Technical Director, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL)

Overview

The AFGHS-Jhpiego project is funded by the U.S. Department of State (DoS) to support the delivery of lifesaving, comprehensive maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) and malaria services across Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. The project aims to improve service and data quality, strengthen health-system integration and resilience, facilitate effective transition, and promote local ownership and accountability for sustained health outcomes.

Jhpiego works closely with the Ministries of Health in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, the Reproductive and Child Health Section (RCHS), the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), the Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Programme (ZAMEP), and Regional Administration and Local Government (RALG) structures to align implementation with national priorities, strengthen government leadership and locally led implementation, and support sustainable transition and oversight.

Position Summary

The Director, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) will provide strategic and technical leadership for the project’s MEL function, supporting the delivery, measurement, and continuous improvement of MNCH and malaria results across targeted regions of Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. The Director will ensure robust MEL systems are in place to monitor project performance, measure progress against agreed results and milestones, and generate timely, high-quality evidence to support program management, accountability, learning, and performance-based financing.

The Director will oversee the development and implementation of the project’s MEL framework, indicators, data systems, performance monitoring, data quality assurance, and results verification processes. S/he will work closely with project leadership, technical and program teams, and field teams to ensure that data are accurate, timely, and routinely used to identify performance gaps, guide adaptive management, and support timely achievement, verification, and payment of project milestones and deliverables.

The Director will lead the project’s learning agenda and facilitate regular performance reviews, reflection, and learning processes that translate implementation data and evidence into actionable program improvements. S/he will oversee relevant evaluations, implementation research, and learning activities, ensuring methodological rigor and alignment with project, national, and donor requirements and priorities.

Working closely with government counterparts, the Director will strengthen the use of national and subnational information systems, performance monitoring processes, and data-use mechanisms rather than creating parallel systems. S/he will support government capacity and ownership for data quality, analysis, performance monitoring, and evidence-based decision-making, contributing to the sustainable transition of MEL functions into existing government systems and structures.

The Director will serve as the principal MEL focal point for project leadership, DoS, government, and other stakeholders, providing clear analysis and communication of project performance, results, risks, and emerging lessons. The position will also provide leadership, supervision, and mentorship to the MEL team and strengthen project-wide capacity for results measurement, data use, accountability, adaptive management, and continuous learning.

The Director will serve as the principal MEL focal point for project leadership, DoS, government, and other stakeholders, providing clear analysis and communication of project performance, results, risks, and emerging lessons. The position will also provide leadership, supervision, and mentorship to the MEL team and strengthen project-wide capacity for results measurement, data use, accountability, adaptive management, and continuous learning.

This position will be closed on October 15, 2026.

Responsibilities

- MEL Strategy and Technical Leadership

- Lead the development, implementation, and continuous refinement of the project MEL Plan, aligned with project objectives, contractual requirements, performance milestones, and donor expectations.

- Provide strategic and technical leadership for MEL systems, tools, indicators, and processes supporting MNCH and Malaria program performance and results measurement.

- Provide technical guidance and capacity strengthening to project teams and partners on MEL standards, systems, and practices.

- Performance Monitoring, Data Quality and Results Measurement

- Oversee routine monitoring of project performance against agreed indicators, targets, milestones, and contractual deliverables.

- Ensure robust data quality assurance, verification, management, and reporting systems are in place to generate accurate, timely, and credible results.

- Lead analysis and interpretation of program data to identify performance gaps, risks, trends, and opportunities for improvement, and provide actionable insights to project leadership.

- Evaluation, Learning and Adaptive Management

- Lead the project learning agenda and institutionalize data use, pause-and-reflect, root-cause analysis, and adaptive management processes, ensuring they are appropriately designed, implemented, and aligned with national, donor, and international standards.

- Work with program and technical teams to translate monitoring findings and lessons learned into practical actions to improve implementation, quality, and results.

- Ensure promising practices, lessons learned, and implementation experience are systematically documented and shared.

- into practical actions to improve implementation, service quality, and results.

- Ensure promising practices, lessons learned, and implementation experience are systematically documented, synthesized, disseminated, and used to inform program improvement and scale-up.

- Government Systems Strengthening, Sustainability and Transition

- Work with government counterparts to strengthen national and subnational systems for routine monitoring, data quality, analysis, visualization, performance review, and evidence-based decision-making.

- Ensure project MEL approaches strengthen and utilize existing government information systems and accountability mechanisms, minimizing parallel project systems and processes.

- Support integration of project indicators, monitoring processes, and data-use practices into relevant government systems and structures where appropriate.

- Strengthening government ownership and institutional capacity for sustained performance monitoring, results measurement, data use, and learning beyond the life of the project.

- Monitor and document progress toward sustainability and transition milestones, including the progressive transfer and institutionalization of relevant MEL functions within government systems.

- Reporting, Stakeholder Engagement and Team Leadership

- Lead the preparation and quality assurance of MEL inputs to donor and project reports, ensuring accurate and timely reporting against agreed results and milestones.

- Serve as the senior MEL focal point with project leadership, government, donors, partners, and other stakeholders, promoting evidence-based decision-making and accountability.

- Lead, mentor, and strengthen the capacity of the MEL team and relevant project and partner staff in performance monitoring, data quality, data use, and learning.

- Represent the project in relevant MEL and technical forums and support dissemination of project results and lessons learned.

Required Qualifications

- Degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Biostatistics, Health Informatics, Data Science, Computer science, Digital Health, or a related field required, master’s degree preferred.

- At least 10 years of progressively responsible experience in monitoring, evaluation, research, learning, and/or performance management, preferably within donor-funded development or health programmes.

- At least 5 years in a senior management or leadership role, with responsibility for designing and implementing MERL systems across complex projects or programs.

- Experience with data visualization and analytics tools (e.g., Power BI).

- Demonstrated experience of mentoring staff and government counterparts and strengthening organizational capacity for data use and Learning.

- Experience managing and mentoring MERL teams, subgrantees, and implementing partners.

- Experience working with government institutions, donors, implementing partners, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders.

- Strong understanding of Tanzania’s health system, MNCH and malaria reporting tools and indicators

- Familiarity with U.S. Government-funded project reporting and compliance requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

- Abil Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Kiswahili.

- Willingness to travel up to 25-30% to project-supported geographies across Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.

Jhpiego offers competitive salaries and a comprehensive employee benefits package.

Please apply at www.jhpiego.org/careers

Applicants must submit a single document for upload to include cover letters, resume, and references.

For further information about Jhpiego, visit our website at www.jhpiego.org

Note: The successful candidate selected for this position will be subject to a pre-employment background investigation.

Jhpiego is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins University affiliate, is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, marital status, pregnancy, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, other legally protected characteristics or any other occupationally irrelevant criteria. Jhpiego promotes Affirmative Action for minorities, women, individuals who are disabled, and veterans.

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