Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer

About this role

ABOUT VILLAGEREACH
VillageReach transforms health care delivery to reach everyone, so that each person has the health care needed to thrive. We develop solutions that improve equity and access to primary health care. This includes making sure products are available when and where they are needed and primary health care services are delivered to the most under-reached. Radical collaboration with governments, the private sector and other partners strengthen our ability to scale and sustain these solutions. Our work increases access to quality health care for more than 46 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. VillageReach in incorporated in Washington State and has offices in Seattle (USA), Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Cote d’ Ivoire, Kena and Mozambique.
SUMMARY
In consultation with the Manager of Monitoring and Evaluation (in DRC), The Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Officer will provide technical leadership for the monitoring, evaluation, learning and adaptive management on a new large grant focused on improving routine immunization coverage in Lomami Province. The position will lead the operationalization of the program's MEL framework and measurement of the program’s Theory of Change, ensuring that VillageReach can reliably determine whether zero-dose and under-immunized children are being identified, whether underserved communities are incorporated into microplans, whether planned vaccination sessions actually occur, whether children are reached, and ultimately whether vaccination coverage improves. The Senior MEL Officer will integrate multiple data streams—including DHIS2/Gestion PEV, digital session reporting, GTS/geospatial data, supply-chain monitoring, supervision findings, community data and qualitative evidence—to generate actionable information monthly for programme management, government and health facility decision-making. The position will work closely with the Project Senior Manager, global Research, Evidence and Learning Director and with a geospatial mapping partner while maintaining VillageReach’s overall responsibility for programme monitoring, learning and donor reporting. In addition to leading the project’s M&E. This program will be supported by an external evaluation team who will conduct a baseline and endline coverage survey, this position along with the Global Director of Research, Evidence and Learning will be the points of contact for the external evaluators. Lastly, this project will also be supporting a small pilot of an intervention of Community Health Workers as Vaccinators, the Senior MEL Officer will support the creation and execution of the research, data collection and analysis plan for that pilot.
This position reports to the Manager of Monitoring and Evaluation (in DRC), with a dotted reporting line to a Director of Research, Evidence and Learning (global level).
Role Description:
Essential duties and responsibilities include the following. Other duties, responsibilities and activities may change or be assigned at any time.
1. MEL System Leadership and Implementation

• Lead the development, refinement and implementation of the detailed project MEL Plan, indicator reference sheets, data-flow architecture, reporting calendar, data-quality procedures and learning agenda.

• Translate the project Theory of Change into measurable indicators and practical monitoring systems.

• Ensure alignment between VillageReach monitoring indicators, funder standard indicators, learning questions, programme milestones and government routine immunization information systems.

• Lead periodic review and refinement of indicators during inception and implementation as programme design and learning needs evolve.
2. Vaccination Coverage, Zero-Dose and Dropout Monitoring

• Lead analysis of routine immunization performance, including DTP1, DTP3, MR1 and other agreed tracer antigens.

• Monitor trends in vaccination coverage, zero-dose children, under-immunization and DTP1–DTP3 / DTP3–MR1 dropout.

• Triangulate DHIS2/Gestion PEV data with project monitoring, geospatial information, microplans and other available sources to identify inconsistencies and emerging performance gaps.

• Support interpretation of independent baseline and annual vaccination coverage survey findings and translate results into programme recommendations.
3. Outreach, Mobile and Fixed-Session Performance Monitoring

• Establish systems to compare planned versus completed vaccination sessions, including fixed, outreach, mobile and gathering-point strategies.

• Monitor session frequency, reliability, supervision, geographic reach and the extent to which services reach hard-to-reach or previously missed communities.

• Analyse whether increased outreach and mobile activities are affecting the availability or quality of fixed vaccination services.

• Develop early-warning analyses to identify missed sessions, repeated implementation gaps and underperforming health areas.
4. Geospatial and GTS Data Integration

• Work closely with the geospatial mapping partner to integrate geospatial mapping, GTS vaccinator tracking, settlement mapping and travel/access information into the VillageReach MEL system.

• Triangulate GTS tracks against micro-plans, session reports and community information to determine whether vaccination teams reached planned locations.

• Support analysis of geographic equity and identify settlements or populations that remain unreached.

• Ensure geospatial evidence is translated into practical recommendations for revised microplans and outreach strategies.
5. Data Quality and Verification

• Develop and oversee project Data Quality Assurance protocols covering completeness, timeliness, accuracy, consistency, validity and source-document verification.

• Conduct routine data-quality reviews and periodic DQAs at provincial, health-zone and health-facility levels.

• Ensure reconciliation across DHIS2/Gestion PEV, vaccination registers, tally sheets, digital…