ADVERT FOR A DEPARTMENT:    Research

SUPERVISOR:      Senior M&E Associate

LOCATION:          Based in Kampala, Uganda with about 5% field work

COMMITMENT:  1 year, with the possibility of extension

DESIRED START DATE: August 1, 2019    

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS:  Applications will be processed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

Background to the Study

Innovations for Poverty Action’s Right-Fit Evidence Unit is seeking a Junior M&E Associate to work on a consulting engagement to strengthen the way that our clients in Uganda use data. The successful candidate will work alongside the Senior M&E Associate to advise our clients on how to develop and implement adaptive Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) systems, and collect and analyze data to inform their decision-making where needed. The Junior M&E Associate will initially work on a project in the Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector, and is expected to work on other engagements as the unit grows. The position is based in Kampala and will report to the Senior M&E Associate in Kampala, with additional oversight from the global Right-Fit Evidence leadership.

Complementing this core business, the Right-Fit Evidence Unit at IPA is a new effort aimed at helping organizations build strong and tailored Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) systems, which balance the need for information on impact with operational data to support management decisions. In close collaboration with IPA’s sector programs and country office teams worldwide, the unit will provide consulting and direct services to implementers, donors, and governments, with the goal of helping them figure out what reliable data and evidence to gather, how to do it in a cost-effective way, and how to make the promise of data-informed programmatic decisions a reality.

Responsibilities

The Junior M&E Associate will work alongside a Senior M&E Associate to deliver M&E technical support for a two-year ECD program of grants. In particular, the Junior M&E Associate’s work will include coordinating a shared classroom quality monitoring effort among five ECD implementers. This will include supporting the data collection, analysis and reporting for classroom quality against internationally recognized standards, with oversight from the Right-Fit Evidence unit and academic advisers. With oversight from the Senior M&E Associate, the Junior M&E Associate will:

• Support ECD implementers to correctly record, store and transmit classroom videos of a sample of their classrooms for monitoring purposes, and ensure the quality and consistency of those videos
• With the guidance of the Senior M&E Associate, train, manage and oversee a team of IPA enumerators to analyze classroom videos against an agreed quality assessment tool
• Conduct the first draft of all quality data cleaning and analysis, including drafting results briefs for the partners to inform their programmatic management
• Contribute to guidance notes for partners on the design of data collection methods, survey instruments and data management
• Assist to provide technical assistance to client team members in how to collect, analyse and summarize M&E data in line with Right-Fit Evidence Principles
• Support the Senior M&E Associate in facilitating Theory of Change workshops, reflection workshops, and other meetings with external clients as appropriate
• Assist clients to prepare materials, organize logistics and document outcomes for MEL workshops and meetings

Qualifications Education and/or Work Experience Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in statistics, economics, public policy, public health, social science, or a related field
• Minimum two years of research project experience at a field research management or analyst position
• Strong analytical, quantitative and conceptual thinking skills
• Proficiency in Excel for data management and analysis
• Ability to build relationships of trust with stakeholders
• Strong written communication skills;
• Excellent command of English, both spoken and written
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate work effectively over email and phone
• Excellent management and organizational skills
• Self-starter, entrepreneurial mindset, versatility and willingness to learn
• Experience working in developing countries
• Passion for making data-driven decision making a reality in the development sector.

Preferred additional qualifications

• Some familiarity with SurveyCTO, Open Data Kit or similar survey software
• Some ability to use Stata, R or similar statistical software is a strong plus
• Background in development programs, particularly relating to Early Childhood Development
• Familiarity with the concepts surrounding the Theory of Change and the core tools of M&E

About IPA 

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a research and policy nonprofit that discovers and promotes effective solutions to global poverty problems. IPA brings together researchers and decision-makers to design, rigorously evaluate, and refine these solutions and their applications, ensuring that the evidence created is used to improve the lives of the world’s poor. In recent decades, trillions of dollars have been spent on programs designed to reduce global poverty, but clear evidence on which programs succeed is rare, and when evidence does exist, decision-makers often do not know about it. IPA exists to bring together leading researchers and these decision-makers to ensure that the evidence we create leads to tangible impact on the world. Since its founding in 2002, IPA has worked with over 575 leading academics to conduct over 650 evaluations in 51 countries. This research has informed hundreds of successful programs that now impact millions of individuals worldwide. The IPA website: www.poverty-action.org