Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a U.S. non-profit organization dedicated to creating, evaluating, and replicating innovative solutions to poverty and policy problems worldwide. IPA specializes in using randomized impact evaluation to assess the effectiveness of development programs.

Evaluation Coordinator (EC) Disseminating Innovative Resources and Technologies to Smallholders (DIRTS)

IPA Ghana seeks an Evaluation Coordinator who will coordinate evaluation of interventions under the Disseminating Innovative Resources and Technologies to Smallholders (DIRTS) study including: marketing agricultural input technology packages and providing community-based mobile extension services. Lead Principal Investigators on the DIRTS study are Dean Karlan and Christopher Udry of Yale University.

The study’s interventions are implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Ghana Insurers Association and several other partners. Evaluation of the project occurs via a series of electronic and paper surveys with randomly selected respondent households. This position will be based in Tamale, with required travel across the Northern Region.

Job Summary:

The Evaluation Coordinator, working closely with the implementation team and the Project Coordinator, will help design, manage, and execute three annual data collection activities: (1) annual survey of ~4000 respondent households on Blaise software (2) weekly labor surveys on Open Data Kit throughout the agricultural season and (3) paper harvest survey for insurance policyholders. The position will involve development of instruments in conjunction with the Project Coordinator and Principal Investigators, providing oversight and direction to the IPA evaluation team, managing evaluation finances, directing implementation evaluation staff and coordinate evaluation partner relationships (with Principal Investigators at local and US-based institutions). Specifically, the Evaluation Coordinator will;

•   Support the impact evaluation team creating, piloting, programming, and implementing survey instruments.
•   Design data collection instruments and protocols; recruit, hire and supervise surveyors to collect and enter data; and compile and summarize the data. Oversee and monitor data collection and survey field work, including planning, logistics, hiring, and training. For each data collection effort, ensure data quality, integrity of analysis, and adherence to budget.
•   Conduct qualitative research to inform research and survey design.
•   Run pilot survey exercises, provide feedback on field operations and survey instruments, and monitor improvements.
•   Provide quality control for collected data through data cleaning and analysis.
•   Provide close, on-site supervision of data collection, while surveys are ongoing.
•   Keep both the rest of the evaluation team and relevant members of the project implementation team routinely updated on activities, concerns, and decisions that need to be made. Provide routine updates on activities, plans, and any observations or emerging findings that may be of importance.
•   Communicate regularly with relevant team members on matters including finance and logistics.
•   Write up reports on findings from qualitative and quantitative investigations on particular matters.
•   Write reports with feedback and analysis on relevant project evaluation progress.
•   Write reports with feedback and analysis of how the survey instruments seem to be working.
•   Assist in the analysis of the survey data, and the writing of project reports
•   Review monitoring reports and help identify the causes of potential bottlenecks in project
•   Prepare budgets and track expenditures
•   Communicate observations and feedback from field visits to the Implementation Coordinator and Evaluation Team so as to ensure continuous mid-course adjustments can be made and appropriate training and support is planned and provided.
•   Make unannounced visits to Field teams to audit monitoring records and produce monitoring reports.

Qualification Required & Experience

It is required that candidates have;

•   A bachelors or Master degree in economics, development, statistics, or related field
•   Excellent management, communication and organizational skills
•   Project management experience, as well as experience supervising, designing, and implementing data collection and/or field work activities, and managing teams of field workers is preferred.
•   A strong conceptual grasp of development research, randomized control trails, and collection of field data. Experience in field data collection and surveying is a strong plus.
•   Experience designing survey questionnaires, and analyzing quantitative survey data, is preferred.
•   Knowledge of Stata (strongly preferred), SAS, or other data analysis software

Location: Tamale

How To Apply For The Job

To apply, follow this link and complete all required information

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1421278/IPA-Ghana-Evaluation-Coordinator

Note that a Cover Letter and CV will be required to complete the form.  Incomplete applications, or applications not completed through the web-form will not be considered.

Closing Date: 10 November, 2013

Due to the high volume of applications received by IPA, only those candidates who are selected for an interview will be contacted by email or phone.