LEAP Program Description

Global Solutions Ventures (GSV) – a joint-venture partnership between ZemiTek, LLC and Dexis Consulting Group – is implementing the Long-term Exceptional Technical Assistance Project (LEAP Global), a mechanism originally used by USAID to battle against infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, neglected tropical diseases, and pandemic influenza. As of July 1, 2025, LEAP Global transitioned to the U.S. Department of State (DOS). This initiative aims to address the complex human resource challenges faced by national infectious disease programs in the USA-supported countries.

The intervention of this project is to hire and embed technical expert advisors and subject matter experts within government entities. By directly embedding the technical expertise within the national programs, LEAP provides long-term, sustainable lifesaving support to empower host governments to lead and manage key aspects of their infectious disease portfolios and improve coordination between the U.S. Government and the host country.

About the Position

The Senior Strategic Advisor will support the Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Program (ZAMEP) in carrying out life-saving humanitarian assistance (LHA) in full alignment with the new Presidential Executive Order (EO) directives.  The primary focus of the Senior Strategic Information Advisor will be providing technical guidance on all aspects of strategic information which includes data management, collection, analysis, and use, reflecting best practices designed to improve data quality and use, and ultimately advance malaria outcomes on daily basis to ensure the ZAMEP program is able to collect, analyze, and share data for decision making. The Senior Strategic Information Advisor will work with ZAMEP to support the planning, development and implementation of advanced data management and reporting systems within the program.

The Senior Strategic Information Advisor will be based at the ZAMEP office which is part of Ministry of Health (MOH). The Advisor will receive day-to-day directions from the ZAMEP Program Manager, who will serve as the onsite Manager/Supervisor. The Senior Strategic Information Advisor will report to the U.S. Department of State in Dar es Salaam at Office of Foreign Assistance (OFA) and ZAMEP on a weekly and monthly basis, as described below.

Responsibilities

Improve capacity of ZAMEP to collect, analyze and report key malaria indicators:

• Build the capacity of the ZAMEP M&E Unit in malaria reporting, including data collection, reporting, data management, data analysis and use, and dissemination and reports.
• Identify ZAMEP knowledge gaps and support development of monitoring and data analysis tools to meet the needs of the program.
• Provide technical assistance to the ZAMEP monitoring and evaluation unit in design visualizations, reports, and tools that help different target audiences easily digest the information and offer potential solutions to data gaps.
• Participate in malaria program evaluations conducted by ZAMEP.
• Participate in the review process of the ZAMEP strategic plan monitoring and evaluation component and provide technical expertise on the improvement of data quality issues.
• Provide guidance on the formulation, adoption and implementation of key performance indicators and targets for ZAMEP.
• Support ZAMEP Monitoring and Evaluation Unit with writing malaria monitoring and evaluation technical documents and evaluation tools such as theories of change, logical frameworks, indicators and corresponding indicator reference sheets, reporting templates and systems, and analysis of work plans, protocols, and reports.
• Provide technical assistance to the ZAMEP M&E Unit to design and implement malaria-related studies, surveys and evaluations if needed.
• Support the adoption and utilization of malaria monitoring and evaluation framework in the national electronic malaria surveillance system in collaboration with other stakeholders.

Improved program performance as a result of efficient and effective monitoring and evaluation using evidence-based best practices

• Advise ZAMEP leadership on ways of improving performance using information obtained from the monitoring and evaluation activities.
• Lead the development and implementation of strategies to improve data quality, data sharing, and data visualization and analytics, while establishing a culture of data-informed resource allocation within ZAMEP.
• Lead the routine review and analysis of key indicator performance on the national and regional levels and provide up-to-date findings and recommendations to relevant stakeholders.
• Provide technical leadership and expertise to all areas of data management, including ensuring appropriate data collection (manual and automated), inventorying, and cataloguing in the existing ZAMEP monitoring and evaluation tools and data systems.
• Work with the program to conduct rigorous analysis of data from a variety of sources to locate implementation obstacles and opportunities, and to employ cutting-edge approaches and tools to generate visualizations.
• Monitor and evaluate progress towards achievement of national targets on malaria, country operational plans, and expected outputs.
• Support the ZAMEP in resolving problems at the national and sub-national levels that hinder the effective and efficient implementation of the malaria M&E activities.
• Train and mentor the ZAMEP Monitoring and Evaluation Unit in data analysis and visualization. 

Improved Coordination of M&E Activities among stakeholders:

• Organize regular consultations/meetings with ZAMEP, monitoring and evaluation experts, USG-supported malaria projects, other donor-funded projects in Zanzibar, and other stakeholders in malaria response in Zanzibar.
• Provide support and technical guidance to USG malaria implementing partners on monitoring and evaluation aspects, including the selection, collection, reporting and analysis of malaria indicators.
• Provide relevant information to ZAMEP from the different implementing partners monitoring and evaluation activities.
• Contribute to the preparation of quarterly progress reports, annual project report, inception report, and ad-hoc technical reports for the MoH, Global Fund and DOS in accordance with the required formats.
• Participate in Zanzibar Malaria Elimination (ZME) technical working group meetings facilitated by ZAMEP and/or Ministry of Health.
• Submit progress reports monthly as well as updates if specific requests/information are required to the U.S Department of State (Office of Foreign Assistance).
• Participate in regular bi-weekly calls with the DOS malaria team.

Communications:

• Regular meetings/ conference calls with ZAMEP, partners, U.S Department of State (Office of Foreign Assistance) and Washington to review progress, discuss activities and address emerging issues.
• The Senior Strategic Information Advisor should provide information and avail himself /herself for calls/meetings with the U.S Department of State (Office of Foreign Assistance) as required.
• The Senior Strategic Information Advisor will provide monthly reports to the U.S. Department of State (Office of Foreign Assistance) and ZAMEP Program Manager.

REPORTING:

The Senior Strategic and Information Advisor will provide a detailed monthly report to the U.S. Department of State (Office of Foreign Assistance) and ZAMEP, which must be submitted by the 5th day of the following month. Additionally, the Advisor will submit a weekly progress report to the U.S. Department of State (and participate in weekly calls) to include a short paragraph about the main successes for that week. The format for reporting may be adjusted with concurrence from the GOR. The advisor will provide weekly progress reports in ZAMEP weekly meetings.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in the field related to monitoring and evaluation, statistics, social sciences, epidemiology, health informatics, public health, infectious disease, mathematics, economics, or other quantitative analysis and measurement for public health outcomes, or other equivalent quantitative discipline, is required.
• More than 7 years of progressive and responsible experience in providing technical expertise in the principles of strategic information (information systems, data management and analysis, surveillance, and impact assessment techniques).
• In-depth professional-level knowledge of techniques and approaches for gathering, analyzing, interpreting, and conducting surveillance of data, as well as using this information to drive decision making.
• Experience providing monitoring and evaluation technical assistance to large, complex public health programs.
• Demonstrated experience in the programming of health data-collection and data-quality programs/projects/activities.
• Demonstrated ability to review, analyze and advise all aspects of malaria programming at national and regional level.
• Up-to-date knowledge of global and national policies on all aspects of the management of malaria programs.
• Understanding of ethics related to health data management.
• Understanding of various international malaria surveillance systems and policies requirements.
• Experience working with the key stakeholders in malaria and other health programs, preferably the national stakeholders and international donors.
• Demonstrated leadership skills and experience in building and maintaining productive working relationships with colleagues and host government.
• Excellent skills in working with government counterparts and other partners including GF, Bill and Melinda Foundation, SWISS TPH implementing partners, local government etc.
• Experience working in a malaria program country is highly desirable.
• Experience in all aspects of analyzing health data – e.g., designing data collection tools, assessing data for validity, analyzing quantitative data, and presenting findings in a programmatically useful way.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze multiple sources of data to identify data trends and provide recommendations on project implementation.
• Software Applications: Strong knowledge and ability to use spreadsheets (e.g. Excel), databases (e.g. Access, CSPro), and analysis packages (e.g. SPSS, SAS, R), and the ability to help others and to learn new programs quickly, are required.
• Demonstrated skills in oral and written communication in English. Demonstrated skills in oral and written communication in Swahili will be evaluated favorably.
• Knowledge of U.S. Government health initiatives and related reporting requirements and funding parameters.
• Good computer skills, including familiarity with Microsoft Office programs.
• Excellent organizational, planning, negotiating and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written communication skills are required to prepare regular and ad hoc reports, activity documentation and briefing papers.