Ethiopia: Team Leader, Youth Cohort Study, USAID/Ethiopia Building the Potential of Youth

Team Leader, Youth Cohort Study

Building the Potential of Youth

USAID/Ethiopia Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Service (EPMES) Activity

Location:

Ethiopia

Description

Team Leader, Youth Cohort Study, Building the Potential of Youth

USAID/Ethiopia Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Service (EPMES) Activity, Ethiopia

Social Impact (SI) is a Washington, DC-area international development management consulting firm. SI’s mission is to improve the effectiveness of international development programs in improving people’s lives. We provide a full range of management consulting, technical assistance, and training services to strengthen international development programs, organizations, and policies. We provide services globally in the areas of monitoring and evaluation, strategic planning, project and program design, organizational capacity building, and gender and social analysis. SI assistance cross-cuts all development sectors including democracy and governance, health and education, the environment, and economic growth. SI’s clients include US government agencies such as USAID, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Department of State, other bilateral donors, multilateral development banks, foundations, and non-profit organizations.

POTENTIAL is a five-year USAID-funded program, implemented by Save the Children and partner organizations, that promotes opportunities for young Ethiopians to positively contribute to the betterment of society. POTENTIAL’s goal is for unemployed and underemployed Ethiopian youth ages 15-29 in rural areas and towns to attain the skills, knowledge, and social capital that lead to increased income and long-term economic self-sufficiency. The program plans to directly reach 34,537 Ethiopian youth in six regions, helping them escape the cycle of poverty.

Project Objective:

The Youth Cohort Study (YCS) will be focused on a sample of youth participants and geographic implementation areas. The overarching purpose of the Youth Cohort Study is to determine the extent to which the Building the Potential of Youth project has improved the employment status and/or income level of a subset of youth participating in the project.

Position Description:

SI is seeking a Team Leader to provide technical and managerial coordination and oversight of all evaluation activities to ensure a high quality and useful evaluation. With support from the full evaluation team, the Team Leader will deliver a study that utilizes a 3-4-phase panel design that follows a cohort of youth over time, and a peer-research approach that trains a sub-set of the youth to assist in the research implementation and data collection. A data collection firm will be contracted by SI to carry out the field work and training of peer researchers under the direction of the Team Leader. The Team Leader will also supervise a local M&E specialist who will assist in carrying out all phases of the YCS.

Level of effort, schedule for travel, and due dates of deliverables will be finalized by the Team Leader as the YCS design is finalized. While dates are subject to change, SI anticipates that the design phase will commence in late December 2016 and the first round of training and data collection will commence sometime between January and March 2017.

Responsibilities:

The Team Leader will be responsible for:

• Managing team members as well as the performance of a data collection firm.
• Report writing as well as delegating evaluation responsibilities and report writing tasks to evaluation team members.
• Ensuring that deadlines are met in accordance with contractual schedule of deliverables.

• Ensuring high quality and usefulness of evaluation outputs, given technical expertise in the subject matter being evaluated. In addition, the Team Leader will contribute to the completion of the following tasks in coordination with the evaluation team:

• Development of a final Evaluation Design Report and training regime for enumerators.

• Leadership of a Team Planning Meeting to introduce evaluation approach and designate roles and responsibilities to other members of the evaluation of team.

• Identification of a sample frame for primary qualitative and/or quantitative data collection during all phases of field work.

• Travel to Ethiopia for data collection, including interviews and focus group discussions with stakeholders and households.

• Compilation of project monitoring and government data by liaising with implementing, funding, and government stakeholders.

• Development of evaluation reports at conclusion of each phase of the evaluation.

• Establishment of daily schedules and plan for data collection phases.

• Presentation of findings to client upon the finalization and approval of evaluation reports.

Deliverables: The Team Leader will be expected to complete the following deliverables in adherence with SI’s EQUI Quality Assurance Framework subject to approval of SI staff:

• A YCS Evaluation Design Report, including agreed-upon outcomes of interest and evaluation questions.
• Instruments for Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) as well as any instruments for any potential quantitative surveys.
• A training regime for enumerators and peer researchers.
• Submission of compiled data, including anonymized qualitative data and quantitative government and project monitoring data.
• Final reports, including findings, conclusions, and recommendations, at conclusion of each data collection (panel) phase.
• As required, utilization workshop and/or presentation of findings to stakeholders at USAID/Ethiopia.

Qualifications:

• Experience with, and evaluation of, youth workforce development projects.
• Complex team and project management, including leadership and coordination of local consultants and management of local sub-contractor organizations.
• Close familiarity with evaluation design, including sample design, mixed methods, data analysis and data collection instrument development.
• Ability to effectively assess and use existing data sources for secondary analysis.
• Experience in applying measurement strategies associated with youth workforce development projects, especially quantitative measurement for longitudinal analysis.
• Data collection planning and implementation in complex and geographically diverse settings.
• Presentation of evaluation findings to a broad range of stakeholders, including government officials, to optimize uptake of recommendations.
• Effective collaboration and coordination with implementing partners and other local stakeholders during evaluation design and implementation.
• Knowledge of USAID requirements with respect to data sharing, treatment of PII, ethical considerations/IRB.
• Excellent written and oral communication in English.
• In-depth knowledge of country context and development programming in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Experience in gender sensitive monitoring and evaluation methods preferred.

Come join our energetic and innovative team! We offer you the opportunity to play a leading role in the growth of our company, work as part of a creative and committed team, and make a difference in the well-being of our world.

To learn more about Social Impact, please visit our website: http://www.socialimpact.com

SI is an EEO/AA/ADA Veterans Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

Only selected candidates will be contacted for an interview. Please, no phone calls.

Please apply only through the following link:
http://chp.tbe.taleo.net/chp02/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=SOCIIMPA2&cws=1&rid=1111