- Able to think strategically about the content, timing, and sequencing of multiple workstreams with competing timing and resource demands to meet donor and government partner expectations
- Self-motivated to work independently and experience working effectively with a geographically dispersed team
MEL Workstream Coordination and Leadership
Qualifications:
Results for Development is an EOE/M/F/Vet/Disabled/Affirmative Action Employer committed to fostering
and nurturing an energetic, collaborative and diverse workforce. R4D provides market-competitive salaries and comprehensive employee benefits.
