The Role

The Liberia Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) Director is responsible for the management, oversight, and execution of all Liberia MERL activities related to Last Mile Health programming in Liberia. This includes MERL activities related to the direct implementation of a community health worker program in three counties in Liberia and technical assistance provided to the central Ministry of Health to design and scale and maintain the National Community Health Assistant Program. Responsibilities include supervising and supporting the professional development of MERL team members, overseeing the design and implementation of mixed methods MERL plans, data collection, analyses, data use for adaptive management and quality improvement, and supporting dissemination, including through publications, reports, and other media. The Director will work with the MERL team to support program teams to learn from their data and apply it in program design. The Liberia MERL Director will foster strategic relationships and collaborate with government partners. Furthermore, the Director is responsible for overseeing LMERL team strategic planning, managing budgets, and work plans, and ensuring that the Liberia MERL viewpoint is represented in organization-wide conversations. The Director will also collaborate closely with the Director of Global MERL in areas relevant to Last Mile Health’s broader goals.

What You'll Do

• Oversee strategic planning, budgets, work plans, and the overall direction of the team
• Cultivate a high performing, inclusive, and welcoming team environment
• Work with the MERL team’s Senior Technical Advisors and Senior Director of Implementation Science to ensure that research & evaluation activities are being designed with high technical rigor
• Manage the Research, Evaluation & Learning Manager to ensure that research & evaluation activities are being implemented with integrity (e.g. Implementation Fidelity Initiative & Program Perceptions qualitative exercise) and produce results with high internal validity
• Support the dissemination of research and evaluation findings including through research publications and other channels
• Participate in planned research capacity building activities in Liberia
• Mentor and coach staff with aim of building specialization and emerging leaders on the MERL team
• Ensure representation of the Liberia MERL team in cross-team discussions about strategy, work planning, budgeting, and grant development/management or support team members to grow to this role.
• Represent the Liberia MERL viewpoint at the level of the Executive Team and the Senior Leadership Team, coaching others to do the same
• Manage and coordinate relationships with key government counterparts and represent Last Mile Health in technical discussions as needed with the MOH directly or through supporting of relevant MERL team members
• Support Grants Management team to track and report progress on key performance indicators
• Supportive supervision of the Deputy Director of Monitoring to ensure that all data collection and reporting systems (e.g. CBIS in the counties) are optimized for the Liberian setting are implemented efficiently and result in high-quality data resources that are relevant to internal and external needs
• Collaborate with the Lead Data Systems Architect to ensure that data systems are optimized for last-mile settings, to set priorities for application development and implementation, and to ensure the security of our data resources
• Work across teams to ensure the national monitoring system is set up to collect high-quality and relevant data
• Support the MERL team to ensure data use for quality improvement with and by the MOH and Community Health Team and ensure findings are actively leveraged to inform national policy
• Collaborate with programs teams to develop program indicators related to activities, set targets using historical program data (where available), ensure collection in cooperation with relevant stakeholders, and develop these skills in the LMERL team.

What You'll Bring

• Master’s Degree or higher in public health or another relevant field (e.g. medicine, epidemiology, biostatistics, demography) with a quantitative focus
• At least 8-12 years of professional experience in Monitoring & Evaluation, and at least 3-5 years of experience in MERL team management
• Experience leading capacity development activities for team members and building future leaders
• Direct experience leading medium and large-scale data collection and evaluation activities
• Experience developing and presenting reports and presentations for internal and external stakeholders

You'll Impress Us If

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English
• Experience working in West Africa strongly preferred
• Proficiency with a statistical software package (Stata preferred)
• Proficiency in designing tools on ODK or similar platform preferred
• Proficiency in GIS platform (like ArcGIS or QGIS) preferred
• Prior experience in a remote setting and willingness to travel to various program sites as needed (at minimum one visit per quarter under normal operations)
• High level of initiative to innovate and lead in remote and resource-limited settings
• Commitment to health and social justice
• excellent management and supervision skills

About Last Mile Health 

Last Mile Health (LMH) saves lives in the world's most remote communities by partnering with governments to bring critical primary care services to the doorsteps of people living in the last mile. Last Mile Health is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization with offices in Liberia, Boston, and New York.