Background

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) seeks a who will work closely with global and local teams to assist in implementing IPA Uganda’s evidence-to-impact agenda. The role will primarily be responsible for supporting IPA Uganda and our partners to identify policymaker needs, share evidence to inform policy, liaise with policymakers and practitioners, and coordinate meetings, including round-table discussions, workshops for the PlayMatters initiative. A partnership with the International Rescue Committee, War Child, Plan International, the Behavioral Insights Team, and IPA, the PlayMatters initiative, primarily focused on teacher professional development      will deliver and promote Learning through Play, early learning solutions for pre-primary and primary school aged children impacted by the humanitarian crises in East Africa and living in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda.

Responsibilities

Based in IPA’s office in Uganda, the Senior Policy Associate will build partnerships      to find out what works to deliver play-based learning in humanitarian settings     . Major responsibilities include supporting on-the-ground scoping in humanitarian settings in Uganda, development of pilots and impact evaluations, policy and stakeholder engagement, event planning, and coordination among initiative partners.

The Senior Policy Associate will also support IPA Uganda’s policy impact strategy, focusing on coordinating the most strategic       opportunities for policymakers to use rigorous evidence in decision-making. The Senior Policy Associate will report to IPA Uganda’s Senior Education Research and Policy Manager with dotted line oversight from the global policy      team and substantial collaboration with Uganda research teams. The Senior Policy Associate will coordinate and partner with the PlayMatters initiative leadership team comprised of representatives from IRC, War Child, Plan International, BIT, and IPA.

Specific Roles

Support IPA Policy Outreach with Government and other Policy Stakeholders

• Support the development of IPA Uganda’s      outreach strategy to policymakers and relevant practitioners in support of the PlayMatters initiative and IPA Uganda’s strategic projects.
• Conduct needs assessment exercise with policymakers and practitioners to identify key questions, interests, and needs of policymakers as well as upcoming opportunities for policy development or review

• Map influential NGO, government, and development partner stakeholders who influence policymaking and programming in IPA Uganda strategic interest areas    .

• Continuously network and build relationships with policymakers and program implementing organizations to deepen existing relationships and build new ones to use evidence to inform decision-making      

• Plan and       participate in strategic events for policy purposes, including but not limited to summits, conferences, workshops, technical working groups, and round tables. Support researchers and country management to participate.
• Support research management staff in executing the “Policy Impact Minimum Must Dos” and in identifying and stewarding high potential partner relationships on individual projects.
• Identify and participate in strategic                policy and stakeholder engagements with      partners as necessary (such as building the relationships required to engage decision-makers around large-scale evaluations of promising play-based learning programs).
• Support the development of project communication materials for various in-country and global stakeholders.
• Support logistics and planning for in-country workshops and events with relevant stakeholders.

• Support the development of Memoranda of Understanding and protocols that guide relationships with key players in the policy space.
• Perform desk research to identify existing evidence, gaps in the literature, and innovative interventions in other humanitarian contexts related to play-based learning, in partnership with the initiative’s global teams.
• Continuously scan the policy environment for opportunities for research-policy linkages                    
• Support the launch of high impact policy opportunities, including scale-up technical assistance.
• Identify and help launch opportunities for policy relevant right-fit monitoring and evaluation opportunities in Uganda.

  Qualifications 

• Bachelor's degree in economics, education, development, international relations, public administration, public policy or a closely related field. Master’s degree in a related field is an added advantage
• 1-4 years of relevant experience, including at least 1 year of experience working closely with large NGOs and/or national government officials.
• Knowledge of and demonstrated interest in the use of rigorous evidence for international development policy required.
• Expertise in education and/or one other priority sector child protection, forced displacement, health, nutrition is strongly preferred.
• Attention to detail and advanced presentation skills for communicating policy lessons from academic papers in ways that policymakers understand. This requires clear, precise, non-technical writing, and confident, effective spoken communication and presentation style.
• Proven ability to multitask and successfully complete projects on tight deadlines with little supervision.
• Willingness to work hard, be self-motivated, and learn will be essential for doing well in this position.
• Prior experience working with Government entities, especially Ministries of Education, Health, Gender, Labor and Social Development and Office of the Prime Minister is referred.
• Experience working with refugees and refugee communities is an added advantage.
• Ability to supervise staff and manage projects independently.