Vacancy at International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC)

Position Summary

The M&E Specialist for 2SCALE and SMS in Nigeria is responsible for leading the execution of the 2SCALE and SMS PMEPs, and coordinating related activities within both projects and via partners in Nigeria. S/he will design and orchestrate efforts that monitor outcomes against targets; enable management, donors and partners to gain feedback and deduce lessons. S/he is also responsible for providing timely and relevant information to project managers, partners and donors. The M&E Specialist will contribute to the development of institutional capacity and M&E initiatives of divisional and global scope.

Supervision

The M&E Specialist for 2SCALE and SMS in Nigeria will be supervised by and report directly to the 2SCALE Chief of Party (on 2SCALE) and the SMS Team Leader. S/he will work closely together with other M&E specialists (currently only one) for 2SCALE/ NWAFD. Outside the West African project team, the M&E Specialist will collaborate closely with his/her counterpart in East/Southern Africa and with Division-level M&E Specialists.

Time allocation

It is anticipated that the M&E Specialist will work for about 60% on SMS and 40% on 2SCALE. Specific duties on 2SCALE in Nigeria will be decided in close consultation with the full-time 2SCALE/ NWAFD M&E specialist and the Supervisor (i.e., CoP 2SCALE).

Duties

Design the M&E framework/ PMEP (only for the SMS program)

• Refine the key indicators for each component and fine-tune the project indicators matrix based on lessons learnt.
• Guide the process for finalizing the key performance questions to assess the effectiveness of interventions.
• Elucidate the approach, methodology, and tools for data acquisition; describe the roles and responsibilities of partners involved; set targets for each year; and outline the supporting operations and procedures for data collection, quality control, analysis and reporting functions.
• Scope out activities that will complement the PMEP (for example, annual project reviews, participatory impact assessments, and lessons-learned workshops). Identify, recruit, guide and supervise organizations or consultants that are contracted to implement special surveys and studies required for evaluating project outcomes and impacts.

Execute the PMEP

• Steer and craft the installation of the M&E system to realize a balance of credibility and practicality.
• Work with partnership facilitators to develop guidelines and survey instruments in line with the PMEP, including databases or tally sheets for collecting routine data.
• Ensure that all subgrants include specifications for the internal monitoring required of grantees, the reporting systems and the penalties for failure to report as specified.
• Undertake regular visits to the field to support implementation of M&E and to identify where adaptations may be needed.
• Orchestrate the active involvement of Nigerian partnership facilitators, coaches, independent research or consulting firms, and external consultants and students to assure that the data are collected in a reliable fashion and that M&E has been effectively integrated into each country’s interventions.
• Design, organize and undertake a training system for participatory capacity-building on 2SCALE M&E, particularly for the partnership facilitators/ BSSs/coaches who conduct the function of data collection in clusters.
• Incorporate mixed methods to capture information on cluster members and value chain performance including private sector partners, traders and consumers and methods to assess effectiveness of project interventions and capture indirect effects for understanding dynamics of cluster facilitation.
• Support the design of periodic impact studies to 1) provide an analysis of whether project objectives (outcomes and impacts) were achieved and can be attributed to project operations 2) demonstrate that the observed changes would not have occurred naturally in the absence of project interventions.

Coordinate and support the project internal and external evaluations.

• Join in external evaluation and supervision missions—of funding and other agencies—by screening and analyzing monitoring reports as well as furnishing direct personal knowledge of the field situation.
• Ensure that project monitoring arrangements comply with the donor’s requirements and expectations.
• Analyze data collected in terms of impact evaluation and identify the causes of potential bottlenecks in project implementation.
• Work with project management and the independent M&E firm to design and roll out experimental pilots that can demonstrate incremental effects of changes in service mode or absence/presence of interventions and/or with/without comparisons.

Reporting/Communication

• Design the format for performance reports.
• Support staff and implementing partners in preparing progress reports. Assess and provide feedback on reports in terms of problems and actions needed. Prepare consolidated progress reports for project management, in accordance with approved reporting formats and timing.
• Make regular reports to the 2SCALE Chief of Party, Regional Agribusiness Coordinator, and SMS Team Leader, highlighting areas of concern and preparing the documentation for review at meetings.
• Plan for and execute regular occasions to share M&E findings, identify lessons learned and elicit ideas on the implications for the project and local development partners’ next steps. Make sure that time-sensitive findings from monitoring are shared in the appropriate forum and in a responsive fashion.
• Work closely with the project Communications Specialist to identify results and field stories that should be highlighted in public relations materials.

Any other assignment that the supervisors deem necessary for the success of the project or contribution to the work of IFDC as a global institution.

Required Skills

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Statistics, Agricultural Economics or other related fields.
• Minimum three years’ experience with participatory monitoring and evaluation which may include designing and conducting survey exercises, data collection (key stakeholder interviews, focus groups, surveys, and secondary data analysis techniques) and data management.
• Experience in private sector, economic and/or agricultural donor-funded projects.
• Demonstrable experience in performing statistical analysis and interpreting results correctly.
• Excellent command of computers and statistical software. Ability to manipulate large data sets.
• Ability to work independently and to take initiative.
• Service-oriented attitude towards work-- providing positive and timely feedback to colleagues and staff of partner institutions.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in Standard English, including the ability to present materials in meetings and at conferences and to write project documents (e.g. evaluation design plans, results frameworks, data collection and data analysis plans, and progress reports).
• Proficiency in Hausa highly desirable.

Required Experience

• Minimum three years’ experience with participatory monitoring and evaluation which may include designing and conducting survey exercises, data collection (key stakeholder interviews, focus groups, surveys, and secondary data analysis techniques) and data management.
• Experience in private sector, economic and/or agricultural donor-funded projects