The International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) Job for a Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist

The International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) is a public international organization addressing critical issues such as international food security, the alleviation of global hunger and poverty, environmental protection and the promotion of economic development and self-sufficiency.
IFDC focuses on increasing productivity across the agricultural value chain in developing countries. This is achieved by the creation and transfer of effective and environmentally sound crop nutrient technology and agribusiness expertise.

The International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) is recruiting to fill the below position:


Job Title: Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist
Location: Kano, Nigeria
Background
The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) specialist will support two connected public-private partnership programs, i.e., the 2SCALE program in Africa, and the SMS program in Northern Nigeria. The 2SCALE program, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, is one of the largest incubator programs for inclusive agribusiness in sub-Saharan Africa.

2SCALE (www.2scale.org) develops a portfolio of public-private partnerships in nine target countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, and Uganda). These partnerships aim to promote inclusive business in agriculture, through support to value chain development, agribusiness cluster formation and enabling business environments.

The agribusiness cluster approach is designed to help rural smallholders move from subsistence farming to farming as a business and to supply agricultural products for local, national, regional and international markets. The project partners with national and multinational agro-food companies as drivers to increase productivity and to improve efficiency and sustainability of supported agribusiness clusters and value chains. Specific attention is given to “base of the pyramid” consumers and producers; they are the vast majority of people and therefore the largest market for food products in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Context Global Development (Context) selected the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) as a sub-grantee to implement a two-year (2016-2017) pilot project in Northern Nigeria, entitled Sorghum and Millet in the Sahel (SMS). The purpose of the pilot project is to strengthen the resilience of sorghum/ millet farming systems in Northwestern Nigeria, by empowering smallholder farmers to develop farming as a sustainable business. The pilot project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and is part of a larger action-research program managed by Context that also involves Burkina Faso and Mali.

Building on the approach set by its 2SCALE program, IFDC partners with Nestlé to source high-quality sorghumfrom Nigerian smallholder farmers, and facilitate the development and strengthening of business relationships among the value chain actors and supporters.

The objective is to deepen our understanding of how partnerships, built with grassroots actors (farmers and their local networks, called agribusiness clusters) and the companies and entrepreneurs driving the value chain, achieve impact; and what the business models are that support both competitiveness and inclusiveness. This learning agenda will help identify incentives for smallholders to invest (or not) in sorghum productivity, and possible scaling pathways for the post-pilot phase.

The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) specialist will, in consultation with 2SCALE management and technical staff, develop the M&E systems to measure the performance and impact of 2SCALE in IFDC’s North and West Africa Division (NWAFD), with focus on Nigeria, and of the SMS program in Nigeria. M&E systems will be designed at program and partnership levels, and all systems and procedures will be conducted in accordance with the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Plans (PMEPs) of 2SCALE and SMS.

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.

• 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.

• 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).

• 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.

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

• The M&E Specialist for 2SCALE and SMS in Nigeria will be based in Nigeria, preferably in Kano (headquarters of the SMS program), but Ibadan (headquarters of the 2SCALE activities in Nigeria) can be considered as well.
• He/ she should be available to travel within the region when called upon to.