Programme Policy Officer- Impact Evaluation Field Coordinator-SC9
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POSITION DETAILS:
POSITION TITLE: Programme Policy Officer- HGSF Impact Evaluation Field Coordinator
TYPE & LEVEL OF CONTRACT: Service Contract, SC9
UNIT / DIVISION: Programme/Lilongwe Malawi.
DUTY STATION (CITY, COUNTRY): Lilongwe, Malawi
REPORTS TO: Head of VAM, M&E Gender & Protection
DURATION OF CONTRACT: 12 Months renewable
DATES OF ADVERTISING: 05.06.2023 to 17.06.2023
ABOUT WFP
The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.
ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT
This job is based at the Malawi Country Offices (COs) and job holder report to the Head of VAM, M&E and Gender/Protection/AAP, and in close coordination with the Evaluation Manager in OEV's Impact Evaluation Unit.
School feeding programs are among the most widespread social safety net programs implemented by governments and other actors globally. Rigorous evidence from several countries has shown that school feeding programs increase nutrition, enrolment, learning and cognitive abilities. Recent innovations in the design of school feeding programs have led to an increased focus on how school feeding programs can promote the socioeconomic lives of local communities beyond schoolchildren; the innovative element of these programs also means policy makers have limited available evidence of their impacts on local economies and service delivery.
In Malawi, WFP with the support from key donors such as Norad, EU, Iceland and other donors play an important role in supporting the government vision for universal access to School Feeding in Malawi. Norad is currently funding a Home-Grown School Feeding programme in 55 schools, in which food is procured from local cooperatives and farmers’ organisations and distributed to children. It is expected that 40 new schools will be enrolled in 2023 in the Kasungu district. This creates a good opportunity to identify a credible counterfactual to assess the impact of a home-grown school feeding intervention on farmers’ and children's outcomes.
WFP, in partnership with World Bank's DIME, will undertake a rigorous impact evaluation to be conducted as part of the WFP's School-Based Programmes (SBP) Impact Evaluation Window. The SBP Impact Evaluation Window was created by the World Food Programme's (WFP) Office of Evaluations (OEV) and School-Based Programme (SBP), in partnership with the World Bank's Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) department. Impact Evaluation Windows are portfolios of rigorous impact evaluations which aims to contribute to the global evidence-based and priority thematic areas while simultaneously supporting local evidence needs for WFP country offices. The WFP Evaluation Policy (2022-2026) defines impact evaluations as changes in development outcomes of interest for a target population that can be attributed to a specific programme or policy through a credible counterfactual.
JOB PURPOSE
The field coordinator will work under the direct supervision of the Head of VAM, M&E and Gender/Protection/AAP and in close coordination with the Evaluation Manager in OEV’s Impact Evaluation Unit. The field coordinator will also closely work with the WFP’s Malawi CO’s School Feeding Activity Manager, M&E Officer, and World Bank’s DIME team.
The impact evaluation field coordinator will oversee the day-to-day implementation of the impact evaluation project. This will include ensuring constant and effective dialogue between the implementing partner(s)/team(s), the evaluation team, and other stakeholders, including the national and local Government. It will also include procuring and managing survey data collection firms, supervising data collection activities, and conducting real-time data quality monitoring checks. Finally, it will also include performing analysis and preparing papers and reports, as requested.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)
Cooperation and coordination
• Provide daily dialogue between the impact evaluation team, programme implementing partners, local stakeholders (including the Government), and other local counterparts (including data collection firms).
• Coordinate impact evaluation activities to ensure that targets are met on time and that all activities are carried out in accordance with the workplan.
• Ensure that concerns are effectively communicated between parties, raising emerging issues that may be of potential concern to one or all parties.
• Proactively work with all interested parties to identify and carry out solutions to maintain effective and productive collaboration throughout the project.
• Provide regular updates to evaluation governing bodies, including national and local government officials and other stakeholders or external collaborators.
• Lead and coordinate the Working Group which is composed by representatives from the Evaluation Management Group and impact evaluation team, and is responsible for ensuring that programme intervention(s) is implemented as outlined in the impact evaluation workplan.
Delivery of evaluation components
• Ensure that activities that need to take place before the rollout of interventions (e.g., eligible schools/cooperatives, baseline data collection, randomisation) are carried out promptly.
• Ensure that data collection activities are conducted according to the agreed timeline and scale.
• Design and manage the information campaign in partnership with the relevant stakeholders as defined in the evaluation design. Closely monitor its implementation and take-up.
• Design and manage the optimisation component in partnership with the relevant stakeholders as defined in the evaluation design. Closely monitor its implementation and take-up.
Monitoring and observation
• Closely monitor programme implementation. Immediately raise any deviation from the agreed programme and evaluation design and workplan.
• Conduct visits to communities involved in the study to ensure that they have the assigned programme status.
• Gather general information about the implementation process and monitor implementation activities and challenges.
• Take note of problems with implementation issues and challenges that deviate from the study protocols and alert the evaluation team as soon as possible.
• Gather observational data on key contextual factors (e.g., data on other development organisations operating in study communities).
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES..Cont'd
Survey design and data collection
• Design and revise survey questionnaires, as discussed with the supervisor.
• Develop and code questionnaires using the required survey software.
• Develop data collection and communication protocols for enumerators and data collection teams.
• Lead field-testing of questionnaires, providing feedback and suggestions on field operations and survey instruments.
• Co-lead training sessions for enumerators.
• Ensure all the required permits are in place prior to data collection activities.
• Manage enumerators (or the firm contracted to carry out data collection), ensuring data quality and adherence of protocols and sampling methods.
• Set-up data quality systems. During data collection, daily review of data quality reports. Ensure issues are adequately communicated and actions taken with interested enumerators.
• Ensure data quality, the integrity of analysis, and adherence to budget throughout the fieldwork and data entry phases.
Data analysis and report writing
• Clean collected data with accompanying Stata do-files.
• Conduct preliminary data analysis.
• Contribute to writing reports, academic papers, and policy briefs.
Other
• Any other task required to support the successful delivery and implementation of impact evaluation activities.
DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF CONTRACT:
• List of all eligible schools and cooperatives to be involved in the programme.
• Sampling frame and sampling protocols.
• Data collection company procured for all IE data collection processes (child survey, school survey, farmers’ survey and cooperative survey).
• Develop questionnaires in SurveyCTO.
• All questionnaires piloted. Pilot feedback is documented in reports and discussed with the impact evaluation working group.
• Questionnaires (paper-based and electronic) are updated based on pilot findings and indications from the working group.
• Enumerator training and material produced and conducted.
• Dofiles for data quality checks. During data collection, daily data quality checks and weekly data quality reports are shared with the data collection company and the working group.
• Lead regular updates (based on needs, typically every two weeks) for the impact evaluation working group. Each meeting will need to be with a shared agenda and be followed with notes for the records.
• Regular check-ins (based on needs, typically every two weeks) with OEV’s Evaluation Manager.
• Reports following regular visits to treatment and control schools and farmers’ organisations indicate any deviations from the agreed targeting and implementation plans.
• Reports following regular visits to treatment and control schools and farmers’ organisations providing observational data on key contextual factors, implementation issues and challenges, and any deviation from the study protocol.
• Design and delivering information campaigns. Ensure these are delivered according to the assigned treatment status.
• Timely response to questions for clarification and updates from the Head of VAM, OEV’s Evaluation Manager, or any member of the Working Group.
• Any other request from the supervisor and OEV’s Evaluation Manager.
WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK: COMMON STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOUR
| Leads by Example with Integrity | Drives Results and Delivers on Commitments | Fosters Inclusive and Collaborative Teamwork | Applies Strategic Thinking | Builds and Maintains Sustainable Partnerships |
| Demonstrates and encourages others to uphold the WFP values, principles and standards | Identifies and aligns objectives to the required outcomes, holding self and/or others accountable for the delivery of results for maximum impact | Promotes inclusive teamwork and psychological safety by encouraging colleagues to collaborate by sharing ideas and openly raising issues | Communicates and fulfils WFP’s vision and operational outcomes to deliver meaningful solutions | Initiates and builds partnerships by identifying and promoting opportunities for mutual areas of interest and benefit |
| Values diversity using respectful and inclusive language, and encourages others to do the same | Delegates responsibly and provides appropriate support empowering others to deliver results | Supports development for others by giving timely and constructive feedback | Demonstrates curiosity, designs and implements new ways of doing things when relevant | Collaborates with partners to deliver common objectives by sharing information and cocreating innovative solutions with beneficiaries when appropriate |
| Stays focused and calm when under pressure, encourages others to do the same, and offers guidance and support to manage difficult situations | Responds readily to change in different contexts and adapts accordingly | Seeks out, trusts and listens attentively to diverse views to capture, learn, build and share new perspectives | Gathers data and different perspectives, shares knowledge and uses evidence to inform decision making | |
| Demonstrates humility and a willingness to learn and share knowledge, frequently seeking and acting on feedback, and pursuing opportunities to develop | Implements decisions, considering the risks and implications of actions for teams, projects and other initiatives |
STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
Education: Master's degree in economics, political science, development, sociology, public policy, or related fields, or First degree with additional years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses.
Language: Strong oral and written communication skills in English
Knowledge of the local language (s) would be a plus
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:
• Skilled in negotiating with different stakeholders (e.g. Governments, NGOs, donors, and other partners).
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Well organised, detail-oriented, and able to prioritise and manage multiple tasks simultaneously with minimal supervision.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate larger teams of people (incl. enumerators), organisations and activities concurrently.
• Advanced knowledge of using Stata and/or other statistical software tools
• Willingness to undertake regular and extended field visits and interact with different stakeholders.
DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE
• At least 5 years of work experience in managing impact evaluations of aid and development interventions in low- or middle-income countries.
• Experience living and working in humanitarian crises contexts.
• Designing original data collection protocols and large multi-topic survey instruments.
• Experience with panel survey data collection.
• Experience in the analysis of quantitative survey data.
• Deep knowledge and experience with paper and/or electronic data collection management.
• Deep knowledge and experience with electronic data collection software (e.g., SurveyCTO, Kobo, Survey Solutions, ODA, OpenDataKit or similar).
• Experience in providing research management & research assistance and record of strong performance.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS
Application opens: 05 June 2023
Application closes: 17 June 2023
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WFP has a zero-tolerance approach to conduct such as fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to WFP’s standards of conduct and will therefore undergo rigorous background verification internally or through third parties. Selected candidates will also be required to provide additional information as part of the verification exercise. Misrepresentation of information provided during the recruitment process may lead to disqualification or termination of employment
WFP will not request payment at any stage of the recruitment process including at the offer stage. Any requests for payment should be refused and reported to local law enforcement authorities for appropriate action.
