IPA Late Dec. Jobs

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a United States-based non-profit organization dedicated to discovering and promoting effective solutions to global poverty problems. IPA designs, rigorously evaluates their impact, and refines these solutions and their applications together with decision-makers to ensure that the evidence created is used to improve opportunities for the world’s poor. Since our founding in 2002, IPA has worked with over 350 leading academics to conduct over 450 evaluations in 51 countries. This research has informed hundreds of successful programs that now impact millions of individuals worldwide.

Job Description

Job Title: Annual Survey Field Staff – Team Leaders (TLs)

Annual Survey Field Staff, Disseminating Innovative Resources and Technologies to Smallholders (DIRTS)

• Reports to: Field Manager
• Location:  Tamale, Ghana
• Deadline to apply: January 4, 2017
• Duration: 6 weeks
• Desired start date: February 6, 2017
• Job code: DIRTS-AS-20161512

Project Summary:

The Disseminating Innovative Resources and Technologies to Smallholders (DIRTS) project is a follow up study on the Examining Under investment in Agriculture (EUI) project which was conducted from 2009-2012 by Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), Ghana. The project explored questions on constraints to under investment in farming activities in Northern Ghana.

To achieve this study randomly assigned treatment on capital and/or weather-indexed insurance to selected farmers, and measured the impact of these treatments on agricultural investment decisions. The key outcome of this study was that access to insurance led to increased farmer investment in scale of production but not cultivation intensification.

DIRTS project hypothesizes that in addition to drought index insurance, access to extension services and a wide range of agricultural inputs, farmers will adopt intensified cultivation practices and thus improve production and per-acre profitability.

Position Summary

IPA seeks project field staff to perform the roles of Surveyors, Team Leaders (TLs), Auditors and Field Supervisor (FS) in its upcoming Follow up survey on randomly selected respondents in the DIRTS study sample.

This position is temporal and will be based in Tamale but will require extensive travel within and across 13 districts in Northern Region, Ghana.

Team Leaders (TLs) position 

Team Leaders (TLs) will oversee survey fieldwork. This will involve managing a team of 5 surveyors and is responsible for maintaining high quality data. In particular, the TL will;

• Supervise all the surveyors at various stations, manage their work, and ensure that they are all following survey protocols;
• Contact the Field Manager on a daily basis;
• Visit each Surveyor as frequently as stated in the field protocols and will be available for phone calls at all times;
• Monitor a number of household visits by each Surveyor as frequently as stated in the field protocols and provide constructive feedback to them;
• Verify that Surveyors have interviewed the right respondents;
• Maintain records on survey tracking and Surveyor attendance
• Confirm recorded surveys in log books and submitted data match and if discrepancies are found, determine the cause and inform the Field Supervisor;
• Always speak one on one with Surveyors to address their problems on any of the surveys conducted;
• Ensure field team have all logistics to perform assigned tasks;
• Report problems to the Field Supervisor immediately they occur.
• Contact the Field Supervisor at any time:
• With questions;
• To report any concerns;
• To report any changes in the survey schedule;
• To inform him ahead of time and seek permission if he/she will be away from his/her post;
• To discuss any situations that may threaten staff ability to follow IPA protocol;
• Promptly respond to contact from the Field Manager or other IPA staff;
• Be responsible for maintaining good relations with IPA, its employees, partner organizations and project participants;
• Be responsible for taking care of equipment assigned to him/her;
• Perform other duties related to the project that may be assigned to him/her.

Required Skills or Experience

It is required that potential candidates possess;

• A diploma or university degree in Agriculture or any related field.
• Strong oral and written communication skills in English;
• Strong oral proficiency and basic grammatical knowledge of Dagbani and/or Konkonba/Likpakpa/Frafra preferable but not required.
• Knowledge of additional or multiple languages used in northern region is an added advantage;
• Good knowledge of basic mathematical computations;
• Good interpersonal skills and ability to work with little or no supervision;
• Previous experience (at least one year) in any of these position;
• Computer literacy with proficiency in MS word and excel.
• Experience in using android tablets to collect data on the field is an asset.
• Experience in plot measurement

How to Apply

Please fill out the online application form by clicking the link below:

The deadline for applications to this position is January 4, 2017. Applications received will however be reviewed on an ongoing basis.
Due to the high volume of applications received by IPA, only shortlisted applicants will be contacted by email or phone for an interview

DISCLAIMER: Please note that IPA will never require monetary compensation as part of its application process. Any requests for monetary compensation by persons claiming to be IPA employees or persons claiming to represent IPA should be disregarded and reported. Please direct questions to [email protected].