Position: Evaluation Expert, USAID EE/MELDS

Location: Remote/Washington DC

Integra leads the Europe and Eurasia/Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Decision Support (EE/MELDS) contract for the USAID/Europe and Eurasia (EE) Bureau and missions. Integra provides USAID/EE with technical and advisory services related to monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) of USAID/EE projects and activities to enhance MEL capabilities and collect empirical evidence for programming, learning, and adapting. 

Integra is seeking an Evaluation Expert or Senior Evaluation Expert to assist the Evaluation Team Lead in designing, implementing, and reporting USAID project and portfolio performance evaluations in Europe and Eurasia. This role includes contributing to evaluation methodologies, data collection, analysis, and reporting while working closely with team members and stakeholders. 

ROLE/RESPONSIBILITIES

Senior Evaluation Expert
  • Provide guidance on desk review processes, helping the team interpret project documents, data, and stakeholder information frame the evaluation context.
  • Advise on the evaluation design, including methodologies, data collection tools, and timelines, ensuring alignment with best practices and evaluation goals.
  • Offer input on team responsibilities and support training efforts, promoting consistent and accurate data collection methods.
  • Support the team during data collection, providing insights to ensure data quality and actively participating in key stakeholder presentations and workshops as needed.
  • Review and advise on evaluation report drafts to ensure clarity, comprehensiveness, and alignment with USAID/E&E guidelines.
  • Serve as a key advisor, coordinating with USAID and implementing partners to uphold ethical standards and ensure a robust evaluation process.
Evaluation Expert
  • Conduct a detailed desk review of project documents (including reports and collected data) to understand project context and stakeholder involvement.
  • Assist in designing the evaluation methodology and data collection tools with guidance from senior experts.
  • Support role assignments and train team members on evaluation tools and methods to ensure consistent data gathering.
  • Coordinate and participate in data collection activities, including virtual and in-country sessions, ensuring accuracy and thorough documentation.
  • Contribute to drafting evaluation reports in compliance with USAID/E&E guidelines, and assist in gathering and organizing team inputs.
  • Collaborate closely with the evaluation team and senior management, maintaining ethical standards and clear communication with stakeholders throughout.

QUALIFICATIONS

  • Minimum of 5 years of experience designing and implementing project performance evaluations.
  • Experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection, analysis, and presentation, including designing KII, FGD, and survey tools, analyzing and visualizing data using qualitative and quantitative analysis tools.
    • Preference is given to candidates with experience programming surveys in Kobotoolbox or Survey Monkey.
    • Proficiency in conducting qualitative data analysis using ATLAS, Ti, Nvivo, or similar platforms are preferred.
    • Data visualization skills using Tableau or PowerBI is a plus.
  • Experience delivering remote and in-person presentations to present, discuss, validate, and/or co-create evaluation findings, conclusions, and recommendations. 
  • An undergraduate degree is expected, with a strong preference for those holding graduate degrees in Monitoring and Evaluation, Qualitative and Quantitative Research, Statistics, Sociology, International Development, Public Policy, or related fields.
  • Experience or expertise in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, and East Asia is preferred.
  • Working proficiency in English is strongly preferred.

HOW TO APPLY:  Qualified and interested candidates should submit a cover letter and CV to jobs@integrallc.com. Please include “Evaluation Expert” in the subject line of the e-mail. No phone calls please. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Integra provides equal employment to all participants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, veteran or marital status.

Position: Project Performance Evaluation Team Lead, USAID EE/MELDS

Location: Remote/Washington DC

Integra leads the Europe and Eurasia/Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Decision Support (EE/MELDS) contract for the USAID/Europe and Eurasia (EE) Bureau and missions. Integra provides USAID/EE with technical and advisory services related to monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) of USAID/EE projects and activities to enhance MEL capabilities and collect empirical evidence for programming, learning, and adapting. 

Integra is seeking experienced Evaluation Team Lead candidates to manage the design, execution, and reporting of USAID project and portfolio evaluations in the Europe and Eurasia region. The role involves leading methodology design, team coordination, data analysis, stakeholder engagement, and report development. This position offers the opportunity to contribute to impactful development initiatives in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Conduct comprehensive desk reviews of relevant project and sector documents, including data, reports, and stakeholder information.
  • Design the evaluation methodology and develop data collection tools in collaboration with the Evaluation Expert.
  • Delegate and train the evaluation team on their responsibilities and the use of evaluation tools, ensuring accurate and consistent application and understanding.
  • Lead all phases of data collection (virtual and in-country).
  • Manage the processing and analysis of data.
  • Oversee key stakeholder engagements including presentations and workshops.
  • Develop and refine comprehensive evaluation reports aligned with USAID/E&E guidelines, delegating report sections among team members as appropriate.
  • Manage the Evaluation Team, coordinate with USAID, and ensure ethical standards are maintained throughout the evaluation.

REQUIREMENTS:

  • A minimum of eight (8) years of experience implementing project performance evaluations, including serving as Team Lead of 3+ evaluations.
  • Experience conducting project performance evaluations for USAID is required.
  • Experience with the World Bank and the United Nations is highly valued.
  • Experience leading evaluation teams of at least four (4) team members is required.
  • Experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection, analysis, and presentation, including designing KII, FGD, and survey tools.
  • Experience analyzing and visualizing data using qualitative and quantitative analysis tools.
  • Experience beyond the traditional mixed-method evaluation design, including but not limited to case study design, process tracing, system mapping, and outcome harvesting, is preferred.
  • Experience delivering remote and in-person presentations to discuss, validate, and/or co-create evaluation findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
  • An undergraduate degree is expected, with a strong preference for those holding graduate degrees in Monitoring and Evaluation, Qualitative and Quantitative Research, Statistics, Sociology, International Development, Public Policy, or related fields.
  • Experience or expertise in Eastern Europe and/or Central Asia is preferred.
  • Advanced proficiency and fluency in written and spoken English, equivalent to a native level.
  • Exceptional organizational, analytical, and writing skills.

HOW TO APPLY:  Qualified and interested candidates should submit a cover letter and CV to jobs@integrallc.com. Please include “Project Performance Evaluation Team Lead” in the subject line of the e-mail. No phone calls please. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Integra provides equal employment to all participants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, veteran or marital status.

Position: Project Director, USAID Analytical Services V (ASV)

Location: Remote/Washington DC

Integra is seeking Project Director candidates for an upcoming proposal on the multi-year Analytical Services V contract. This mechanism will provide the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance’s Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DCHA/DRG) with the means to support US foreign policy objectives by promoting resilient, democratic societies. Support for DRG is vital to the pursuit of freedom and national security and is essential to achieve the Agency’s and the US Government’s broader social and economic development goals. The IDIQ will directly build on USAID’s DRG Strategy by supporting USAID Missions and other operating units to develop strategies and projects that will have the greatest impact.

Responsibilities:

  • Provide overall leadership and technical direction throughout the project’s life with a focus on achieving results as described in the contract.
  • Provide technical inputs on select activity proposal efforts.
  • Serve as a primary point of contact for USAID staff and relevant stakeholders, reporting on progress, assessing evolving needs, and communicating lessons learned.
  • Contribute to technical work products, provide quality assurance, and own the delivery of high-value reports and workshops to USAID clients.
  • Work with Integra home-office staff in personnel, contract administration and financial management of the overall project.

REQUIREMENTS:

  • Advanced degree in economics, statistics, sociology, international development or other social science fields.
  • Minimum of 10 years of experience in MEL and research activities for international development.
  • Minimum of 5 years of experience in direct management or oversight of USAID projects.
  • Experience working with USAID/DRG, BHA or OTI preferred.
  • Expertise in democratic governance, participation and inclusion, DEIA, free and fair elections, promoting independent media, civic engagement, rule of law, human rights, e-governance and digital democracy, anti-corruption, and countering authoritarianism highly preferred.
  • Proficiency in USAID regulations, FAR, ADS, procurement procedures, and contract compliance.
  • Experience managing teams of internal staff and consultants resulting in successful project delivery, with a strong preference for experience in managing the concurrent implementation of multiple task orders under similar IDIQ mechanisms.
  • Demonstrated experience in technical proposal writing skills for USAID, Department of State, Millennium Challenge Corporation, or other donors for procurement opportunities.
  • The ability to produce high-quality technical work expeditiously and independently.
  • Strong people skills evidenced by client and team management experience, including through Project Manager roles.
  • Proficiency in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Remuneration Package: A competitive package would be offered based on salary history and
work experience.

HOW TO APPLY:  Qualified and interested candidates should submit a cover letter and CV to jobs@integrallc.com. Please include “Project Director, USAID Analytical Services V (ASV)” in the subject line of the e-mail. No phone calls please. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Integra provides equal employment to all participants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, veteran or marital status.

Today South Africa is celebrating Human Rights Day. We’re celebrating the long road to democracy covered with sticks and stones leaving apartheid’s oppression behind us. The path we’ve tread has been a long one, but 18 years into our democracy we enjoy rights many others around the world are still denied. Freedom of speech and media freedom are some of the most important rights we’ve gained.

Man sitting on the ground using a laptop, in front of a convoy of army tanks. (Similar to the famous photo from Tiananmen Square)

Internet censorship is one arm of media censorship. (image: bestvpnservice.com)

However, if you look at Reporters Without Border’s annual freedom index released earlier this month, many African governments still deny democratic media coverage. Many journalists cannot report openly on what is happening in their country.

Technology could play a crucial role in helping journalists get the message out of what is happening in their countries. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of five programs journalists can use to get their stories out:

RiseUp

This email service allows you to send emails without the government monitoring your actions as the connection is encrypted. Journalists need safe and secure access to correspondents abroad if they want international media coverage of possible local atrocities.

Eraser

Government official knocking on your door as you’re working on a confidential file? Eraser allows journalists to secure delete files and invisible recoverable files from their computer should their laptop be seized.

Tor Internet Browser

This Mozilla Firefox-based browser allows users a secure tunnel to the internet, hiding your digital online identity in case you’re being monitored. There’s a portable edition available which users can run from a flash drive.

Cobian Backup

This program works on the same basis as file-sharing program Dropbox. Running in the background, users can quickly and effectively back up their data. Journalists can encrypt and decrypt files with this program if ever confidential files were to get ‘lost’.

Pidgin with OTR

Free open-source instant messenger allows users to connective to several instant messaging accounts and services. However, with the Off-the-Record (OTR) plugin, journalists can chat online with others truly ‘off-the-record’ as you enjoy a secure connection.

Nico Gous

Kayode Fayemi, Governor Nigeria’s Ekiti state, has declared yesterday his administration is ready to integrate fully Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Kayode Fayemi, Governor Nigeria's Ekiti state with a big smile

Kayode Fayemi, Governor Nigeria's Ekiti state, is happy about future the preliminary success of the Ekiti state's website. (image: file)

 

He even launched a new official website for the state. The new website will enhance accountability and transparency in governance he believes. The website is also expected to be interactive, easing access to government by providing diverse information on government activities.

The website also linked to Social Media sites like Facebook, Slideshare, Google Plus, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube, as well as mobile applications for Android and Blackberry devices, while Nokia and iPhone versions will be released within a month. Since its’ launch, the website has become the second most visited in Nigeria.

Ekiti is said to be the first state to have Quick Reference (QR) Codes integrated into its website. Fayemi also disclosed that his administration was providing laptops for students in public secondary schools.

While, the Ekiti State University (EKSU) is expected to be fully connected to the internet in two months time to allow students access to e-library. The site is expected to serve as an interactive platform between the people of the State and the government to get feedback and as means of engaging the younger generation.

Segun Adekoye

Sierra Leone has carried the momentum from the October 2011 landing of the ACE fibre cable in Freetown and is off to a progressive start to 2012.

We must all be ready now to embrace change, change in our attitude towards one another, change in our attitude to our work and responsibilities. All of those changes should translate positively into progress and development for our country.” – President Ernest Bai Koroma, 2008.

What’s happened in the mobile and Internet industry this year? Thanks to great reporting by Sierra Express Media, we have quite a few stories to be excited about as Sierra Leone positions itself as a regional ICT leader:

  • The government (including President Koroma) launched Transparency Sierra Leone, an online portal to increase its level of openness. (More on this below)
  • GoSL announced plans to revise the existing Telecommunications Act to reverse the monopoly of Sierratel over the GoSL international internet gateway before the ACE cable is operational later this year. (A study by the GSM Association in February 2007, citing Kenya, Nigeria and Egypt as case studies, showed that competition in the international gateways market can reduce call prices by up to 90 percent and double call volumes.)
  • Airtel launched 3G service on February 3rd (Africell began offering 3G access in 2011).
  • The Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) launched an online system to manage system contains mineral rights, export licenses, and related payments.

The transparency portal encourages interaction and collaboration between citizens and the government. Citizens may ask questions and read about government projects. In return, the government can be expected to implement suggestions and remain honest about how the nations’ resources (ie. people’s taxes) are spent. In fact, Dr. Kelfala Marrah, Chief of Staff in the President’s Office, made some excellent points at the launch event:

  • people will pay taxes without hassle when they see how their money is spent
  • the village square is now the internet
  • impose attacks and you will be rewarded for imposing attacks

The site has a very clean layout with large text. Homepage slides are uncluttered. Registries allow for quick filtering based on region. The color scheme (green, white, and blue) even matches the flag!

Transparency Sierra LeoneClick to enlarge. {Transparency Sierra Leone}

Also positive:

  • a focus on national issues and not political debate
  • collaboration between regulator, finance ministry, infrastructure authorities, broadcasters, and journalists
  • the idea centre allows for user submissions (only one has been added as of writing)
  • a blog is frequently updated with news of projects
  • social share buttons in the footer
  • FAQs explain how to participate and even how to comment on posts
  • the president has created a YouTube video (viewed 200 times since January 20th)
  • ‘Agenda for Change’ is prominently displayed as a PDF link, as are links to government websites

The nation is now busy preparing for the operation of the ACE cable later this year. After all, capacity is useless if there is no demand or if the cost structure doesn’t make sense for consumers. Profits from the ACE gateway are expected to contribute to Sierra Leone’s economic progress. The government is clearly not taking any chances is missing this tremendous opportunity.

Launched in June, ICT for Democracy in East Africa is a network of organizations seeking to leverage the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enhance good governance and strengthen democracy.

This initiative is funded by the Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions (SPIDER) and aims to promote collaboration amongst democracy actors in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Member organizations in the network are Kenya’s iHub, the Kenyan Human Rights Commission (KHRC), the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), Transparency International Uganda (TIU), and Tanzania’s Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG).

iHub, an open space for the tech community in Kenya, hosted a governance workshop in October.  The event brought together stakeholders in academia, government, civil society and the tech community to identify governance challenges—such as an uninformed or misinformed citizenry about their basic rights and an entrenched culture of corruption. The take away from the session was that ICTs—particularly mobile phones—provide citizens with the platform by which they can engage in governance solutions in a discreet, personalized way, anytime, anywhere.

In the wake of 2012 Presidential elections, citizens need to be better educated, informed and engaged in the political processes to avoid post-elections clashes as it was the case in 2007. To this end, KHRC plans to tap into the potential of ICTs to increase citizen participation, monitor human rights violations, monitor the electoral processes, monitor government fulfillment of promises, carry out campaigns and also inform and educate its constituents and the public on various human rights and governance issues.

Civic participation and democracy monitoring is relatively weak in Uganda given that only 59% of registered voters cast their ballots in the February 2011 presidential elections, according to SPIDER. The proliferation of ICT tools, their potential to enhance communication and improve access to important information creates an opportunity for improved citizen engagement and advocacy towards increased transparency and accountability.

Through the strategic use of ICTs, Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), aims to improve access to public services, increase efficiency, transparency and accountability of government and political processes to ensure that citizens are informed about government functions and promote efficient service delivery.

WOUGNET will particularly target women, in community based organizations (CBOs) located in the rural districts of Northern Uganda.  WOUGNET aims build the ICT capacity of these (CBOs)  to monitor public service delivery as part of its anti-corruption strategy.

Similarly, Tanzania’s CHRAGG is implementing a project that will create  a system that will enable citizens to file complaints, check the status of already filed complaints and receive feedback through SMS. The project will help poor Tanzanians forego the transportation lodging costs involved in filing complaints in far off regional offices.

Cameroon’s October 9th presidential election is fast approaching, and social media is being used to create a dialogue, raise concerns and share information about the event.

Paul Baya billboard, running for Cameroonians elections

Photo credit: CNN

The country’s incumbent, Paul Biya of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, has been in power for 30 years despite general dissatisfaction and outcries for the president to step down. There are currently 23 candidates in the race with John Fru Ndi of the Social Democratic Front running a distant second to Biya.

The blogging community, Global Voices, is running special coverage entitled Cameroon Elections 2011 that features blog posts from citizens around the world about the elections. The bloggers have discussed various issues surrounding the election, many accusing Biya of election corruption such as paying off politicians to falsely run against him.

CNN has reported on Biya’s “complacent attitude” since he has not been campaigning in the field. His behavior implies that Biya “plans to win through election rigging and fraud.” Youth are allegedly being paid by Biya to support the leader in the streets, and nearly all government campaigning money has been distributed to his party alone.

The Twitter community is also closely following the election, sharing articles, information, and social media tools with one another. A site that has been Tweeted frequently is one that keeps track of the election search trends. Through the tool, anyone can see which party leader or election issues are being searched the most on Google.

Cameroon election search trends on Google

Cameroon Election Search Trends, from http://www.google.cm/intl/en/landing/elections/2011/

Social media has allowed those interested in Cameroon’s elections to share information in ways that were never possible before. But the country lags far behind others in the region in terms of Internet penetration rates. With only 5% of the country having Internet access, most citizens will not be able to follow the social media that is providing critical perspectives on the election. Were the majority of the country’s citizens able to follow the elections online, there might be more potential for a nation-wide movement against Biya and his alleged election rigging.

On September 15th, George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs presented a guest lecture by Dr. Philip N. Howard about the role of ICTs in advancing democratization, especially in Muslim countries.

Howard, an expert scholar on the role of ICTs in political systems, based his lecture on research conducted in 75 countries in transition. The findings can be found in full in his book, The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. An aspect of the lecture that was particularly fascinating was Howard’s “recipe” for democratic entrenchment – one that involves state capacity and a vibrant, tech-savvy wired civil society.  He highlighted the ability of social media to monitor government elections.

The lecture, which emphasized the use of ICTs as a successful tool in promoting democratic societies, can be found in the video below.


So who’s next on the agenda for a revolution using Howard’s recipe? He says to think of countries that have a wired civil society + active online journalists + good state capacity; then watch those countries during the next major elections. If the heads of the countries try to rig the elections, there is a good possibility that their citizens will protest, creating chaos, uprisings, and possible transition to a new state in the same vein as Egypt. Howard lists several countries to look out for, such as Algeria, Iran and Kuwait.

Howard’s research focused primarily on Muslim countries, but one wonders if other countries might fit the recipe for civil society protests and/or revolution. Several African countries have elections coming up. Kenya, which has one of the most vibrant and open technology sectors, but a history of allegedly rigged elections, could be one to watch during the 2012 elections.

The World Bank approved in June a $20 million credit to support Moldova’s Governance e-Transformation (GeT) project.  According to Philippe Dongier, World Bank ICT sector manager, eTransformation is “about leadership commitment for institutional reform and for citizen-centric governance.”

The project is part of a Government initiative to address Moldova’s legacy of corruption and bureaucracy inherited during the Soviet Union era by improving and modernizing public sector governance and increasing citizen access to government services.

As part of an institutional reform, the Government established in August 2010 an e-Government Center charged to develop a “digital transformation policy, a government IT strategy, and an open data roadmap”. In April, Moldova became one of the first countries in the region to launch an open data portal.

“The initiative is aimed at opening government data for citizens and improving governance and service delivery,” says Stela Mocan, executive director of the e-Government Center.

Benefits of GeT

GeT has several intended benefits that include increased transparency. The Ministry of Finance recently released a spreadsheet of more than one million lines, detailing all public spending data from the past five years.

“Publishing information about public funds will increase transparency,” says Prime Minister Vlad Filat

GeT also intends to reduce the cost of public service delivery. Through “cloud computing” infrastructure—in which applications and data are accessible from multiple network devices—the Government also expects significant savings in public sector IT expenditure.

Promoting innovation in the civil society sector is another key feature of the project. The Bank’s Civil Society Fund in Moldova—which provides grants to nongovernmental and civil society organizations—is supporting the National Environment Center in the collection and mapping of information on pollution of water resources. Since 80% of Modova’s rural population use water from nitrate-polutated wells, this initiative aims to empower citizens with the necessary tools to hold the Government accountable on the environmental policy.

E-Government: a worldwide phenomen

According to the Wolrd Bank, “e-Government” is the use by government agencies of information technologies—such as Internet, and mobile computing—that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government.

Moldova is not the only country using ICTs as part of an innovative approach to address corruption and strengthen democracy.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan of the  State of Maharashtra in Western India recently launched an e-Governance program that aims to tackle corruption by reducing personal interaction between the public and government officials and requiring government officials to use computers in their day-to-day operations. Limiting discretion and facilitating the process of tracking all transactions decrease the incidence of corruption.

To combat fraudulent activities during elections, the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) upgraded its computer and communication network in 2002 to verify the eligibility of voters who had lost their voting cards or whose names were missing from the manual voter registers in the respective polling stations.

ICTs’ potential for addressing governance challenges is significant. Through increased transparency and accountability, governments can better serve their citizens. Implementing successful e-Government initiatives in developing countries is a challenging endeavor. However, sustained political commitment to institutional reform, citizen-centric policies, and financial backing create an environment where ICT applications can improve governance.

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2020 Integra Government Services International LLC