Officer – Field Monitoring, Learning, & Evaluation at Evidence Action

Evidence Action was founded in 2013 to address a big gap in the fight against global poverty–many of the most promising interventions are either implemented at a very small scale, or not at all. We set out to address this gap by building programs that would scale evidence-based and cost-effective interventions, leading to significant improvements in quality of life for hundreds of millions of people.

Our model worked. In less than a decade, our two flagship programs, the Deworm the World Initiative and Dispensers for Safe Water, have grown to measurably impact over 280 million people each year. This success is achieved through the dedication and talent of our staff, the hard work of our partners, and the commitment of our supporters.

By 2024, we seek to double our impact. We are strengthening and expanding our existing programs, and working to identify a new generation of evidence-based and cost-effective interventions that we can scale to reach millions more.

Job purpose

Our flagship Dispensers for Safe Water (DSW) provides over 4 million people across rural Uganda, Malawi, and Kenya. Recent evidence highlights that clean water may be among the most effective interventions available to save young children’s lives, averting more than 30% of all-cause child mortality. The dispensers’ program – based on research for Nobel-winning economists – utilizes an innovative and human-centric design to deliver clean water at the source in rural settings, achieving usage rates which are 5x that of comparable interventions.
Given the tremendous benefits of safe water, Evidence Action is rapidly innovating to build the next generation of clean water interventions. We are currently scaling a next generation technology, in-line chlorination (ILC) that targets peri-urban communities in Uganda and Malawi.

Officer Field Operations is a member of the Field Operations Team and the larger Monitoring Learning Evaluations department. S/he is responsible for collecting monitoring data for the Dispensers for Safe Water program in Uganda. This is an exciting field position that enables you to interact with local community members as you collect data that informs the program to make justifiable decisions.

Data collection and quality

• Accurately and timely collect Dispensers for Safe Water evaluation data, through the administration of questionnaire, collection of samples, and making observations, in the areas of operation, using electronic and/or paper instruments.
• Participate in bench-testing of electronic instruments as part of training and instrument improvement process
• Timely and meaningfully support flow of information from the field to the Program Leadership by utilizing “soft feedback” tools.
• Participate in the data collection training of operation/program field staff.
• Support data flow process from the field to the office, by adhering to the data flow protocol that indicates when and how submit data

People management; Enthusiastically provide mentorship to new staff involved in Dispensers for Safe Water data collection activities, including shadowing their work in the initial days in the field.

Stakeholder relationship; Maintain cordial public relation with local stakeholders, including government officials and community members, through observing meaningful and respectful engagement in the course of field work.

Financial management; Contribute towards the cost-efficiency of the organization and programs through accurate management of financial payments and expenditures in the field and at the office

Communication; On a daily basis share insightful feedback with program leads based on field observations.

• Timely development and dissemination of adoption monitoring reports with program teams at office level.

Other; Support data collection needs from other programs, and other duties as may be assigned by the MLE leadership.

Qualifications

• Minimum Diploma in a social science discipline with a bias on statistics or research applications, community work, project management or equivalent. Candidates with an M&E background have a definite advantage
• Good language skills in English and Chichewa/Yao both spoken and written
• 1-2 years’ experience working in a research environment administering surveys, working with communities or social enterprises/NGOs.
• Motor cycle riding skills or willingness to learn and ride a motorcycle
• Experience using electronic data collection platforms, specifically open data kit (ODK) and survey CTO.
• High level of integrity and stewardship
• Embraces team work and aspires and supports the ideals of working in a team work environment as a team champion
• Passion to work in a rural community setting,
• Good communication skills. Ability to communicate well within the organization and with the rural communities and local leaders
• Basic leadership skills in managing people ,working with communities, government officers, schools and teams
• Good computer skills and comfort to advance the skills in a dynamic IT field.
• Must be flexible and able to travel to remote areas (mainly using motor cycles) where the Dispensers for Safe Water program operates.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Evidence Action does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor.