SoCha (a portmanteau of Social and Change) is an independent Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) firm that provides bespoke solutions to social challenges. We are a US-registered, veteran-owned small business and staff support offices in Nairobi, Bangkok and Mauritius. SoCha currently supports multiple foreign assistance interventions across Asia and Africa.

Background:
SoCha provides bespoke solutions to evaluative and analytical requests for the Uganda Learning Activity, a USAID/Uganda monitoring, evaluation, and learning mechanism. SoCha has been requested to examine studies of USAID/Uganda’s interventions that have been commissioned and executed under the current USAID/Uganda Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS).
Between 2016 and 2021, close to 150 studies of USAID’s interventions in Uganda were commissioned and executed. These studies include impact and performance evaluations, baseline assessments, studies of implementation approaches, and multi-country comparative assessments, covering all USAID/Uganda technical offices. Together, these studies form a comprehensive research program into the implementation of the current USAID/Uganda CDCS.
The findings from these studies will enable USAID/Uganda to identify recurring issues across studies, offices, and activities, as well as strengths and weaknesses in its capacity to learn and pivot. SoCha will be providing the Mission with recommendations that strengthen Mission-wide collaboration, learning, and adaptation (CLA) and support the successful implementation of the new CDCS.

Scope of the activity:
The SoCha team is expected to perform the following tasks throughout this activity:
• Assess the quality of evaluations/studies and identify conditions for evaluation/study use.
• Identify recurring issues in the design, implementation, and management of activities across studies, offices, and interventions.
• Identify strengths and weaknesses in the Mission’s capacity to implement a successful development strategy and to learn and adapt, and;
• Provide recommendations on how to strengthen Mission-wide adaptive management.

Scope of work:
The Research Assistant will support the Qualitative Data Analyst (Team Lead) to:
• Develop a study assessment tool and review 25 – 50% of studies;
• Assess study utilization through an online client survey;
• Collect information on study use;
• Analyze study themes and user responses;
• Reflect on findings;
• Present findings to multiple target audiences in the Mission;
• Assess client knowledge and skill gaps and develop and execute a training on utilization-focused evaluation, and;
• Share asynchronous resources for extended learning across the Mission.

Minimum qualifications and experience:
• 2 years of experience in supporting or conducting qualitative analyses.
• Experience conducting online surveys, developing, distributing, cleaning data, and conducting preliminary analysis.
• Experience coordinating with stakeholders and mobilizing participation.
• Experience conducting or supporting online workshops preferred.
• Experience coordinating with asynchronous / remote teams preferred.
• 2 years of experience in development programming preferred.
• Experience utilizing asynchronous learning materials and platforms and knowledge of best practices and challenges.
• Prior experience working with USAID preferred.
• Strong English writing skills.
• Experience revising project deliverables preferred.
• Minimum of a bachelor’s degree qualification, preferably in the social sciences field.

Period of Performance:
January 2022 – June 2022.
Location:
Remote and/or in Kampala, Uganda, if required