Senior Associate, Programs

About Evidence Action

At Evidence Action, we deliver data-driven interventions that transform lives at an unprecedented scale. We identify neglected global health issues and deploy proven solutions, forging healthier futures for generations.

Our model operationalizes leading academic research (including from Nobel-winning economists). We measure progress and outcomes at every stage to ensure we’re making a real impact for people living in poverty and suffering from preventable or treatable health issues. Operating across 9 countries, our team of 900+ has reached over 500 million people, working closely with governments to scale these interventions.

• Our Deworm the World program has delivered over 2 billion treatments, significantly reducing worm prevalence and generating more than $23 billion in lifetime productivity gains. 
• Through Safe Water Now, we’ve saved the lives of over 15,000 children. 
• Our Accelerator explores untapped opportunities in global health, testing low-cost interventions with the greatest potential to save and improve lives.

At Evidence Action, your colleagues are your greatest asset. You'll partner with high-caliber colleagues in an environment blending innovation, autonomy, and teamwork. Our team excels in disruptive thinking and believes in rolling up our sleeves to get things done. If you're looking to work flexibly and with purpose, join a team that delivers measurable change for millions.

About the Program In Tanzania- Deworm the World Initiative

Deworm the World Initiative provides technical assistance to governments to implement high-quality, cost-effective, and sustainable programming. Our Deworm the World program launched in Tanzania in late 2025, working within existing government systems to build low-cost, sustainable neglected tropical disease (NTD) programs.

We work closely with the Government of Tanzania to combat parasitic worm infections, including schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths, saving and improving the lives of over 10 million Tanzanian children currently at-risk or infected with parasitic worms.

Children infected with worms are often too sick or weak to attend school because their bodies can’t properly absorb nutrients. If left untreated, worm infections lead to anemia, malnourishment, impaired mental and physical development, and severe chronic illnesses.

The Role

The Senior Program Associate owns small‑to‑medium workstreams within the Deworm the World Initiative in Tanzania and is held accountable for the inputs required to deliver those workstreams successfully. Working under high‑level instructions from the Program Manager, the Associate translates government and organisational priorities into concrete, actionable plans for Mass Drug Administration (MDA), Coverage Evaluation Surveys (CES), supply chain management, reporting, and capacity building.

The role provides technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and PMO‑RALG, but does so within a framework where the way forward is decided by more senior decision‑makers (e.g., the Program Manager or NTD Control Programme leadership). The Associate’s responsibility is to analyze how best to execute those decisions – for example, by designing detailed work plans, coordinating cross‑team logistics, and proactively identifying operational risks.

As a developing subject matter expert, the Associate engages critically with deworming data and field realities, helping government partners and internal teams understand the reasons for uncertainty (e.g., coverage gaps or supply chain delays) and improving tactical planning to ensure success. The Associate represents individual workstreams to approved external partners (district health teams, regional coordinators) and ensures stakeholder needs are front and center in daily decisions.

The Associate will proactively identify opportunities to apply AI tools (e.g., predictive analytics for drug forecasting, natural language processing for survey data, automated data quality checks) to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and predictive power of programme workstreams – within the framework of organisational data policies and manager guidance.

Duties and responsibilities

1. Programme Implementation Support - 60%

Coordination

• Own the coordination of small‑to‑medium workstreams with the Ministry of Health, PMO‑RALG, and regional/council health teams to plan and implement schistosomiasis and STH deworming programmes across target councils.
• Provide day‑to‑day technical assistance to government counterparts, following high‑level instructions from the Program Manager, and request additional guidance on new or complex activities (e.g., first‑time MDA in a new council).
• Facilitate and participate in joint planning meetings, review sessions, and government‑led coordination meetings – ensuring that the way forward (decided by senior leaders) is translated into actionable tasks for your workstreams.
• Take ownership of developing and reviewing programme plans, implementation guides, SOPs, and other technical documents within your scope.
• Prepare and submit quarterly/annual progress reports, holding yourself accountable for the inputs (data accuracy, timeliness, completeness) that feed into those reports.
• Participate in field activities to observe implementation, document uncertainties or challenges, and provide recommendations to improve future planning (e.g., adjusting training cascades based on observed gaps).
• Support advocacy and stakeholder engagement, ensuring that government partners’ needs remain front and center in every activity.
• Represent individual workstreams (e.g., MDA logistics or training) in relevant technical working groups, NTD forums, and partner meetings as an approved representative of Evidence Action.

Supply Chain

• Own the preparation and submission of the Joint Application for Procurement (JAP) and Joint Request for Selected Medicines (JRSM) – including accurate drug quantification and timely submission, with manager oversight.
• Monitor drug delivery to health facilities and ensure all schools receive sufficient supplies for deworming day; flag risks (e.g., expiring drugs, batch number mismatches) and help develop mitigation measures within existing systems.
• Support redistribution of drugs between councils when challenges arise, documenting root causes to improve future forecasting.
• Ensure compliance with programme requirements for cost‑effective, quality printing of training and distribution materials – making discretionary decisions within defined processes.

Mass Drug Administration (MDA)

• Support the NTD Control Programme in reviewing treatment plans and maintaining treatment strategy, analyzing how best to execute decisions already made by senior technical leads.
• Lead pre‑MDA activities such as distribution planning at council and facility levels, working under high‑level instructions from the Program Manager.
• Contribute to enhancing community mobilisation strategies by identifying what worked and what didn’t in previous campaigns, and recommending tactical improvements.
• Coordinate training cascades for district health officers, teachers, and community drug distributors – adapting standard materials to local contexts while staying within approved frameworks.
• Conduct supportive supervision visits during MDA, resolving field challenges (e.g., stockouts, low turnout) using pre‑defined protocols, and escalating unresolved issues to your manager.
• Support post‑MDA activities (drug reconciliation, coverage reporting, lessons‑learned documentation), ensuring your inputs are accurate and delivered on time.

2. Monitoring, Learning, and Evaluation (MLE) - 30%

All MLE activities are executed within the framework of decisions made by the MLE Delivery Lead, MLE Strategy team, and NTD Control Programme leadership. The Associate’s role is to determine the best operational path to achieve those decisions and to help partners understand uncertainty in programme data.

• Own small‑to‑medium MLE workstreams (e.g., coverage evaluation surveys, database maintenance, data quality audits). Work collaboratively with the MLE Delivery and MLE Strategy teams, but hold yourself accountable for the inputs (timely data collection, accurate cleaning, complete documentation) required for each workstream.
• Lead the enhancement and implementation of data collection tools and the District Health Information Management System (DHIS2) for MDA, following high‑level technical guidance and requesting additional detail on new or complex integrations.
• Take ownership of updating and maintaining the MDA treatment database for the NTDCP – flagging data inconsistencies or gaps, documenting their root causes, and recommending improvements to data entry protocols.
• Coordinate the planning and execution of coverage evaluation surveys and impact assessments, including budgeting, logistics, and field team scheduling. When delays or quality issues arise, help government and field partners understand the reasons for uncertainty (e.g., sampling errors, access constraints) and adjust survey plans accordingly.
• Facilitate training of data collectors and field staff on data collection protocols – adapting standard training materials to local contexts while staying within approved frameworks, and ensuring high‑quality, complete, and timely data.
• Clean, analyze, and synthesize programme data to generate actionable insights. Where data quality is poor or results are unexpected, lead a structured review to identify sources of error or variation, and propose tactical improvements for future data collection cycles.
• When MLE results show unexpected variation (e.g., coverage lower than predicted), conduct a root‑cause analysis with government counterparts, presenting findings in a way that clarifies sources of uncertainty and informs corrective actions for the next MDA round
• Contribute to annual reports by owning specific sections (e.g., coverage indicators, treatment numbers), ensuring your inputs are accurate, validated, and submitted on time.
• Maintain accurate, up‑to‑date programme records across all monitoring systems, establishing simple tracking tools to reduce uncertainty about data version control and completeness.
• Support the implementation of the programme’s learning agenda by documenting lessons learned, best practices, and survey findings. Translate these into actionable recommendations that improve operational and tactical planning for the next MDA cycle.
• Represent your MLE workstreams (e.g., coverage survey, database management) when disseminating findings to government partners and the wider NTD community – through presentations, reports, and briefs, ensuring stakeholder needs for clear, actionable data are front and center.

3. Financial Management - 10%

All financial activities are executed within the framework of decisions made by the Program Manager and country finance team. The Associate’s role is to determine the best operational path to track, report, and recommend adjustments to programme budgets while ensuring compliance.

• Participate in programme budget development as a responsible contributor – providing accurate input on activity costs (e.g., MDA training, survey logistics, drug distribution) based on your workstream plans. Hold yourself accountable for the accuracy and timeliness of your budget inputs.
• Support budget monitoring by tracking actual expenditure against approved budgets for your assigned workstreams (coordination, MDA, MLE). Flag variances (e.g., overspending on training, underspending on transport) to your manager promptly, documenting possible causes and recommending corrective actions within existing financial policies.
• Identify risks to programme sustainability and compliance (e.g., delayed donor reporting, misaligned spending, procurement bottlenecks). Analyze how best to mitigate those risks using pre‑approved tools (e.g., spending trackers, procurement plans), escalating only those that require senior decision‑maker approval.
• Ensure efficient and effective use of financial resources by making discretionary decisions within defined processes (e.g., reallocating small budget lines between approved activities without prior approval, as per organizational policy). When facing uncertainty (e.g., fluctuating exchange rates, unexpected cost increases), help your manager and finance team understand the reasons and improve future budgeting by documenting lessons learned.
• Maintain clear, auditable financial records for your workstreams – including retirements, receipts, and reconciliation notes – reducing uncertainty for finance audits and donor reviews.
• Support donor compliance by ensuring that all expenditures under your workstreams align with donor requirements. Flag any potential non‑compliance immediately and propose corrective actions under manager oversight.
• When a budget variance exceeds 10% in any workstream, conduct a root‑cause analysis with the finance team, present findings in a simple one‑page memo, and propose at least two tactical adjustments to avoid similar variances in future cycles
• Undertake other reasonable duties as assigned by the supervisor.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Public Health, Programme/Project Management, Sociology, International Development, or a closely related field.
• A postgraduate qualification (e.g., Master’s degree or professional certification in M&E, data science, or public health) is an added advantage – reflecting Level 4’s developing subject matter expertise.
• 5–7 years of progressively responsible experience in programme implementation, with at least 2 years owning specific workstreams (e.g., coordination, MLE, supply chain) and being held accountable for inputs and outcomes.
• Demonstrated experience working directly with government stakeholders (district, regional, or national level) in a public health or development context – including facilitating joint planning meetings, providing technical assistance, and navigating government coordination structures.
• Experience in Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) or school‑based deworming programmes is a strong advantage.
• Proven ability to work under high‑level instructions from a manager, while knowing when to request additional guidance on new or complex tasks (aligned with Level 4 autonomy).
• Experience documenting implementation challenges, analysing root causes, and contributing to improved planning (e.g., after‑action reviews, lessons‑learned reports).
• Hands‑on ability to use AI‑assisted tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, or similar) to accelerate routine tasks: drafting reports, cleaning data, generating code snippets (Python/R), or creating data visualisations.
• Experience with predictive or data analysis techniques – e.g., using Excel forecasting, basic regression, or simple machine learning models (e.g., linear regression in Python/R) to inform programme decisions (coverage forecasts, drug quantification).
• Familiarity with data quality automation – e.g., OpenRefine, Trifacta, or writing scripts to detect anomalies/duplicates.
• Ability to critically evaluate AI outputs – identifying biases, unrealistic predictions, or privacy risks, and escalating uncertainties to managers (within Level 4 decision boundary).
• Strong analytical and critical thinking – ability to engage critically with data, identify patterns, and generate actionable insights.
• Fluency in Swahili (spoken and written) – required for day‑to‑day coordination with district health teams, teachers, and community distributors.
• Proven interpersonal and relationship‑building skills – able to work effectively in multidisciplinary, cross‑cultural teams and represent workstreams to approved external partners.
• Strong time management and prioritisation – ability to manage multiple workstreams simultaneously, meeting deadlines with high attention to detail and accuracy.
• Advanced proficiency in MS Office suite (Excel for data analysis, PowerPoint for presentations, Word for reporting).
• Experience with data management systems – DHIS2, SQL, or similar is an advantage.
• Familiarity with data visualisation tools (Power BI, Tableau, or Google Looker Studio) is a plus.

Working conditions

Normal working days from Monday to Friday, but may be called upon to work over the weekend when need arises

Position Location 

This position is based at the Evidence Action office in Dodoma, Tanzania, with regular travels to the field/ regions covered by the programme