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Project Management Specialist (ffp Monitoring & Evaluation)

USAID Kenya Nairobi

Summary

  1. SOLICITATION NO.: 20-11                                                                     
  2. ISSUANCE DATE: February 27, 2020                                                   
  3. CLOSING DATE/TIME FOR RECEIPT OF OFFERS: March 19, 2020 (4:30 PM East Africa Time).                                                       
  4. POSITION TITLE: Project Management Specialist (FFP Monitoring & Evaluation).                                                                                         
  5. MARKET VALUE: Equivalent to FSN-PSC 10 (Step 1:3,203,516.00 KSH to Step 13: 5,445,968.00 KSH per annum. In accordance with AIDAR Appendix J and the Local Compensation Plan of USAID/Kenya and East Africa. Final compensation will be negotiated within the listed market value.                                                                 
  6. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: Initial 1-year probationary period with 4 additional option years contingent on performance, position need, and funds availability.                                                     

    7.  PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: Nairobi, Kenya; with possible travel             as stated in the Statement of Work.                                                                                                                                                            8.  SECURITY CERTIFICATION REQUIRED: Prior to joining USAID,           the selected candidate will be required to:

  • Undergo a comprehensive background investigation
  • Undergo a health check to obtain medical clearance and;Obtain and
  • Retain an embassy issued Security Certification. 

9.  STATEMENT OF DUTIES: (See Below).   

10.  AREA OF CONSIDERATION: Open to qualified Kenyan Citizens and current employees of the U.S. Mission. Employees currently on probation are ineligible to apply. USAID provides equal opportunity and equitable treatment for employment of all people without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, political affiliation, marital status or sexual orientation.                                                       

11.  PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The position requirements do not involve rigorous physical demands.

BACKGROUND:

The Regional Food for Peace (FFP) Office in the USAID/Kenya and East Africa (KEA) Mission serves 14 countries in East and Central Africa, with an annual budget of over $1 billion for emergency and development food assistance programs. Office members monitor the regional and country-specific food security situation; directly oversee food assistance programs in countries where there are no FFP staff present; provide technical support to USAID Missions in countries that have FFP staff in-country; represent FFP in regional coordination forums; provide technical assistance and formal and informal training and mentoring for FFP and partner staff in the region; provide surge capacity to respond to new emergencies or cover staffing gaps; and provide program logistics and commodity management support. The FFP Office works closely with other offices within the USAID/KEA Mission, particularly the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, and agriculture and health offices, to ensure that programs are coordinated and effective. Staff members regularly liaise with inter-agency partners such as the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as other humanitarian donors, and United Nations (UN) and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners. 

The global FFP Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Team supports the development and improvement of policy and guidance related to the monitoring and evaluation of FFP’s emergency and development food assistance programs for both FFP staff and partners. Collectively, the team members help to assure adequate, high-quality M&E by contractors and FFP and partner staff members. Currently, M&E FFP Team members posted in the USA, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, and Ethiopia, hold weekly and frequent ad hoc phone conferences and meet less frequently to develop and share progress on a global FFP M&E work plan. 

The PMS/M&E Specialist will work with supervision from the FFP Regional M&E Advisor in Nairobi. S/he will primarily contribute to the technical assistance and support functions of the FFP/KEA Office, but will also participate as a full member of the FFP M&E Team to help assure global consistency in measurement and reporting, and to contribute to the development and application of innovative, cross-cutting M&E methods across regions. This position requires regular coordination with other FFP staff members, representatives from other USAID offices, and technical staff members of FFP partners.

The PMS/M&E Specialist will provide specialized technical support to help ensure good management of and measurement of results of FFP resources applied to both emergency and development food assistance programs in East and Central Africa. S/he will work closely with the FFP Regional M&E Advisor to help ensure the development and implementation of rigorous M&E of FFP-funded activities by implementing partners and FFP’s staff. This will involve reviewing and preparing written and verbal feedback to M&E plans; program baseline, midline and final evaluation designs and implementation; and reports. S/he will provide technical assistance and training for partners’ M&E staff and FFP Officers in the region and will use project M&E data in cross-project and cross-country summaries and analyses of trends, successes, and shortcomings of the projects. A particular assignment for the incumbent will be to monitor the application of new technologies to M&E and disseminate information to partners and FFP about those that have been successfully applied or have potential for application to monitor or evaluate food assistance activities. S/he will collaborate with other members of the Global FFP M&E Team to develop and improve FFP’s global guidelines, policies, reports, and practices.

Description

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

The PMS/M&E Specialist will undertake the following duties:

1. Review and provide feedback related to FFP partners’ designs and implementation of M&E plans, as required (60% of time)

  • Review and prepare technical feedback on programs’ M&E plans to assure that FFP receives timely data that consistently and  accurately portray the application, outputs and outcomes of FFP  assistance and progress toward objectives. These M&E plans  include: detailed theories of change; logical frameworks; indicator performance tracking tables; detailed indicator definitions and calculations; data management plans; monitoring databases; annual monitoring and reporting processes; data quality assurance and assessment; and M&E staffing;                                                               
  • Review and comment on statements of work and work plans for program reviews and valuations of development and emergency programs to be accomplished by FFP, FFP implementing partners or contractors;                                                                                  
  • Review targets and reported results for on-going FFP projects;          
  • Support the design and implementation of USAID Mission and partner data quality assessments and observe partner and FFP M&E activities to assess the quality of monitoring and provide feedback about the processes.                                                                                           

2. Provide technical assistance or training for FFP and implementing partner staff members to improve knowledge and skills necessary to effectively monitor and report about the management and use of FFP resources, the acceptability of the processes of FFP-funded activities’ implementation to the participants and beneficiaries, and intended and unintended outcomes of FFP activities.                                     (15%)

3.  Work with FFP Global M&E Team to advance the FFP learning agenda and develop and improve guidelines and policy for M&E design, standards and practices.                                                                          (15%) 

  • Write and/or provide technical feedback on policy development and learning tools, conduct research, observe or participate in program reviews and evaluations of FFP programs, and manage evaluation and learning processes.                                                                       
  • Summarize and analyze M&E results of FFP-funded projects across projects and countries and prepare communications about trends, program successes and shortcomings, lessons learned, useful examples, etc., for improved performance and long-term impact.

4.  Monitor technical and professional literature, project implementations and reports, internet postings and other resource material to identify good use of database, data collection, data transfer, and data presentation technologies for M&E in emergency and development assistance settings. Identify technologies that have been used in other contexts that have potential application in M&E of food assistance. As appropriate, prepare communications to inform FFP staff and partners about current and potential applications of technologies in M&E of FFP-funded projects (10%).

 POSITION ELEMENTS:

  1. Supervision Received: The PMS/M&E Specialist will be part of the regional USAID/KEA Food for Peace team subject to supervision by the FFP Regional Director. The incumbent will report directly to the USAID/FFP Regional M&E Advisor, or her designee, who will set overall objectives for the incumbent and work with him/her to establish deadlines and work priorities.                                            
  2. Supervision Exercised: None                                                       
  3. Available Guidelines: Guidance is provided in USAID’s Automatic Directives System, US Code 22, Part 211 Transfer of Food Commodities for Food Use in Disaster Relief, Economic Development and Other Assistance; USAID’s Office of Food for Peace Policy and Guidance for Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting for Development Food Assistance Projects; FFP Indicators Handbook Part I: Indicators for Baseline and Final Evaluation Surveys; FFP Indicators Handbook Part II: Annual Monitoring Indicators;  FANTA Sampling Guide (with 2012 Addendum); USAID Evaluation Policy; and Feed the Future Agricultural Indicator Guide.  Additional direction will be provided by the FFP Regional M&E Advisor and members of the Global FFP M&E Team.                                                                                           
  4. Exercise of Judgment: The incumbent takes overall direction from the Regional FFP M&E Advisor or her designee, but must be able to work independently and exercise considerable judgment in carrying out assigned responsibilities and tasks.                                           
  5. Authority to Make Commitments: The incumbent will have no authority to commit funds or re-direct the work of partners on behalf of the U.S. Government. S/he is expected to take initiative and act independently with little direction and may speak with authority to contacts within and outside of USAID about FFP and USG project implementation requirements and regulations in the capacity of advisor and information source. All work is performed in collaboration with the Regional FFP Office and FFP M&E Team.              
  6. Nature, Level, and Purpose of Contacts: The incumbent will liaise with Food for Peace staff members in the East and Central Africa Regions and Washington, DC; the global FFP M&E Team; and UN and NGO partners in the region. These contacts will be for the purpose of collecting and sharing information, providing technical assistance, advising on M&E, and cooperating in collective problem solving and innovation.                                                                  
  7. Time Expected to Reach Full Performance Level: Twelve months

Education
Masters Degree

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR THIS POSITION

Any application that does not meet the minimum requirements stated below will not be evaluated. Only short listed applicants will be contacted. If you have not been contacted within one month from the closing date of this advertisement, please consider your application unsuccessful.

Education: A Master’s degree from an accredited university with a concentration that included substantial coursework in applied statistics, data mining, qualitative research, and quantitative and qualitative data analysis applicable to program monitoring and evaluation.  

Post Entry Training: Food For Peace Bootcamp: Field methods for needs assessment and activity monitoring.Rapid familiarization with U.S. Government regulations, policies and procedures—specifically the Food for Peace Act (as amended by the Agricultural Act of 2014), 22 C.F.R. 211 (USAID Regulation 11), and FFP information bulletins.

Language Proficiency: English Level IV spoken, reading & writing.

Job Knowledge: The incumbent must have knowledge: to develop and   use detailed theories of change and Logical Frameworks; about methods   and criteria for data quality assurance and data quality assessment;   develop or choose practical and meaningful M&E indicators to measure   outputs, outcomes and context; about relational database design, entry,   and maintenance; and to select methods for applying satellite data and   Global Information Systems (GIS) in monitoring and to interpret the   outputs.   

More Details on Experience

Prior Work Experience:  At least five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in monitoring and evaluation in developing country contexts using both qualitative and quantitative methods.

More Details on Skills

Skills and Abilities: Demonstrated proficiencies:

  • Developing and analyzing large, complex quantitative surveys;
  • Applying qualitative methods for assessments, monitoring and evaluations in rural settings, including emergency settings;
  • Using word processing and spreadsheet software, including Microsoft Word and Excel;
  • Conducting multivariate analyses using at least one of the following data analysis software packages: Microsoft ACCESS, SPSS, STATA, or CSPro;
  • Designing and using relational databases;
  • Designing front-end data entry systems with built-in validity checks and control; and
  • Designing computer assisted interviewing on the internet or using handheld devices. 

The incumbent must also have:

  • Good interpersonal skills.
  • Ability to work collaboratively with a wide range of staff and representatives.
  • Ability to review, evaluate and apply complex policies and regulations.
  • Ability to work cooperatively in a multicultural team.
  • Willingness to undertake extensive field work assignments, as necessary.
  • A solution-seeking attitude. 

Terms And Conditions

EVALUATION AND SELECTION FACTORS

Applicants must submit a resume/cv which describes how their relevant professional experience and education has prepared them to meet the specific challenges of the duties and responsibilities described above.  As part of the interview process, those applicants ranked highest may be required to submit a timed writing sample on a topic provided.  The selection committee may conduct reference checks at any time during the selection process.

Applications that do not meet the required minimum qualifications will not be scored. 

  •      Prior work experience (30 points)
  •      Job Knowledge (40 points)
  •      Skills and abilities (30 points)

            Total possible points:  100

Candidates meeting the above required qualifications for the position will be evaluated based on information presented in the application and reference checks.   References will be asked to assess the applicant’s technical knowledge, work performance, communication skills, and group dynamics, using the above criteria.  USAID reserves the right to conduct interviews with the top ranked short-listed applicants.  The interview will be one of the determining factors in the final selection.

 How to Apply

Step 1: Register in MyJobsInKenya at www.myjobsinkenya.com

Step 2: Complete the job application questionnaire at www.myjobsinkenya.com The applicant must answer all the questions in the Questionnaire.

Step 3:  Internal Applicants/Current USG Employees: Attach an updated curriculum vitae/resume (no more than five pages), a copy of your most recent Performance Evaluation Report, and copies of all relevant certificates. Scan and upload all the documents to MyJobsInKenya

                                                      OR

External Applicants/Not Current USG Employees: Attach an updated curriculum vitae/resume (no more than five pages) and copies of all relevant certificates. Upload all the documents to MyJobsInKenya 

Note to Applicants:

1.  Applications must be received by the closing date and time above and submitted through www.myjobsinkenya.com   

2. Submissions will only be accepted through myjobsinkenya.com Late and Incomplete applications (those that do not contain the applicant’s most current and up to date detailed CV and relevant education certificates) will not be considered for the position. The closing date for receipt of applications is indicated above.

USAID DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING) AND DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS' BANK ACCOUNTS.