Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)
Position: Field Officer – EMERGE – Storybooks for Promoting Early Literacy Project
Eligibility: Position open to Local Kenyan
hires only (External advert)
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
Location: Ahero with frequent travel
throughout Nyanza region.
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.