Vacancy title:
Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Fellows

Jobs at:
DAI Global LLC/Rwanda Nguriza Nshore Project

Deadline of this Job:
7th September 2018

Duty Station:
Kigali, Rwanda

Summary
Date Posted: 28th August 2018 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed , Employment Type: Full-Time

JOB DETAILS:

MONITORING, EVALUATION, AND LEARNING (MEL) FELLOWS
PROJECT BACKGROUND:
In April 2018, USAID initiated the five-year Rwanda Nguriza Nshore Activity. Nguriza Nshore seeks to increase rural, decent employment through expanded investment in small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) agribusinesses across Rwanda. The program applies a facilitative ecosystem strengthening approach to support the following three objectives:
* Objective 1: Expand capacity of financial institutions to lend to SME agribusinesses;
* Objective 2: Increase private and commercial investment in SME agribusinesses; and
* Objective 3: Strengthen the enabling environment for the expansion of SME agribusinesses and support firms.
To ensure Nguriza Nshore is achieving its objectives, the project will collect on-rolling baseline data for the two performance indicators that attempt to measure (1) direct full-time employees, (2) downstream employment occurring in the value chain, and (3) annual sales for firms that will be receiving USG assistance over the course of the project. Additionally, the baseline will collect brief qualitative interviews to gather business owners’ perceptions about their ability to access lending products and create new jobs and the quality of business development services (BDS) available to them.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
The MEL Fellows will be a part of the Nguriza Nshore Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Team for a period of 6-12 months. The Nguriza Nshore Fellowship will not only provide key data collection support to the USAID-funded activity, but will also provide professional development to young people interested in building a career in MEL. Fellows will receive a certificate of completion at the end of the program.
Initially, the MEL Fellows will support Nguriza Nshore for the baseline data collection with firms selected to receive pre-investment readiness support. Data collection is to begin in early October 2018. After the baseline is conducted with initial firms, the MEL Fellows will continue to follow up with businesses and financial institutions, both in Kigali and in rural areas. The MEL Fellows will primarily work in the field, depending on where the selected institution is located. Their main tasks will include:

• Participate in trainings on MEL, research ethics, quality data collection, data entry and cleaning;
  
• Participate in trainings on the Nguriza Nshore Activity and the market systems approach;
  
• Collect and accurately record responses on electronic questionnaires provided by the project MEL team;
  
• Ensure that electronic questionnaires have been thoroughly checked and completed;
  
• Observe and give account of problems in obtaining data and provide useful feedback from field research activities;
  
• Submit completed electronic questionnaires and other equipment used in fieldwork to Nguriza Nshore;
  
• Ensure the safety of equipment provided for data collection;
  
• Work closely with Nguriza Nshore MEL Assistant and MEL Specialist to ensure baseline data collection activities are effectively implemented;
  
• Continue to collect data on firms and financial institutions, beyond the initial baseline;
  
• Participate in professional development workshops and activities to build their monitoring and evaluation skills and experience.
  QUALIFICATIONS
  
• A Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Economics, Finance, Business, Agriculture or the Social Sciences;
  
• Experience in quantitative and qualitative data collection, and routine data entry and cleaning;
  
• Knowledge in using electronic data collection devices;
  
• Experience working with financial institutions or/and SMEs is an advantage;
  
• Fluency in Kinyarwanda and English;
  
• Proven high level of integrity and professionalism;
  
• Ability to objectively build trust with people at the firm level and maintain confidentiality;
  
• Good communication and facilitation skills;
  
• Ability to work independently without close supervision;
  
• Demonstrated flexibility and capacity to adapt to and operate in new environments.
  4. LOCATION
  MEL Fellows will work all over the country where firms or financial institutions receiving Nguriza Nshore assistance are located. They may be required to make frequent travels within the country.
  5. WORKING CONDITIONS
  The contract is on a “need for work” basis and a stipend will be paid based on the tasks carried out. The MEL Fellows will also receive a two-to-three day training on the project, MEL Framework, data collection ethics, data collection methodology, and proper etiquette for interacting with firms and financial institutions. Moreover, they will receive quarterly professional development workshops to help build their resumes. They will be awarded a certificate at the end of their training program.
  The MEL Fellows will work under the supervision of the MEL Specialist.