NGO (IPA) Field Officer Job in Kenya

Huduma Project

Field Officer

Deadline to Apply: May 29, 2012

Start Date: Mid-June 2012

Location: Nairobi and Central Province

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 Huduma project: IPA’s Huduma project is a pilot evaluation of the Huduma platform - a new mobile and web-based system for soliciting and aggregating citizens’ reports on public service delivery.

IPA’s evaluation of this platform will focus on its application among the education and healthcare service sectors.

We are currently seeking Field Officers (FO) to work on the pilot stage of this evaluation.

FO activities during this stage will include but are not limited to: distributing flyers, posters and invitations to community meetings; leading community meetings; conducting focus groups; collecting and organizing data; and working with the Project Associate to improve and refine data collection tools.

Field Officers will be based in Nairobi or Central Province and will be required to travel within and between these regions.

Overnight trips are possible.

Field Officers will work closely with one another and will be accompanied by  the Project Associate for the purpose of data collection and focus groups.

FOs will spend approximately 90% of their time in the field and 10% of their time in the Nairobi office.
 

Tasks, Duties, and Responsibilities:

General

• Arrive to work promptly and reliably
• Interact with community members with the highest level of integrity and understanding
• Distribute flyers and posters with information on the Huduma platform in study areas
• Invite local residents to community meetings about the Huduma platform
• Lead community meetings about the Huduma platform and its use
• Collect data through household surveys, academic tests, exit interviews, focus groups and observations
• Collaborate with colleagues to improve one another’s data collection skills and the project’s data collection tools
• Take careful notes in order to improve data collection tools and methods
• Work with the Project Associate to implement improvements to data collection tools and methods

Data Collection

• Acquire lists of staff members from head teachers and hospital administrators
• Compare staff who are present at the local facilities with those who are expected to be present
• Visit households and conduct academic tests on English, Kiswahili and math with primary students
• Collect economic data through questionnaires and observations
• Conduct questionnaires outside healthcare facilities
• Acquire administrative records from healthcare facilities regarding drug and immunization availability

Qualifications:

Required

• Excellent oral and written communication skills in both English and Kiswahili
• Experience with data collection through household surveys, academic tests, exit interviews, focus groups or observations
• Ability to recognize when questions are difficult or unclear to subjects
• Excellent note taking ability during interviews and focus groups
• Willingness to travel within Nairobi and Central Provence
• Comfortable with interviewing individuals within their homes and outside healthcare facilities

Desired

• Bachelors’ degree or college diploma/certificate
• Experience analyzing hospital records on drug and immunization availability
• Experience with all data collection methods mentioned above
• Experience with pilot studies, especially related to improving data collection tools

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: “FIELD OFFICER”REF NO: HP-2012-05-01. 

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 Field Officer. 

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.