Qualitative Lead - Ethiopia

Job Description

Job Description

Integrated Business & Technical Consultants, Inc. (IBTCI) , a U.S. based international development consulting company established in 1987, has worked in over one hundred countries and implemented over three hundred projects. IBTCI serves government agencies, private sector companies and several donor agencies. IBTCI specializes in Third Party Monitoring across many sectors including, but not limited to, conflict and crisis, democracy and governance, economic growth, education, environment, and global health.

Job Title: Qualitative Lead

Department/Location: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Practice

To: Team Leader (Project Leader)

Type: Consultancy

Overview: IBTCI is seeking a Qualitative Lead for the World Bank Productive Safety Net Program 6 (PSNP 6) Third Party Monitoring (TPM) assignment in Ethiopia. PSNP is Ethiopia’s rural safety net, which provides predictable resource transfers to address the food insecurity of extremely poor households through three components: access to better jobs and livelihoods, resilience through investments in human capital, and an improved Adaptive Social Protection system. The TPM will give the World Bank and the Food Security Coordination Office (FSCO) regular, timely external feedback on implementation quality, help identify what is working and what is not and why, and verify the accuracy of administrative data reported in the program MIS. The assignment covers five annual monitoring rounds from 2027 to 2031, and the initial phase covers the first two rounds during the program’s first 24 months, beginning in early 2027. The Qualitative Lead will provide technical leadership for all qualitative data collection and analysis under the assignment, including consultative discussions with regional and woreda implementers, and will ensure qualitative findings complement and explain the quantitative results. Level of effort will be determined upon award, and continuation each year is subject to availability of funds and satisfactory performance.

This position is contingent upon award.

Essential Duties/Tasks and Responsibilities:

The Qualitative Lead will be responsible for the technical quality, integrity, and timely delivery of all qualitative work in each TPM round. Working under the direction of the Team Leader and in close coordination with the Quantitative Lead, the Qualitative Lead will lead the following:

• Inception: contributing to the ethical protocol and approvals needed for field work, designing the qualitative methodology and data collection tools (such as key informant interview and focus group discussion guides) based on the thematic and issue areas defined by the World Bank, contributing to the inception report, overseeing translation of tools into the languages of the sampled woredas, and piloting the tools in at least two woredas
• Field team recruitment: recruiting qualitative enumerators, note takers, transcribers, and translators with prior qualitative experience (50% women), with CVs shared with the World Bank for review before final selection
• Tool updates and training: updating the qualitative tools based on estimates from the quantitative data, preparing training materials, and leading training of enumerators, note takers, transcribers, and translators
• Data collection: overseeing qualitative data collection, including consultative discussions with regional implementers and with woreda implementers from the selected woredas, so that fieldwork is completed within three weeks; coordinating the logistics to gather implementers; implementing data quality checks; and informing regional stakeholders when data collection is complete and that analysis and results will follow
• Transcription and translation: ensuring all audio is transcribed in the language of the interview or discussion (with 5-minute time stamps) and translated into English within two weeks after data collection is completed
• Quality audits: designing and implementing audit processes to review the accuracy of transcriptions against the audio files and the quality of translations, and preparing a report showing the audit process and results
• Data management and security: ensuring audio files, transcripts, and field notes for each participant are saved with systematic file names so they can be matched, and that all qualitative data are securely stored in line with the ToR’s confidentiality, ethical, and data protection requirements
• Coding and analysis: coding all qualitative data, producing a code book and coded data in an agreed format (such as an NVivo file), and contributing to the documented analysis outline
• Integration with quantitative work: working with the Quantitative Lead to complement and explain quantitative results with qualitative findings in the consolidated report
• Deliverables: producing the qualitative deliverables for each round, including final qualitative instruments, audio files, transcripts in the original language, English translations, the code book and coded data, and the transcription and translation audit report, and contributing to the final report and presentation of findings to the World Bank, FSCO, and development partners
• Supervising the qualitative field team, and working sensitively and effectively with government counterparts and the World Bank team

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong knowledge of qualitative research methods, including key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and the design of data collection tools and analysis plans
• Experience coding and analyzing qualitative data, including the use of qualitative analysis software such as NVivo
• Ability to design and implement quality audit processes for transcription and translation
• Ability to use qualitative research to complement quantitative results, including process evaluations
• Strong writing skills in English necessary to draft high quality reports and present qualitative findings clearly
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively and sensitively in teams and with government counterparts
• Excellent communication skills

Minimum Requirements:

• At least five (5) years of relevant field experience conducting qualitative research involving the collection of original data
• Experience running qualitative studies in developing countries, including data collection design, implementation, and analysis
• Substantial formal training in qualitative research methods
• Experience using qualitative research to complement quantitative research results (preferably impact evaluations) and experience conducting process evaluations
• A strong track record of conducting comparable field research
• Fluency in English required

Preferred Experience:

• PhD in anthropology, sociology, political science, public health, or a related discipline
• Experience working on social protection programs
• Experience working on gender issues
• Experience conducting field research in fragile contexts
• Field work experience in Ethiopia

Education : A PhD in anthropology, sociology, political science, public health, or a related discipline is preferred. Candidates with relevant experience and master’s-level training in these disciplines will also be considered.

Working Environment: Work is typically performed in an office environment, with some time spent in the field.

Supervisory Responsibility: This position has supervisory responsibilities for the qualitative field team, including enumerators, note takers, transcribers, and translators.

Physical Requirements: This is largely a sedentary position that requires the ability to speak, hear, see, and lift small objects up to 20 lbs.

Travel: Travel to Ethiopia, including field locations, is required.

No phone calls please. All candidates will be contacted, but only final candidates for particular activities will be contacted.

IBTCI is committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity for all persons without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, disabled veteran or Vietnam-era veteran, or any other classification protected by applicable anti-discrimination laws. We prohibit and do not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment.