Measurement, Learning, and Evaluation (MLE) Manager at Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL)

Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL)Nigeria Data and Artificial Intelligence

Full Time

A joint venture by Pratham and J-PAL, the TaRL Africa team supports partners working to address the learning crisis in primary schools in Africa through the evidence-based TaRL approach.

Role purpose

TaRL Africa – Nigeria is seeking an MLE Manager to spearhead our program measurement, monitoring, and review (MMR) initiatives alongside research, learning, and innovation efforts. This pivotal role will support the scaling and optimization of the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach throughout Nigeria. The MLE Manager will enhance the effectiveness of TaRL programs by developing and implementing a comprehensive MLE strategy tailored specifically to the Nigerian context.
In this capacity, the MLE Manager will ensure robust, data-driven decision-making by conducting regular assessments and data reviews to facilitate adaptive learning and ongoing program adjustments. This role involves managing a team responsible for designing, executing, and overseeing diverse data collection, analysis, and dissemination activities across government and partner-led programs. The MLE Manager will meticulously track program implementation and outcomes to ensure alignment with TaRL Africa’s overarching strategy and work plan.
The MLE Manager will also support rigorous research studies taking place in Nigeria in close collaboration with TaRL Africa Central MLE team and, at times, external researchers. TaRL Africa currently has three externally-funded research studies taking place in Nigeria that incorporate implementation research and quasi-experimental design methodology. Additionally, the MLE Manager may lead or closely collaborate on nimble internal learning activities as well as learning labs and pilots for program adaptations and new innovations.
Collaboration will be key, as the MLE Manager will work closely with the Country Director, the Central MLE Director(s), and government stakeholders to formulate a long-term MLE strategy for Nigeria. This will include promoting a culture of evidence-based action and integrating research findings to enhance program effectiveness and learning outcomes.
As a vital member of the Nigeria Country Management Team, the MLE Manager will report directly to the Country Director and be the point person for all MLE-related matters in the country. The position is based in Abuja, Nigeria, and will require significant travel across the country, as well as occasional travel within Africa. Flexibility in work hours may be necessary to accommodate varying time zones.

Major roles and responsibilities

Manage measurement, monitoring and review (MMR) across Nigeria 30%: MMR at TaRL Africa means setting up tools and processes to generate quality program data through the government systems and empowering implementation teams to review and use data to better support the programs.

Understand program objectives and different stakeholder needs to support the MLE team and partners to ensure that program MMR activities (including assessments, quality assurance, monitoring, building government capacity, etc.) are completed on time.
Find avenues to continually strengthen MMR by introducing new activities, increasing internal and government engagement with data, simplifying and/or automating existing activities, integrating TaRL data into government systems, etc.
Streamline MMR tools, systems, analysis methods to bring uniformity across programs.
As needed, support the MLE team in designing MMR systems, training teams, analyzing data, and sharing key insights with government stakeholders and partners.
Foster collaboration between countries to share MMR best practices and innovations, helping to create a more cohesive and effective approach across all programs.
Keep abreast of government policies, recent initiatives / programs in the program countries.

Lead and coordinate nimble learning studies across programs to learn about program quality and implementation 20%: TaRL Africa believes in adaptive learning and improvement of programs in the pursuit of making the TaRL programs more effective and owned by governments. In addition to rigorous research and evaluations to build on the already strong evidence for TaRL, we regularly conduct such nimble learning studies (quickly executed, typically within a quarter) to better unpack program challenges and identify ways to strengthen.

Find opportunities across programs to conduct low-cost nimble learning activities that align with the priorities in the organizational learning agenda as well as local needs.
When leading nimble learning studies,
supervise budgeting, field planning, and questionnaire design (qualitative + quantitative) ahead of data collection, balancing nimbleness with usefulness.
ensure fast analysis and dissemination of findings/ recommendations to government, partners, and internal teams in a way that facilitates concrete decision-making.
Periodically, synthesize findings from multiple nimble learning studies within Nigeria and from other countries/ and share with country teams to feed into the organizational Learning Agenda and prepare for external publications.

Supervise learning plans to study innovations in TaRL programs 20%: TaRL Africa actively seeks to try adaptations and innovations that can help TaRL programs better fit into and cater to the needs of the country. We incubate new innovations and ideas in Learning Labs, groups of up to 20 schools, to understand how they unfold in practice and their potential for impact.

Oversee the design of the learning plan, including the learning questions, overall activity plan, timelines, etc.
Supervise budgets, manage finances, find and select vendors as necessary for all learning-related activities.
Review tools and processes set up by MLE team to ensure they are appropriate, simple and yield reliable and valid data.
Manage internal stakeholders, ensuring that the learning plan answers questions of interest to the Content & Training and Programs teams.
From time to time, put together findings and facilitate cross-country sharing about challenges and successful innovations.

Manage tracking, review, and reporting of data of TaRL programs, and delivery against TaRL Africa’s overall strategy and work plan 20% – TaRL Africa works with many organizations and governments across Africa. The MLE Manager is responsible for coordinating with partners and internal teams to track reporting indicators across different programs and respond to data queries as needed.

Coordinate with partners and country teams to consolidate implementation, outcomes, and cost data on a central data system.
Ensure that country dashboards are up to date.
Create systems (automated as far as possible) to store and analyze multi-year global data for all TaRL Africa and partner programs in Nigeria so that they are readily available for reporting and review.
Ensure that donors, partners, and senior management team (SMT) data queries are addressed in a timely and accurate manner.
Support the Programs and Partnership team in planning and conducting annual/ bi-annual program reviews.
Support the Country Director in tracking and reviewing delivery in Nigeria against TaRL Africa’s overall strategy and work plan.

Manage (direct or dotted line) the Nigeria MLE team members 10%

Allocate tasks, create work plans and provide feedback to Central MLE Associates/Coordinators to help deliver high-quality outputs.
Plan for their professional development; regularly assess their technical capacity and find opportunities (such as workshops, courses, projects, etc.) for their growth.
Support rigorous research studies and evaluations by providing contextual knowledge for questionnaire design and analysis, and synthesizing learning into summaries.
Creatively and regularly communicate program lessons and results with the TaRL community and more broadly (e.g., through blogs, articles, podcasts, newsletters).
Represent TaRL Africa in public forums or events as needed.
Coordinate with the Research manager/ coordinator to support overall MLE knowledge management.
Support the Country Director in grant/ proposal writing.
Support other tasks assigned by the line manager.

Minimum Requirements

Master’s Degree or PhD (in view) in a relevant field such as Statistics, Economics, International Development, Public Policy, Education, Social Sciences, or a related discipline.
At least 6 years of relevant experience in monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL), particularly in the development sector, education, or related fields.
Experience in designing and implementing MLE systems and managing evaluations, data collection methodologies, analysis (both quantitative and qualitative) and impact assessments for education or development programs.
Proven experience in using data for decision-making and program improvement, particularly in large-scale projects or multi-country settings.
Experience working with software for data collection, warehousing, analysis & visualization platforms (Required: Excel, Survey CTO, KoboCollect (or similar ODK-based platform). Strongly preferred: Tableau or Power BI; Stata or R).
Supervisory experience managing teams responsible for M&E activities.

Key Competencies

Familiarity with education sector metrics and evaluations, particularly in low-resource contexts.
Understanding of research methodologies and their application in program evaluation.
Knowledge of data visualization and the ability to communicate insights effectively to non-technical audiences.
Familiarity with government or NGO programs in the context of developing countries, especially in Africa or the specific region of focus.
Familiarity with national and regional learning assessments.