Job Description
Precision Agriculture for Development, Inc. (PAD) seeks a Kenya Research and Operations Manager to support PAD research, operations, and scale-up activities in Kenya by overseeing multiple research projects in collaboration with our key partner organizations.
PAD was established with a keen eye towards rigorous evaluation and constant experimentation. Each of our programs and partnerships have a strong complement of research, ranging from large- and small-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to A/B tests to pilot trials. Most of PAD’s research projects are led by Shawn Cole (Harvard Business School) and Michael Kremer (Harvard University). PAD’s research activities are also supported by affiliated researchers from other institutions and are overseen by PAD’s Boston-based Senior Researcher.
Kenyan and East African citizens are strongly encouraged to apply.
Organization background
PAD is a US-based non-profit organization with a mission to support smallholder farmers in developing countries by providing customized agricultural information and services that increase productivity, profitability, and environmental sustainability. PAD is pioneering a model for agricultural extension: delivering farmers personalized agricultural advice via their mobile phones. PAD implements this model in collaboration with partner organizations and gathers evidence on its impact. PAD aims to improve the lives of 100 million farmers in developing countries with its services.
A key element of our approach is helping partners with wide reach such as governments, contract farming organizations, telecommunications firms, agribusiness, and NGOs to design, build, evaluate, and improve customized mobile phone-based agricultural advisory systems. We help partners structure and improve their service offerings through incorporation of the latest availability technologies and data as well as insights from behavioral economics and social learning theory. Taking a global approach, we bring experience on what has worked elsewhere to every engagement and continue to optimize to local contexts using A/B testing and rigorous evaluation.
PAD currently has operations in seven countries – Kenya, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Rwanda, Uganda. These opportunities have allowed PAD to reach over 2.5 million farmers in the second quarter of 2019, both with our own services and research efforts as well as through partnerships.
Responsibilities
The Kenya Research and Operations Manager will be responsible for the following main tasks:
Supervise the implementation of PAD mobile services in Kenya, including developing protocols for monitoring our SMS platform, ensuring rigorous testing and piloting of the platform, collecting feedback from the platform users, and planning the development of new features;
Work closely with PAD researchers and our partner organizations to identify, develop, and launch new research projects;
Supervise from start to finish the implementation of various research projects in collaboration with our partners. This includes developing research designs and proposals, managing data collection activities, and conducting data cleaning and analysis;
Ensure project adherence in the field to general research design, sample selection, data quality and security, and research protocols;
Directly supervise project staff (Research Associates, Field Staff, Interns), and lead training and onboarding of new/incoming project staff;
Maintain excellent relationship and communication with our partners to ensure the success of our projects;
Develop and maintain work plans and timelines across projects to ensure optimal allocation of resources and meeting key deadlines on time;
Keep the Kenya Country Director appraised of all developments on the projects in their portfolio, and serve as key link between partners, project staff, and PAD researchers;
Support the dissemination of results via presentations and reports to our partners;
Contribute to project financial management, including creation and monitoring of program budgets.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications and Experience:
A master’s degree in economics, agricultural economics, public policy, or a closely related field.
Strong technical understanding of economics and randomized evaluations.
At least 2 years’ experience running or managing quantitative research projects focusing on impact evaluation.
The candidate must be comfortable engaging with high level policy contacts (e.g. senior officials, senior staff from international organizations).
Proficient in using Stata or R for data analysis.
Strong writing and oral communication skills in English, with attention to detail and advanced writing and presentation skills.
Ability to manage multiple projects and stakeholders. Strong self-motivation with skill in working under tight timelines.
Strong leadership and relationship-building skills with experience managing staff.
Willingness to travel both within Kenya and the East Africa region.
Desired Qualifications and Experience:
Proficient in using SurveyCTO or a similar program for survey design.
Knowledge of SQL and Python.
Experience working on randomized evaluations.
Experience working on agricultural programs.
Previous work experience in Kenya or East African countries.
Position details
Full time
Start date: ASAP
Location: Nairobi, Kenya with frequent travel to Western Kenya and intermittent travel across East Africa
Compensation: commensurate with experience
