MIS Data Specialist at Theirc in Juba, Central Equatoria, South Sudan

MIS Data Specialist Location: Juba, South Sudan The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future. The IRC has been operating in South Sudan since 1989 and is registered as an international NGO. IRC currently delivers multi sectoral programming directly and through partners across seven states and two administrative areas. These include Northern Bahr el Ghazal, covering Aweil East, Aweil West, and Aweil South counties, Unity State, covering Rubkona, Koch, and Panyijiar counties, Upper Nile State, covering Maban, Renk, Panyikang, Nasir, Ulang, and Panylgang counties, Lakes State, covering Rumbek Centre, Rumbek East, and Yirol West counties, Central Equatoria, covering Juba, Yei, and Kajokeji counties, Eastern Equatoria, covering Kapoeta East, Jonglei, covering Ayod, Twic East, Uror, Akobo counties, as well as Abyei Administrative Area and Ruweng Administrative Area, including Pariang County and Ajoung Thok and Pamir refugee camps. Background and Objectives of Education for All South Sudan (EFASS) South Sudan has one of the world's most fragile education systems, with approximately 2.8 to 3 million children, representing around 60 to 70 percent of the school-age population, out of school. Foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes remain critically low, with less than 10 percent of children achieving minimum reading competency. Years of conflict, accelerating climate shocks, and government education expenditure under 3 percent of the national budget have created an entrenched crisis. Girls and children with disabilities are disproportionately affected by these barriers, with harmful gender norms and stigma further limiting their access to education. EFASS is a £27 million, four-year programme (April 2026 to March 2030), designed to deliver five interlinked outcomes. These include improving access, retention, and progression for the most marginalised out-of-school children, particularly girls and children with disabilities in conflict and climate-affected areas. The programme also targets improved foundational learning outcomes in literacy and numeracy, strengthened delivery of inclusive and climate-adaptive education approaches by teachers and facilitators, improved education data and evidence for decision-making through a national Learning Outcomes and Quality Assessment, as well as strengthened pathways for system uptake and sustainability beyond EFASS. Scope of Work The Management Information System (MIS) Data Specialist is one of three EFASS roles seconded to the Ministry of General Education and Instruction (MoGEI), and will be physically based within MoGEI's offices in Juba for the duration of the programme. This secondment arrangement is rooted in EFASS's commitment to government ownership, institutional sustainability, and the progressive transition of education data management from donor-funded delivery to a fully MoGEI-managed system. The postholder will work alongside MoGEI Planning Department staff on a day-to-day basis, building institutional knowledge and capacity from within rather than providing external, intermittent advisory support. In this embedded role, the MIS Data Specialist will serve as the primary technical lead for education data systems strengthening under EFASS, functioning simultaneously as a trusted technical resource for MoGEI and as the data systems focal point for the EFASS consortium. Alongside this government-facing work, the MIS Data Specialist will oversee EFASS's programme-level digital data infrastructure, including Kobo Collect-based data collection, Power BI dashboards, and Qualtrics monitoring platforms. Working closely with the EMIS teams and consortium partners, the postholder will propose and implement cloud-based, interoperable data solutions that are clearly documented and fully transferable to MoGEI ownership beyond the life of EFASS. A central programme responsibility is supporting the design and delivery of the national Learning Outcomes and Quality Assessment (LOQA), ensuring that findings are structured for integration into MoGEI's planning systems and inform the Education Sector Plan revision, as well as future investment decisions by ECW, GPE, and the World Bank. MIS Data Specialist Responsibilities MoGEI Secondment and Government Capacity Strengthening • Establish and maintain a productive, professional working relationship with MoGEI's Planning Department Director and relevant departmental staff, navigating the dual reporting line to both MoGEI and the EFASS Team Leader with clarity and diplomacy. • Lead the progressive transfer of data management knowledge and skills to MoGEI Planning Department staff through structured, on-the-job capacity building, coaching, and joint working, ensuring government counterparts are increasingly able to manage and use education data systems independently. • Support MoGEI's use of SSSAMS and EMIS data for national education planning, budget justification, policy dialogue, and revision of the Education Sector Plan, positioning education data as a tangible tool for government decision-making. • Facilitate the formalisation of data governance arrangements between MoGEI and EFASS partners, including data sharing protocols, data standards, and ethical data use frameworks, in alignment with the EFASS-MoGEI MoU. • Represent EFASS data interests within MoGEI's internal planning and coordination meetings, ensuring programme data needs, reporting requirements, and LOQA findings are integrated into government-led education data processes. • Support MoGEI's engagement with development partners (GPE, ECW, World Bank, UNICEF) on education data systems, providing technical inputs that enable MoGEI to participate credibly in sector-wide data harmonisation discussions. Education Data Systems Strengthening • Lead the redesign and improvement of SSSAMS, enhancing its functionality, user-friendliness, and interoperability with EMIS, REMIS, and SSEC Functionality, treating the improved system as a managed service with secure data storage and continuous service improvement provisions. • Develop and maintain a cloud-based data architecture solution that is clearly documented and fully transferable to MoGEI ownership beyond the life of EFASS, ensuring design decisions account for low-connectivity operating environments across South Sudan. • Ensure programme-wide data interoperability between EFASS monitoring systems and national data architectures, minimising duplication and actively supporting the progression towards a fully integrated, MoGEI-managed education information system. • Support the integration of biometric identity or unique pupil ID cards within the improved SSSAMS, enabling reliable tracking of learner retention, dropout, and completion rates, particularly for girls and children with disabilities. • Engage with MoGEI, Regional Anchors, and head teachers to identify and resolve practical usability challenges in SSSAMS, ensuring the system meets the needs of administrators and users at national, state, county, and school levels. EFASS Programme Data and MEL Systems • Lead the design and management of EFASS's digitised programme monitoring system, including Kobo Collect-based data collection tools, Power BI dashboards, and Qualtrics monitoring platforms for real-time data capture, visualisation, and adaptive decision-making across all five programme outcomes. • Design and optimise digital data collection tools and templates that capture information on disability and social inclusion, aligned with Washington Group Questions, EFASS's gender-transformative approach, and EFASS ethical data protocols. • Manage and analyse learner-level programme data — including enrolment, attendance, progression, and CT eligibility verification data collected via Kobo Collect — providing aggregated analysis to support quarterly adaptive management reviews. • Develop and maintain live dashboards and data visualisations to support real-time analysis and adaptive decision-making by the EFASS Steering Committee, programme leadership, MoGEI, and FCDO. • Support the design and delivery of the national Learning Outcomes and Quality Assessment (LOQA), ensuring data is comparable, disaggregated by gender, disability, age, displacement status, and learning pathway, and structured from inception for integration into MoGEI's planning systems. • Collaborate with the RMEAL Lead and OTHERWise (independent data collection partner) to ensure coherent, rigorous, and ethically sound data collection and verification across all 12 EFASS counties. • Work with the Cash Transfers Lead to ensure CT eligibility verification, digitised registration, and post-distribution monitoring data are robustly integrated within EFASS's data infrastructure. • Lead data analysis on enrolment trends, attendance, learning outcomes, inclusion indicators, and cost-per-learner data to generate decision-ready evidence products for MoGEI, FCDO, and sector partners including GPE, ECW, and the World Bank. • Ensure data safeguards, ethical protocols, gender-transformative and disability-inclusive data standards, and data protection requirements are applied across all EFASS data systems and collection activities. • Prepare technical data reports and briefings for the EFASS Steering Committee, FCDO, and MoGEI on programme data systems, data quality, key findings, challenges, and achievements. MIS Data Specialist Profile and Qualifications • Master's degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Education Management, or a related field; a Bachelor's degree with substantial relevant experience will be considered. • Minimum 5 years of professional experience in data management, MIS development, or data analytics, with at least 3 years working in fragile and conflict-affected states in sub-Saharan Africa. • Demonstrated expertise in data analytics, data engineering, data visualisation, and digital infrastructure management in complex, low-connectivity operating environments. • Proven experience designing and managing education management information systems (EMIS/MIS), preferably including SSSAMS or similar national attendance and enrolment monitoring systems. • Strong technical proficiency in digital data collection platforms (Kobo Collect, ODK), data visualisation tools (Power BI, Tableau), and survey platforms (Qualtrics). • Experience designing cloud-based data solutions in resource-constrained environments, with strong knowledge of data architecture documentation and managed service approaches. • Understanding of South Sudan's education data landscape, including SSSAMS, EMIS, REMIS, and SSEC Functionality systems, and their interoperability challenges, is highly desirable. • Demonstrated experience working in a seconded, embedded, or advisory role within a government ministry or public institution, with a strong understanding of how to operate effectively within government systems, cultures, and decision-making processes. • Proven ability to manage a dual reporting relationship — to both a programme employer and a host government counterpart — with professionalism, clear communication, and sensitivity to institutional priorities. • Strong track record of building genuine, trust-based working relationships with senior government officials and ministry staff, and transferring skills to government counterparts through structured, on-the-job capacity building. • Experience supporting or designing national learning assessment systems (e.g., EGRA, EGMA, LOQA, or similar) and disaggregating data by gender, disability, displacement, and other equity dimensions. • Knowledge of disability-inclusive and gender-transformative data collection approaches, including experience with Washington Group Questions or the UNICEF Child Functioning Module. • Experience working within FCDO-funded programmes and familiarity with adaptive management frameworks, Value for Money principles, and FCDO results reporting requirements. • Strong knowledge of data protection, data safeguarding, and ethical data collection protocols in humanitarian and development contexts. • Excellent analytical skills with demonstrated ability to synthesise complex datasets into accessible, decision-ready visualisations and reports for both technical and non-technical audiences, including senior government officials. • Experience coordinating data systems across multi-partner consortia, including international and national NGOs, government counterparts, and independent research partners. • Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; proficiency in Arabic or South Sudanese languages is a strong advantage. • High degree of cultural sensitivity, adaptability, and patience, with experience navigating complex political and institutional environments in post-conflict or fragile state contexts. This position will be contingent on the outcome of the bid. PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS All International Rescue Committee workers must adhere to the core values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. Our Standards are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Safeguarding, Conflicts of Interest, Fiscal Integrity, and Reporting Wrongdoing and Protection from Retaliation. IRC is committed to take all necessary preventive measures and create an environment where people feel safe, and to take all necessary actions and corrective measures when harm occurs. IRC builds teams of professionals who promote critical reflection, power sharing, debate, and objectivity to deliver the best possible services to our clients. Cookies: https://careers.rescue.org/us/en/cookiesettings