Agricultural Development Young Professionals Internship Program (ECOWAS) Call for Applications : Entry to Mid -Level Monitoring & Evaluation Associate

Agricultural Development Young Professionals Internship Program (ECOWAS)

Call for Applications :

Entry to Mid -Level Monitoring & Evaluation Associate

Opening Date: December 19, 2016

Closing Date: December 30, 2016

Africa Lead II—the Feed the Future: Building Capacity for African Agricultural Transformation Program—supports the advancement of agricultural transformation in Africa as proposed by the African Union Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP). Simultaneously, Africa Lead II contributes to the Feed the Future (FTF) goals of reduced hunger and poverty by building the capacity of Champions—defined as men and women leaders in agriculture—to develop, lead, and manage the policies, structures and processes needed for the transformation process.

The scope of Africa Lead II is divided into three components, as follows:

• Component One: Establishing and Improving Effectiveness of Institutional and Organizational Architecture for African-Led Agricultural Transformation.

• Component Two: Strengthening Capacity to Manage and Implement the Policy Change and Alignment Process.

• Component Three: Promoting the Effective Participation of Non-State Actors (NSAs) in the Policy Process and Providing Capacity Strengthening Support when Necessary.

Africa Lead II’s Agriculture Internship Program aims to facilitate more efficient agricultural production, stronger agribusinesses and agricultural development institutions, a more direct link between NARS and farmers, and greater value addition in the agriculture sector across Africa. The broad goal is to support skills transfer and technological know-how that will help African agribusinesses and organizations to innovate, improve their commercial viability and catalyze agricultural transformation, thus contributing to improved food security.

The Africa Lead II Program welcomes applications from candidates interested in pursuing young professionals development opportunities. Placement terms will be for a period of 12 months with anticipated postings in ECOWAS member states: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and Cape Verde.

Housing, monthly stipend, living allowances, round-trip airfare and related travel expenses to worksite will be covered by the program. The 12-month young professionals development opportunities are not guarantees for full time employment upon successful completion of the placement.

Entry to Mid-Level Monitoring & Evaluation Associate

Responsibilities:**

· Provide technical assistance and support to the design and implementation of M&E activities, including performance monitoring plan development, indicator definition, data collection tools and methodologies, data entry, analysis and reporting.

· Assist in monitoring, documenting and communicating the processes, challenges, and achievements of implementation of the organization’s activities in both qualitative and quantitative terms.

· Ensure timely collection (e.g., surveys, interviews), storage and processing of data in electronic applications systems.

· Develop organization’s M&E application standards and procedures and tools.

· Keep stakeholders (e.g. Supervisors, Directors, Stakeholders) informed of all program results and challenges identified in the M&E process.

· Assist in developing and writing up results and success stories for organizational reports, and any marketing materials for the project.

· Assist in the dissemination of various program documents such as newsletters, success stories and other related documents to various stakeholders when required.

· Support the M&E team with accurate and timely entry and management of data.

· Provide support during assessment activities, meetings and workshops carried out by the organization.

· Capture and enter data on results of institutional assessments and capacity building needs.

· Communicate and interpret between English and French speaking individuals as necessary with external and internal stakeholders.

· Transcribe reports, documents, forms and other technical materials between English and French as necessary.

· Suggest overall M&E system improvement tools and procedures.

· Perform other related duties as assigned.

Required skills:**

· A minimum of Bachelor’s degree in social science, agricultural science or related field

· Strong written and verbal communication skills

· Demonstrated research, data collection, report writing skills

· MS Office (e.g., Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access)

· Attention to detail and ability to monitor own work

· Ability to multi-task and manage competing priorities

· Ability to work in a team environment

· English Native –French written and oral strong proficiency - Bilingual in English/French preferred. Note: candidates selected for an interview will required to demonstrate language proficiency and may be asked to submit writing samples of past work, and a writing and oral assessment may also be administered

Minimum qualifications:

• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
• BS/BA degree required, advance degree preferred (with 1-2 years relevant administrative or technical professional experience)
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Must be able to travel and be based within regional institution in West Africa during the entire duration of the placement (minimum 1 year assignment)
• Fluency in both French and English required

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience in West African regional agricultural development
• Field related experience in urban and rural African settings

Application requirements:

All candidates must submit the following required documents:

· Curriculum Vitae

· 1-page cover letter highlighting ability to contribute your skills towards enhancing capacity of a regional organization involved in food security. Kindly specify your strengths and weaknesses and ability to adapt to new multi-cultural environment.

· 3 references; 2 professional and 1 personal.

Nationals of ECOWAS countries welcome to apply. Please send applications to: AfricaLEAD_Internships@dai.com by December 30, 2016 at 5:00PM GMT.

Application requirements:

All candidates must submit the following required documents:

· Curriculum Vitae

· 1-page cover letter highlighting ability to contribute your skills towards enhancing capacity of a regional organization involved in food security. Kindly specify your strengths and weaknesses and ability to adapt to new multi-cultural environment.

· 3 references; 2 professional and 1 personal.

Nationals of ECOWAS countries welcome to apply. Please send applications to: AfricaLEAD_Internships@dai.com by December 30, 2016 at 5:00PM GMT.