MINAGRI Expert in Statistics Job Vacancy in Rwanda

Ministry of
Agriculture and Animal Resources Office of the Permanent Secretary

Recruitment of
an Expert in Statistics
1. Introduction
The Government of Rwanda (GoR) represented by the Ministry of Agriculture and
Animal Resources (NIINAGRI) has received funding from Development Partners to
support the Strategic Capacity Building Initiative (SCBI) for the priority
sector of agriculture. The SCBI is supervised by the Public Sector Capacity
Building Secretariat and is meant to fill strategic gaps in the delivery chain
of agriculture production.

In order to
facilitate implementation the GOR intends to use part of these funds for the:

Recruitment of
a Senior Expert in Statistics
We are therefore inviting applications from eligible candidates to provide
evidence that they are qualified and experienced to perform the tasks outlined
in the job description below.

2. Job
Description
Under the general guidance of the Director General in charge of Strategic
Planning and Program Coordination and in collaboration with the National
Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR), the international expert will:
• Update recently reviewed agricultural benchmark data, crop monitoring and
forecasting system, and related agricultural statistical activities;
• Continue to build and reinforce the Statistics Unit to drive evidence-based
policy implementation in the agriculture sector.
• Continue the improvement in methodology and implementation in line with NISR
methodologies to strengthen the food and agricultural statistical information
service.
• Provide advice and support to the Ministry of Agriculture more generally with
respect to meeting key reporting obligations at the national and international
level, including reviewing of relevant documents (e.g. assessment of their
methodological rigor) prior to release or publication.
• Train technical staff in applying appropriate agricultural statistical
sampling and data collection techniques, supervision and quality control,
database design and management, data analysis and report preparation. The
training is expected to include a combination of class-based work as well as
field work.
• Train technical staff in data analysis using CSPRO, SPSS, and Excel and other
relevant software.
• Provide briefs, assistance and advisory services on matters relating to
agriculture statistics and policy analysis and contribute to the promotion of a
culture of agricultural statistics in cooperation with all stakeholders in the
National statistics system;
• Assist MINAGRI and its affiliated Boards, Task Forces, Programmes and
Projects in planning, executing and making use of agricultural surveys with a
view to evaluating the socio-economic impact of measures taken by the Government;
• Analyze gaps and discrepancies in data intended to measure progress toward
internationally agreed development goals, and contribute to the identification
of appropriate statistical capacity-building initiatives;
• Conduct analytical and methodological studies to assist the MINAGRI in
assessing progress toward internationally agreed development goals, including
the Millennium Development Goals;
• Develop methods of data compilation, validation and appropriate methods for
processing, harmonization and dissemination;
• Provide training materials and lead training of SPPC statistics staff, field
enumerators and district agronomists in data collection and other related
activities.
• Work with key contractual personnel at NISR to coordinate activities.
• Prepare draft technical documents for international, intergovernmental and
expert group meetings and assist in drafting relevant reports;
• Directly support and coach SPPC Statistics Team.

3. Minimum
Qualifications & Experience
• Advanced degree (Masters or PhD) in Statistics or Economics
• Ten years of relevant experience in the organization of agricultural
statistical services and systems, crop and market data collection and in data
analysis for crop forecasting and related areas in developing countries
• Should be familiar with problems related to the development of agriculture
statistics in Sub Saharan African Countries;
• Should have relevant work experience in agricultural statistics as well as in
qualitative and quantitative research methods;
• Familiarity with the information needs and measurement challenges for
assessing food security and poverty alleviation;
• Experience in development of training materials and capacity building
interventions: by way of formal training, coaching, mentoring, etc;
• Should be able to work in multicultural setting, in a good team spirit;
• Must be computer literate, and be familiar with statistical, econometric and
database development software packages such as ACCESS, SAS, EpiInfo, SPSS,
STATA and Eviews etc.
• Proficiency in English and/or French languages; knowledge of the other
working language would be an advantage.
• Prior work experience in Africa;
• Experience of undertaking similar assignments in developing countries
• Knowledge of Rwanda’s (or similar country) farming practice.

Reporting
• Under the general guidance of the Director General in
charge of Strategic Planning and Program Coordination and in collaboration with
the National Institute of Statistics of
Rwanda (NISR), the international expert will report to the DG of Planning in
the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources.

4. Work
duration:
• The length of the assignment will be 1 year. It may be
renewable subject to performance.

5. Reporting
obligations
•    The expert will report to the Director General in charge of
Strategic Planning and Program Coordination to undertake the specified
activities. In terms of reporting, there are two reports.
•    The expert must write a monthly report on progress against
agreed targets in the work-plan, and submit the report to the Director General
of Strategic Planning and Program Coordination and Permanent Secretary (PS) of
MINAGRI for discussion.
•    The expert’s performance in capacity building will also be
directly assessed by a MINAGRI official who will write a short quarterly report
on the consultant’s coaching progress.
•    This will also be reviewed quarterly by the Director
General of Strategic Planning and Program Coordination and the PS MINAGRI.
•    At the end of the contract period, the expert should
produce a final report to be submitted with the request for the last
installment payment.

6. Remuneration
• Expert will be offered a highly attractive package
commensurate with experience and there will be additional benefits.

7. Location
• The consultant will be based in Kigali/Rwanda, working at
`CICA´ with frequent travel upcountry

8. Mode of
Application:
• Interested qualified candidates may submit their
applications with (1) CVs, (2) motivation letter and (3) certified
copies of their relevant certificates to the address below or the email address
Ruzindazaernest@yahoo.fr copy
to s_bambara@yahoo.fr ; christina.piocosta-lahue@tb-agi.org and
kamalfredo@yahoo.fr (title of
email should read Expert in Statistics) not later than 15:00 hrs, on the 28th
February 2013