Measurement & Monitoring Associate, TaRL Africa

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Reports to: Measurement & Monitoring Lead, TaRL Africa

Apply by: 30 June 2021

About the role: TaRL Africa seeks a Measurement and Monitoring (M&M) Associate to support the measurement and monitoring component of “Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL)”, a leading evidence-based education initiative tackling the learning crisis in Africa. The M&M associate will work together with TaRL Africa’s country teams, MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), Pratham Education Foundation, and National Education Ministries of select African countries to design a monitoring strategy that can be integrated into existing government systems and help them take data-driven decisions.

This role provides an excellent opportunity to individuals who are motivated to use data to improve the learning outcomes of primary school children in Africa. The role will be based in Kenya with international travel to other countries in Africa.

About Teaching at the Right Level Africa: TaRL Africa is a new international initiative formed between education NGO Pratham and MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), who have been working together to develop cost-effective, scalable education programs for more than 15 years. These efforts have led to the development of an education program now called Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL).

The evidence-based Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach, pioneered by Pratham in India, helps learners develop basic reading and numeracy skills. It has been evaluated and proven to be effective by many randomized evaluations. In a TaRL classroom: learners are assessed on basic reading and numeracy using a simple tool; grouped by learning level, rather than by grade, for a dedicated time when they focus building foundational skills through activities and materials appropriate for each group. As learners progress, they move to the next learning group and continue to grow.

Major roles and responsibilities  

  1. Provide oversight to the country teams to develop a robust Measurement & Monitoring strategy Supporting the country teams to design an effective M&M strategy is crucial for creating strong localized TaRL programs that are embedded within existing government systems. The M&M team works closely with the program & content teams to provide regular feedback from TaRL implementation. They also build their capacity to understand and use data for immediate course corrections. 
    • Develop a strong understanding of governments’ existing M&M systems in TaRL Africa’s directly supported countries
    • Understand the program objectives and different stakeholder needs to support the country M&M associates and partners in designing tools/ processes for data collection, verification, mentoring, and review, and in building the capacity of government officials on data use.
    • Support country teams on analyzing program data & sharing key insights with Government departments, TaRL Africa Central team on the successes, challenges, lessons learnt and highlight areas that require urgent attention. 
  1. Build the technical capacity of Country M&M associates
    • Regularly assess the technical capacity of country M&M associates and conduct workshops on data analysis, visualization, dissemination, and other technical aspects as necessary. 
  1. Support the measurement, mentoring & review processes of TaRL Africa’s program innovations Experimenting with new ideas to account for the contextual variations that we see across Africa is key to TaRL Africa’s work. The M&M team works closely in collaboration with the content and program teams to pilot new pedagogical approaches, innovative mentoring, and data collection systems in the Learning Labs that we have established in a few countries.
    • Support the design of innovative technology-based systems for mentoring and data collection and pilot them in TaRL Africa’s Learning Labs in Africa and India
    • Support TaRL Africa’s Research and Learning activities related to measurement/ mentoring. 
  1. Support TaRL Africa’s efforts on building and maintaining a central data website as a one-stop shop for all measurement related purposes.

Education and Qualifications

  • Minimum qualification a Bachelor degree and 2 years of work experience as an analyst or similar positions with an analytical bent. Applicants from consulting background looking to switch to the social sector for creating impact are also welcome to apply.
  • Excellent data analysis skills
  • Ability to think analytically and critically, keeping the big picture in mind
  • Experience working with data manipulation software, including data collection, analysis & visualization platforms (Required: Excel; Strongly preferred: Tableau, Power BI)
  • Excellent communication skills in English, including writing, conversing, and presenting.
  • Self-starter with an attitude to get the job done
  • Strong interpersonal skills with cross-cultural teams
  • Passionate about improving children’s learning using data
  • Willingness to travel frequently and flexibly within Africa, including in very rural areas.

Preferred: 

  • Experience working in the development and/or the education sector
  • Experience working with Government departments
  • Familiarity with French
  • Previous experience of building data systems for similar mission-driven organizations
  • Familiarity with econometric and program evaluation techniques
  • Familiarity with national and regional learning assessments
  • Strong preference for Kenyan Nationals

How to Apply

Please fill in this application form by 30 June 2021. Shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete an assessment, followed by two interviews. Due to the large volume of applications, we will only be able to respond to short-listed applicants.