Political Economy Analysis Consultant at Creative Associates International

Program Description

• Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and in close partnership with federal partners and select Nigeria States (designated as legacy [Bauchi and Sokoto], launching and technical assistance), the five-year Leveraging Education Assistance Resources in Nigeria (LEARN) project will support sustainable improvements in reading outcomes for first and second grade pupils.
• The goal of LEARN is to strengthen and scale early grade reading (EGR) best practice by ensuring that standards-based, context-appropriate assessment, materials, training, and administrative supports needed to improve literacy skills for P1-2 pupils are embedded within the federal policy, funding, and monitoring frameworks, and state and local authorities have the implementation protocols, capacity, and resources to carry out and sustain standards-based, data-driven EGR reform.
• The project objective is to instill ownership in and build capacity of school-community, local, state, and federal systems to establish a base for adequate, consistent data-driven funding, monitoring and performance that increase the equity, inclusion, and wellbeing necessary to achieve sustained EGR gains. LEARN will therefore be building on lessons learned from prior Nigeria reading programs to introduce a flexible, cost- efficient EGR intervention model that can be tailored to state contexts.

Position Summary

• Applied Political Economy Analysis is an approach to better explaining why things happen in a given development context, through improving understanding of underlying power dynamics and relationships. Creative Associates seeks a political economy consultant to provide technical support to the LEARN to Read project.
• The consultant will conduct a political economy analysis (PEA) and develop a “systems map/report” that will track decision-making processes - stakeholder group relationships, interests, and incentives; blockage points; and information flows and feedback loops - to inform introduction and support of sustainable best-fit EGR learning improvements into the education system by designing and conducting a Political Economy Analysis (PEA) that will inform introduction and support of sustainable best fit EGR learning improvements into the education system.
• The consultant will work closely with Senior Monitoring Evaluation Research Learning and Adapting (MERLA) Advisor and coordinate with technical leads across multiple LEARN to Read components.

Reporting & Supervision:

• The Political Economy Analysis Consultant reports to the Chief of Party.

Core and Supporting Questions

• Through PEA the consultant will identify core questions and sub-questions to guide the study. Initial core questions are listed below, but the consultant will refine core questions and propose supporting ones prior to designing the data collection approaches and instruments with special reference to the USAID Applied PEA Framework: Guidance on Questions for Analysis at the Country, Sector and Issue/Problem Levels[1]; and the Thinking and Working Politically Through Applied Political Economy Analysis:

A Guide for Practitioners amongst other Documents

• What are the intrinsic foundational factors affecting EGR in terms of resources, ownership, and sustainability?
• What formal and informal rules shape governance and incentivize relationships that impacts EGR?
• What impacts stakeholder agendas and behaviors to identify internal and external forces acting for/against change?
• What opportunities exists and who are the change champions at all levels (Federal, State, LGEA)?

Primary Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Conduct comprehensive literature review and refine research questions. Ensure the literature review also captures similar work done by other USAID projects in Nigeria.
• Develop interview protocol, including customization for different types of actors/stakeholders as necessary.
• Identify an initial list of key stakeholders for interviews and focus groups and schedule accordingly
• Organize a meeting to clarify initial questions, present methodology and draft research plan for confirmation.
• Undertake semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, including additional stakeholders identified during the study.
• Organize focus group discussions with key interest groups.
• Analyze implications and provide recommendations based on findings from the study.
• Document all findings from the interviews, which can be quality assured by LEARN to Read.
• Organize a synthesis workshop to address initial findings. A PowerPoint presentation is recommended for the purposes of this task.
• Determine specified check-in points for exchange and follow -up on the PEA experience, to support learning related to the impact of the PEA on programming.
• Coordinate with the MERLA Advisor and other component leads to ensure successful completion of the study.
• Other tasks as assigned.

Result / Deliverable (Total LOE -28 days (100%):

• Milestone plan and notional calendar prior to start of assessment (1 day)
• Political economy literature review report (3 days)
• Study framework: research questions, methodology, and instruments development (3 days)
• Data collection (10 days)
• Oral PowerPoint presentation upon completion of field work and delivery of annotated outline for report. Schematic presentation illustrating relations and dynamics across different players is encouraged. (3 days)
• Draft PEA report. (5 days)
• Final PEA Report that includes a systems map. (3 days)

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Master's Degree in Political Science, Social Studies, Education Policy & Management, International Development, or a related field (or, alternately, a Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field and 8 additional years of relevant experience).
• At least 3 years research experience in quantitative and qualitative data analysis.
• Strong analytical and research skills.
• Demonstrated extensive technical experience in designing and implementing political economy related activities in education and intersectionality, with both theoretical and practical background in PEA and skilled in PEA and methodologies.
• Proven ability to work productively with a variety of stakeholders to run participatory processes and meet tight deadlines with an emphasis on producing quality products.
• Experience with USAID-funded programs preferred.
• Have a good grasp of issues related to marginalized groups’ participation in education.
• Excellent capacity building skills, with demonstrated experience in effective training, coaching and facilitation.
• Previous work experience with international donors/NGOs, preferably USAID.
• Previous work experience in research methodologies and project monitoring and evaluation desirable.
• Previous experience working in Sub-Saharan Africa, preferably Nigeria.
• Fluency in English Language.

Skills & Abilities:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the political and economy of the Nigeria context.
• Capacity to understand and analyse national, regional, and local political contexts
• Take initiative and be able to manage complex activities with minimal supervision.
• Good organization skills and ability to maintain and foster relationships with teams and implementing partners.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills, patience, and a willingness to spend time translating the needs of communities/stakeholders into strong development projects.
• Ability to work under short deadlines and efficiently handle multiple tasks.
• Attention to detail and the ability to function well in a team.