Team Leader/ Senior Level Project Evaluation Specialist, USAID Management Support and Technical Assistance Services (MSTAS) Project, Senegal

Team Leader/ Senior Level Project Evaluation Specialist, USAID Management Support and Technical Assistance Services (MSTAS) Project, Senegal

Location: Senegal

Project Summary:

Management Systems International and the Pragma Corporation have partnered for the USAID Management Support and Technical Assistance Services (MSTAS) Project, which is intended to assist the USAID Africa Bureau's Office of Sustainable Development (AFR/SD) in achieving its strategic goals.

Position Summary:

This short-term Team Leader/Senior Level Project Evaluation Specialist will lead a final evaluation for The YouthMap Senegal project or Jeunes Agriculteurs (JA). This is program is a pilot Innovation Fund activity under a USAID-funded YouthMap initiative. It was designed to address Senegal's youth unemployment and under-employment concerns, building on the YouthMap assessment, USAID/Senegal's Country Development Cooperation Strategy, and the Feed the Future Initiative. The position is expected to begin in February 2015 and entail 60 days of LOE.

Responsibilities:

The overall purpose of the final JA program evaluation is to assess the multifaceted impacts on youth beneficiaries, the effectiveness of program implementation, and the strengths/challenges related to JA performance. The evaluation will be primarily qualitative, but it will also draw on quantitative data previously collected through the program's existing M&E system. The evaluator will seek to answer key evaluation questions through interviews with a range of key stakeholders, including: program staff, JA trainers, youth beneficiaries, youth who have started businesses, and private sector companies. The research methodology will involve document/data review, semi-structured key informant interviews, youth focus groups, and youth follow-up surveys. The evaluator will analyze program services statistics, employer reports, and other project data to support a triangulated, critical analysis of the evaluation objectives. The evaluator will also take into account perspectives from a variety of stakeholders. The evaluator will be expected to:

Participate in the preparation of an Inception Report.
Examine and analyze program outputs and outcomes against program targets.
Assess JA program design, planning, management, implementation, and monitoring activities.
Provide recommendations for future programs and strategies to inform the design of youth livelihoods programming in the agriculture sector.
Identify lessons learned, innovations, and promising practices of the pilot program.
Analyze contributions of local Senegalese partnerships developed under JA.
Analyze program potential for scale and sustainability of the pilot, and successful aspects of the pilot that could be replicated across Senegal, West Africa, and the continent.

Qualifications:

At least five years of experience in evaluations of USAID projects, preferably three or more years of experience in conducting evaluations with youth education and entrepreneurship initiatives in developing countries.
Three years of experience in managing evaluation teams.
Experience in designing, developing, and delivering key informant interviews and focus group discussions.
Fluency in French is required. Though the report will be written in English, the data collection tools must be provided in French.

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

MSI is an EEO/AA/ADA Veterans Employer.

More jobs tagged:

Data Collection;

Developing Countries;

Effectiveness;

Entrepreneurship;

Feed the Future;

Follow-up Surveys;

Management Systems International;

Private Sector;

Program implementation;