Jobs in Lilongwe Malawi International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Jobs in Lilongwe Consultant on agricultural extension services in Malawi Jobs in Lilongwe at International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Consultant on agricultural extension services in Malawi Employment opportunities International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Closes*> April 16, 2021
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
JOB DESCRIPTION
Terms of Reference
Implementation of the third round of household and community surveys under
the agricultural extension services component of the titled
“Enhancing the performance and inclusiveness of agricultural extension,
markets, and cooperatives in Malawi”
Background
IFPRI, with funding from the Government of Flanders, is implementing a project
titled “Enhancing the performance and inclusiveness of agricultural extension,
markets, and cooperatives in Malawi”. The project’s general objective is to
guide the design of policies and programs that will improve the productivity
and profitability of smallholder agriculture, increase the incomes of farm
households, and enhance the food security of all Malawians. IFPRI plans to
contribute to this through a series of rigorous assessments in the
agricultural sector in Malawi to strengthen information flows, improve the
performance of markets, and build the capacity of farmer organizations. IFPRI
implements the project over three years from 2020 to 2023. It builds on the
Flanders-supported IFPRI project on agricultural extension in Malawi that ran
from 2016 to 2019.
The project aims to provide policy advisory services through three applied
research components and a more immediate advisory services component
1. Continue data collection and applied research on the demand for and supply of agricultural extension*> services focused on production and marketing*> *> . This work will be expanded to evaluate the efficacy and impact of several approaches to providing such advice that public and private extension service providers might adopt.
2. Research by IFPRI on agricultural markets*> in Malawi and how they might be made more effective and inclusive has been underway for several years. These studies will be built upon to examine the likely impact of recent policy proposals to improve agricultural markets, including those on structured markets and structured trade for specific commodities.
3. Conduct a diagnostic appraisal of the organization, activities, and performance of agricultural cooperatives*> . As the challenges such cooperatives face are identified through the initial work, interventions to overcome those challenges will be designed and tested through field experiments.
4. The IFPRI-Lilongwe office will supply the Government of Malawi, the Donor Committee on Agriculture and Food Security, and especially the office of the Government of Flanders in Malawi, upon request, advice through rapid analyses*> on emerging agriculture and food security policy and program issues.
This assignment falls under the first research component of the larger
project. The objective of this assignment is to contribute credible data and
evidence on agricultural extension services and technology adoption at the
national level. The specific objectives are
> To monitor the access to and quality of services, and uptake of extension advice and agricultural technologies
> To monitor the coverage and assessment of extension methods and approaches
> To inform the design and implementation of extension strategy and programs for extension service delivery, improving capacities of service providers, and design of training modules and curriculum
> To serve as baseline and monitoring data for the USAID-Strengthening Agricultural and Extension (SANE) project
Some research questions being investigated are as follows
> What are the current sources of information and types of extension and advisory services received by different types of farmers
> How relevant and useful are the extension messages and advice offered to farmers
> Who has access to what type of services Where are the gaps Are there differences across districts
> Are there changes in demand for and access to specific types of extension services over time and, if so, what factors drive these changes
> What is the status of uptake of improved technologies being promoted
> What is the contribution of extension services (by type, source, quality) in promoting technology adoption and increasing productivity, crop diversification, and commercialization
> What improvements can be made to extension services delivery for greater impacts in terms of technology adoption and development outcomes
> What is the coverage and farmers’ feedback on different extension approaches and methods
> What is the impact of the Strengthening Agricultural and Nutrition Extension (SANE) project on access to extension services, technology adoption, and farmers’ productivity, dietary diversity, and incomes
Under this project component, two rounds of panel household and community
surveys were implemented in 2016 and 2018, along with interviews of service
providers and extension agents, and focus group discussions in rural
communities. A third round of household and community surveys and follow-up
interviews are being planned in 2021.
Advertisement
Scope of work
These terms of reference (TOR) are for the upcoming third round of household
and community-level surveys. The Firm will implement these third round of
household and community surveys, manage the data quality checks, and submit a
clean dataset ready for analysis. The Firm will trace and interview the same
households as in the first round of survey. If there are split households, the
Firm will interview both parent and split households. The attrition from round
1 to round 2 surveys was 4%. The Firm will aim to contact and interview the
3001 households in the first round, with the anticipation that about 2800 HH
will be successfully interviewed. IFPRI will provide the list of households,
communities, and specific location descriptions from the dataset to the survey
firm. IFPRI will provide the procedures for re-tracing, split/parent
households, and replacement, in consultation with the Firm.
Qualifications and Selection Criteria
The survey firm must have the following capacity and evidence of work
1. At least 3 years of implementing nationwide or large-scale rural household surveys
2. Evidence of capacity and delivery of quality output (based on feedback from past survey implementers and documentation from the firm)
1. Pool of trained and experienced enumerators and supervisors for surveys in the northern, central, and southern regions
2. Proven management of enumerators and supervisors
3. Tablet-based programming and interviewing
4. Data management
5. Data quality check system
6. Good supervision, communication, and feedback system among the survey teams
7. Sufficient protocols for ethical and safe data collection
8. Timely delivery of outputs
We will select the survey firm with the strongest capacity and probability of
quality output delivery and that can deliver within a competitive budget.
Duration of work
The assignment will be from May 1 to August 30 2021 to implement the third-
round of household and community surveys, from planning and enumerators’
training to survey implementation and completion of checked and cleaned
datasets.
Apply Today Through
style="displayblock"
URL Link to Apply
Jobs in Lilongwe Malawi International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Jobs in Lilongwe Consultant on agricultural extension services in Malawi Jobs in Lilongwe at International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Consultant on agricultural extension services in Malawi Employment opportunities International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Please share to your friends our blog careersmalawi.blogspot.com
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
Jobs in International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Malawi
latest vacancies in Lilongwe
0 Response to Consultant on agricultural extension services in Malawi
Post a Comment