Vitamin A Supplementation Regional Monitoring & Evaluation Coordinator at Helen Keller International

Helen Keller

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT

Vitamin A Supplementation Regional Monitoring & Evaluation Coordinator

(Flexible Location; best if in one of the countries of operation of Helen Keller)

Guided by the remarkable legacy of its co-founder, Helen Keller, Helen Keller Intl partners with communities striving to overcome longstanding cycles of poverty. By delivering the essential building blocks of good health, sound nutrition and clear vision, we help millions of people create lasting change in their own lives. Working in more than 20 countries – across Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States – and together with a global community of supporters, we are ensuring every person has the opportunity – as Helen did – to reach their true potential.

Scope of the position

The Vitamin A Supplementation Regional Monitoring & Evaluation Coordinator reports directly to the Vitamin A Supplementation Regional MEAL Manager. S/he works closely with the VAS Regional management team and Monitoring and Evaluation personnels from the organization country teams in Sub-Saharan Africa. He/she coordinates the preparation and implementation of Monitoring and evaluation activities such as data monitoring on the Helen Keller information system through DHIS2, coverage surveys and independent monitoring activities related to Vitamin A Supplementation programs in Helen Keller International’s 14 countries in Sub Saharan Africa: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, DRC, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania, Senegal, Sierra Leone.

Background

Vitamin A supplementation (VAS) for children under five years of age has been a cornerstone of global child survival programs for decades, and VAS has been shown to have positive impacts on reducing child mortality. The World Health Organization recommends all children 6-59 months receive high-dose VAS every 4 to 6 months in areas where the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency is ≥ 20% in young children, and more than 80 countries currently have universal VAS programs in place. In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), VAS has mainly been provided through National Immunization Days (NID) and polio Supplemental Immunization Activities. As these involve providing essential childhood vaccines through door-to-door delivery, coverage has generally been high (> 80%) for both immunizations and VAS, compared to the much lower coverage typically achieved through health facility-based delivery. More recently, semiannual Child Health Days or Child Health Weeks (CHWs), which utilize a fixed-site community-based approach rather than household visits, have become a key delivery platform for VAS in SSA. However, funding constraints and successful polio eradication efforts are shifting the policy and program focus away from NIDs and CHWs to integration of VAS into routine immunization services. Two examples of this are the six- month and six-monthly contact points, which enable year-round supplementation and allow for adding-on of additional health services (e.g., family planning counselling) when a parent brings their child to a health facility. Additional approaches are also being tested, such as the use of community-health workers to facilitate campaigns and community based routine delivery.

Monitoring activities coordinated by the Regional M&E Coordinator will focus on 3 main activities:

• Post-Event Coverage Surveys (PECS) is the primary method used by Helen Keller Intl to assess VAS coverage, validate administrative data following a VAS campaign (NID, CHW), or to assess coverage obtained throughout a semester with routine services. These surveys provide information on determinants of coverage to help country teams address weaknesses and challenges. It is planned that from 2024, the number of PECS conducted will increase to at least 9 surveys every 6 months (1 per country in 9 countries). These surveys use the WHO 2018 methodology for assessing the coverage of immunization campaigns. They are stratified to provide an overall coverage of the regions covered by Helen Keller in each country, with additional strata decided based on expected performance of each region or expected variations in coverage between sub-samples of population (i.e. urban vs. rural)
• Independent monitoring consists of sending teams of independent monitors in communities during the implementation of a campaign to assess whether these communities have been reached as per the campaign plans. They provide real time independent information to campaign managers so they can send teams to communities that have been missed before the campaign ends. Monitors are assigned communities based on a sampling approach developed by Helen Keller Intl that ensures representativeness of the communities visited.
• Monitoring the quality of vitamin A supplementation data entered by country monitoring and evaluation managers. This will involve implementing robust monitoring mechanisms to ensure the accuracy, consistency and reliability of data reported by countries. The coordinator will work closely with country-level counterparts to establish and maintain high standards of data entry, conduct regular assessments, provide feedback, and contribute to the overall improvement of monitoring and evaluation processes.

Two VAS Regional Monitoring & Evaluation Coordinator (RMC) positions will be recruited to support and coordinate country teams efforts in the preparation of these activities to ensure that they are prepared in a timely fashion and implemented in respect with highest quality standards. The position also ensures that data collected is analyzed adequately and that quality reports are produced in time.

Specific Responsibilities

• Provide technical support to country office teams on post event coverage surveys.
  • Develop 3 years plans with country teams that describes the stratification of coverage surveys for every round of distribution (campaign or semester) and documents reasons for the proposed stratification.
• Organize regular communications with country teams to ensure that all steps leading to the implementation of these surveys are conducted in due time (i.e. development of protocols and tools, submission to ethical review board, recruitment of consultants or enumerators, organization of training, collection of data, analysis of data, production of reports.
• Provide technical support to country teams to address any challenge encountered during any step of surveys preparation and implementation.
• Review the tools standardization, the analysis of the coming PECS data to determine the factors influencing VAS coverage, knowledge about services provided, and the effectiveness of program activities, and to compare data over time and between countries and regions.
• Develop questionnaires and protocols with country teams to ensure adherence to minimum requirements and quality and relevance of the data collection tools.
• Conduct data quality assessment to verify the veracity of data and support the Helen Keller regional team for VAS on all other aspects of the preparation of data for analysis.
• Review analysis of data conducted by country teams to ensure results are reliable.
• Review recommendations made from the results of coverage surveys and coordinate with country teams their implementation for the following round of distribution.
• Prepare semester reports for the regional VAS team that summarizes coverage for all countries supported and challenges that must be addressed for the coming semester.
• Propose, as relevant, changes to coverage surveys methodology, questionnaires, modality of analysis and reporting to improve reliability and usefulness of coverage surveys.
• Provide technical support to country office teams on independent monitoring.
  • Participate in the development and roll out of an independent monitoring toolkit for VAS programs.
  • Develop 3 years plans with country teams that describe the geographic coverage and implementation schedule for independent monitoring.
  • Coordinate with country teams to ensure timely preparation of independent monitoring in respect to all necessary steps and procurement procedures and policies.
  • Provide technical support to country teams to address any challenges identified during VAS campaign through independent monitoring.
  • Prepare semester reports on results of independent monitoring including findings and recommendations.
• Contribute to ensuring the accuracy and reliability of vitamin A supplementation data, promoting continuous improvement in monitoring and evaluation processes at both the country and organizational levels
  • Participate in the implementation of robust monitoring mechanisms to ensure the accuracy, consistency and reliability of data entered by country teams through Helen Keller monitoring system (DHIS2)
• Contribute to carrying out regular assessments of the data entered to identify any discrepancies, areas for improvement.
• Provide training and capacity building support to country monitoring and evaluation managers to enhance their skills in data entry and quality assurance.
• Participate to regional coordination of the VAS portfolio.
  • Identify training needs of country teams regarding data management, collection, entry, analysis and/or interpretation and organize training as per the needs identified.
  • Provide support to the regional team for the identification of research topics, the preparation of concept notes, abstracts, publications and study protocols.
  • Participate to the production of bi-annual newsletters for VAS.
  • Participate to the identification and development of learning products for VAS.

Qualifications

• A master’s degree in public health, epidemiology, statistics, economics or any other equivalent field.
• At least 5 years’ experience in conduction of surveys & studies, design sampling and methodology in health and/or nutrition.
• Ability and experience in designing electronic forms on Windows and Android based tablets (SurveyCTO, Kobocollect, ODK, Etc)
• Experience in using statistical software to manipulate datasets (e.g. SPSS, Stata, SAS, R, etc.); STATA required.
• Experience in designing and implementing qualitative studies (designing tools, training interviewers, analyzing data and writing reports with qualitative data)
• Experience in using statistical software to manipulate qualitative datasets (e.g. NVivo, MAXQDA, Atlas.ti, QDA Miner, etc.);
• Data visualization skills, establishing dashboard and use of tools like Tableau, Power BI, etc.
• Experience in cartography working with various mapping and Geographic Information System (GIS) software tools (ArcGIS, QGIS, MapInfo Professional,
• Ability to write reports and disseminate results.
• Skills in capacity building, communication, and knowledge transfer, which are key elements of HKI-supported programs and projects.
• Significant experience and knowledge in statistical analysis and the ability to discern appropriate methods for different analyses.
• Experience in analysis related to vulnerable populations and/or determinants of health preferred.
• Ability to work and write in English and French.