Associate, Program Measurement & Insights (PM&I) Zambia

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Position: Associate, Program Measurement & Insights (PM&I) Zambia

Reports to: Manager, PM&I ESAR

Location: Copperbelt, Zambia

Deadline: 27th January 2026

TaRL Africa Initiative

TaRL Africa initiative is hosted by Empower Learning Africa, a not-for-profit organization registered and headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, with teams in Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and Zambia and locally registered offices in Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire. TaRL Africa began as a joint venture by Pratham and J-PAL in 2019, with the goal of supporting governments and organizations across Africa to accelerate children's foundational skill learning using the evidence-based "Teaching at the Right Level" (TaRL) approach. TaRL Africa's vision is for every child across Africa to have foundational skills so that they can have a better future. Our mission is to ensure education systems effectively equip children with these foundational skills.

We support governments and organizations in over 16 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to design, deliver and scale impactful TaRL program while learning and sharing how the approach can be improved for different contexts. Together with partners, TaRL Africa has reached over five million children with TaRL programming.

Role purpose

The PM&I Associate plays a critical role in strengthening government education systems by improving how data is generated, flows, and is used for decision-making. Rather than creating parallel project systems, this role focuses on understanding and working within existing provincial and district data ecosystems, using TaRL (Catch Up) as a lever to improve system-level measurement, monitoring, and review practices.

The role requires a shift from traditional project implementation thinking (“getting schools to do the intervention”) to a systems-improvement approach, where success is defined by stronger data use, ownership, and integration within government processes.

The position is based in Copperbelt Province, with significant travel within the province and occasional travel within Africa. Flexibility in working hours may be required to accommodate meetings across time zones.

Major roles and responsibilities

1. System Diagnosis and Data Landscape Mapping

• Develop a deep understanding of existing assessment, monitoring, and review systems at school, district, and provincial levels across assigned geographies.
• Map how data currently flows through government and partner systems, including formal policies, tools, routines, and informal practices, and share this information with other TaRL Africa staff.
• Identify opportunities to embed Catch Up / TaRL data into existing systems, avoiding the creation of parallel processes.
• Use system diagnosis findings to inform the design of feasible, contextually appropriate, and system-aligned monitoring and review plans.
  
  

2. Integrated PM&I/MMR Design and Implementation

• Support the government to design and deliver monitoring and review plans that generate timely, actionable data through government systems.
• Work alongside government officials to tailor monitoring and review tools and processes—such as assessments, monitoring formats, dashboards, and review templates—to the context, learning goals, and system capacities in the Copperbelt.
• Provide ongoing technical assistance to support robust implementation of monitoring and review systems across provinces, adapting approaches while maintaining core principles.
• Strengthen government ownership by embedding measurement systems into existing policies, structures, and review routines.
• Acknowledge and manage intentional variation across contexts, where integration approaches may differ from standard TaRL models.
  
  

3. Data Use, Learning, and Decision-Making

• Support government officials to conduct or support timely analysis of assessment and implementation data to identify strengths, challenges, and priority areas for improvement.
• Support provincial and district teams to use data meaningfully for decision-making, not just for reporting.
• Facilitate structured reflection and review conversations that help stakeholders: Interpret data, Identify priority issues and Agree on concrete follow-up actions
• Use Catch Up integration work in the Copperbelt to model effective data use practices and learning-oriented review processes, documenting lessons and insights that can be shared nationally and regionally
  

4. Capacity Building, Implementation Support, and Quality Assurance

• Train government and partner teams on: Data collection, Data validation and quality assurance and Practical data use for action
• Provide ongoing implementation support and coaching, including troubleshooting and field-based problem-solving.
• Establish and maintain feedback loops that enable reflection, learning, and adaptation during implementation.
• Monitor fidelity of PM&I and monitoring and review processes while remaining flexible to system realities, balancing rigor with feasibility.
  

5. Relationship Building, Learning, and Knowledge Sharing

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with government counterparts, partners, and internal teams.
• Facilitate collaboration across TaRL Africa colleagues in Zambia roles (Province Coordinator, Program Delivery & Training associate, PM&I associate) around a shared goal of system improvement.
• Document lessons from supported contexts, particularly where approaches differ from other TaRL-supported geographies.
• Contribute to internal learning by: Highlighting what system integration looks like in practice, Surfacing key trade-offs and design decisions, Informing future adaptations of TaRL’s PM&I approach
• Support synthesis and communication of insights for internal teams and government stakeholders
  

Education and Experience

• Education & Experience: Bachelor’s degree with 2+ years of relevant experience, or a Master’s degree with 1-2 years, in monitoring, measurement, analytics, or related roles.
• Measurement & Systems Experience: Experience designing or supporting monitoring and review systems, preferably within education and/or government systems.
• Analytical & Data Skills: Strong analytical thinking with hands-on experience in data collection, analysis, and visualization tools such as Tableau or Power BI, and Stata or R and the ability to translate findings into actionable insights.
• Proficiency in Excel and ODK-based platforms (e.g., SurveyCTO, KoboCollect)
  
• Communication & Collaboration: Excellent written and verbal English, with strong interpersonal skills and experience working across teams and stakeholders.
• Mindset & Mobility: Self-driven, able to manage multiple priorities, motivated by learning impact, and willing to travel in challenging contexts.
  
  

Core Competencies

• Results oriented
• Demonstrated ability to build capacity and train others in assessment, data collection, and data use.
• Proven ability to work collaboratively with government, partners, and multi-disciplinary teams
• Curiosity, adaptability, and a proactive approach to problem-solving.
  
  

TaRL Africa Values

1. We place children's learning first.
2. We are always learning, improving, and innovating.
3. We are locally rooted for high-quality delivery and sustainable impact.
4. We are kind, respectful and collaborative.
5. We are proactive, committed to integrity and doing our best each day.

This job description covers the main tasks and conveys the spirit of the sort of tasks that are anticipated proactively from staff. Other tasks may be assigned as necessary according to organizational needs.

TaRL Africa provides a nationally peer-benchmarked compensation package aligned with organizational salary scales, taking into account both qualifications and professional experience.

TaRL Africa is an equal-opportunity employer committed to having a diverse workforce