About the Program 

The PNG Australia Transition to Health (PATH) is a six and a half -year (July 2020-December 2026) health sector program funded by the Australian Government under the Papua New Guinea – Australia Partnership for Development. PATH supports the Government of PNG (GoPNG) to strengthen essential health service delivery in alignment with the National Health Plan 2021–2030. PATH is guided by the National Department of Health (NDoH), Provincial Health Authorities (PHAs) and the Bougainville Department of Health (BDoH), who together are responsible for the delivery of health services across PNG. 

PATH’s most significant areas of service delivery support are tuberculosis, routine immunization and sexual and reproductive health. PATH is designed to simultaneously use its service delivery projects as an opportunity to build the capacity of PHAs and identify and address Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) issues in the sector.

PATH’s end of investment outcomes (EOIO) are:

1. PHA’s more able to lead provincial health reform and manage effective, efficient, equitable and quality essential health services in selected provinces.
2. DFAT funded health services are demonstrating efficient and effective models of service delivery, influencing Provincial Health Authority (PHA) performance; and building sustainability by transitioning to PHA management in selected provinces.

PATH’s intermediate outcome (IO’s) are: 

1. PHA Leadership – Leaders and Technical personnel in PHAs/ BDoH are performing mandated functions
2. Women in Leadership – Women in Leadership are increasingly influencing more equitable health sector decisions
3. Essential Health Services – Increased delivery and coverage of selected essential health services

PATH is a locally led, adaptive, and politically informed program that seeks to maintain flexibility to respond to changing and local circumstances over the life of the program.

About the Opportunity

The Performance and Learning (PAL) Lead is responsible for implementing and further developing PATH’s program-wide, Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting, Learning and Adaptation System (MERLA). This includes provision of technical advice and support to implementing service providers (ISP) funded through PATH for their data collection, reporting and learning.

The PAL Lead should consider how innovative and technical approaches can be introduced (within the context of PNG) to enable collection, analysis and reporting of data-driven evidence.

The PAL Lead is part of the PATH Executive Leadership team, and works closely with the PATH Team Leader, two Program Delivery Leads, GEDSI Lead and Operations Lead to support good practice in MERLA, and an organisational culture which values evidence informed practice, learning, and adaptation. 

The PAL Lead will also be required to work collaboratively with the communications and public diplomacy manager to ensure that MERLA informed results are converted into communication products and conversely to utilise the communications expertise in the development of program reporting.

The PAL Lead will manage the PAL workstream consisting of a team of up to six MERLA staff and ensure appropriate collaboration with the Australian High Commission (AHC) to deliver PATH’s PAL function.

About You 

For applications to be considered, a response to the key selection criteria below must be provided. 

• A tertiary qualification in Monitoring and Evaluation, Social Sciences, International Development, Public Policy, Statistics, Data Science, or a related field. Formal training or certification in M&E methodologies, data analysis or digital tools is highly desirable.
• Significant demonstrated experience in the development and roll out of monitoring, evaluation, research and learning frameworks for large, complex programs.
• Proven experience using data-driven evidence to inform decision-making, adaptive management, and reporting. Demonstrated application of innovative M&E approaches using digital M&E platforms and data management systems to improve data collection, management, utilisation and reporting is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated experience managing, leading and mentoring a diverse national team and commitment to the principles of inclusion, localisation and equity.
• Experience working in complex, uncertain, dynamic environments – such as PNG or a comparable experience
• Strong analytical, written and verbal communication skills, with demonstrated experience leading preparation of high-quality reports and communications products for donor and Government audiences using dashboards or other advanced visualisation techniques. Familiarity with donor performance and quality and reporting requirements would be an asset.

For more information on the role and how to apply, please click on ‘GO TO PROVIDER WEBSITE’