MEAL Manager – 2SCALE /MSD at International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC)

Position summary

The MEAL Manager is responsible for the overall MEAL component of the program starting from the MEAL framework development up to managing the final impact evaluation. The Manager is responsible for the design and implementation of all action research activities in the program. The Manager is part of the senior Program Management Team (PMT) and will also be involved in the supervisory board of the program based on need.

Responsibilities

Monitoring inclusive development at partnership level

• Conceive, visualize and broker partnership specific impact pathways and theories of change, initially with partnership facilitator and subsequently deliberated and agreed upon by partners;
• Identify and agree with partnerships on Markers for Change (M4C) and develop ways to monitor impact pathways tailored to the specific conditions under which partnerships operate;
• Integrate secondary baseline data on sector or area dynamics into the deliberation among partners on the monitoring of impact pathways and inclusive development during the diagnostic phase of partnerships and during the identification of M4C and setting up of target values for the universal impact indicators;

Case-based analysis of the incubation of inclusive agribusiness

• Use process tracing as a method to demonstrate the ways in which a sample of partnerships contribute to transformative processes of inclusive development;
• Assess the capacities of partnerships to co-create, direct and realize inclusive development and incorporate these insights in program-wide learning processes.
• Conduct in-depth case study research documenting the different modalities in which partnerships align business models of leading commercial actors, smallholder farmers and/or micro-enterprises in the making of inclusive development.

Providing research inputs to the processes of replicating and accelerating inclusive agribusiness

• Support 2SCALE in the replication of models for inclusive development by documenting, typifying, visualizing and presenting emerging modalities of inclusive agribusiness in selected partnerships;
• Facilitate benchmarking by private sector actors of approaches to inclusive agribusiness realized by partnerships supported by 2SCALE;
• Participate in forward-looking dialogues about the conditions for scaling inclusive agribusiness; both by including large numbers and replicating proven practices;
• Explore with country teams ways to engage the public sector in the inclusive business strategies catalyzed by 2SCALE;
• Represent the program in national sector, industry or knowledge networks and at relevant national/ local events enabling connections to other (area-based) programs, industry platforms or business associations.
• Any other assignment that the supervisors deem necessary for the success of the program or contribution to the work of M&E, action research and knowledge management of 2SCALE program

Reporting and Work Relationships

The MEAL manager will report to the Program Director (Technically to the Deputy Program Manager as well). He/she will be part of the program management and will supervise the deputy MEAL Manager

About Program/Project

• The 2SCALE program 2019-24 builds on achievements and lessons learnt from a first phase (2012-18, www.2scale.org) ; ( a third phase from 2025-2028 under discussion with the donor2SCALE is a flagship program for the Netherlands’ food security policy and one of the leading catalysts of inclusive agribusiness in sub-Saharan Africa.
• 2SCALE is designed to incubate and accelerate inclusive agribusiness development in target countries in Africa (Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger and Nigeria, South Sudan, and Egypt). Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are the core implementation modality to achieve the objectives of the program. 2SCALE’s strategy is three-pronged:
• Incubating inclusive business: through PPPs, 2SCALE works together with private enterprises to develop agribusiness models that promote inclusiveness, develop (new) competitive edge, and have potential for scaling. PPPs support value chain development and agribusiness cluster formation.
• Replicating inclusive business: through PPPs, 2SCALE supports the replication of most successful business models, in different settings (regions, industries), with the same or different private partners.
• Facilitating sub sector system change: 2SCALE also supports partnering enterprises to drive sector transformation and policy alignment for critical bottlenecks that cannot be solved by the actors within the focus PPPs, and which affects several actors in the sector simultaneously.
• 2SCALE is funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by a consortium led by the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) and comprising the Base-of-the-Pyramid Innovation Center (BoPInc) and the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV).

Required Experience

• Master degree in any field related with business management, Economics, measurement, evaluation and others
• A minimum of 10-12 years’ experience in monitoring, evaluation and or action research
• Good experience in management and leadership of MEAL specialist
• Well experienced in Theory of Change development
• Proven track record in developing annual plans and reports for donors
• Experienced in attribution and contribution analysis.
• Priore experience in managing impact evaluation.
• Good research experiences within a project implementation cycle
• Excellent writing and speaking skills in English is a must and ability to speak French is an added value
• Previous working experience with DGIS is a plus