Research and Learning Coordinator at Winrock International

Reports to: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager and Deputy Chief of Party

Background

• Winrock International works with people around the world to increase economic opportunity, sustain natural resources, and protect the environment. Winrock matches innovative approaches in agriculture, natural resources management, clean energy, and leadership development with the unique needs of its partners.
• Winrock is seeking a Research and Learning Coordinator for a long-term assignment for USAID funded Feed the Future Nigeria Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services (AEAS) project that will support agriculture extension & advisory services in Nigeria. 
• The project will increase smallholder farmers’ productivity, incomes, and household nutrition status in seven Feed the Future (FTF) focus states across four geographic zones in Nigeria (Kebbi, Niger, Kaduna, Benue, Ebonyi, Cross-River, and Delta) through strengthening sustainable agricultural extension and advisory services. The project will particularly focus on aquaculture, cowpea, maize, rice, and soybean value chains.

Position Summary

• The Research and Learning Coordinator will lead implementation of the Activity’s Component 2 tasks that will contribute towards strengthening linkages between agricultural research institutions, agro-allied companies, the public and private extension providers, and agricultural value chain stakeholders. By strengthening their linkage Community of Practice (CoP), a platform for interaction and research update, it is expected that value chain stakeholders will collaborate in providing innovative solutions to constraints experienced by smallholder farmers.
• S/he will also ensure that insights from research and lessons from implementation which will continue to inform adaptive management are synthesized and shared with stakeholders through the Agricultural Extension Activity Community of Practice and other platforms.
• The essence is to ensure scale and sustainability of business solutions and the business model of the Agricultural Extension Activity

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead implementation of Component 2 tasks
• Coordinates linkages and capacity building activities with research institutions, universities, and other public sector agencies
• Leads efforts to identify, analyze, and communicate on project, cohort, and CoP learning;
• Assists in preparation of learning briefs, weekly success stories, and other project communications materials
• Review designs of research activities, ensuring the research process and outcomes meet USAID and WI quality standards
• Conducts analytical work related to Activity interventions; reviews draft reports from research activities
• Collaborates with National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) and other CoP members on information sharing and dissemination strategies
• Design and coordinate learning approaches that enable analysis of data, context and emerging experiences as well as iterative adaptive management for the Activity’s technical approaches
• Coordinates with the MEL team to design the project’s Learning Agenda including surveys, case studies, and other tools to evaluate project impact, trends, and other learnings. Provide comprehensive analysis of learning outcomes to inform project interventions.
• Perform other tasks related to coordination of research and learning

Qualifications and Requirements
Education:

• Minimum of bachelor's degree in research for development, mass communication, social sciences and other related fields. Completion of short courses in knowledge management and communications will be an advantage.

Experience:
It is expected that the ideal candidate will be well connected and familiar with value chain stakeholders, including government, research institutions, universities and private sector partners. The ideal candidate should have the following experience:

• At least 10 years’ experience in knowledge management and communications, which should include coordination of the learning function of large development projects in Nigeria, preferably those funded by USAID
• Experience developing and using a Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting approach is desired
• Experiencing in forging relationships and building trust between stakeholders;
• Experience managing a Community of Practice (CoP) or similar multi-stakeholder network initiated by and/or related to implementation of development projects
• Development research experience and analytical skills, including mining of data from empirical research for dissemination to policymakers, donors and the development community
• Fully proficient in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel

Others:

• Strong communication skills (both written and verbal communication)
• High level of English and preferred fluency in Hausa and Pidgin
• Good understanding of monitoring and evaluation and the inextricable link between M&E and learning
• Knowledge of development project.