Monitoring & Evaluation Fellow

We’re looking for someone who’s not just skilled in monitoring and evaluation but genuinely curious about what works, why it works, and how we can do better. This is a hands-on role based in Nigeria for six months, designed for someone who wants to work closely in implementation, influence strategy, and get deep into the mechanics of how impact happens. We see this as a first step toward a long-term role at Lafiya, with the fellowship designed as a pathway into a permanent, full-time, in-country or remote M&E Specialist position. We plan to determine the compensation for that role once the fellowship concludes, and it will be informed by your contributions to Lafiya during the fellowship and other factors.

You’ll have real ownership from the start. You will help us design our end-to-end evaluation strategy, test and refine it as we grow, and generate insights that shape both daily decisions and long-term direction. You’ll work closely with and be supported by senior leadership, contribute to programme design, and build systems that help us learn faster and stay accountable to our goals.

This is not a desk-bound research role. You’ll spend time where the work happens, strengthening the practical side of monitoring, troubleshooting what isn’t working, and building confidence across the team to use data well. This piece from FreshSpectrum reflects our thinking about the importance of this role to our organisation.

This role is open to all applicants, and we strongly encourage candidates from Nigeria to apply. Field immersion is critical to succeeding in the long-term role, which is why this initial placement is in person. For those relocating from outside Nigeria, Lafiya will cover the cost of a return flight, visa, vaccinations, travel insurance and accommodation. After the fellowship, we want the role to shift to a permanent position based anywhere within ±3 hours of GMT.

Important note: The compensation listed is intended as a living stipend and it is more than enough to cover living costs in either Kano or Abuja, given Lafiya will cover relocation expenses and ongoing accommodation. We want to emphasise that, for candidates based outside of Nigeria, the compensation listed will not be the salary we pay after the fellowship. We will work with you to determine a suitable salary for your location.

What You’ll Do

• Help us overhaul and strengthen how we collect, track, and use data – from making sure our monitoring tools are practical and our indicators measure the right thing, to fixing messy pipelines and leveling up our dashboards from good to great.
• Spot gaps in data quality, figure out what’s going wrong, and implement fixes that are fast, useful, and stick.
• Design and run internal evaluations, anything from a quick A/B test to a more structured quasi-experiment, that help us learn, adapt, and improve how we work.
• Synthesise and share findings clearly so they feed directly into operational decisions. We care more about honest insights than perfect answers.
• Work closely with field and programme staff to build comfort and confidence using data. You’ll be training people, co-analysing results, and helping make sense of it all.
• Help shape new programmes by building out indicators, setting baselines, and making sure our theories of change actually reflect how things work on the ground.
• Turn data into action: create sharp, accessible briefs and visuals; host workshops or reviews where teams genuinely learn; write up findings that aren’t just reports but tools for change.
• Keep us sharp. Help make sure we’re measuring the stuff that really matters, asking the right questions, and staying focused on what evidence can actually tell us.

Who You Are

We care less about years of experience and more about how you think. You don’t need to tick every box. We’re looking for someone who’s curious, rigorous, and ready to dive in.

We’re looking for someone who can design and lead Lafiya’s overall evaluation strategy, not just execute technical tasks. You should be comfortable zooming out to ask whether we’re measuring the right things, as well as diving deep into implementation.

You’re someone who:

• Cares deeply about making a real-world difference and sees evaluation as a tool for improvement, not just accountability.
• Thinks critically about what’s worth measuring, how we measure it, and why it matters, not just how to run the numbers.
• Has experience or strong instincts in designing M&E systems and tools (e.g. theories of change, sampling plans) that are practical and help programmes learn and adapt.
• Knows how to design rigorous evaluations, including randomised experiments, and is comfortable balancing methodological integrity with operational realities.
• Can work with both qualitative and quantitative data. You might have run A/B tests, quasi-experiments, facilitated focus groups, built sampling plans, or developed theories of change. You know how to match methods to questions.
• Spots noise and bias in data, and knows how to clean, challenge, or adjust it without making things more complicated than they need to be.
• Has used tools like SurveyCTO, CommCare, Stata, R, or Google Sheets, and is happy learning new ones when needed. Maybe you've built a dashboard or set up a useful data workflow. Maybe you're just quick to figure things out.
• Communicates clearly in writing and conversation, whether you’re sharing a short visual brief or a detailed report. You know how to speak to field teams, decision-makers, and funders without losing meaning.
• Works well with others, stays humble, and is driven by learning. You like taking initiative and aren’t afraid to ask questions. You’re comfortable saying when you don’t know something and enjoy figuring it out.

A degree in a relevant field (public health, economics, evaluation, data science, or social sciences) is helpful but not required. What matters is that you bring strong foundations, an eagerness to learn, and a drive to use evidence to improve access to contraception – especially if you’re looking for a role where you can take real ownership and shape how things work on the ground.