Value Chain Specialists, Final Performance Evaluation, The Agribusiness Project, Performance Evaluation Performance Management Support Contract - 2015

Value Chain Specialists, Final Performance Evaluation,

The Agribusiness Project, Performance Evaluation

Performance Management Support Contract (PERFORM),Pakistan

Company Profile:

MSI is an international development firm in the Washington, D.C., metro area with a 30-year history of helping to deliver results across the developing world. In 2008, we became part of Coffey International Limited. Since that time, we have greatly expanded our ability to respond seamlessly and flexibly to client needs with Coffey’s international development offices in the United Kingdom and Australia. We operate in some of the most challenging political and economic climates in the world, including Afghanistan, Iraq, and South Sudan. MSI currently employs over 800 development experts in the fields of public sector management, monitoring and evaluation, governance, and anticorruption. For more information on MSI, please visit our website at www.msiworldwide.com .

Project Summary:
In May 2015, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded a five-year contract to Management Systems International (MSI) to provide performance management support to USAID-sponsored development programs throughout Pakistan. The Performance Management Support Contract (PERFORM) will serve as a centralized management support mechanism supporting USAID/Pakistan’s mission to increase stability, democracy, and prosperity for the men and women of Pakistan through the implementation of the Mission Strategic Framework (MSF). PERFORM will provide data and information to help project managers improve project results through better implementation and design, as well as services that support the Mission’s learning and adaptive process, enabling it to better target its programming and achieve its goals and objectives. The performance components will include: (1) Monitoring Services; (2) Evaluation Services; (3) Assessment Services; and (4) Learning Support Services.

Please note: Only citizens of Pakistan are eligible for this position.

Position Summary:
MSI is recruiting two Pakistani agriculture Value Chain Specialists to participate in a four-person team to conduct a performance evaluation of the USAID-funded Agribusiness Project. The Agribusiness Project (TAP) comprises two main components: 1) provision of on-going technical assistance and capacity building support to upgrade and strengthen targeted value chains through multiple support interventions (Quality Assurance and Food-Safety Compliance Certifications Program, International Markets Access Program, Development and Operation of Value Chain Platforms, International Market Linkages Program, Technical and Managerial Trainings, Organization of Kissan Field Schools in Selected Value Chains, Capacity Building of BDS Providers, and Formation of Farmers’ Enterprise Groups (FEGs); and 2) provision of cost-sharing grants that offer a wide range of grant products to all players within targeted value chains, including agribusinesses, individual farmers, farmers enterprise groups, farmers’ associations, and others, to strengthen private sector and market systems and support integration into domestic and export market chains. TAP currently provides technical assistance and support to eight value chains: meat, citrus, HV/OSV, seed potato, apricot, chilies, banana, and grapes.

The TAP evaluation will be conducted during the last six month of the program and constitutes the final performance evaluation. Findings and recommendations will be used by USAID/Pakistan to inform the design of future programs related to agribusiness development in Pakistan, The evaluation is expected to be conducted over a period of eight weeks in Pakistan beginning in June 2015. Consultants are expected to work approximately 52 days under the direction of the evaluation team leader, a senior expatriate evaluator with a background in agriculture economics, agricultural development and extensive experience working in Pakistan.

Responsibilities:

• Review all relevant program documents required to understand the evaluation.


• Participate in a Team Planning Workshop in Islamabad to review the evaluation’s purpose and methodology.


• Assist with finalization of work plan and data collection instruments.


• Participate in data analysis.


• Participate in report writing.


• Participate in a debriefing sessions with USAID/Pakistan on the findings, conclusions, and recommendations.


• Undertake other tasks required for the successful completion of the evaluation.

Qualifications:

• Minimum Master’s degree, or equivalent, in a relevant field required.


• Minimum ten (10) years specific professional experience in the field of agricultural development, particularly in agribusiness development and in horticultural crops and livestock.


• Fully conversant with the principles, business models, and development approaches of agribusiness development / private sector development.


• Prior experience evaluating similar projects.


• Excellent analytic and writing skills.


• Fluency in written and spoken English and Urdu. Fluency in the languages spoken by interview subjects preferred.


• Willing and able to travel in the project areas.

Only candidates who have been selected for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls, please. MSI is an EEO/AA/ADA Veterans Employer.

Please visit our website, www.msiworldwide.com