Submit Cv At Palladium Group 2017

Palladium is a global leader in the design, development and delivery of Positive Impact – the intentional creation of enduring social and economic value. We work with foundations, investors, governments, corporations, communities and civil society to formulate strategies and implement solutions that generate lasting social, environmental and financial benefits.

For the past 50 years, we have been making Positive Impact possible. With a team of more than 2,500 employees operating in 90 plus countries and a global network of more than 35,000 technical experts, Palladium has improved – and is committed to continuing to improve – economies, societies and most importantly, people’s lives.

Palladium is a child-safe organisation, and screens applicants for suitability to work with children. We also provide equal employment to all participants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, veteran or marital status.

Job Description

Job Title: M&E Assessment Marketing Materials STTA

Project Overview and Role

Background on Project

The Financing Ghanaian Agriculture Project (USAID FinGAP) is a five year (2013-2018) project designed to address a key constraint restricting the development of commercial agriculture in Ghana: access to finance necessary to enable investment in agricultural value chains. Using a combination of technical assistance (TA) via pay-for-performance business advisory service provision, training to PFIs, BDS and enterprises, pay-for-performance grants to financial institutions to release financing, and a variety of risk mitigation strategies, the Project is unlocking financing for commercial agriculture development in the rice, maize, and soy value chains in the north of Ghana. The project is contributing to USAID?s overall goal of fostering broad-based, sustained, and inclusive economic growth.

Over the five-year project life, USAID FinGAP is expected to achieve the following outcomes:

• 25 strategic partnerships in target value chains
• 250 financial transactions
• $75M in finance
• 90 SMEs and farmer organizations linked to 120,000 smallholder farmers in target value chains gaining access to finance

To achieve these outcomes and ensure sustainability, USAID FinGAP employs a value chain approach and partnership-driven model, whereby the project works through a dynamic network of business advisory service (BAS) providers and participating financial intermediaries (PFIs) servicing the agriculture sector. USAID FinGAP is building the capacity of a network of Ghanaian BAS providers to provide consulting services to agribusiness firms to help them to access affordable options for financing new agricultural investments. The Project is also training and developing a network of PFIs who have committed to supporting the agricultural sector, and is using smart incentives, trainings and risk mitigation to increase their agricultural financing portfolios.

Background of Performance Assessment

A performance assessment of the USAID FinGAP project was conducted in late 2016 to advance project and USAID learning regarding outcomes of USAID FinGAP related to the range of beneficiaries, particularly smallholder farmers and small and medium including large enterprises (SMiLEs). While it is relatively simple to track and assess the outcomes for large financial enterprises, the outcomes on lending to smallholder farmers and SMiLEs is less clear. In addition, these large financial enterprises loan to small holder farmers and SMiLEs thus creating a group of secondary beneficiaries for whom project outcomes are unknown. This performance assessment elucidated those outcomes at the firm and smallholder levels.

The assessment was conducted by a local Ghanaian M&E firm in collaboration with an international M&E expert. A mixed-methods approach was utilized, drawing upon quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data was the primary source of data, was collected through two separate surveys of 293 SMiLEs and 481 male and female smallholder farmers. Qualitative data was collected through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with smallholder farmers, SMiLEs, community leaders, FIs and BAS, which supplements and contextualizes the quantitative data. Time series data was used for comparison whereby the survey asked respondents to answer questions relevant to crop cycles compared to the cycles three years ago.

The key findings of the assessment was that USAID FinGAP activities in the maize, rice, and soya value chains have contributed to positive changes for both SMiLEs and smallholder farmers from 2013 to 2016. Productivity has increased, as a result of USAID FinGAP support to access inputs, information, connections to markets, and financial products. This has translated into increased yields, more hired labor, and increased sales, gross revenues, and profits Although attribution of these gains solely to USAID FinGAP is not possible in all instances, there is indication from the data and interviews that USAID FinGAP has played a key role in gains, particularly due to increased access to capital and improved agronomist support.
Responsibilities

Activities

Now that the USAID FinGAP project has completed its internal performance assessment and have quantified the positive impacts of the project on smallholders and SMiLEs, the project would like to spread the results of the assessment publicly to project partners, other Feed the Future projects, USAID, and others. However, the 93-page assessment report is data-heavy and difficult to digest, therefore this assignment is aimed at presenting the findings with less scientific language where possible and producing a version of the report that can be marketed widely. USAID FinGAP would also like smaller reports detailing the findings by focus area. The ultimate aim is a set of marketing materials that the project can use to disseminate the findings, a breakdown of which can be found below:

1. A version of the final report in full (currently at 93 pages) that edits the language to make it more easily understood by a reader with no background in statistics.
2. A smaller 3-5 page paper using the results of the assessment with regard to how the project interventions affected smallholder farmers as a whole.
3. A smaller 3-5 page paper using the results of the assessment with regard to how the project interventions affected SMiLEs as a whole.
4. A smaller 3-5 page paper using the results of the assessment with regard to how the project interventions affected overall household/farm productivity.
5. A smaller 3-5 page paper using the results of the assessment with regard to how project beneficiaries invested earnings gained via project interventions (e.g., investments in their maize/rice/soy business, children?s education, food, investments to the house, purchasing or renting land, inputs, equipment, post-harvest services etc.).
6. A smaller 3-5 page paper using the results of the assessment with regard to how project interventions impacted women differently than men.

In addition to these reports, the consultant will also create infographics that demonstrate the impacts found in the midterm performance assessment that visualize the data, to be used as well for marketing purposes. It is envisioned that the consultant will produce an infographic version of the simplified full report, examples are included below for reference.

Deliverables & Timeline
The deliverables for this assignment are outlined below:

• One final report of the M&E performance assessment, simplified and easy to read.
• Five smaller 3-5 page reports outlining findings in specific focus areas outlined above.
• Infographic PowerPoint version of the simplified full report, demonstrating project results in visual form.

Level of Effort, Timing, Post, and Travel
The expected LOE for this assignment is 50 days from approximately July through December 2017. The consultant is expected to work from their home base, and there is currently no travel anticipated for the assignment.
Requirements

Requirements

The consultant is expected to possess the following qualifications:

• Advanced degree.
• Minimum 5-10 years of experience, with demonstrated experience working in statistics, evaluation, marketing, or a combination of the above.
• Demonstrated experience with graphic design and creating visuals from data.
• Advanced writing and communication skills.
• Experience working in Sub Saharan Africa is a plus.
• Fluency in English- both written and spoken.