Senior Data & Information Officer – PlayMatters US NGO Careers – International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Job Title: Senior Data & Information Officer – PlayMatters
Organization: International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda
Reports to: Research, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Advisor (RMEL Advisor)
About US:
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home. The IRC has been working in Uganda since 1998 supporting nationals and refugees and various institutions in the country notably the government, community based organizations, the civil society and the private sector.The current program portfolio in Uganda includes health, peace building, gender-based violence, economic recovery and agribusiness, and children & youth. IRC has a country office in Kampala, field offices in Lamwo, West Nile, Kiryandongo, Kyaka and Moroto.
About Project:
PlayMatters reimagines childhood for refugees. It will bring play-based learning to 800,000 children across Ethiopia, Uganda and a to be confirmed third country. It will redefine education and cultivate a generation of lifelong builders. PlayMatters is inspired by LEGO Foundation’s call to challenge the status quo, to offer children the quality education they dream of. Children are not gaining the skills they need, teachers are under-supported and parents are overwhelmed. The systems built to serve them are failing them. PlayMatters proudly offers something different. It will be delivered by a coalition with a track record of thinking and delivering differently.
Job Summary: The Senior Data & Information Officer – PlayMatters will work closely with IRC implementation staff and consortium partners to support the development of the integrated database and dashboards, roll out digital data collection tools and ensure data quality.
The Sr Data and Information Officer will have primary responsibility for coordinating the fulfillment of these goals across PlayMatters consortium partner agencies.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
Database Development and Management
- Provide technical support to enable field staff to implement protocols and plans safely, ethically, and rigorously.
- Support development and implementation of monitoring and evaluation tools and protocols
- Develop an integrated case management system with necessary registration and follow up forms
- Ensure backend data quality controls are in place and functional
- Build Capacity of field teams and M&E staff to use and test key M&E tools
- Co-create, maintain and disseminate dashboards with program staff and managers
- Establish routine database quality checks and management procedures
- Ensure high-quality data collection and management. Provide training and support to M&E and research teams for data quality control, cleaning, and management.
Disseminating quality data
- Assure that monitoring and evaluation activities provide timely, relevant information for reporting and programming decisions.
- Analyze and report on key monitoring data to the RMEL Advisor and Project Teams
- Develop user-friendly dashboards and data visualizations for program teams and other key audiences
- Provide capacity building trainings to familiarize the teams with relevant database and dashboard procedures
- Support regional team activities to assure that data from research and monitoring activities are used to adjust and adapt programming over time.
- Leverage existing IRC staff and partner expertise or build capacity as needed to assure front-line staff participation in the interpretation and application of results, as well as design of data use plans and learning agendas.
Collaboration and accountability with internal stakeholders
- Report to RMEL Advisor about progress against approved workplans through formal and informal debriefings, annual and semi-annual reports.
- Maintain open communication with partner counterparts and country level staff to assure coherence and reasonable sequencing of work.
Collaboration and accountability with external stakeholders
- Establish and maintain solid cooperation with partner organizations as we design and refine the monitoring and evaluation framework
- Collaborate with the regional project team, partners, governments, and other humanitarian actors in developing methods to understand if and how early childhood and primary education inclusive of learning through play activities that are feasible and useful in humanitarian settings
Key Objectives
- Provide data to report on key indicators with necessary disaggreates;
- Support the process of designing and rolling out key digital M&E tools across consortium partners and with field teams, in service of the project goals;
- Support the process of designing, maintaining and rolling out key dashboards with data visualization in a timely manner so that data can be used for subsequent program design and scale up, including with partners and other humanitarian agencies;
- Conduct routine data quality checks with field implementation teams to ensure accuracy, reliability, timeliness and relevance of key monitoring data
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
- The applicant for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) job placement should preferably hold a Degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Statistics, Social Sciences, or related field.
- At least 3-5 years of progressive, relevant work experience. Important that work experience demonstrates technical skills, capacity building skills, operations experience, as well as an understanding of humanitarian contexts.
- Strong technical understanding of monitoring and evaluation across multiple partners and countries and in a humanitarian context and/or early childhood development.
- Deep understanding of digital data collection platforms and techniques (i.e. KoboToolbox, ODK Collect and/or CommCare).
- Strong understanding of data use plans and adaptive management.
- Familiarity with dashboard creation and data visualization with platforms such as PowerBI or Tableau
- Experience with managing, cleaning and analyzing large databases.
- Excellent communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively in a multi-cultural environment with international and local academic researchers, government officials, NGO partners, study participants, etc.
- Solid organizational skills: the ability to be flexible and work well under pressure, dealing with competing priorities, in a fast-paced team environment.
- Interest in and ability to think and plan at the ‘big picture’ level.
- Demonstrated management and interpersonal skills.
- Solid understanding of refugee education preferred;
- Strong communication and analytical skills, both oral and written.
- Fluency in English is required; knowledge of French and/or regional languages is a plus.
How to Apply:
All suitably qualified and interested candidates are encouraged to apply online.
Deadline: 27th August 2020