Senior Programme Officer, Evaluation & Learning (Temporary)

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership committed to saving children’s lives and protecting people’s health by increasing equitable use of vaccines in lower-income countries. The Vaccine Alliance brings together implementing country and donor governments, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. Gavi uses innovative finance mechanisms, including co-financing by recipient countries, to secure sustainable funding and adequate supply of quality vaccines. Since 2000, Gavi has contributed to the immunisation of more than 981 million children and the prevention of more than 16 million future deaths.

The Measurement, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Department at the Gavi secretariat is responsible for leading the design and implementation of Gavi’s measurement, evaluation and learning activities, with the aim of ensuring that fit-for-purpose and timely information is available to inform decision-making, improve accountability and successfully deliver on the Alliance strategy. MEL plays a critical role in driving forward changes across Gavi through a Learning System approach to ensure we get the right information to the right people at the right time to drive decision making and to ensure Gavi achieves its mission as quickly and effectively as possible. The Gavi 5.0 Learning System will be embedded throughout Gavi strategy activities allowing for evidenced-based planning, improvements in timely and quality delivery of evidence and continuous learning and improvement in delivery of Gavi’s mission.

THE ROLE

Please note this is a temporary staff position, ASAP until 31 December 2025.

This is a senior technical position within the Evaluation and Learning (E&L) sub-team of the MEL Department.
The E&L sub-team focuses on two main areas:
• To ensure high quality targeted learning activities and evaluations are available to inform improvements in the performance of Gavi’s strategy, programmes and policies to strengthen delivery of results; and
• To facilitate use of information and learning by promoting uptake of key evidence in alignment with Gavi’s Learning System approach.

The Senior Programme Officer will lead the planning, design, management and utilisation of activities to generate evidence to strengthen Gavi’s delivery.

MAIN DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

Design and deliver activities to answer Gavi’s priority learning questions
• Design and manage delivery of studies and/or lighter touch/rapid evidence-generation approaches [‘targeted learning activities’] (i.e. strategic reviews, thought pieces, qualitative analysis, evidence synthesis), as needed, to answer strategic and/or operational learning questions in order to enable Gavi to make informed decisions to improve our work;
• Provide expertise on research methods, tools and advice;
• Participate in cross-team projects and initiatives.

Lead management of evaluations commissioned to independent evaluators
• Manage centralised evaluation studies, as needed, including:
o Draft Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for evaluation studies and coordinate consultation;
o Procurement, adjudication processes and steering committees for evaluation studies;
o Manage and guide evaluation suppliers hired by Gavi to conduct evaluations;
o Stakeholder engagement through the process including managing consultations and review processes for draft reports, tools and other deliverables to ensure quality deliverables;
o Track and manage timelines and budgets for evaluation studies.

Strength quality and delivery of evaluation and learning activities
• Develop materials, guidance, templates and provide technical advice in order to support colleagues in delivering activities to generate evidence to meet Gavi’s learning needs;
• Contribute to improving the Gavi evaluation policy, Evaluation Operational Guidelines and standard operating procedures for evaluation at Gavi including keeping abreast of best practice and trends in the evaluation sector.

Synthesis and use of evidence from evaluation and learning activities
• Synthesise findings and recommendations from different evaluations and research/learning activities to inform Gavi programming and strategic directions;
• Lead the development and timely delivery of different learning products, ensuring that evidence is fed back in to relevant workstreams (such as Gavi programming, Gavi 6.0 strategy, Mid Term Review, and the Vaccine Investment Strategy process). This will require consultation with diverse stakeholder groups, both internally and externally;

• Work with colleagues from across Gavi , to facilitate the development of Alliance responses to evaluation findings and reports and subsequently help determine how to best translate findings from evaluations into improved performance.

Support governance committees including Gavi’s Evaluation Advisory Committee (EAC)
• Draft papers and presentations for EAC meetings, contribute to senior management briefing notes, ensure follow-up of decisions made by committees relevant to our work and contribute to development of Gavi governance and strategic positioning papers for other committees.

Note: The essential functions listed in this section are not exhaustive of the job responsibilities; other duties may be assigned consistently with the department needs. Likewise, the successful candidate may not be required to work across all areas listed, as the portfolio will depend on the needs of the team at the time of appointment.

QUALIFICATIONS

ACADEMIC

• Advanced university degree in public health or other relevant social sciences (e.g. MPH, MSPH, MSc, PhD highly desirable);
• Training in public health, evaluation and/or research methods.

WORK EXPERIENCE

• A minimum of 8 years of evaluation (implementation and/or management) and/or research experience, preferably health sector-related, is required;
• Candidates will preferably have experience in both evaluation and research, but candidates with excellent experience in either area may also be considered; [Nb. ‘Research’ is used broadly to include a range of approaches from rapid (less rigorous) evidence generation activities through programmatic / operational research and/or epidemiological research];
• Professional experience in public health and immunisation including some engagement at field level is highly desirable;
• Understanding of multilateral agencies, key public health donors providing budget support and experience with a public private partnership model is an asset.

SKILLS/COMPETENCIES

• Technical:
o Excellent skills in evaluation (implementation and/or management) and/or ‘research’ of health programmes and systems in developing countries is essential;
o Innovative thinker who keeps up-to-date on relevant global issues and evaluation/research trends and methods, regularly reflects on experiences and adapts to ensure performance improvement in the work area is required;
• Demonstrated ability to develop and apply robust and/or innovative approaches to generate evidence to support programme delivery;
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with a range of stakeholders;
• Good knowledge of institutional or organisation policies, systems and procedures;
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills and ability to exercise tact and discretion;
• Ability to influence others to ensure delivery of results;
• Strong organisational and planning skills;
• Demonstrated capacity to manage consultants, budgets and deliverables and identify risks;
• Demonstrated capacity to manage a variety of activities simultaneously, work within teams and take initiative and meet tight deadlines.

LANGUAGES

• Fluency in English;
• Working knowledge of French or other UN language is desirable.

CONTACTS

• Gavi Secretariat (e.g. Country Programmes, Executive Office, Legal and Governance, Finance and Operations, others as relevant);
• Gavi Evaluation Advisory Committee;
• Gavi Vaccine Alliance partners including countries, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, civil society organisations, UNICEF, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization and other technical experts;
• Other research and technical institutes, technical experts and independent evaluation firms.