The International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) is a public international organization addressing critical issues such as international food security, the alleviation of global hunger and poverty, environmental protection and the promotion of economic development and self-sufficiency. IFDC focuses on increasing productivity across the agricultural value chain in developing countries. This is achieved by the creation and transfer of effective and environmentally sound crop nutrient technology and agribusiness expertise.

We are recruiting to fill the below position:

Job Title: Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist

Location: Kano, Nigeria

Background
The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) specialist will support two connected public-private partnership programs, i.e., the 2SCALE program in Africa, and the SMS program in Northern Nigeria. The 2SCALE program, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, is one of the largest incubator programs for inclusive agribusiness in sub-Saharan Africa.

2SCALE (www.2scale.org) develops a portfolio of public-private partnerships in nine target countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, and Uganda). These partnerships aim to promote inclusive business in agriculture, through support to value chain development, agribusiness cluster formation and enabling business environments.

The agribusiness cluster approach is designed to help rural smallholders move from subsistence farming to farming as a business and to supply agricultural products for local, national, regional and international markets. The project partners with national and multinational agro-food companies as drivers to increase productivity and to improve efficiency and sustainability of supported agribusiness clusters and value chains. Specific attention is given to “base of the pyramid” consumers and producers; they are the vast majority of people and therefore the largest market for food products in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Context Global Development (Context) selected the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) as a sub-grantee to implement a two-year (2016-2017) pilot project in Northern Nigeria, entitled Sorghum and Millet in the Sahel (SMS). The purpose of the pilot project is to strengthen the resilience of sorghum/ millet farming systems in Northwestern Nigeria, by empowering smallholder farmers to develop farming as a sustainable business. The pilot project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and is part of a larger action-research program managed by Context that also involves Burkina Faso and Mali.

Building on the approach set by its 2SCALE program, IFDC partners with Nestlé to source high-quality sorghumfrom Nigerian smallholder farmers, and facilitate the development and strengthening of business relationships among the value chain actors and supporters.

The objective is to deepen our understanding of how partnerships, built with grassroots actors (farmers and their local networks, called agribusiness clusters) and the companies and entrepreneurs driving the value chain, achieve impact; and what the business models are that support both competitiveness and inclusiveness. This learning agenda will help identify incentives for smallholders to invest (or not) in sorghum productivity, and possible scaling pathways for the post-pilot phase.

The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) specialist will, in consultation with 2SCALE management and technical staff, develop the M&E systems to measure the performance and impact of 2SCALE in IFDC’s North and West Africa Division (NWAFD), with focus on Nigeria, and of the SMS program in Nigeria. M&E systems will be designed at program and partnership levels, and all systems and procedures will be conducted in accordance with the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Plans (PMEPs) of 2SCALE and SMS.

Position Summary
• The M&E Specialist for 2SCALE and SMS in Nigeria is responsible for leading the execution of the 2SCALE and SMS PMEPs, and coordinating related activities within both projects and via partners in Nigeria.
• S/he will design and orchestrate efforts that monitor outcomes against targets; enable management, donors and partners to gain feedback and deduce lessons.
• S/he is also responsible for providing timely and relevant information to project managers, partners and donors.
• The M&E Specialist will contribute to the development of institutional capacity and M&E initiatives of divisional and global scope.

Supervision:
• The M&E Specialist for 2SCALE and SMS in Nigeria will be supervised by and report directly to the 2SCALE Chief of Party (on 2SCALE) and the SMS Team Leader.
• S/he will work closely together with other M&E specialists (currently only one) for 2SCALE/ NWAFD.
• Outside the West African project team, the M&E Specialist will collaborate closely with his/her counterpart in East/Southern Africa and with Division-level M&E Specialists.

To apply;http://agronewsng.com/agro-jobs/vacancy-monitoring-evaluation-specialist-at-the-international-fertilizer-development-center-ifdc/