Monitoring, Evaluation, Communication and Data Management Officer at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is one of the world’s leading research partners in finding solutions for hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Its award-winning research-for-development (R4D) approach addresses the development needs of tropical countries. IITA works with partners to enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is a non-profit organization founded in 1967 in Nigeria and governed by a Board of Trustees. IITA works on the following crops: cowpea, soybean, banana/plantain, yam, cassava, and maize. It is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future.

Applications are invited for the position below:

Job Title: Monitoring, Evaluation, Communication and Data Management Officer

Ref: IITA-HR-NRS2019-013
Location: Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti
Contract: 1-year renewable contract
Recruitment Type: National (1-year renewable contract)

Duties
Successful candidate will among other things perform the following duties:

Ensure the project is moving towards intended results;
Ascertain that trainees are properly guided to acquire the intended training;
Ensure the accountability by all the business proprietors;
Mentor the trainees to build the requisite skills and monitor them as they progress;
Determine information needs of project managers, partners, and collaborating institutions;
Identify and design performance questions, key indicators and targets for each project;
Agree with stakeholders on how to record, report, and analyze progress against targets, and design formats for reporting on progress;
Design and implement appropriate training manuals;
Ensure professional branding of all the training materials;
Work closely with the Project Manager and respond to enquires appropriately;
Manage events and prepare associated communications materials including speeches and briefings;
Write and develop communication tools, such as posters, media releases, slide presentation and newsletter;
Proactively identify key program achievements and impacts for dissemination through a range of mediums to varied audiences;
Undertake and facilitate the project M & E plan implementation, regularly revising and updating performance questions, indicators, methods, formats and analytical processes;
Provide training, mentoring trainees and staff on the communication strategy;
Conduct evaluation (baseline, mid-term, end of project), internal and external impact assessment studies;
Develop alternative strategies for implementation of M&E activities as may be needed;
Effectively maintain the project’s M&E database(s) and ensure the data are up-todate and can provide the strategic report needed;
Perform any other duty as may be assigned from time to time by the Supervisor.

Qualifications

MSc in Agricultural Economics, Program Evaluation, Mathematics, Statistics, Communication, and Development Studies with a minimum of six (6) years’ experience performing similar or related role preferably with an international organization.

Competencies
The ideal candidate must:

Be experienced in designing, implementing and maintaining M&E systems in the agricultural and agribusiness sector;
Have experience in managing quantitative and qualitative data and analyzing it using spreadsheets software such as SPSS, CSPro, Excel and STATA;
Have demonstrated success in working in multi-disciplinary teams especially in
CGIAR member organization and partnerships in a collaborative research work;
Have ability and willingness to travel to monitor project implementation processes and perform data quality control;
Have excellent leadership, training and facilitation skills;
Have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, and fluent English language capability (with French being an added advantage);
Have ability to demonstrate high level skills in organizational communications, public relations and media management in a complex and dynamic operating environment, preferably in an international development context;
Have ability to multi-task and work under pressure;
Have ability to apply donor branding and communications requirements;
Have excellent team playing skills with the ability to also work with minimum supervision.