Job Description

Strengthening the Capacity of African Parliamentarians, Policy Makers, and Organizations/Institutions to Use Evidence in Policies and Legislation (SCAPE) Project

Implementing Partners: United States Department of Agriculture and Foreign Agriculture Services (USDA/FAS); University Of Rhode Island (URI) and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana

Coordinating Center: Bureau of Integrated Rural Development (BIRD), College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, KNUST, Ghana 

Introduction
The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana, the University of Rhode Island, USA, and the ASSESS project are seeking highly qualified candidates for immediate engagement to implement the SCAPE activity. The Analytical Support Services and Evaluations for Sustainable Systems in Agriculture, Environment and Trade (ASSESS) project is implemented by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in partnership with The University of Rhode Island (URI) and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

SCAPE Activity Description: The purpose of SCAPE is to strengthen the capacity of select West African parliamentarians, parliamentarian networks/associations, policy makers, and policy-focused organizations/institutions in evidence-based and data-driven legislation and policy making. The expected outcome of the activity is that selected parliamentarians, policy makers, and organizations supported by this activity will be able to effectively perform their functions of oversight, policymaking, advocacy, and national decision-making by ensuring appreciation, demand, and utilization of evaluative evidence and other data from various sources in their daily work. This activity also helps to address the important question of government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness. The overall goal is to promote economic growth and sustainable development in Africa through increased evidence-based and data-driven legislation and policy making. SCAPE will focus on four primary objectives and its associated illustrative activities:

1. Increased evidence-based decision-making skills of parliamentarians, policy makers, and
regional and national organizations/institutions engaged in policy advocacy.

• Assessment of current state of use of evidence in legislative and policymaking processes.
• Identification of “evidence champions”
• Virtual regional trainings, including training of trainers, and training for parliamentarians
• and policy makers, regional organizations, and media/journalists.
• A “How To” Guide on Strengthening Evidence-based Legislation and Policies.
• In-country/face-to-face clinics/workshops for parliamentarians and policy makers, regional organizations, and media/journalists.

2. Improved strategic planning, monitoring, and oversight of legislative and policy actions.

• Supporting parliamentarian M&E Plans/systems
• Supporting Oversight and Evaluations of Legislation and Policies
• Supporting National Evaluation Policies and M&E Systems

3. Increased access to and use of evidence through strengthened platforms for knowledge
sharing and peer learning.

• Strengthening existing platforms
• Developing and disseminating videos, brochures, policy briefs, evaluation syntheses, and
• other sensitization and communication materials
• Webinars and virtual study tours to facilitate experience sharing and networking

4. Development of resources and tools that will enable USAID Missions in Sub Saharan Africa
to work more effectively with Parliamentarians to strengthen evidence used in decision
making.

Type of position: International hire (engaged by University of Rhode Island, USA)
Expected duration of assignment: September 2021 to 15 September 2022
Hours: Full time
Location: Virtual, with travel to and within Ghana and West Africa when required
Salary: To be determined by Experience and Education

Roles and Responsibilities
The Knowledge Translation Expert/Senior Evaluation Advisor serves as the team lead for 7 staff on SCAPE Project. S/he will provide leadership on how to strengthen capacity in translating research and evaluation outputs, and data to inform policy and legislation. S/he will coordinate all the activity tasks and manage and lead the team under his/her supervision to execute these tasks effectively and efficiently.  The person in this position will also be responsible for the technical quality and timeliness of project deliverables working in coordination with the Project Manager (see description below).

Required Skills or Experience

• Minimum of a master’s degree in Law, Translational Research, Evidence-Based Intervention and Policy Making, Policy Evaluation, Public Policy and Administration, Development and Public Policy or a related area 
• Over 10 years of research and evaluation experience 
• Demonstrate ability to analyse, translate research, evaluation and practice-based evidence to inform policy and legislation
• Demonstrable experience in in-person and virtual evidence-based policy making and Monitoring & Evaluation/Research training and capacity building experience
• Demonstrable experience in evidence-based policy making and knowledge synthesis, translation and exchange 
• Demonstrate ability to analyse workflow, data schema and the barriers and enablers to evidence-informed policy making and legislation
• Experience in group facilitation and adult learning methodologies
• Demonstrable commitment to gender equality and inclusive development
• Economic Growth (EG) experience; some Democracy and Governance (DG) experience preferred
• Experience as team lead/project manager
• Proficiency in English and French (writing/reading/speaking) preferred.
• Ability to travel frequently to and within the West Africa region when required.