Innovations for Poverty Action
FIELD OFFICERS
POSITION : Field Officers
DEADLINE TO APPLY : March 28th, 2024
START DATE: April, 2024
LOCATION: Based in Lilongwe
REPORTING TO: Field Manager
LENGTH OF COMMITMENT: 1 months with the possibility of extension
ELEGIBILITY: Position open to local Malawians hires only, women are highly encouraged to apply
About Innovations for Poverty Action:
Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is an international non-profit research organization dedicated to discovering and promoting effective solutions to global poverty problems. IPA works in partnership with development partners and academic researchers to create and evaluate approaches potential solutions to poverty problems using randomized evaluations in the fields of health, education, microfinance, governance and agriculture. We also mobilize and support these decision makers to use these solutions to build better programs and policies at scale.
About the Project:
This project is a randomized evaluation of two interventions targeted at savings groups. These interventions provide treated savings groups with either a loan product paired with financial literacy training, or a mobile application that digitizes group ledgers.
Savings groups typically record their transactions in a physical group ledger or individual passbooks. These paper ledgers are prone to error and damage and often require a lengthy time for verification among group members, including at the groups meetings. Digital ledgers, managed via a smartphone application, solve many of these operational challenges and hold promise for improving the availability of quality records to formal credit providers, who often want access to the groups activities and finances for purposes of understanding their creditworthiness.
With this context, we are partnering with World Vision, and their subsidiary VisionFund, to measure the impact of two interventions aimed at savings group participants:
- FAST (Finance to Accelerate Savings Groups Transformation)
- Digitization of saving groups
World Vision and partners will implement the study interventions FAST and digitization of saving groups as part of a broader livelihoods and resilience improvement project called THRIVE (Transforming Household Resilience in Vulnerable Environment).
About the Position:
The Field Officer, under the general supervision of the Field Manager and within the limits of Innovations for Poverty Action-Malawi policies and procedures, is responsible for collection of high-quality data.
He/she will be predominantly based in the field. Below are some of the general duties and responsibilities of the Field Officer, to be carried out as needed according to the determination of the Field Manager.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Undergo an intensive training
Familiarization with the missions of IPA - Accurate collection of data through tablet phones according to the protocol of IPA
- Accurately report progress and challenges regularly to Field Supervisors
- Ensure data integrity is maintained at all times and minimize errors in recording data
- Maintain team cohesion and respect among team members
- Demonstrate integrity and understanding during interaction with community members/leaders and partner organization staff
- Punctuality: both to a determined daily schedule, scheduled meetings with local leaders, and any other meetings
- Proper management and utmost care of IPA resources, items, and equipment.
- Any other duties as assigned
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Required:
- At least a diploma from recognized Institution with data collection experience
- Must possess a valid Human Subjects certificate by Collaborative Institutional Training Institute (CITI)
- Familiarity with Survey CTO, ODK, or any electronic data collection software
- Experience conducting long surveys on tablets is a strong plus
- Excellent verbal communication skills in both English and Chichewa ( Yao language will be an added advantage).
- Ability to handle and speak with people from diverse cultural backgrounds
- Well organized, detail-oriented, and excellent listening skills
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team
Desired:
- Experience in electronic data collection using Survey CTO, ODK or any other CAIs.
- Demonstrated ability to work independently and meet targets with tight timelines.
- Willingness to travel and work in rural parts of Malawi.
- Well groomed, well-mannered and cultured individual
DISCLAIMER:
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of the work being performed by the Field Officer-FAST Evaluation. 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.