Background

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 Prime Minister’s Office- Regional Administration and Local Government (PMO-RALG) structures to align implementation with national priorities, strengthen government leadership and locally led implementation, and support sustainable transition and oversight.

Position Summary

The MEL Advisor will provide technical leadership and oversight of monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) activities across the Malaria portfolio, reporting to the MEL Director. S/he will strengthen systems for performance monitoring, data quality assurance, results verification, and tracking of project targets and payment-linked milestones. The Advisor will analyze performance data, identify implementation gaps, and support adaptive management, continuous quality improvement, and evidence-based decision-making to ensure timely achievement and verification of project results.

Working closely with MoH, PMO-RALG, NMCP, ZAMEP, regional and council health management teams (R/CHMTs), and project technical teams, the Advisor will strengthen government-led data quality, analysis, use, and accountability within existing national health information systems. S/he will coordinate performance reviews, evaluations, learning activities, and reporting, ensuring that findings inform program improvements and achievement of agreed milestones. The Advisor will supervise and mentor field-based MEL Officers while progressively strengthening the capacity of government M&E counterparts to lead routine data verification, performance monitoring, and data-driven decision-making. This approach will promote institutionalization of MEL functions within government systems, local ownership, and sustainable transition of project-supported MEL activities.

Responsibilities

MEL and Performance Management

• Provide technical leadership and oversight of MEL for the Malaria portfolio, ensuring alignment with the project MEL framework, Malaria priorities, national strategies, and agreed milestones and results.
• Lead performance monitoring across Malaria interventions, including prevention, case management, vector control, and surveillance, tracking indicators, targets, milestones, and performance-based results.
• Support results verification, ensuring reported results are supported by credible evidence and appropriately linked to agreed milestones and performance requirements.
• Analyze and interpret Malaria performance data to identify trends, bottlenecks, disparities, and emerging performance gaps, and translate findings into actionable recommendations for adaptive management.
• Contribute MEL inputs to work plans, performance reports, dashboards, reviews, and donor communications.

Health Information Systems, Data Quality and Data Use

• Strengthen the collection, validation, analysis, reporting, and use of routine and surveillance data to inform planning, targeting, case management, and program decision-making.
• Oversee data quality assurance, including data validation, data quality assessments, verification, resolution of discrepancies, and documentation at regional, council, and facility levels.
• Work closely with MoH/PMO-RALG M&E focal persons, NMCP, ZAMEP, RHMTs, CHMTs, and relevant government structures to strengthen government-led MEL and health information systems, including DHIS2, eIDSR, UCS, and other approved platforms.
• Promote timely, complete, accurate, and integrated reporting to support performance management, early warning, outbreak detection, and emergency preparedness and response.
• Strengthen alignment of project-supported data systems with government systems to promote data ownership, accountability, sustainability, and transition.

Learning and Continuous Improvement

• Support the development and implementation of the Malaria learning agenda, informed by routine data, performance trends, and implementation experience.
• Facilitate performance reviews, reflection, and learning processes to identify lessons, good practices, and opportunities for program improvement.
• Promote the use of MEL findings to strengthen adaptive management, program quality, accountability, and continuous improvement and dissemination of lessons learned.

Capacity Strengthening, Supervision and Coordination

• Supervise, mentor, and provide technical support to field-based MEL Officers, ensuring timely, accurate, and actionable use of routine data.
• Build the capacity of project staff and government counterparts to collect, analyze, interpret, and use MEL and surveillance data.
• Strengthen government ownership and sustainability of MEL functions by integrating data quality assurance, performance monitoring, results verification, and data use into existing government systems.
• Support the progressive transition of MEL responsibilities to government counterparts through joint implementation, mentorship, and capacity strengthening, ensuring sustainable oversight and accountability.
• Serve as the project MEL focal point for MNCH data coordination with government surveillance and health information system counterparts, in collaboration with the MEL Director and Technical Director.
• Represent the project in relevant national and subnational MEL, surveillance, and health information system technical forums, as delegated by project leadership.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Biostatistics, Health Informatics, Data Science, Digital Health, or a related field required, master’s degree preferred.
• At least 7-8 years of progressively responsible experience implementing monitoring, evaluation, applied or operational research, and data analysis in donor-funded health programs.
• Minimum 5 years of experience managing MERL functions and supervising field-based teams.
• Demonstrated experience working with health information systems and routine surveillance platforms (e.g., DHIS2, eIDSR and UCS integration).
• Strong experience using data for micro-stratification, case-based management, performance monitoring, and emergency preparedness.
• Experience with data visualization and analytics tools (e.g., Power BI).
• Demonstrated experience mentoring staff and government counterparts and strengthening organizational capacity for data use and research.
• Strong understanding of Tanzania’s health system, malaria reporting tools and indicators, malaria surveillance structures, and emergency preparedness frameworks.

Preferred Qualifications

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

• Provide technical leadership and oversight of MEL for the Malaria portfolio, ensuring alignment with the project MEL framework, Malaria priorities, national strategies, and agreed milestones and results.
• Lead performance monitoring across Malaria interventions, including prevention, case management, vector control, and surveillance, tracking indicators, targets, milestones, and performance-based results.
• Support results verification, ensuring reported results are supported by credible evidence and appropriately linked to agreed milestones and performance requirements.
• Analyze and interpret Malaria performance data to identify trends, bottlenecks, disparities, and emerging performance gaps, and translate findings into actionable recommendations for adaptive management.
• Contribute MEL inputs to work plans, performance reports, dashboards, reviews, and donor communications.
• Strengthen the collection, validation, analysis, reporting, and use of routine and surveillance data to inform planning, targeting, case management, and program decision-making.
• Oversee data quality assurance, including data validation, data quality assessments, verification, resolution of discrepancies, and documentation at regional, council, and facility levels.
• Work closely with MoH/PMO-RALG M&E focal persons, NMCP, ZAMEP, RHMTs, CHMTs, and relevant government structures to strengthen government-led MEL and health information systems, including DHIS2, eIDSR, UCS, and other approved platforms.
• Promote timely, complete, accurate, and integrated reporting to support performance management, early warning, outbreak detection, and emergency preparedness and response.
• Strengthen alignment of project-supported data systems with government systems to promote data ownership, accountability, sustainability, and transition.
• Support the development and implementation of the Malaria learning agenda, informed by routine data, performance trends, and implementation experience.
• Facilitate performance reviews, reflection, and learning processes to identify lessons, good practices, and opportunities for program improvement.
• Promote the use of MEL findings to strengthen adaptive management, program quality, accountability, and continuous improvement and dissemination of lessons learned.
• Supervise, mentor, and provide technical support to field-based MEL Officers, ensuring timely, accurate, and actionable use of routine data.
• Build the capacity of project staff and government counterparts to collect, analyze, interpret, and use MEL and surveillance data.
• Strengthen government ownership and sustainability of MEL functions by integrating data quality assurance, performance monitoring, results verification, and data use into existing government systems.
• Support the progressive transition of MEL responsibilities to government counterparts through joint implementation, mentorship, and capacity strengthening, ensuring sustainable oversight and accountability.
• Serve as the project MEL focal point for MNCH data coordination with government surveillance and health information system counterparts, in collaboration with the MEL Director and Technical Director.
• Represent the project in relevant national and subnational MEL, surveillance, and health information system technical forums, as delegated by project leadership.

• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Biostatistics
• Health Informatics
• Data Science
• Digital Health
• Performance Monitoring
• Data Quality Assurance
• Results Verification
• Data Analysis
• Adaptive Management
• Continuous Quality Improvement
• Evidence-based Decision-making
• Health Information Systems
• DHIS2
• eIDSR
• UCS
• Data Visualization
• Power BI
• Mentoring
• Capacity Building
• English
• Kiswahili

• Bachelor’s degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Biostatistics, Health Informatics, Data Science, Digital Health, or a related field required, master’s degree preferred.
• At least 7-8 years of progressively responsible experience implementing monitoring, evaluation, applied or operational research, and data analysis in donor-funded health programs.
• Minimum 5 years of experience managing MERL functions and supervising field-based teams.
• Demonstrated experience working with health information systems and routine surveillance platforms (e.g., DHIS2, eIDSR and UCS integration).
• Strong experience using data for micro-stratification, case-based management, performance monitoring, and emergency preparedness.
• Experience with data visualization and analytics tools (e.g., Power BI).
• Demonstrated experience mentoring staff and government counterparts and strengthening organizational capacity for data use and research.
• Strong understanding of Tanzania’s health system, malaria reporting tools and indicators, malaria surveillance structures, and emergency preparedness frameworks.
• Familiarity with U.S. Government-funded project reporting and compliance requirements.
• 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.