State Data Quality Assurance Officer

Position Title

State Data Quality Assurance Officer

Location

Bangalore, Guwahati

Organisation

YR Gaitonde Medical Educational & Research Foundation (YRGMERF)

Project

Sentinel Community Surveillance for Early Warning and Response (HCG under TIFA)

Experience Required

Minimum 2 years of experience in data quality control for health or development programmes

Compensation

Remuneration will reflect the candidate’s experience and skills, subject to the approved budget

About YRG MERF

Established in 1993, YRGMERF is a pioneering non-governmental organisation in India, committed to transforming lives through integrated healthcare, inclusive partnerships, and forward-looking research. Grounded in the values of integrity and sustainability, we address both immediate and evolving societal challenges empowering communities to attain equitable and lasting health outcomes. We provide comprehensive services across prevention, care, support, and treatment, particularly for those affected by HIV and other infectious diseases.

Role Overview

The State Data Quality Assurance Officers implements the data quality assurance system, conducts data quality checks, and produces the analytical outputs that tell the State Coordinator about the progress of various activities, possible gaps and challenges across districts that need support.

• Supports implementing the DQA system in the field by closely working with the district coordinators and district resource persons.
  
• Builds capacity of the district coordinators to support the community sentinels in using IHIP reporting systems, help in improving the timely engagement with the response team and other stakeholders to clearly demonstrate how the data use can improve the quality of outcomes.
  
• Receive data from District Coordinators on a fortnightly cycle. Cross-check submitted data against training attendance registers, IHIP system records (where accessible), and State Coordinator field visit observations. Flag discrepancies and resolve them before data enters the master tracker
  
• Produce monthly data summaries with clear training needs, supporting individuals who need one to one online mentoring to improve the quality of reporting.
  
• Conduct data quality audits: visit each state at least twice in every quarter for each of the active community sentinels by verifying physically a sample of reported data.
  
• Support the baseline data collection exercise (Months 1–2) by translation and field testing of the data collection tools, training Outreach Coordinators on their use, and supervising data entry and cleaning. The baseline establishes the starting point against which all subsequent progress is measured – getting it right is critical
  
• Help in the mid-term and end-line competency assessment exercises. Train assessors, and analyse results
  
• Maintain a gender-disaggregated data system. Given that ASHAs and ANMs are almost entirely women, and MOs and DSO staff are predominantly men, gender disaggregation is not just a compliance requirement – it reveals whether training is reaching different cadres equitably and whether there are differential barriers to skill uptake.
  

Requirements

Qualifications & Skills

• Post-graduate degree in statistics, epidemiology, public health, demography, or social sciences with quantitative research methods training
  
• Minimum 2 years of experience in data quality control for health or development programmes
  
• Strong skills in MS Excel (pivot tables, charting, data validation). Familiarity with Stata, R, or SPSS is desirable for baseline data analysis
  
• Experience designing data collection tools for field use, including awareness of practical constraints (literacy levels of data collectors, connectivity issues, time limitations)
  
• Experience with IDSP or any government health surveillance data system is a strong advantage
  
• Fluency in English and Hindi. Ability to communicate data findings in plain language to non-technical audiences
  
• Willingness to travel to project districts (estimated 4–6 trips during the project period)
  

YRG is an equal-opportunity organisation. At YRG, we are committed to supporting inclusion and diversity as part of our values. We celebrate employee’s differences in abilities, sexual orientation, ethnicity, faith, and gender. Our team are people with different strengths, experiences, and backgrounds, who share a passion for improving people's lives.