Background

Yemen was one of the poorest countries in the world. The 2021 Human Development Index ranked the country 183 out of 191 countries and territories. The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that currently 17 million Yemeni (half the population) are food insecure and 2.2 million preschool children are acutely malnourished. In 2022, 17% of school children in Yemen received school meals and in 2023, the humanitarian response will cover only 8% of the needs of education sector, leaving it with the second highest unmet need. WFP provides nutritious snacks (imported or locally procured), either fortified date bars or fortified high energy biscuits, to 1.55 million school children. There is an urgent need to understand how to improve access to nutritious school meals to support students and schools throughout the country. To this end, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) designed a cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT) to evaluate the effectiveness and cost- efficiency of adding a daily drink of milk to an ongoing school feeding program. The trial will be conducted over one school year.

Required qualifications

1) Bachelor’s degree with at least 2 years of research experience or Master’s degree in public health, international development, public policy, nutrition, economics, social science, or other closely related field

List of knowledge, skills and abilities

1) Demonstrated experience with data cleaning and analysis in Stata

2) Demonstrated written proficiency in English and Arabic

3) Demonstrated ability to multi-task, consistently meet deadlines and manage time well

4) Demonstrated professional level of attention to detail and accuracy of work

5) Ability to work independently, with initiative and minimal supervision

Deliverables

1) Cleaning and analysis do, data files, and Excel tables baseline and endline school survey modules

2) Draft knowledge in English product using baseline school data

3) Translate PowerPoint with study results from English to Arabic

Timeframe/duration of work

25 days from May 2025 to August 2025