Program Analyst at Creative Associates International

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has contracted Creative Associates International to implement the Nigeria Lake Chad Basin (NLCB) Program, a quick-response mechanism supporting activities that support efforts to strengthen and extend stability and deny and undermine extremist or other groups, such as Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa (BH & ISIS-WA), and other relevant issue sets that arise from violent extremist organization (VEO) activity, in Lake Chad Basin (LCB) countries.

The USAID/OTI NLCB Program is a successor to the successful Nigeria Regional Transition Initiative (NRTI) launched in 2014 as the flagship program to address the Boko Haram insurgency. As a regional issue, the complexity of a peacebuilding response to the conflict requires a highly contextualized, localized response at individual, community and national levels in each of the countries of the Lake Chad Basin. As such, USAID/OTI is currently operating in all of the Lake Chad Basin countries where communication and coordination among all programs is critical.

The initial objectives of the NLCB program are to 1) Offer alternatives to extremist action for vulnerable individuals; 2) Increase community resilience to extremist action; 3) Strengthen the ability of moderate actors to engage in key communities prioritized for stabilization; and 4) Inform USG and non-USG stakeholders by providing analytical data on local, national and regional instability and/or violent extremist trends.

The program is implemented primarily through small grants at the community level, designed to address specific problems or requests.  Activity processes are as important as activity outputs in contributing to the program’s strategic goal.  Program objectives are not met solely by performing tasks under an activity, but rather through an inclusive locally-led process that brings the community (including GoN) together to realize goals and foster positive engagement.

 POSITION SUMMARY

The Program Analyst processes the high volume of information generated by program activities, including learning activities, as well as open-source, third-party reporting and data collected by field staff to formulate program strategy recommendations to the senior management team. Reporting to the Deputy Chief of Party – Programs, the Program Analyst closely collaborates with the program’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist as well as Reporting Officer to lead learning and communication efforts.

REPORTING & SUPERVISION

The Program Analyst reports to the Deputy Chief of Party – Programs, and works in close collaboration with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist, the Reporting Officer, as well as the USAID/OTI Deputy Country Representative. The position is based in Abuja.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Analyze the mass of information generated by program activities (activity notes, final evaluation reports, background sections of grant write-ups), as well as learning activities (for example, influence mapping reports, cluster evaluations) and open-source, third-party reporting to formulate program strategy recommendations to the senior management team.
• In close collaboration with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist, ensure that lessons learned from past activities are reflected in the design and writing of new activities.
• Collaborate with the Reporting Officer on the drafting of weekly, semi-annual and ad-hoc reports as it relates to analytical, research pieces.
• Monitor the geographic footprint of the program’s activities to ensure that it stays relevant.
• Participate in weekly meetings with M&E team to determine priority tasks and provide support as necessary.
• Represent the program in meetings with USAID, Government of Nigeria and other stakeholders.
• In collaboration with the MEL Specialist, develop and supervise the implementation of innovative data collection techniques and tools, including working with external service providers to develop research and learning activities.
• At the request of USAID/OTI and the senior management team, conduct desk reviews or lead field research encompassing large, difficult and diverse problem sets.
• Contribute to cluster-level or program-level evaluations.
•  Any other task at the request of the senior management team.

Required Skills & Qualifications:

• University degree in international development, social science, economics, or related field is required.
• 2 years’ experience in the management of field monitoring, evaluation design, empirical and statistical analysis, management information systems and/or information management design is required.
• At least 4 years of general work experience is required.
• Proficiency at using Microsoft office software: MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc. is required.
• Qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis skills and experience are required.
• Ability to work autonomously and take initiative to generate valuable findings and communicate them in a timely manner.
• Prior experience with USAID or US Government funded projects is highly desirable.
• Attention to detail and ability to follow up on tasks to completion is required.
• Experience of working in a conflict environment is a plus.
• Written and spoken fluency in English is required.
• Fluency in one or more of the local state languages in the North Eastern part of Nigeria is preferable.