Innovations
for Poverty Action (IPA)
Position: Field Officer – EMERGE – Storybooks for Promoting Early Literacy Project
Location: Ahero with frequent travel throughout Nyanza region.
Position: Field Officer – EMERGE – Storybooks for Promoting Early Literacy Project
6 Positions
Reporting To: Senior Field Officer/AFM
Deadline to
Apply: 28th February 2019
Start Date: 25th March 2019
Eligibility: Position open to Local Kenyan hires only (External advert)
Duration: 3 Months
Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)
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: EMERGE is a randomized control trial which aims to
improve early childhood literacy and school readiness. In Kenya and throughout
sub-Saharan Africa, many primary school children read below grade level. While
there are many causes of low literacy in primary school, a key contributing
factor to the widespread lack of literacy is low level of child readiness for
primary school.
Our research focuses on an
innovative, light touch early childhood intervention to improve school
readiness and classroom-level pedagogy through the provision of children’s
books, in local language as well as English, and dialogic reading training to
parents of children between 2 and 6 years of age in rural, Western Kenya.
This impact evaluation measures the
impact of distributing children’s storybooks and supporting family reading on a
range of child, household, and school-level outcomes. We seek: first, to
quantify the effects of inexpensive literacy interventions on learning
outcomes; second, to quantify parent behavioral responses to the availability
of the new educational materials; and third, measure the change in classroom
environment brought about by improved student preparation before school age.
About the
Position: The Field Officer, under the supervision of Senior
Field Officers and Associate Field Manager, will be primarily responsible for
field data collection activities, including interviews and observations of
children and caregivers. In addition, the field officer may be involved in
community entry activities, including meeting with area leaders, or
participating in presenting the project and answering questions about the
project at community barazas.
The Field Officer will also be
expected to assist with office tasks such including translations and data
entry.
Duties and
Responsibilities:
·
Prompt arrival at work and completion
of scheduled activities each day
·
Conducting surveys in EMERGE
evaluation sites throughout Nyanza
·
Visiting and tracking of survey
respondents to administer questionnaires
·
Data collection prep work, including
translations, pretesting, and piloting
·
Diligent completion of checklists and
other means of monitoring data
·
Data entry tasks as assigned by the
Project Management
·
Helping organize materials in
readiness for field work and for data processing and organizing data collected
from the field
·
Ensuring high data quality (low error
rates)
·
Proper use and maintenance of project
equipment (phones, GPS machines, headphones, etc.)
·
Successfully working in a team and
avoiding/minimizing conflicts with the rest of the team members.
·
On non-field days, conscientious
performance of office work (respondent phone calls, translations, photocopying,
organizing data, etc.)
·
Positive, hard-work attitude, with
the aim of individually and helping the team complete the work.
·
Other tasks as assigned by Project
Management
Qualifications
and Experience:
Required:
·
Diploma in relevant field (social
sciences, development studies, early childhood education, or community
development)
·
Excellent oral and written
communication in English, Kiswahili, and Dholuo
·
Excellent management and organizational
skills
·
Computer literate.
Preferred:
·
Bachelor’s degree in relevant field
(social sciences, development studies, early childhood education, or community
development)
·
Experience working with children and
mothers
·
Experience with child education research,
or conducting child observational measures
·
Experience working on health,
education, or early childhood development projects
·
Experience in data collection and
survey administration, preferably using CAI (SurveyCTO).
How to Apply
CLICK HERE to apply
online
Disclaimer: The above statements are intended to describe the general
nature and level of the work being performed by the Field Officer-EMERGE
Project. 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 or request any form
of payment for any document processing from an applicant. Applicants are
encouraged to confirm the information listed above with IPA.