Development Alternatives, Inc (DAI) Vacancy for a Poverty Assessment Officer, MADE

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Development Alternatives, Inc (DAI) is an international development company. For more than 45 years, we have worked on the frontlines of international development, tackling fundamental social and economic development problems caused by inefficient markets, ineffective governance, and instability. Currently, DAI is delivering results that matter in some 80 countries. We are recruiting to fill the position below: Job Title: Poverty Assessment Officer, MADE Job Code: 3130 Location: Nigeria Background

• Market Development in the Niger Delta (MADE), a £14m DFID funded programme being implemented by Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI), is a rural and agricultural market systems development programme for the nine states of the Niger Delta.
• The programme seeks to increase the incomes of at least 150,000 poor men and women in the Niger Delta.
• MADE adopts a market development approach to support growth in the region’s non-oil economy by:
  • Stimulating sustainable, pro-poor growth in selected agricultural and agricultural input markets, and
  • Improving the position of economically active poor and women in these markets by making them more inclusive.
• The ultimate goal being to address the causes of poverty with an expected impact of increased incomes for 150,000 poor people, 50% of whom are women in nine states of the Niger Delta, over a four and half year period (2013-2018).
• MADE programme focuses on value chains in which planned interventions are most likely to have the maximum impact on wealth creation and employment, particularly among women, beginning with palm oil, household poultry, fisheries, cassava and agricultural inputs.
• In Year 2 (April 2015- March 2016), the programme added finished leather goods sector and a cross-cutting access to finance sector. Annex 1 provides a list of MADE interventions in each of the value chains to date.
• The interventions listed in Annex 1 are supported by three cross cutting initiatives namely; access to finance, gender and advocacy and communications.
• In each of the value chains, MADE applies the ‘Making Markets Work for the Poor’ (M4P) approach by identifying the underlying systemic constraints of why markets do not work for the poor in the value chain, and thereafter facilitate change to the behaviour, capabilities, incentives and relationships of market systems in order to improve the market systems and create the conditions for markets to be continuously strengthened even beyond the lifetime of the programme.
• The design phase of the MADE programme (September 2013 to February 2014) focused on establishing the project in the Niger Delta as well as conducting thematic and technical research and analysis. This enabled MADE to select and design sector interventions aligned to the programme’s objectives.
• The selected sectors are palm oil, aquaculture, smoked fish, and poultry, along with the service sector of agricultural inputs
• The Pilot phase started in March 2014 and ran up to 31 August 2014.
• The focus of this phase was on prototyping, testing and refining interventions through demonstration activities across three selected value chains - Agricultural inputs, fisheries and oil palm.
• Other activities included to test the assumptions laid out in the sectorial analyses, set up the baseline for the M&E performance measurement, and develop a network of private sector partnerships for collaboration.
• The Implementation phase will have a life span of 3-5 years, starting in September 2014 and ending on 28 February 2018.

Objective

• The purpose of this assignment is to better understand the poor and their context.
• The assessment, which is intended to analyse the incidence of poverty within the context of MADE Programme sectors and interventions will generate up-to-date and accurate information on the nature and causes of poverty by collecting relevant information from targeted MADE value chains.
• Findings from this study will support decision making and the programme strategic planning.
• The study will also promote the involvement and/or participation of key stakeholders and beneficiaries to enhance buy-in, and eventual ownership of the change process that is key to program success and sustainability.

Scope of Work

• The poverty assessment is based on the understanding that a market which works for the poor is one which expands the choices available to poor people and produces market outcomes that benefit the poor.
• These outcomes include job opportunities with attractive wage rates, better returns on goods sold, and greater affordability of important products and services.
• It is also expected that the participation of the poor in these key markets should increase over time.
• The implementation of the study will comprise two main phases - a first phase that will involve literature review and development of the assessment methodology (including design of tools) and the implementation (data collection) phase.

Specific tasks to be undertaken during the two-phase assessment are outlined in the proposed order below:

• Literature review of existing documentation, including sector analysis carried out by the project team, other program documents (including results chains and indicators) and other context specific published and unpublished documents that will provide a good understanding of the poverty and context of the MADE’s activities.
• Given that findings from literature review can shape the scope of a study largely, the literature review should be completed before design of the tools .
• Development of tools and methodology for the study. This will include drafting of appropriate survey tools, appropriate sampling strategies and a data collection plan.
• Implementation of the poverty study and preparation of the study report. This phase will consist of:
• Field data collection on the current level of key results indicators and complementary information that will help guide MADE’s implementation and enhance the understanding of poverty.
• Drafting of the study report . The proposed report format is in Section VIII below.

Specific Objectives

• The poverty assessment will be conducted to help MADE define more coherently who is “poor” and “not-so-poor” as well as their characteristics.
• Using MADE’s definition of the poor in each sector vis-à-vis the World Bank poverty index, the study is intended to support MADE measure  poverty levels i.e. the proportion of MADE beneficiary groups disaggregated by gender who live below the poverty line or are on the verge of falling below the poverty line.
• In addition, the study should contribute new knowledge that addresses the following issues and themes:
  • How poverty and social factors, such as gender, ethnicity, age, marital status,  urban/rural location, affect people’s access to goods and services, resources, economic opportunities, information, and/or decision making in MADE’s sector
  • How these factors affect people’s vulnerability to chronic or sudden risks in the sectors
  • The formal and informal mechanisms that enable poor, disadvantaged, and marginalized groups to participate in the sector
  • The extent to which social networks, self-help groups, and other mechanisms enable poor and marginalized groups to benefit from development initiatives and manage social and economic risks in the sector
  • In light of the foregoing, how are MADE’s interventions in the Niger Delta supporting more inclusive growth
  • In addition, the study should update the average household size in the Niger Delta. The Business Case indicates an average household size of 5 for the Niger Delta.

Generic Question

• The assessment should be conducted in a way that the findings provide answers to the following generic questions.
• What are the likely consequences of MADE interventions, positive and negative?
• Who is likely to benefit or to be adversely affected by the interventions?
• What are the broad characteristics of these groups and any relevant subgroups?
• What poverty and/or social issues need to be examined further (such as poverty/inequality, gender, environmental pollution, labour, affordability, HIV/AIDS, human trafficking, or other issues)?

Proposed Methodology

• At the end of March 2017, the programme had reached a total of 131,658 farmers and entrepreneurs across the sectors. Given such a target population, a confidence level of 95% and a 5% margin of error it is recommended that a sample size of at least 384 farmers and entrepreneurs could be drawn for the study.
• In the course of selecting farmers and entrepreneurs for the study, it is also important to consider a wide range of variability factors within the target population. These include gender, crop type, location, etc.
• A complementary tool that can be used for this assessment is the Nigerian Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) which is a simple, easy to administer and statistically rigorous ten-question scorecard that will allow quick and easy calculations of poverty likelihood of a sample of households of small and medium scale farmers and entrepreneurs.
• The assessment team is expected to design and conduct the assessment, employing best practice in poverty assessment and delivery methodologies.
• A mix of approaches (both quantitative and qualitative) is proposed for this assessment and should include such methods as use of survey questionnaires, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions.

Key Deliverables The key deliverables for the assignment are:

• An inception report (includes work plan, literature review, and survey questionnaire) to be submitted to MADE for review and approval before the start of the fieldwork.
• The database with the survey data will be the property of MADE and needs to be delivered at the time of the report in excel or SPSS
• A final report detailing the survey findings. This report should include, but not be limited to the following:
• An executive summary
• Context: Brief description of the poverty assessment location and/or activity clusters
• Poverty assessment survey design and methodology
• Completed questionnaires used for the survey
• A draft report to be submitted to MADE for review within two weeks of the completion of field data collection.
• Detailed findings of the poverty assessment survey in qualitative and quantitative (descriptive statistics, tables, charts, etc.) format,
• Project zone opportunities, constraints and risks
• Recommendations
• Annexes
• Poverty assessment tools
• Bibliography
• List and contact of persons interviewed
• List of tables, graphs, etc.

Qualifications and Experience The following qualifications and experiences are desirable:

• An advanced Degree in Economics, Agricultural Economics, Social Sciences or a related field is preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in consulting focusing on development research;
• Familiarity with market systems programmes, preferably economic growth portfolios;
• Experience with defining and measuring poverty within the context of market systems development programmes;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and;
• Strong interpersonal skills and experience of working with partner organisations.

Timeframe

• We estimate that this assignment will start in mid-June to late June 2017 and will take about 28 working days with a final report submitted by 31 August 2017.

 

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