Company Profile

YCI is a leading global youth development organization that promotes youth innovation to drive positive change. Together with our partners we create market ready solutions that catapult youth around the world to succeed and prosper; we are driven by youth and their potential to affect positive change in the world. Our solutions are focused – always keeping the young people we are designing for and with at the center of the conversation. Our approach is rooted in creativity and constantly evolving to respond to changing needs and market realities.  YCI is an organization where diversity and talent come together to shape a better future for youth around the world.

HerStart: Innovate the Future
HerStart: Innovate the Future is an initiative developed by Youth Challenge International to foster and create innovative solutions for a more equitable and prosperous economy within Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda.

The program includes training and support for aspiring entrepreneurs in social enterprise, gender responsive business planning, the measurement of social impact, and access to finance. Canadian volunteers will be engaged in providing human capital support for activities through on-site placements and capacity building initiatives with partner organizations. Additionally, an entrepreneurial ecosystem will be catalyzed to identify and reduce gendered barriers, which will foster more enabling environments for young female entrepreneurs. This funding mechanism will also provide programmatic support for organizations to more effectively deliver gender-responsive activities that drive sustainable business ventures.

For this project, YCI has partnered with Salanga to support a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) and data management system (Kinaki), and to establish a framework in alignment with donor requirements. Data management takes place in Salanga’s cloud based platform, Kinaki.

Job Description

• Location: Tamale, Ghana 
• Contract Length: 1 year, renewable
• Commitment: Full time, 37.5 hours/week
• Compensation: 10,500 GHC/month
• Start Date: February 2023

Position Summary
Reporting to the Senior MEL Manager, the Data and Learning Manager will play a key leadership role in the implementation of HerStart Innovate the Future’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) system across all three countries of operation. HerStart collects a large volume of survey data across program implementation countries, using Kobo Collect, and stores and analyzes this data in our data management system, Kinaki. The Data and Learning Manager will be the point person for both of these systems, leading data management operations, and an expert in data analysis, supporting other team members to analyze key program data and drive program improvements.

The Data and Learning Manager will work with 3 country-specific Knowledge and Learning Managers (KLMs) and a Canada based Senior MEL Manager, ensuring that relevant program knowledge is gathered, shared and actioned upon through a dynamic knowledge and data management system. The Data and Learning Manager will use learning strategies and informational, organizational, and technical skills to implement, coordinate and continually enhance systems for tracking and managing data – to improve operations and outputs and to enhance program effectiveness globally.

We are seeking a passionate, skilled, detail oriented and creative candidate to deliver exceptional results.  We are looking for people to join our team who believe in youth as powerful agents of change and are passionate about contributing to women’s empowerment through the advancement of both national and global gender equality agendas. 

Responsibilities include:

• Data Management (40%): Ensure rigorous data quality control through proactive, participatory monitoring approaches and consistent data management; Ensure smooth data flow between Kinaki and KoBo; Contribute to the maintenance and accuracy of the data management system, including supporting the design of context appropriate tools, resources and activities to capture both qualitative and quantitative data; Contribute to the effective management of project reporting at the country level, including the analysis and visualization of project results for various audiences as needed; Ensure that knowledge about the project’s achievements is well documented and shared with the appropriate stakeholders. 
• Project Management and Coordination (30%): Support the Learning Team in strategy, planning and leading overall data management for the HerStart Project; Supporting KLMs with necessary data analysis to conduct ongoing reflection and planning with teams and partners, work planning in collaboration with teams and partners, implementation planning and team collaboration; Coordinate and manage data management activities and team data activities across countries.
• Learning (20%): In collaboration with the KLMs: Identify, document and share best practice, lessons learned and trends in the youth and women’s livelihoods sector to ensure overall program relevance and effectiveness through project results and secondary research; Collate results of country level routine data reporting and visualizations for learning and reflection across the project; Coordinate the consolidation of evidence and learning from program evaluations to identify best practices and lesson learned across the YCI network; Work with YCI volunteers, partners and stakeholders to strengthen the integration of program learnings at a project level; Inform HerStart communications initiatives with high level summaries, stories and consolidated data.
• Technical Support (10%): Ensure sufficient onboarding of relevant staff and volunteers on the efficient use of data systems and provide ongoing coaching/support, as needed; Provide technical assistance, training, trouble shooting and ongoing support to HerStart staff across the project on the efficient use of the YCI project monitoring and reporting system (Kinaki); Monitor and manage an online MEL course using Mighty Networks; Establish and maintain positive, collaborative and productive relationships with project staff, partners and sector stakeholders, providing technical support as needed.

Required Skills or Experience

• You are a self-starter with 5+ years of progressively responsible leadership experience in participatory knowledge management systems with a successful track record in designing, managing, implementing and monitoring MEAL strategies and systems for program tracking and improvement.
• You are detail oriented and skilled at data analysis.
• You enjoy learning new software tools and are comfortable trouble shooting technical issues.
• You have strong project management and coordination skills and enjoy facilitating coordination among stakeholders.
• You are passionate about investing in women and youth livelihoods and inspired by the possibilities of innovation and entrepreneurship.
• You have a proven ability to manage and provide training and support on MEAL processes and digital tools to relevant project stakeholders.
• You demonstrate an integrated understanding of the principles of gender equality and the empowerment of girls, including a familiarity with the socio-economic profile of young women in Northern Ghana and you are an effective communicator with excellent written and verbal English proficiency.
• You are a permanent resident or a Citizen of Ghana.