mothers2mothers (m2m) is an Africa-based NGO that unlocks the potential of women to eliminate paediatric AIDS and create healthy families across ten sub-Saharan African countries. m2m trains, employs, and helps empower women living with HIV to work as community healthcare workers in understaffed health centres and underserved communities. Through a peer-to-peer approach, these ‘Mentor Mothers’ deliver a range of health services, advice, and support to women and their families. Started in Cape Town, South Africa in 2001 with an initial focus on preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, m2m has innovated and built on its strengths and now provides family-centred support for a range of related health and social issues spanning pregnancy, birth, childhood, and adolescence. It also partners with governments and other NGOs on the adoption of its programme to spread the Mentor Mother Model and its benefits. m2m has a track record of scaling its services and proven impact. To date, m2m has reached over 11M women and children under two, and created more than 11,000 jobs for African women living with HIV. For more, visit www.m2m.org.
Recognised as a leader in delivering complementary care and support services, over the past 18 years, m2m has contributed meaningfully to virtually eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV (MTCT) within its client cohorts, and improving reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) outcomes. The scale and scope of the m2m programme has expanded since 2014 to combat the causes and effects of HIV/AIDS in a more comprehensive manner. In 2019, m2m Mentor Mothers provided direct RMNCAH, ECD/OVC, prevention of MTCT as well as HIV Care and Support services to an estimated 932,431 beneficiaries in 10 countries in Southern and East Africa. Programmatic expansion at scale and a competitive funding environment necessitate continued, progressive investment in system development within and across m2m departments to ensure quality of care and organisational sustainability. Working within the Department of Programmes and Technical Support (DPTS), the Research Associate will provide support for evaluation and operations research projects. This position reports to the Senior Researcher. This position is based in Cape Town.
Key Performance Areas:
Research development
Contribute to conceptualisation of research studies
Conduct and organise literature reviews and other secondary data searches
Assist with development of study protocols and tools
Co-ordinate IRB and other regulatory approvals as needed
Collaborate with international, interdisciplinary research teams and academic institutes
Research Implementation
Assist in determining resources needed for research implementation
Co-ordination of resources for data collection
Conduct field evaluations or oversee data collection in m2m sites
Oversight of data collection staff
Data analysis
Quality assurance of evaluation data
Verify, code and clean large data sets using STATA
Conduct quantitative data analysis independently including appropriate statistical tests
Prepare tables and figures communicating research results
Conduct qualitative data analysis, in some cases using software eg. Atlas ti; NVivo
Business development
Contribute to research and evaluation components of funding proposals
Contribute to funders reports as required
Dissemination
Contribute to / lead the preparation of peer reviewed academic journal articles, reports and proposals
Contribute to / lead development of abstracts and presentations for conferences
Qualifications and Experience
Masters’ degree in public health, statistics, economics, or social science (emphasis on quantitative methods)
Minimum of 4-5 years’ experience in international health, development or related field conducting research and analysis related to managing research and field-based evaluations and reporting
Competencies
Significant experience coordinating evaluations or operations research projects, with a particular emphasis on empirical studies in developing countries. Experience of conducting empirical studies relating to public health, HIV/AIDS, PMTCT, RMNCH, ECD /OVC, Adolescent Health and /or peer education and support a plus
Knowledge, skills and experience in research methods; quantitative study design, data collection, management and analysis; report writing and editing in English, and visual presentation of research findings in Excel and Powerpoint.
Experience of academic (peer reviewed) journal article publication a distinct advantage
Demonstrated experience of independently analysing large data sets using statistical software essential, preferably STATA
Experience in analysing qualitative data using software an advantage
Willingness and ability to travel internationally
Ability to work independently, as well as in a team
Ability to manage time, prioritise effectively and meet strict deadlines
mothers2mothers is an equal opportunity employer. We particularly encourage applications from people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA), people with disabilities, women and previously disadvantaged people.
Competitive salary packages will be negotiable in accordance with m2m’s remuneration policies.
To Apply:
Interested applicants should apply for this position via https://m2m.org/who-we-are/careers/ by 24 September 2021.