Summary:
ME&A is seeking the services of an External Evaluation Team to carry out a summative evaluation of results of Mission activities carried out under Development Objective 2 (DO 2): Safety and Competitiveness of At-Risk Children and Youth Improved over the Country Development and Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) period (FY 2013 - FY 2020).
USAID has invested in improving life-skills, vocational and technical education models and educational programming that link demand-driven skills training with a focus on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua where crime and violence are notably worse than the national average. Mid-term evaluations and assessments of USAID’s supported models working with children and youth reported some progress in increasing children’s literacy, youth’s livelihood opportunities, and more community engagement in building safer and productive communities. Nevertheless, many questions remain on the cumulative impact of various activities: who benefitted and how, and what challenges remain. These enquiries are expected to be solved with this evaluation.
Responsibilities:
The lead Senior Researcher will coordinate closely with the USAID/Nicaragua designated Activity Manager in order to better understand to what extent and how results were achieved. The evaluators will also conduct, an analysis of the most relevant factors contributing to results or challenges hindering impact, equitable or inequitable distribution among beneficiaries, and any unintended outcomes. It is also expected that the evaluators will provide USAID with information and analysis to help make strategic decisions in a dynamic political environment. The Senior Researcher will be also responsible for designing, implementing, and managing the evaluation, developing evaluation methodologies and tools, managing the compilation and presentation of all evaluation deliverables.
QUALIFICATIONS:
Education: Master’s degree in Statistics, Economics, Public Administration, Education, International Relations or a related field.
Language proficiency: English native speaker with professional level fluency in Spanish is required.
Work experience:
- At least ten years of successful experience, substantially involved in monitoring and evaluating international development programs, preferably in areas basic education, workforce development and/or community mobilization.
- At least five years of experience working in gender and youth development initiatives.
- At least seven years of experience working in the Latin America Region.
- Organization/Consultants’ demonstrated relevant past performance and quality of performance in conducting similar evaluations (At least three references from previous Contractors).
- Demonstrated relevant recent performance in conducting USAID monitoring and reporting processes.
- Experience with management of multidisciplinary teams is a plus.
- Familiarity with USAID’s objectives, approaches, operations, and policies, particularly as they relate to evaluations is a plus.
- Professional technical writing in Spanish and English.
** Estimated duration of the assignment: From October 1, 2019 to March 30, 2020.**
All applications and CVs must be submitted in English.
ME&A Equal Opportunity Employer and Prohibits Discrimination and Harassment based on race, age, color, religion, sex and sexual preference, national origin, individual with disabilities, veteran status. ME&A is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all applicants.
ME&A is a qualified small business, dedicated to providing creative solutions for economic development and social development throughout the world. Our Core Areas of Concentration include Monitoring & Evaluations, Economic and Community Development, Public Administration and Governance, and Business Development and Technology Transfer.
ME&A’s staff of professionals are dedicated to pursuing excellence in the principles, practices and processes of their professions. We are a client-oriented organization committed to upholding the highest of professional standards and being a responsible corporate citizen.
We believe in creative teaming with other partners, maintaining strong professionalism and ethics in meeting our objectives, and utilizing our multicultural skills to better understand and communicate with our clients. ME&A pursues and embraces our client’s organizational and programmatic goals. We work as a team, whereever appropriate, to bring collective knowledge to bear in creating developmental solutions.
ME&A is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
