LEAD EXPERT - IMPACT EVALUATION OF A SKILLS DEVELOPMENT / TVET PROJECT
AFDB1JP00001588
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Not Applied
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Posted On
2026-10-09
Period
2026-12-14 to 2027-12-13
Job Type
Temporary Part Time
Location
Abidjan 01CIV
Category
Business Professional
Description
Description: The Independent Development Evaluation Department of the AfDB (IDEV) invites qualified individual consultants to express their interest in serving as Lead Expert for an impact evaluation of a Bank-financed skills-development or Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) intervention. The consultant will provide senior impact-evaluation and TVET/skills-development expertise from scoping and project selection through methodological design, data-collection preparation and oversight, analysis and reporting.
Note on duration of assignment: The one-year duration indicated in SAP Fieldglass is due to a system limitation. The actual duration of the assignment is 14 months, until the end of January 2028.
REOI Timeline: Expressions of Interest must be submitted electronically via SAP FIELDGLASS no later than 23 October 2026 at 17:00 GMT. The assignment is expected to commence on 14 December 2026. Only shortlisted consultants will be contacted.
Applicants should refer to the attached Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI) for the detailed eligibility requirements, required application documents, and submission instructions.
Interested consultants may obtain further information during the Bank's working hours, from 09:00 to 17:00 GMT, from:
Christoffer Borchgrevink Claussen and Leticia Fordiani Taimo Jansen
Independent Development Evaluation (IDEV)
African Development Bank
Avenue Joseph Anoma, 01 BP 1387, Abidjan 01, Côte d'Ivoire
The evaluation will generate project-level evidence on whether, for whom and under what conditions a selected skills-development or TVET intervention affects access to and quality of training, skills acquisition and application, school-to-work transition, employment and self-employment, earnings, productivity and job quality, as relevant to the selected intervention. It will also examine implementation, institutional, beneficiary and contextual factors affecting results and draw lessons for future Bank operations.
The final project selection process is ongoing. IDEV will undertake a comparative evaluability assessment of approximately three to four shortlisted projects. The selected project and detailed evaluation design will be confirmed following scoping, consultation and verification of available data. The evaluation is expected to use a mixed-method approach and, subject to evaluability, an experimental or quasi-experimental design
B. Scope of work
Working closely with the IDEV evaluation team, the Lead Expert will undertake the following principal tasks:
• Conduct a desk review of documentation, data and relevant evidence for the shortlisted projects and provide methodological inputs to IDEV's evaluability assessment. • Participate in IDEV-led scoping missions for approximately three to four shortlisted projects and support validation of treatment definition, counterfactual options, beneficiary traceability, data availability and quality, spillover risks and design feasibility. • Support project selection and develop the technical impact-evaluation design for the selected project, including the Theory of Change, evaluation questions, analytical framework, treatment and comparison definitions, estimands and identification strategy. • Develop the sampling framework, statistical power calculations and data strategy, including primary-data requirements, key variables, data linkage and data-quality considerations. • Develop quantitative survey instruments and relevant qualitative instruments and protocols; contribute to sampling procedures, field protocols, respondent tracking and data-quality controls. • Provide technical guidance to a separately contracted local data-collection firm, including support for training, piloting or pre-testing, instrument finalization and field implementation. • Provide technical oversight and quality assurance during data collection, including monitoring sample achievement and data quality and advising on corrective measures. • Prepare the analysis plan; conduct or lead quantitative and econometric analysis; undertake diagnostic, robustness, sensitivity and validation checks; and integrate quantitative findings with qualitative, implementation and contextual evidence. • Prepare the draft and final Technical Impact-Evaluation Reports and accompanying analytical packages, respond to review comments, and provide feedback on the summary report prepared by IDEV.
The Lead Expert shall personally perform and retain primary responsibility for the substantive services and deliverables under the assignment. Where necessary for the efficient performance of the assignment, the Lead Expert may, subject to IDEV's prior written approval, engage limited specialist, research, data or programming support for specific ancillary tasks. Such support shall not alter the individual nature of the consultancy or relieve the Lead Expert of any obligation or responsibility under the Contract. The Bank shall have no contractual relationship with, or payment obligation to, any person engaged by the Lead Expert. Any such arrangement shall be subject to the applicable provisions of the Contract, including those relating to confidentiality, conflicts of interest, integrity and subcontracting.
C. Deliverables Expected
• Scoping and Methodological Assessment Note. • Final Impact-Evaluation Design Note providing the principal technical inputs for IDEV's Approach Paper. • Draft Technical Impact-Evaluation Report and Analytical Package, including finalized instruments and protocols, documented analysis-ready datasets, data/codebook documentation, the final analysis plan and reproducible analytical code or syntax. • Final Technical Impact-Evaluation Report and Final Analytical Package, including a consolidated comment-response matrix and final datasets, code or syntax and supporting documentation. All deliverables will be prepared and submitted in English and will be subject to IDEV review and formal acceptance.
D. Duration and Timetable for the Assignment
The assignment is expected to be undertaken intermittently from mid-December 2026 through January 2028. The indicative level of effort is approximately 120-125 working days. The final number of working days will depend on the number of shortlisted projects identified for the scoping phase (three or four) and the corresponding mission requirements. The contract payments will be deliverable-based, and the number of working days indicated above represents an estimated level of effort for planning purposes.
E. Bank Contribution and Institutional Arrangement
IDEV is seeking the services of an individual consultant to serve as Lead Expert for the Impact Evaluation of a Bank-financed Skills Development or TVET Project. IDEV will retain overall responsibility for managing the evaluation, approving the methodology, selecting the project to be evaluated, engaging with stakeholders, and ensuring the quality and ownership of the resulting evaluation products on behalf of the Bank Group. The Lead Expert will work as an integral member of the IDEV evaluation team, under the supervision of the IDEV Task Manager(s) and the overall guidance of IDEV Management. The consultant will work closely with the wider evaluation team and, where relevant, the separately contracted local data-collection firm. Key deliverables will be subject to IDEV’s quality-assurance process, including review by the evaluation team, internal and external peer reviewers, the Evaluation Reference Group, and IDEV Management.
F. Duty Station
The assignment will be primarily home-based/remote, with travel for agreed scoping and evaluation missions. Mission destinations and dates will be agreed once the shortlisted projects and final project are confirmed.
G. Essential Specialized Skills/Knowledge/Competencies
• Advanced university degree, preferably a PhD, in economics, development economics, education economics, labour economics, public policy, statistics, econometrics or a closely related field. • At least eight years of relevant professional experience in rigorous quantitative impact evaluation, applied micro-econometrics or closely related evaluation research, with demonstrated experience leading complex impact evaluations. • Demonstrated expertise in designing and implementing experimental and/or quasi-experimental impact evaluations, including counterfactual and identification strategies, sampling, statistical power analysis, econometric estimation, robustness testing and causal inference. • Substantive expertise in evaluating TVET and/or skills development. Experience related to youth employment, labour-market transitions, workforce development, entrepreneurship or related human-capital interventions is highly desirable. • Demonstrated experience with survey design, primary data collection and field quality assurance for beneficiary, trainee, household and/or enterprise surveys. • Strong proficiency in relevant statistical/econometric software, such as Stata, R, Python or equivalent, and ability to produce transparent and reproducible analysis. • Experience conducting impact evaluations or applied research in African countries is highly desirable. • Experience working with multilateral development banks, international financial institutions, bilateral agencies or other development organizations is an asset. • Excellent analytical, problem-solving and written and oral communication skills, including the ability to explain complex methodological issues clearly to technical and non-technical audiences and work effectively with multidisciplinary and multicultural teams. • Excellent command of written and spoken English. Knowledge of French, Arabic or Portuguese is an advantage, particularly as the final shortlisted projects may include projects in countries where these languages are spoken.
Eligibility criteria
Interested individual consultants should submit an Expression of Interest in English demonstrating their qualifications and experience for the assignment. The submission should include:
1. A signed Expression of Interest or cover letter indicating availability for the assignment and confirming interest in providing the services. 2. An updated curriculum vitae (CV) detailing relevant qualifications, professional references for similar services, demonstrated experience in similar assignments, responsibilities, and results.
The establishment of the shortlist and the selection procedure shall be conducted in accordance with the African Development Bank's applicable Procurement Policy and Procedures for Corporate Consultants Recruitment. The Bank is under no obligation to shortlist any consultant who expresses interest.
A shortlist of three to six individual consultants will be established following the assessment of the Expressions of Interest received. Shortlisted consultants will be assessed based on their updated CVs using the following criteria:
Shortlisting criteria - General qualifications/education level in a relevant field: 30% - Relevant professional experience in rigorous experimental and/or quasi-experimental quantitative impact evaluation and applied microeconometrics, including leadership of complex impact evaluations: 35% - Substantive experience evaluating TVET, skills development, youth employment, labour-market transitions, workforce development, entrepreneurship, or related human-capital interventions: 20% - Experience in African countries and with the African Development Bank, other multilateral development banks, international financial institutions, or development organizations: 10% - Language and communication capacity, including excellent English; knowledge of French, Arabic, or Portuguese is an advantage: 5%
Total: 100%
H. Supervisor
The consultant will work under the supervision of the IDEV Task Manager(s) for the Impact Evaluation of a Bank-funded Skills Development or TVET Project and under the overall guidance of IDEV Management. The consultant will work closely with the wider IDEV evaluation team and, as relevant, the separately contracted data-collection firm and other evaluation stakeholders. Deliverables will be submitted to the IDEV Task Manager(s) for review and acceptance in accordance with the agreed work plan and the Bank's consultancy arrangements.
Consultancy Input Days
261.00
Qualifications
Qualification
Assessment
Regular Consultant
Less than 32 years old at the time of signing the contract and during contract execution
