Policy Reform Specialist – USAID/Nigeria SCALE Final Performance Evaluation at Navanti

Job Title: Policy Reform Specialist – USAID/Nigeria SCALE Final Performance Evaluation

Overview and Evaluation Purpose:

USAID/Nigeria has engaged the MEL Support Activity to conduct a final performance evaluation of the Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) Activity to determine the extent to which SCALE enhanced capacity for civic advocacy, monitoring, and engagement and ascertain the extent to which SCALE activities fostered an enabling environment (legal and regulatory) for civic engagement.

This evaluation will be used primarily by USAID Nigeria’s Peace and Democratic Governance (PDG) team to inform activity design for future good governance-related activities. However, PDG will share the evaluation report with other technical teams within the Mission and the broader USAID audiences, including USAID/Washington to help agencies better understand the civic advocacy context of Nigeria, and most importantly, the efficacy of support to CSOs and civic monitoring and engagement.

About SCALE Activity:

SCALE was designed to contribute to USAID Nigeria’s current Country Development Cooperation Strategy’s (CDCS) development objective DO3, Accountable, Inclusive, and Responsive governance strengthened, by directly strengthening IR 3.2, Enhanced civic voice and accountability, through its 2 sub-IRs. The intervention was implemented by Palladium. SCALE’s implementation approach is built on a foundation of proven methodologies for improving governance in Nigeria at the federal, state, and local levels.

SCALE Theory of Change (ToC) was premised on:

IF: (i) CSO capacity (managerial, financial, and advocacy) is enhanced; AND (ii) CSOs collaborate effectively with each other and with government; AND (iii) the CSO enabling environment is permissive (legislative, policy and practice); THEN: civil society can effectively engage citizens to influence government in key development reforms at national, state and local levels in Nigeria to improve public accountability, transparency, and sustainable service delivery.

The above theory of change is based on the following assumptions:

1. CSOs – CSOs are committed to improving their organizational capacity, willing to work with other stakeholders to engage government and its institutions in constructive dialogue to lead policy reforms to improve service delivery in critical sectors (health, education, economic growth), and can sustain these activities with local capacities and resources after SCALE;
2. Government – Following the recent 2019 elections

Nigeria remains conducive for CSOs to influence reforms and policies in transparency, accountability, and good governance in targeted sectors, and ensures an enabling environment for CSOs devoid of intimidation and harassment. This is particularly imperative given the recent reports by domestic and international election observer groups alluding to the exclusion of CSOs from collation centers; and intimidation, arrest, and detention of journalists by security agencies. The Nigerian government will not introduce restrictive legislation and will continue to improve the legal and operational environment for CSOs to thrive. The government will work positively to address security constraints that hamper citizen participation in significant parts of the country experiencing conflict; and

1. Citizens – Citizens remain committed to demanding accountability of public officials and sustaining engagement with the government through partnership with CSOs to advance development priorities.

USAID’s vision for SCALE’s success will be assessed by the activities’ ability to move towards locally sustainable management that will be viable and thriving post-SCALE. Local partners’ self-reliance will be encouraged from the outset. In line with USAID’s localization strategy, SCALE will plan to transition key project functions to local entities before the end of the project. SCALE will design phased approaches to transition, allowing an appropriate time for project staff to mentor and provide quality assurance after the transition.

The estimated start date will be October 28, 2024. The evaluation is expected to last until April 2025.

Candidates are reviewed on a rolling basis; early submission is recommended.

Position Description:

Navanti is seeking a policy reform specialist responsible for providing context on policy reform issues in Nigeria including those related to civil society work in Nigeria to the evaluation team to ensure a rigorous and high-quality evaluation in the target locations. Under the guidance of the MEL Support Activity, the policy reform specialist is expected to work closely with the USAID/Nigeria-PDG team. The policy reform specialist is expected to have done a similar evaluation in Nigeria and other similar contexts.

The policy reform specialist will be supported by the team leader, evaluation specialist, and civil society/advocacy specialist. The policy reform specialist will consult with and facilitate input from all team members throughout the evaluation.

The team will use a combination of literature review, mixed methods through focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews to gather insights to answer the evaluation questions. The team is also expected to propose an evaluation methodology/approach as required to respond to the evaluation questions.

Locations (Evaluation Coverage) :

The final locations are yet to be determined. However, the evaluation team will visit at least 7 states across the six geographic regions of North Central, North East, North West, South East, South West, and South-South.

Responsibilities:

The policy reform specialist will provide a contextual understanding that supports the enabling environment and conditions for civil society organization operations in Nigeria. The candidate should also have adequate knowledge of interacting, engaging, and assessing civil society organizational performance and the way the national and state assemblies work given the focus of SCALE on policy reform advocacy.

The policy reform specialist will:

• Participate in the evaluation kick-off session with USAID/Nigeria.
• Conduct desk review of the activity and support policy reform contextual understanding of the evaluation.
• Work with the evaluation specialist and other team members to design the data collection instruments and ensure they address all evaluation objectives.
• Lead government and civil society analysis in Nigeria
• Coordinate with the team leader and other team members to conduct interviews.
• Interpret and analyze qualitative and quantitative data.
• Support in preparing reports of research findings.
• Work with the team leader and other team members in planning, developing, coordinating, and administering research tools.
• Perform quality assurance reviews of both quantitative and qualitative data.
• Support the team leader and other team members in writing or editing technical reports and summaries of findings.
• Work with the team leader and other team members to perform desk review and identify additional information required for analysis.
• Work with the Team Leader and other team members in preparation and presentation of the In-brief and Out-brief to USAID/Nigeria and other stakeholders as requested.
• Support the team leader and other team members to develop the draft Evaluation report with support from the team members, taking into consideration feedback from the Out-brief presentation.
• Work with the team leader and other team members to respond to USAID comments on the draft report, incorporate USAID/Nigeria staff comments into the final version of the report and finalize the report.
• Work collaboratively with team members throughout design, implementation, analysis, and report writing to complement each other’s areas of expertise.

Qualifications:

The candidate is expected to have the following qualifications:

• Master’s degree in gender, economic development, or another relevant international development field.
• Minimum of seven years of experience in policy and enabling environment reform for CSO’s empowerment and leadership, especially in Nigeria.
• Prior experience on a USAID-funded project is preferred.
• Knowledge of constraints and opportunities for CSOs in Nigeria, particularly related to policies, regulations, leadership opportunities, and processes.
• Demonstrated skills in fostering relationships with government partners and the private sector.
• Experience in supporting CSOs, including those that represent marginalized communities, including capacity building and understanding the characteristics of CSOs, and the challenges they face in having their voices heard.
• Ability to respond to flexibly changing situations and diverse stakeholders.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English are required.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, tasks efficiently.
• Willingness and ability to travel to field locations.
• Excellent time management skills and resourcefulness with strong attention to detail.
• Experience in the Nigerian local context is required.

The consultant should adhere to ethical guidelines, obtain informed consent, and protect the confidentiality and anonymity of participants.

Only selected candidates will be contacted for an interview. Please, no phone calls.

Application Instructions:

The application deadline is on 28-Oct-2024. Therefore qualified and interested candidates can “CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT APPLICATION” It is important to visit the official website (link found below) for detailed information on how to apply successfully for this vacancy.

Website:

Official Job Website: https://navantigroup.hrmdirect.com/employment/careers.php?