Evaluation, Monitoring and Innovation Manager

Background:

The BOMA Project is a fast-growing, award-winning organization (non-profit in US; Kenyan NGO) that seeks to build incomes and assets for ultra-poor women in the pastoralist drylands of Northern Kenya. We do this through the Rural Entrepreneur Access Project (REAP), an innovative two-year poverty graduation program for women living in extreme poverty in northern Kenya. BOMA helps pastoral women to start small businesses in their communities so they can earn a sustainable income, pay for food and medical care, send their children to school, survive drought and accumulate savings for long-term family stability.

REAP was launched in the fall of 2008. Since that time, BOMA has launched 1973 businesses, helping 6447 women earn an income so that they can support over 32,000 dependent children in the Samburu and Marsabit Districts of northern Kenya. Our goal is to replicate and scale our program, changing the lives of 100,000 women and children threatened by drought and famine by 2018.

BOMA’s work is distinguished by the following:

1. We design for impact and scale. BOMA has a strong commitment to rigorous monitoring and evaluation to track our outcomes, design evidence-based interventions and prove our long-term impact as a sustainable, scalable poverty graduation model for ultra-poor women across the African dry lands.
2. We go to the hard places. BOMA goes where few organizations will go; we work with the poorest of the poor. BOMA is a recognized pioneer in developing a poverty graduation program that is specifically tailored for women living in extreme poverty in the dry lands of Africa—remote and rural regions with low population densities, little to no infrastructure or employment opportunities, and a longstanding sole reliance on livestock for food and income.
3. We believe in local leadership. BOMA is also unique for its commitment to local leadership: Our full-time, paid Village Mentors live in the villages where we work, and our business groups, savings associations and skills-training methodologies respect cultural norms while fostering adaptation.

With an established and data-driven poverty-graduation model that gives pastoral woman the skills and resources they need to earn a sustainable income and accumulate savings, The BOMA Project is uniquely positioned to advance the goals of reducing vulnerability, increasing income and assets, providing a diversified livelihood, and helping families cope with shock.

The BOMA Project also implements a DFID-funded governance project in Marsabit County, aimed at strengthening the participation of women in community planning and decision-making, and at local government level to provide support to the work of the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) and the County in improving their accountability to citizens on issues of community development and drought planning.

Position Summary:

The Evaluation and Innovation Manager will have overall strategic and operational responsibility for BOMA’s monitoring and evaluation activities, including field-based research and monitoring activities using multiple methodologies; the collection, analysis and evaluation of data and the dissemination of findings to various stakeholder audiences. The ideal candidate is passionate and committed to innovative monitoring and evaluation work and understands the commitment required to establish an early-stage organization as a high-impact, scalable program innovator. Ideal candidates will have experience in fast-growth social enterprise environments with a firm grasp on how programs are designed for impact, scale and lasting behavior change.

The Evaluation and Innovation Manager will be based in The BOMA Project’s office in Nanyuki, Kenya. The Manager is expected to ensure that monitoring and evaluation is integrated into program design. S/he will seek out innovations and best practice methodologies that will strengthen the quality, design, metrics and evaluation of participant progress in the Rural Entrepreneur Access Project as well provide inputs for program improvements. S/he will also oversee the collection and analysis of community-level data concerning the empowerment, perceptions of self-efficacy and participation of women at community level.

Responsibilities:

• Foster a culture of learning and metrics-based decision making among BOMA staff and mentors in order to improve individual and organizational performance
• Coordinate the conduct of surveys in the field (including the training of high-performing enumerators) and the collection of data for baselines, poverty wealth ranking assessments, targeting, exit interviews, saturation, business diversification, longevity studies, and focus group surveys.
• Supervise data entry activities as well as implement strategies for quality control
• Using statistical analytical programs and software, analyze collected data for reports for internal use and external distribution to partners, foundations, multi-laterals and government agencies
• In close coordination with the field team, monitor the recent roll out of mobile devices for data collection by mentors on business progress, mentor performance and other aspects of the REAP program
• Build on the existing methodology for the performance evaluation of BOMA Village Mentors and the mentoring program
• Provide oversight for data collection and analysis on the social and political empowerment of women, their levels of participation in the community and their perception of self-efficacy
• Actively participate in grant writing/proposal processes and reporting for donors and others
• Represent BOMA publicly to present evaluation methodologies and BOMA studies to a variety of audiences (existing and potential funders, government officials, foundations and conferences)
• Stay abreast of international research trends that may affect outcome measures or data collection methodologies
• In consultation with BOMA leadership, develop and nurture potential partner relationships that advance the mission of BOMA

The Evaluation and Innovation Manager will report to the Nanyuki-based Program Director, in close coordination with the Founder/CEO, and the Field Operations Director. Two Princeton in Africa Fellows and the Systems Administrator (Salesforce, Taroworks and mobile data collection) will report directly to the Manager; indirect responsibility for data entry activities supervised by the data administrator.

Qualifications:

The ideal candidate will have experience with a social enterprise or entrepreneurial organization (non-profit and for profit) and understand scalable impact-driven programs; special consideration given to candidates who have had experience with poverty graduation models. They must have strong project management skills, be a great communicator (both written and oral) and understands what it takes to establish operational excellence. Lastly, they must know how to think strategically in order to be a leader in an organization that seeks to establish lasting impact with 100,000 women and children living in extreme poverty.

Ideal Qualifications:

• Social enterprise experience with organizations that have ambitious commitments to impact and scale.
• Studies in econometrics and behavioral economics.
• Digital communications experience – ideally with project management and workflow software programs.
• A passion for development work in challenging environments. The ideal candidate comes to this work because s/he loves great challenges.
• A flexible outlook while also knowing how to get things done. The ideal candidate understands time management, project workflows and a commitment to execution at the highest levels.

The minimums:

• Bachelors required, masters preferred. Studies in statistics, econometrics and research methodologies essential
• Field experience in a developing nation, preferably East Africa; demonstrated ability to work in other cultures
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation strategies and systems
• Fluency in stata or similar required
• Experience with customized Salesforce applications and digital data collection

How to apply:

If interested, please send your resume and a cover letter to Kathleen Colson, CEO, at The BOMA Project atmejob@bomaproject.org Applicants will be required to submit a minimum of three references after the initial CV review.

Website: www.bomaproject.org