Monitoring and Evaluation Fellowship Village Enterprise Fund - San Carlos, CA

Village Enterprise is seeking a Fellow to lead its field-level Monitoring and Evaluation activities, design and manage innovative pilot projects as well as current Special Projects in a highly dynamic team. The M&E Fellow will also support East African staff to implement and improve the organization’s core program, supervise interns and regional managers, and monitor program implementation. A minimum time commitment of one year is required. After 10 months, the operations team will conduct a performance review and assuming very good performance, future job opportunities within the organization beyond the one-year Fellowship will be explored.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

M&E Role:

Manage and assess Village Enterprise Business Owner targeting (an ultra-poor targeting process);
Design and lead special project evaluations, write reports for funders;
Oversee and increase the quality and efficiency of core and special project monitoring;
Manage relations with external evaluation partners for a planned impact evaluation;
Supervise the training of staff and Enumerators on data collection / interviewing, data entry, analysis and other tasks as required;
Provide oversight for Microenterprise Development Plan data collection and analysis.

Operations Role:

Assist in the implementation, monitoring and expansion of the Village Enterprise core program;
Provide management oversight and leadership, in cooperation with the Senior Director of Programs and Operations, Country Directors, and field staff, in Kakamega, Kenya; Soroti and Hoima, Uganda;
Promote a strong work ethic among the Regional Manager and Business Mentors;
Train trainers, mentor other employees and build capacity in country offices;
Act as a liaison between the Field Operations Team and Development Team in the US.

Benefits and Other Support:

During your fellowship, you will receive a stipend totaling U.S. $8,000;
One round-trip ticket from the U.S. to Kenya or Uganda;
Kenya & Uganda visas;
International health insurance, Flying Doctors emergency evacuation insurance, and a U.S. $300 stipend for local health clinic expenses;
Accommodations and house expenses in-country (water, electric and wifi)
All in-country travel, phone, internet and accommodations costs related to your fellowship activities;
21 days of time off (to be taken during your fellowship year)

How to Apply:
Send your cover letter and CV to Anne Olson at anneo@villageenterprise.org with a copy to Philip Arscott at philipa@villageenterprise.org .
Mention “Fellowship Application” in the subject line.
Cover letter should include answers to the following questions:

Why do you want to work in rural East Africa?
What specific leadership or management experiences have you had that will prepare you for this role?
What areas do you hope to develop/grow the most through this fellowship?

Desired Skills & Experience

Qualifications:

Education:

Masters degree is required. Concentrations in Development or Agricultural Economics, International Development, Public Policy, Statistics or other applied social research strongly preferred.
Previous experience in both quantitative and qualitative evaluation preferred.
Ability to design and implement research based on randomized control trials, regression discontinuity, propensity score matching and other methods preferred.

Required Qualifications:

Experience in a management/leadership;
Experience living / working / traveling in a developing country or emerging economy;
Must be a very strong critical thinker able to identify potential solutions to challenges in new environments;
Must be able to use Excel to analyze survey data, budgets and track basic finances. Ability to perform advanced data analysis with SATA or SPSS strongly preferred.
Experience working effectively in a highly independent capacity – self-managing, taking ownership of goals, developing work plans and self-deadlines;
Willingness to work in a diverse team via email, skype and other Internet based communications;
Strong Written and verbal communication skills (this role will involve writing many reports and making many presentations);
Dedication to producing and executing high quality projects/tasks and recommendations quickly, with a high level of accuracy and systematic attention to detail;
Passion for innovative approaches to poverty reduction around the world, including but not limited to social entrepreneurship and business development in Africa;
Minimum commitment of 1 year; involves living in areas where there are few other foreigners/expats, few stores and restaurants, limited access to electricity at times, unpaved roads that lead to bumpy/uncomfortable car rides during field work;
Fluency in English required; Swahili is not required

Other skills/experience desired, but not required

Experience in curriculum development, this role will require curriculum development for VE's Training Program;
Strong IT skills preferred, including database management, network setup & troubleshooting.

Company Description

Village Enterprise’s mission is to equip people living in extreme poverty with resources to create sustainable businesses. Our vision is a world free of extreme poverty and chronic hunger, where people have the economic means to sustain their families.

Since its inception in 1987, Village Enterprise has been developing and refining an innovative model of poverty reduction combining training, seed capital grant or non-cash asset transfer, and ongoing mentoring to create small rural businesses. Village Enterprise’s economic development model plays a unique role in the microfinance industry, providing economic opportunities in rural, agricultural areas that other organizations are not reaching, and gives men and women living in extreme poverty the opportunity to transform a small grant into a new business, a better standard of living, and hope for the future. Village Enterprise is headquartered in San Carlos, CA, and currently operates in Kenya and Uganda.