Title: Agriculture Economist

Team: USAID/Nigeria MEL Support Activity

Project: USAID/Nigeria: Feed the Future Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity

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 final performance evaluation of the Feed the Future Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity. The primary purpose of this final performance evaluation is to determine whether the assistance provided by USAID/Nigeria through the Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity achieved the stated development objectives and to understand the lessons learned from this Activity in Nigeria.

It is intended to provide an independent examination of the overall progress and accomplishments of the Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity. The evaluation should:

1. provide a detailed picture of the major accomplishments and weaknesses of the Activity since its inception and determine how its successes can be sustained.
2. provide data on outcomes and achievements.
3. elucidate the lessons learned and include specific recommendations to USAID/Nigeria about how the Activity achievements and successes can be sustained and
4. highlight how interventions that produced those achievements and successes can be adopted and scaled by other FTF activities, partners, private sector firms, or by the Government of Nigeria (GON).

The estimated start date will be August 28, 2023. The evaluation is expected to last until February 2024, and the estimated LOE will be 45 days, maximum.

Candidates are advised to submit applications early.

Position Description:

Navanti is seeking an agriculture economist who will provide technical support for the evaluation in areas of economic activity within agricultural markets. Work with other team members on relevant research data pertaining to the agricultural industry and project analyze patterns and trends based on data collected. Under the technical leadership of the MEL Support Activity, The agriculture economist will be working alongside three evaluation team members to develop evaluation protocols, design evaluation methodology, generate quality data and develop a high quality final performance evaluation report.

Locations:

• Benue State
• Cross River State
• Delta State
• Ebonyi State
• Kaduna State
• Kebbi State
• Niger State

Responsibilities:

The agriculture economist is expected to:

• Coordinate with the team leader and other team members to conduct interviews.
• Conduct comprehensive desk review of the activity and support analysis on agricultural technology, consumer trends, and environmental concerns related to farming practices.
• Work with the evaluation specialist and other team members to design the data collection instruments and ensure it addresses all evaluation objectives.
• Interpret and analyze qualitative and quantitative data in relation to identifying problems/success with agricultural markets as it relates to this activity evaluation.
• Support in preparing reports of research findings.
• Work with the team leader and other team members in planning, developing, coordinating, and administering research tools.
• Perform quality assurance reviews of both quantitative and qualitative data.
• Support the team leader and other team members in writing or editing technical reports and summaries of findings.
• Work with the team leader and other team members to perform desk review and identify additional information required for analysis.
• Work with the Team Leader and other team members in preparation and presentation of the In-brief and Out-brief to USAID/Nigeria and other stakeholders as requested.
• Support the team leader and other team members to develop the draft Evaluation report with support from the team members, taking into consideration feedback from the Out-brief presentation.
• Work with the team leader and other team members to respond to USAID comments on the draft report, incorporate USAID/Nigeria staff comments into the final version of the report and finalize the report.
• 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:

• Possess technical competence in the field of Agriculture, Agricultural Policy, Agribusiness and Agriculture value chains, Economics, or related fields.
• S/he must have a minimum of eight (8) years conducting economic assessments and studies in the agriculture sector and must have strong report writing and analytical skills.
• S/he must demonstrate strong knowledge of the Nigerian agricultural policy and agricultural finance environment.
• S/he must possess qualitative and qualitative data analysis skills.
• Excellent ability to communicate in English, both verbally and in writing

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