Title: Team Leader

Team: USAID/Nigeria MEL Support Activity

Project: EDUCATION MIDTERM PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE EVALUATION USAID/Nigeria

Location: Federal Capital Territory – Abuja, Nigeria

Reporting to: Assessment and Evaluation Advisor

Employment Type: Independent Contractor / Short-Term Technical Assistance (STTA)

Period of Performance: August 2023 – February 2024

Number of Positions: 1

Background:

Navanti supports a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Support Activity program that assists USAID/Nigeria in advancing its broader organizational learning and development efforts. This program strengthens the Mission’s capacity and performance in programmatic monitoring, evaluation, learning, collaborating, and adapting. The MEL Support Activity closely aligns with USAID/Nigeria’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) and provides a broad range of specialized technical assistance, training, data gathering and analysis, field-based monitoring, evaluations and assessments, facilitation of organizational learning and adaptation initiatives, and short-term technical assistance.

Performance Evaluation Objectives:

USAID/Nigeria has engaged the MEL Support Activity to conduct a midterm performance evaluation of the education portfolio. The purpose of the performance evaluation of the USAID/Nigeria Education portfolio is threefold:

1. To assess the extent to which all the recently completed and current activities together contribute to achieving the Education Development Objective.
2. To inform mid-course corrective actions on the implementation of ongoing or upcoming activities; and
3. To inform the next Country Development Coordination Strategy design.

The results will be shared with broader USAID audiences, including USAID/Washington and other missions, to highlight best practices and lessons learned, and to inform upper management of the results achieved by the Nigeria mission in basic education and early grade reading. Finally, relevant results will be shared with Government of Nigeria (GON) counterparts at the Federal and State levels, and other donors to further promote collaboration on improving foundational learning in Nigeria.

This evaluation is not intended to be an impact evaluation. The team leader and the team of research experts are expected to use a primarily qualitative approach to addressing the research questions of interest. The team is highly encouraged to consider and suggest the collection and use of quantitative data, whenever possible and relevant, to help strengthen and nuance the qualitative findings.

The estimated start date will be August 28, 2023. The evaluation is expected to last until February 2024, and the estimated LOE will be 63 days, maximum.

Candidates are advised to submit applications early.

Position Description:

Navanti is seeking an International Team Leader who will be responsible for the overall management of the evaluation team’s effort and ensuring a rigorous and high-quality evaluation. Under the technical leadership of the MEL Support Activity, The Team Leader will be working alongside three national team members. The Team Leader will consult with and facilitate input from all team members throughout the duration of the evaluation.

Locations:

• Abakaliki, Ebonyi state
• Abuja, Federal Capital Territory
• Bauchi, Bauchi State
• Damaturu, Yobe state
• Gombe, Gombe State
• Ibadan, Oyo State
• Maiduguri, Borno State
• Minna, Niger State
• Sokoto, Sokoto State
• Yola, Adamawa State

Responsibilities:

The Team Leader will be responsible for the overall management of the evaluation. S/he will be the primary person responsible for ensuring a rigorous and high-quality evaluation design. The Team Leader will develop the outline for the draft report, present the report, and after incorporating USAID/Nigeria staff feedback/comments, submit the final report to USAID/Nigeria through the MEL Support Activity within the prescribed timeline. The Team Leader is also expected to:

• Oversee and lead on major evaluation activities, including the evaluation design, methodology development of instruments, data collection, synthesis of data, presentations, and preparation of final report with team contributions.
• Provide leadership for the team and coordinate activities as necessary.
• Coordinate with USAID/Nigeria.
• Oversee the work plan development and ensure all team members are contributing expertise and technical inputs.
• Perform desk review and identify additional information required for analysis.
• Schedule and interview key stakeholders and beneficiaries.
• Coordinate team's ongoing analysis of qualitative and quantitative data.
• Lead the preparation and presentation of the In-brief and Out-brief to USAID/Nigeria and other stakeholders as requested.
• Write the draft Evaluation report with support from the team members, taking into consideration feedback from the Out-brief presentation.
• Respond to USAID comments on the draft report, incorporate USAID/Nigeria staff comments into the final version of the report and finalize the report.
• Present evaluation results to diverse audiences according to USAID standard reporting
• Work collaboratively with team members throughout design, implementation, analysis, and report writing to complement each other's areas of expertise.

Qualifications:

The candidate is expected to have the following qualifications:

• Minimum of ten years of professional experience in the education sector, with specific expertise in early grade reading (EGR), access to education, and whole of project evaluation experiences preferably in Nigeria.
• Demonstrated experience in performance evaluation of USAID interventions.
• Experience in preparing persuasive technical reports and making verbal presentations, explaining issues in a clear and concise manner.
• Required oral and written communication and presentations skills in English.
• Demonstrated experience in collaborating across projects stakeholder groups and donor projects; and
• Experience/background in USAID’s cross-cutting program priorities, such as gender equality, inclusion, and diversity.
• Experience leading a team of evaluators.

Only selected candidates will be contacted for an interview. Please, no phone calls.