Strategic Information Director

The Futures Group International, Inc. Futures Group develops and delivers innovative, locally relevant, evidence-based solutions to improve the health and well being of people around the world. Since 1971, we have assisted governmental and non-governmental agencies, foundations, and the private sector by designing, implementing and evaluating programs in HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health, population and family planning, maternal and child health, infectious diseases, and gender. Futures Group has deep expertise in policy and advocacy, research and strategic information, health markets and private sector engagement, modeling and economic analysis, patient monitoring and management/HMIS, strategic consulting, and program management.
Position Summary

The Strategic Information Director will oversee the provision of technical assistance and capacity building to the region, zonal and facility staff in the systematic collection, analysis, interpretation and use of health and program information at health regional, zonal and facility level. He/She will be responsible for supporting strategic information, monitoring and evaluation, and performance reporting in the supported region(s). She/he is responsible for ensuring that data collected is comprehensive, clean and valid and ensuring national HMIS tools are used at all facilities being supported.

S/he will assist and build the regional, zonal and facility staff to utilize clinical information and performance indicators to perform public health evaluations and outcomes evaluations designed to generate evidence in support of quality improvement programs at health facilities and at the regional and zonal program management site.

He/She will assist the district in the role out of effective and efficient HMIS systems (including M&E) that produces real-time information on relevant indicators for rapid assessment of program performance. This will include overseeing technical teams tasked with capacity building of the M&E staff at the health facilities. He/She will assist and build the capacity of regional staff to use information to generate evidence in support of the development of guidelines and policies and in the development of strategies to promote efficient use of health resources through the development of performance based financing of health facilities.

Key Responsibilities

M&E related activities
• Coordinate all monitoring and evaluation activities
• Supervise and coordinate the collection of accurate monitoring reports from the LPTF (monthly, quarterly, semiannual and annually) on all required indicators
• Assess the M&E/OR capacity gaps in M&E and Operations research
• Provide Technical assistance in M&E/OR capacity building
• Produce/Adapt necessary M&E/OR aids/operating procedures
• Carry out participatory M&E and operations research with active involvement of staff form the Regional and Zonal level
• Provide subsequent mentoring to ensure adequate M&E/OR skill transfer
• Provide Technical assistance in Routine Data Quality assessment (RDQA) and improvement at Health Facilities

HMIS related activities
• Support the rollout and use of National HMIS tools
• Assess SI needs at sites (computers and hardware)
• Responsible for sharing these issues with the CoP and the program senior management team and following up on pending strategic information related issues
• Support the deployment of national electronic tools
• Mapping of supported facilities

DDIU related activities
• Build the data culture at health facilities to improve data demand and data use
• Manage and provide training for data analysis to the Local Partner Treatment Facility (LPTF)
• Coordinate technical assistance to sites in use of data to address gaps in program and services
• Conduct site visits to LPTF as indicated providing relevant technical assistance
• Participate in implementation of activities in work plans, meetings for shared experiences, and additional trainings as required
• Gather feedback from site visits to each LPTF to assess technical assistance needs, flow of data and provide appropriate capacity building trainings
• Provide technical assistance to promote monitoring and evaluation strategies to facilitate data usage and ownership in a manner that enhances the program and promotes sustainability
• Work with the SI team and LPTFs to design and review data analysis for all program areas which goes beyond routine quarterly performance tracking to help identify problems and opportunities to improve program performance.
• Help the project to demonstrate that project interventions result in observable and measurable improvement in the quality of HIV care and treatment services and clients served.
• Increase LPTF demand for quality information, and information use in decision making
• Represent the project to host country institutions, agencies and stakeholders
• Other duties as needed

Qualifications

• Masters in public health, epidemiology, statistics, or related field with 5 years experience
• or Bachelor’s degree with at least 10 years relevant experience in Strategic Information/M&E of health programs
• Experience in clinical setting is preferred
• Experience working in M&E and Patient Management and Monitoring Systems (PMMS)
• At least 3 years of experience in monitoring of HIV projects; and
• Experience and familiarity with USG (CDC/USAID) reporting system
• Familiarity with information dissemination at national and international level
• Data analysis and use of Statistical data analysis packages e.g.: SAS, Epi Info, SPSS etc.
• Strong leadership and communication skills
• Experience working with and designing tools to support decision making,
• Training and workshop facilitation experience
• Ability to trouble-shoot, manage crisis, and problem solving
• Knowledge of both Amharic and English is desirable
• Ability or Experience in Abstract writing
• Experience with mapping and GIS software

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