Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)


Field Officer – Maize Storage Project
 


Position: Field Officer
 


Deadline to Apply: 29th January 2016
 

Start Date: 15th February 2016
 



Eligibility: Position

open to local Kenyan hires only
 


About Innovations for Poverty Action: is

a non-profit organization dedicated to discovering and promoting effective

solutions to global poverty problems.


  



In close partnership with decision

makers — the policymakers, practitioners, investors, and donors working with

the poor around the world — IPA designs and evaluates potential solutions to

poverty problems using randomized evaluations, the most rigorous evaluation

method available. 


We also mobilize and support these

decision makers to use these solutions to build better programs and policies at

scale.
 


About the Project: African agricultural markets are thin and weakly

integrated, often resulting in lower revenues for smallholder farmers and

higher food prices for consumers. 


However, agricultural trading firms,

which are responsible for intermediation in these markets, and the market

environment in which they work have long been a black box. 


We do not know if market isolation is

the result of traders operating as efficiently as possible within the

constraints of high transaction costs — poor roads, high search costs, and

limited contract enforcement; or whatever large price dispersion is instead a

sign of imperfect competition among private sector actors, exerting market

power to drive prices away from competitive equilibria.
 


The answer to this question has

important implications for which market integration policies should be promoted

in order to have the greatest impact on price convergence and welfare, not to

mention productivity of the intermediation sector.
 


The Maize Traders study aims to

provide quantifiable evidence to guide such policy decisions. 


This two-stage experiment aims (1) to

quantify the competitiveness of rural agricultural markets, and (2) to test

whether the entry of new intermediaries into markets, a common policy response

to perceived competitiveness, can enhance competition and increase consumer

welfare.




Duties and Responsibilities:

  • Accurate & complete survey administration.

  • Monitoring of Grants delivered to Traders.

  • Ensure data integrity is maintained at all

    times and minimize errors in data collection.

  • Punctuality: both to determined daily schedule

    & appointments with respondents.

  • Planning for team activities for specific

    project assignments.

  • Maintain team cohesion and respect among team

    members.

  • Accurate daily reporting and tracking for

    oneself and within assigned team.

  • Demonstrate integrity and understanding during

    interaction with community members and partner organization staff.

  • On non-field days, accurately perform office

    duties for instance translation and data entry.

  • Maintaining security and quality of project

    assets and materials.

  • Excellent oral and written communication

    skills in English and Kiswahili. 

  • Experience with data collection through market

    surveys, household surveys, focus groups or observations 

  • Ability to recognize when questions are

    difficult or unclear to subjects 

  • Excellent note taking ability during

    interviews 

  • Comfortable with interviewing individuals

    within their homes, markets and over the phone. 

  • Basic computer knowledge and skills

    (mandatory) 

  • Ability to comfortably work with groups and

    within groups 

  • Ability to monitor sales closely in

    markets 

  • Bachelors’ degree or college diploma in social

    sciences, health and /or business administration 

  • Past experience in data collection 

  • Experience in data collection using Survey CTO

    or Open Data Kit (ODK)


Please send a cover letter and

detailed CV, 3 references, daytime phone number(s), and email address. 


Your CV should include your scores or

grades and other measures of academic achievement, and details about any

relevant work experience.

Applications must be submitted ONLY by email to jobs-kenya@poverty-action.org ,

please ensure that the subject line reads: “Field Officer” REF NO. Maize

Storage: 2016-01-02. 




Only short-listed candidates will be

contacted by email for an interview. 


Applicants are encouraged to apply

early, as applications will be reviewed on a ROLLING BASIS.




Disclaimer: The above statements are intended to describe the

general nature and level of the work being performed by the Field Officer. The

statements are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all possible duties,

tasks, and responsibilities. Management reserves the right to amend and change

responsibilities to meet organizational needs as necessary. Please note that IPA

will never request any form of payment from an applicant. Applicants are

encouraged to confirm the information listed above with IPA prior to releasing

any extensive personal information to the organization. Please direct questions

to jobs-kenya@poverty-action.org.