Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)|East, Ethiopia

RTI International is an international, independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the human condition by turning knowledge into practice. With a worldwide staff of more than 4,000 people, RTI offers innovative research and development and a full spectrum of multidisciplinary services that meet the highest standards of professional performance.

Act to End NTDs | East is a five year cooperative agreement through which RTI supports national neglected tropical disease (NTD) programs to reach WHO NTD control and elimination goals through proven, cost-effective public health interventions which span the regions of Oromia, Tigray, Beneshangul-Gumuz and Gambella.

Position Summary:

The Data Management Officer will oversee the organization, storage and in-depth analysis of NTDs data to guide program decisions for Act I East-NTDs, and any other RTI future projects.  He/she will also be responsible for managing all project specific reporting deliverables surrounding data management and ongoing national level NTDs-DHIS2 support and role out regions.  In addition, he/she is expected to provide technical and programmatic support to the MERLA and program team by undertaking supportive supervision during MDA and Disease specific Assessments led by RTI International.

Responsibilities:

• Manage project specific data workbooks by ensuring the quality and timeliness of all NTDs data being reported from Act I East supported regions.
• Support and manage surveys/disease-specific assessments field level undertaking and data management by developing data entry templates, overseeing data entry, cleaning and subsequent analysis including report writing.
•  Provide closer technical support to FMoH NTDs team, regional health bureaus and in-country partners in rolling out DHIS2 implementation data analysis and use.
•  Undertake thorough review of project data for inconsistencies that could skew analytical results and advise senior management team for timely corrective actions.
• Review all data submissions by RTI partners and provide closer assistance as necessary to ensure accuracy where needed.
• Assist the FMOH M&E advisor in DHIS2 database management and analysis in a way it ensures evidence-based generation for performance improvements.
• Participate in the routine NTD database maintenance and progress tracking as needed to ensure data integrity.
• Make recommendations for software, hardware and data storage upgrades and use during surveys, as necessary.
• Provide technical support as necessary to RTI NTD team and FMOH NTD case team on data management during data collection, analysis, and use.
• Summarize and analyze Act I East NTDs project related data and ensure consistency between data workbooks and narrative reports.
• Summarize project progresses on monthly basis for major indicators and share with RTI Ethiopia management for learning and timely decision making in collaboration with MERLA manager.
• Provide technical supports to ongoing MERLA related activities or any of validation surveys including the design and overall coordination of the tasks.
• Undertake ongoing data analysis of historical data and generate evidence for learning and decision making on quarterly basis or as necessary.
•  Conduct field visits to regions for any on-site technical supports and capture learnings from ongoing implementation processes, as necessary.
• Support supportive supervisions of Disease Specific Assessments being undertaken by RTI International
•  in closer collaboration with in-country implementing partners and Regional Health Bureaus.
• Undertake other assignments as assigned by immediate supervisor, as necessary.

Education

• BSc / BA in Statistics / Biostatistics, and related field with approximately 6 years’ work experience

Experience

• Proven experience in MERLA, particularly in data analysis and use for learning and program adaptation as necessary data management tools
• Familiarity with modern database and information systems design and applications
• High analytical mindset with problem-solving skills
• Proficient programming skills in one or more statistical software packages (Stata, SPSS, etc.)
• Experience of working with USAID projects and knowledge of NTDs.

Skills and Abilities

• Ability to manage small and large datasets, create codebooks, manipulate data, move and merge data files from different platforms
• Proven experiences in reading, exporting, and converting data sets between multiple statistical software packages
• Proven experiences in using mobile technology for data collection is an advantage
• Proven skills of health research methodologies
• Proven skills of statistical software (Epi-Data, SPSS, STATA, Epi Info etc.)