Assistant Project Manager at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)
Position: Assistant Project Manager
Deadline to Apply: August 14th, 2013
Start Date: September 2nd, 2013
Location: Busia County
Eligibility: Position open to local Kenyan hires only
About Innovations for Poverty Action:
Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a non-profit research organization that creates and evaluates approaches to solving development problems.
IPA disseminates the results of its evaluations to policymakers, practitioners, investors and donors around the world.
About the project
The project is an innovative approach to evaluating rural electrification in Kenya and will examine the ability of individual rural households to connect to the national electric grid.
Using living standards measurement surveys in the field, the study will collect data related to household energy use and the interactions between households and the national electricity grid.
As a result of these data, the study will be able to understand households’ willingness to pay and ability to pay for electricity connections and consumption. The study will also evaluate the economic and social impacts of rural electrification.
Assistant Project Managers will play a central role in the study’s success and will gain valuable experience in leadership in the field, data collection and representing the study to officials.
Through their work, Assistant Project Managers will oversee a team of field officers, supervising data collection; will work closely with the project associate/ manager to improve their own skills and those of their colleagues; will be responsible for daily logistics; and will represent the project in meetings with local chiefs and village elders.
Assistant Project Managers will work together with the study’s staff to improve their skills and the skills of their teammates; and will contribute to a deeper understanding of the electricity sub-sector in Kenya.
Roughly half of the study will be spent in Busia and half in Siaya County.
Travel within and between these regions is required.
Overnight stays in Siaya lasting several weeks of the study will also be required.
Assistant Project Manager will be expected to work Monday through Saturday.
Tasks, Duties and Responsibilities:
General
- Arrive to work promptly and reliably, always setting an example for one’s colleagues.
- Interact with community members with the highest level of integrity and understanding.
- Collaborate with teammates to improve own skills and those of teammates.
- Relay field costs to Project Associate or his/ her designate for reimbursement.
Interviews
- Represent and explain study to electricity officials, local chiefs and village elders and ask for support.
- Supervise Field Officers conducting census mapping and provide feedback to Field Officers and Project Associate
- Ensure that Field Officers adhere to training they received on census interviews
- Conduct census mapping and survey interviews, setting a standard of excellence for the team to follow
- Scrutinize completed questionnaires daily for completeness and consistency
- Secure completed questionnaires and deliver to Project Associate
- Manage compensation for respondents and distribute to Field Officers as needed
Back Checks
- Contact respondents by phone confirm a subset of their answers and ensure that data is accurate
- Follow randomization protocols in order to select completed interviews for this purpose
- Coordinate with Project Associate to improve skills of data collection staff and the clarity of data collection tools
Qualifications:
Required
- Extensive supervisory and management experience related to field work and data collection
- Strong written and oral communication skills
- Experience in training staff to improve data collection efforts and their accuracy
- History of providing feedback to teammates and examples of this feedback improving teammates’ work
- Previous experience in conducting back checks on data
- Examples of working on multiple tasks simultaneously and coordinating efforts of different teams
- Ability to collect completed surveys and community workshop materials and ensure their safe delivery
- Willingness to travel within Busia and Siaya Counties.
- Willingness to work on Saturdays
Desired
- Bachelors’ degree or college diploma/certificate
- Experience supervising data collection activities
- Experience with conducting census mapping and interviews
To apply:
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 can be submitted to any of our branch offices,
or by email to jobs-kenya@poverty-action.org ,
or by post office using P.O Box 373, Busia area code 50400 Kenya.
If you submit by email, please ensure that the subject line reads: “Assistant Project Manager.”REF NO: MCP-2013-08-02.
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 (Assistant Project Manager). 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.
