Evaluation Team Lead

Jordan Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Activity

EVALUATION TEAM LEAD

USAID BUSINESS GROWTH ACTIVITY (BGA) MIDTERM EVALUATION

Scope of Work

About The Kaizen Company

The Kaizen Company, a Tetra Tech Company, is an international development consulting firm and an incubator for innovative, scalable solutions that address emerging market challenges and opportunities. Our proven solutions catalyze locally driven organizational and institutional performance improvements and establish communities of practice that facilitate peer-to-peer learning and the achievement of shared goals. We aspire to transform the nature and impact of development assistance and work to strengthen organizations and institutions through innovative approaches to organizational development, reform, and change.

Jordan Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Activity (MELA) Overview

MELA is designed to ensure that USAID’s activities in Jordan achieve their intended results through monitoring and evaluation, strategic assessments, and USAID’s Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting approach (CLA). Kaizen will help USAID/Jordan create a dynamic learning environment among development actors, focused on innovation, quality, and knowledge sharing. Through the Kaizen Accelerator, a rapid procurement mechanism, a cohort of Jordanian firms will work with Kaizen's MELA team to successfully deliver activities while simultaneously strengthening their management and compliance systems. The Kaizen approach will provide USAID with high-quality MEL services across its portfolio, build the capacity of local MEL institutions, and ensure programs meaningfully incorporate local participation. The MELA team will ensure program sustainability by building the technical and institutional capacity of one or more local firms that can manage the follow-on MEL Activity in the future.

BGA Midterm Evaluation Overview

USAID/Jordan has commissioned MELA to conduct a midterm evaluation of the Business Growth Activity (BGA). The evaluation aims to assess the extent to which BGA has achieved its intended outcomes and to evaluate its effectiveness, efficiency, and relevance in alignment with USAID/Jordan objectives. Recommendations stemming from the evaluation will guide USAID/Jordan and the implementing partner in refining the current Activity through adaptive management.

The evaluation will examine the successes, best practices, lessons learned, and challenges encountered during the implementation of BGA, including both internal and contextual factors. This evaluation is anticipated to utilize a mixed methods approach, with cost effectiveness analysis required to respond to one of the evaluation questions. Based on the findings, the evaluation will provide recommendations tailored to inform USAID/Jordan's programming strategy and decision-making processes. The primary audience for this evaluation is USAID/Jordan’s Economic Development and Energy (EDE) Office, and the implementing partner of BGA.

Responsibilities and Tasks

Kaizen is currently in search of a Team Lead for the BGA Midterm Evaluation. This position holds significant importance as the Team Lead will act as the primary leadership and technical personnel within the Evaluation Team. Their main duty will involve overseeing a team comprising two subject matter experts in both the business growth and evaluation domains. The Team Lead will be responsible for designing and developing data collection tools, as well as conducting technical analysis.

· Finalizing evaluation design and methodology, ensuring alignment with project objectives and requirements.

· Providing team leadership by guiding members in their roles and responsibilities and fostering a collaborative and supportive work environment.

· Ensuring high technical quality by overseeing the production of all evaluation deliverables, ensuring that they meet high technical standards and are delivered on schedule.

· Leading briefings, presentations, report writing, and ensuring that they are accurate, clear, and delivered in a timely manner.

· Required to be in the country during the data collection process, validation or exit brief workshops, and any other presentation to be submitted to the USAID and their key partners.

Qualifications

· Master’s degree required in Economics, International Development, or other related fields, with a solid foundation in economic principles.

· A minimum of ten years of professional experience on an international level with a demonstrated history of evaluating and monitoring private sector development initiatives.

· Demonstrated expertise in quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods, mixed methods, and monitoring and evaluation practices to address program evaluation questions.

· Proven experience evaluating private sector development, SME development, and/or business growth. A thorough understanding of the private sector development in the MENA region, particularly in Jordan, is highly preferred.

· Demonstrated effective leadership and managerial skills, with a successful track record of leading and supervising teams, as well as the ability to work well in a group setting.

· Fluent in English, with excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to convey information rapidly, precisely, and succinctly. Proficiency in Arabic is preferred.

Kaizen, a Tetra Tech company, is a progressive Equal Opportunity Employer. We promote, celebrate, and support a diverse and inclusive organizational culture and workforce. We are committed to providing all of our employees with an environment free from discrimination and harassment, where all are treated with dignity and respect. Our continuing commitment to the principle of Equal Opportunity Employment for all means all employment decisions are based only on the job requirements, the candidate’s qualifications, and the needs of Kaizen as a business—not on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, belief, sex (including pregnancy and related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability status, veteran status, genetic information, family/marital/parental status, or any other status protected by the laws and regulations in the jurisdictions where we work