The MDG Centre was established in July 2004 by The Earth Institute (“EI”) at Columbia University (New York) and the UN Millennium Project with a broad purpose of assisting countries to develop operational strategies for achieving the MDGs, and to support their implementation at both local and national levels.

In early 2006, the MDG Centre was reorganized to establish two sub-regional centres covering East and Southern Africa (based in Nairobi) and West and Central Africa (based in Bamako).  Following the events of March, 2012 in Bamako, the MDG Centre relocated to Dakar, Senegal.

The MDG Centre - West and Central Africa focuses on two complementary scales:

•   the national level, through support provided to processes related to MDGs based national strategies planning and implementation; and
•   at the local level, to assist and empower pilot African villages and cities inhabitants lift themselves out of their poverty trap and achieve all MDGs through the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) and the Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI).

The initial countries of concentration of the MDG Centre - West and Central Africa are Mali, Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria with a possibility of expansion to other West African countries.

Job Description

•   Monitoring and Evaluation Team, Millennium Villages Project, The Earth Institute, Columbia University, MDG Centre in Dakar, Senegal
•   Job Title: Economic Costing Research Specialist (Ghana)
•   Project: MVP Final Evaluation: Economic Costing Evaluation
•   Contract Duration: 1.5 months

The Millennium Villages Project (MVP) (http://www.millenniumvillages.org/index.htm) is a joint initiative of Columbia University’s Earth Institute, Millennium Promise, and the United Nations Development Programme. Since its inception in 2005, the project has been implemented in fourteen village clusters across ten different African countries comprising approximately 450,000 beneficiaries. Under the MVP model, project personnel work alongside villagers and local governments to implement a package of interventions spanning four sectors: health, education, infrastructure, and agriculture. The interventions are designed to help villagers achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals within ten years’ time.

In order to track the project’s progress, MVP has established a comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation platform headed by a team of Columbia University researchers in New York, a Millennium Development Goal Centre in Dakar, and a second Millennium Development Goal Centre in Nairobi. Monitoring and evaluation of the MVP includes four components: (1) Household Impact Surveys, (2) Process Evaluation, (3) Economic Costing, and (4) Outcome Monitoring.

The M & E team is currently conducting its final evaluation for ten Millennium Village sites (MVs). As part of that evaluation, the M & E team requires an Economic Costing Research Specialist (Ghana) to assist in carrying out the Economic Costing study at the Bonsaaso site, located in Manso Nkwanta, Ghana. The position is a short-term consultancy for the duration of 1.5 months and will include the following responsibilities:

Desk Research & Site Liaison:

•   Carrying out a critical review of accounting templates, work plans, background literature, and field reports in order to inventory a comprehensive list of interventions undertaken in each MVP’s four sectors
•   Closely coordinating with Economic Costing Analyst Lucy McClellan (New York) to ensure data consistency, proper management, and quality assurance across all sites
•   Collaborating with MDG Center Senior M & E Coordinator, Seth Ohemeng-Dapaah (Dakar)on data collection, management, analysis, and sharing

Field Work & Data Collection (October 2014 – November 2014):

•   The Economic Costing Research Specialist will be expected to carry out the Costing Evaluation at one Millennium Village site in rural Ghana.
•   Data collection entails traveling to the MV site for a period of 4 weeks and conducting key informant interviews with government officers, NGO staff, and other private donors, as well as facilitating community focus groups, based on a set of Economic Costing templates and questionnaires developed in New York.
•   The Economic Costing Research Specialist will be supported at each site by a Research Assistant. The Costing Research Specialist will be the lead data collector at the sites to which s/he is assigned, and s/he will be responsible for directing and managing the Consultant during data collection.
•   The Economic Costing Research Specialist will be trained and backstopped by Lucy McClellan, the Economic Costing Analyst, via frequent Skype calls, emails, and possibly in-person meetings.

Supervision
The ability to work collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team is essential.  The Economic Costing Research Specialist will be supervised by Lucy McClellan, the Economic Costing Analyst in New York.

Qualification Required & Experience

•   Bachelor’s degree and 2+ years of experience in program evaluation, development, international affairs, or social science research (qualitative); Master’s degree a plus;
•   Outstanding oral and written communications, with proven ability to compile information coherently and succinctly;
•   Ability to facilitate interviews and focus group discussions with a variety of respondents, including government officials, NGO officials, UN workers, and community members;
•   Excellent research and fact-checking skills;
•   High attention to detail and commitment to work under tight deadlines;
•   Sensitivity to cultures, genders, religions, ethnicities, nationalities, ages, and other forms of diversity;
•   Previous international field work experience required; Background in monitoring & evaluation, development, economics, or research advantageous;
•   English fluency; local language skills advantageous;
•   Familiarity with and interest in the Millennium Villages Project and the Millennium Development Goals;
•   Ability to travel for 1 month to rural Ghana;
•   Persistence and a positive, constructive attitude.

Location:  Manso Nkwanta

How To Apply For The Job

Applicants should apply by email, sending a full C.V. with names and contact information of three referees knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience to:

employment@mdgcenter.org  with a copy to recruitment@mdgwca.org

Closing Date: 31 October, 2014

•   “Application for Economic Costing Research Specialist (Ghana) ” should be clearly marked on the subject line of the email message.
•   Only short-listed applicants meeting the above requirements will be contacted.

We invite you to learn more about us at:

www.mdgwca.org
www.millenniumpromise.org
www.unmillenniumproject.org
www.mdgwca.org