Evaluation Team Leader, Kenya Dairy Sector Competitiveness Program

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Project/Proposal Summary:
USAID/Kenya’s Economic Growth program has for several years been part of three USG Initiatives: the Initiative to End Hunger in Africa (IEHA), the African Global Competitiveness Initiative (AGCI) and the Feed the Future (FtF) initiative. Under FtF, USAID/Kenya’s agricultural program has focused on market-led, value chain development targeting maize and other selected staples, dairy, and horticulture. It also integrates gender equity, sustainable resource management and utilization, and youth among the cross-cutting themes. USAID/Kenya’s existing programs, some of which are already moving into closure phase, will be scaled up and or rolled to new and bigger programs. These programs aim to address the goal and objectives of the Feed the Future (FtF) Initiative in Kenya. Performance evaluation of the on-going and just-ended programs will help inform the upcoming ones in terms of lessons learned.

Position Summary: The Team Leader will evaluate the performance of The Kenya Dairy Sector Competitiveness Program (KDSCP) running from May 1, 2008-April 30, 2013, which aims to increase smallholder family income from sale of quality milk through increased competitiveness of the Kenyan dairy sector.

Responsibilities: • Use evidence to document the degree to which USAID-funded KDSCP interventions were or were not successful. • Identify best practices, lessons learned and areas of improvement. • Provide objective recommendations on strategic areas of focus and analytical agenda for following interventions in the Feed the Future Initiatives.

Qualifications: • Must have USAID evaluation experience.
• Demonstrated evaluation design experience, including the selection of appropriate data collection methods on a question specific basis and development of a detailed data analysis plan. • Basic social science research skills and basic statistics, including strong data visualization skills consistent with USAID expectations. • Familiarity with and ability to apply a range of data collection methodologies covered by USAID TIPS. • Field experience that includes at least some but not necessarily all of the following: o Survey research experience, including development of structured and semi-structured interview and/or observation instruments, by hand and using mid-size survey aids such as EPI Info from CDC; sample size determination for specific confidence levels and confidence intervals; selection and use of other survey data (and other large data set) entry and analysis software (SPSS or alternative), e.g. technology at farm level and income impacts at the farm level. o Structured or semi-structured group interviews and/or focus groups, including the creation of written instruments and transcripts for same; content analysis and other techniques for coding and transforming group/open-ended data into analyzed information; qualitative data analysis software (NVIVO or alternative) and/or case study documentation experience; transformation of qualitative data into a quantitative form that can be merged with other quantitative data in a mixed methods analysis. o Applied experience with non-experimental theory testing techniques for examining program/project effects (baseline reconstruction, outcome mapping, especially in agricultural value chain economic analysis). • Must have a strong understanding of USG Ag initiatives, including hands on experience with the Feed the Future Strategy. • East Africa experience also a plus.

How to apply:

Only candidates who have been selected for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls, please.

To apply, please visit our website: www.msiworldwide.com.