Jobs at Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)

Responsibilities 

Embedded Evidence Lab

• The Manager will perform a variety of tasks related to leveraging existing data and developing new research projects to drive greater use of evidence within the regulator. For example, the Manager may conduct activities including but not limited to:

• Mapping the data needs of specific departments within the regulator against the existing data available, complemented with an assessment of its quality

• Assessing existing datasets and indicators according to criteria of relevance, objectivity, and reliability

• Identifying opportunities to test low cost “pilots” of new approaches to data collection and analysis to generate actionable information and analysis

• Developing and executing opportunities to leverage administrative data for analysis to inform key programs and decisions

• Providing technical support through coaching, feedback on Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) tools, training and other on-site support

• Developing and executing “learning-by-doing” capacity building projects with the goal of strengthening quality and use of data among partners on this project and beyond

• Developing opportunities to leverage administrative data for research; connecting local and international researchers to pursue these openings

• Producing policy reports and briefs based on key insights generated from lab activities

• Developing a policy-driven research agenda for the lab and facilitating the development of research projects to respond to the agenda

• Coordinate the research project development process across all phases: Project design, partnership agreements, budgeting and procurement, implementation and dissemination

• Monitor project implementation to ensure quality control and adherence to the research specifications agreed upon, including supervision of research teams during data collection to ensure high quality and strict adherence to research design

• Support project relationships with local stakeholders, including government authorities, multilateral and bilateral partners, civil society organizations, and private sector firms to facilitate the successful implementation of the research projects

• Contribute to the delivery of high-quality policyand research outputs and activities. These include internal and external communications on the progress and outcomes of the research projects

• Ensure project deliverables, such as reports and financial statements, are submitted on time

• Facilitating events to disseminate lessons learned from implementation of lab activities

Qualifications 

We are seeing three different types of profiles that could fit this position particularly well (and if you don’t fall in any of these categories but feel like you meet the qualifications below, please do apply as well!)

• Management consultants with international development experience who would be excited in a career shift to an entrepreneurial and impact-focused environment leveraging their skillset

• M&E practitioners who are interested in broadening their scope and impact on the field by advising multiple organizations on state-of-the-art M&E practices

• Researchers and research management professionals in international development who enjoy working closely with practitioners and are interested in broadening their scope to all the types of data and evidence that can inform policy and practice.

Required qualifications

• Master’s degree in a related field such as international development, economics, public policy, public health, education policy or social sciences, including significant coursework i in quantitative methods. MBAs also welcome.

• 4-8 years of experience in the development or humanitarian sectors, with experience in monitoring and evaluation

• Experience in the development of MEL plans and tools, including sampling and questionnaire design

• Experience supervising quantitative and qualitative data collection

• Strong client facing and presentation skills, and ability to build relationships of trust with stakeholders at various levels

• Ability to present information in a structured and insightful way, both in writing and orally, to a variety of audiences

• Self-starter, entrepreneurial mindset, versatility and willingness to learn.

• Strong time management and multi-tasking skills • Experience working in developing countries, and preferably in Africa.

• Complete fluency in English

Preferred additional qualifications

• Experience working on research or MEL on programs relating to Human Trafficking, Forced Labor and/or Irregular Migration

• Experience working with government stakeholders

• Experience in management consulting or other professional services

• Familiarity with the concepts surrounding the Theory of Change and the core tools of MEL (both quantitative and qualitative research methods)

• Understanding of causal inference and RCTs

• Ability to use Stata, R or similar statistical software

• Familiarity with SurveyCTO, Open Data Kit or similar survey software

• Demonstrated ability to coach and train others on MEL methodologies data analysis or statistics

go to method of application »

Responsibilities 

• Project development: Scope potential opportunities and partnerships for evidence use and evidence generation, through desk research, events attendance, targeted outreach, and scoping trips or discussions. Cultivate and support existing relationships with key partners in Francophone West Africa and regularly engage with them to identify needs and opportunities for collaboration. Where relevant, support matchmaking between government officials and researchers in our network to measure the impact of innovations using randomised evaluations.

• Project Implementation: Plan and coordinate, and eventually directly manage policy projects and processes. Provide technical assistance to governments, in partnership with affiliated researchers where necessary, to support the development of evidence-informed policies and programmes in the relevant sector of expertise. This will involve codifying evidence, supporting local adaptation through the design and implementation of data collection exercises and co-designing interventions with government. A critical element will also be convening and coordinating stakeholders, including policy makers, affiliates, implementing partners, external contractors and team members for successful project implementation.

• Topic expertise: Maintain expertise on evidence and policy priorities in relevant subject areas and critically engage with existing evidence to identify replicable interventions and policy-relevant research questions. Codify and disseminate evidence on interventions that might address the challenges around girls’ education and assess applicability to new contexts using the generalisability framework.

• Events and communications: Support content generation on girls’ education evidence and policy activities in both French and English for various media (social media, blogposts, third party publications etc) and support with drafting of donor reports. Prepare presentations and workshops for internal and external events and trainings, working with the Operations team to coordinate the logistics and planning

• Perform other related duties as assigned by the manager.

Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s Degree (NQF8) in relevant field such as economics, development studies, international relations, public administration or public policy required.

• Experience and interest in education policy and programming, particularly with a focus on gender equality and girls’ enrolment preferred.

• Minimum two years working in Africa, preferably working with governments and/or with experience in economics or social science research.

• Demonstrated ability to read and analyse rigorous quantitative research, including randomized evaluations.

• Writing and oral fluency in English and French, with a strong ability to present and communicate technical research to policymakers in a non-technical manner.

• Proven ability to manage multiple diverse assignments at one time, coordinate several contributors, successfully complete assigned tasks and meet deadlines while conducting high-quality work with minimal oversight

• Ability to create and cultivate relationships with external stakeholders, such as researchers or policymakers. Experience working with or within government departments with experience of policy advisory or policy design services valued.

• Entrepreneurial spirit and ability to self-motivate and learn, as well as to work effectively with colleagues across time zones.

• Strong skills in Excel, Word and PowerPoint

• Ability and willingness to travel internationally frequently and flexibly to support policy outreach, scoping research and training events. Most travel will be in West Africa and to South Africa.

• West African nationals preferred.