Director, Research and Learning

This role was posted on June 21, 2023. Please note that we will review applications on a rolling basis and prioritize those received within the first two weeks of posting.

As of March 1, 2022, Last Mile Health is requiring staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 wherever legally allowable and adhere to COVID-19 vaccination requirements to perform core work activities in all locations. To learn more, review ourpolicy.

The Role

At Last Mile Health (LMH), we dig evidence and data. Do you have experience leading innovative monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL) activities for health system strengthening, policy, health financing, and advocacy initiatives? If so, you may be our next Director of Research and Learning! 

LMH partners with governments to design and refine community health policies and information systems with strong governance and financing.  We design and implement programs to supervise, salary, supply, and upskill community and frontline health workers. Collectively, these efforts aim to sustain responsive and resilient community health systems. 

As part of LMH’s Global Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (GMERL) team, the Director of Research and Learning will be responsible for working with the team to support the design and implementation of a robust approach to monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning activities across all country programs.  

Reporting to the Managing Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning,the Director of Research and Learning will support the GMERL team and Country MERL teams to develop, tailor, and promote an organizational research and learning agenda, strengthen organizational practices around data use and learning, strengthen our resources and build capacity for measurement and research in community health, and identify areas for broader dissemination of learnings. 

The Director of Research and Learning will support the understanding and application of MERL tools and practices overall, but with a special focus on research-related activities, protocols, and coordination across country teams, learning initiatives related to use of data and evidence for learning and decision-making, and developing a data-driven organizational culture. 

With the Managing Director, he/she will help to develop and implement an organization-wide Research and Learning Agenda and will also support and promote strategies for data use and adaptive management at an organizational level, fostering best practices and facilitating shared learning.  

The Director, Research and Learning will share findings with country team programs, executive leadership, and identified external stakeholders including but not limited to LMH funders and Ministries of Health.

This role is open to national and international candidates located in or willing to relocate to Accra, Ghana. This role is also open to candidates located in the Eastern Seaboard of the United States with US work authorization. This role is fully remote in the US and Hybrid in Ghana. 

#LI-Hybrid

What you'll do

Research

• Work with the Managing Director-MERL, Chief Technical Officer, and Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) team to develop, contextualize by country, and implement an organization-wide Research and Learning Agenda in keeping with LMH’s Theory of Change and the FY24-28 Closing the Distance Strategy
• Help coordinate documentation of existing (and/or known) evidence base for Research and Learning Agenda and identify evidence gaps that can be addressed through targeted MERL activities and initiatives. 
• Provide technical oversight (with Managing Director) on the development and implementation of research protocols for LMH programs and projects, including IRB submissions, and publications
• Contribute to the design of evaluation studies, including household surveys, and oversee their implementation
• Work with the Director of MERL Technical Support and country MERL teams to ensure MERL plans are fit-for-purpose and inclusive of measurement at all levels
• Engage with the Community Health Impact Coalition on shared research priorities and leveraging opportunities for collaboration
• Support the Africa Frontline First (AFF) initiative in developing and implementing a Learning Agenda (in coordination with LMH and CHIC research priorities)

Internal Learning

• Collaborate with other global teams like HSS and Program Strategy and Performance (PSP) to identify key cross-program, cross-country learning opportunities for sharing and documentation
• Develop and maintain research-related resources, guidance, and tracking tools, including IRB protocol development & management, data-related organizational policies, and structure resources within the LMH Wiki Portal (GMERL page) to improve knowledge management
• Share findings with program teams and collaborate to refine strategies, strengthen programs, and improve activities
• Develop organizational strategies for improving programmatic data use and learning for LMH and its partners, working with and across countries and global teams
• Engage with the data systems team to ensure that LMH’s data portal facilitates data use and access to LMH research ‘library’ (TBD)
• Support other MERL activities as requested by Managing Director
• Support internal evaluations and reviews of strategies or interventions (activity, country or organizational-level)

MERL Team Leadership and Management

• Support the Managing Director in MERL team strategy and planning, including the development of standard tools, templates, and resources to ensure minimum quality of MERL at LMH 
• Support professional development and building MERL capacity across the organization, helping with identifying competencies, assessments, gaps, and learning opportunities for MERL (and  non-MERL) staff and helping shape the MERL Community of Practice
• Help support diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across GMERL and LMH

What you'll bring

• Masters degree in public health, monitoring and evaluation,  economics, epidemiology, health policy,  or other related field preferred OR Bachelor’s degree required
• Extensive professional experience in public health and/or international development, with significant years of leading MERL activities for health system strengthening, policy, health financing, and advocacy initiatives
• Experience leading rigorous research and evaluation design and implementation
• Demonstrated experience in quantitative and qualitative MERL methods, and mixed methods research
• Experience developing and implementing MEL/MERL plans  
• Experience developing MERL reports, publications, whitepapers, toolkits, and factsheets, as primary author
• Demonstrated experience with stakeholder engagement and ability to collaborate with and provide technical support to internal teams and external partners, government counterparts
• Experience in global health or international development, including USAID programming 
• Ability to develop theories of change and/or logic models and select and apply conceptual frameworks
• Experience in data visualization for programmatic decision making using advanced analytics tools like Tableau, Power BI, or other analytics
• Ability to clearly communicate complex technical information to a wide variety of audiences and help persuade stakeholders to adapt policies/programs strategically as aligned with the evidence and appropriate for local context
• Demonstrated experience coaching and mentoring colleagues on areas of MERL technical expertise

You’ll impress us if you have

• Ability to facilitate inclusive and culturally appropriate conversations with a range of stakeholders across geographies and cultural contexts
• Prior experience in a remote setting and willingness to travel to various program sites as needed

• Experience collaborating with and coaching  program/implementing teams to support data use
• Demonstrated commitment to social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Experience with a range of software tools and platforms, including statistical analysis, databases, data visualization, GIS, mobile data collection tools, etc.

Compensation information

At Last Mile Health, we strive to reward our employees equitably and transparently. This means that we pay our employees based on a clear and consistent methodology and without regard to identity or personal relationships. We have made this model fully transparent, so that everyone has access to all information related to compensation. We hope this helps you better understand Last Mile Health’s values and commitments to our employees. We look forward to answering any questions you may have during the hiring process.

Before applying to this role, please take a moment to learn more about our approach to compensation and how compensation works in each of the countries where we operate. Please find the link to our compensation model and benefits overview below:

OVERVIEW OF LAST MILE HEALTH’S COMPENSATION MODEL

Compensation for this position:

The band for this position: SLB-5

For all countries, the range is an annual gross of $ 85,452 USD - $96,479 USD dependent upon experience doing an equivalent role. Please note that compensation is subject to statutory taxes.

About Last Mile Health

Last Mile Health partners with governments to design, scale, strengthen, and sustain high-quality community health systems, which empower teams of community and frontline health workers to bring life-saving primary healthcare to the world’s most remote communities. LMH is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. For more information, visit www.lastmilehealth.org.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at LMH. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.