Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), Research Associate Job Vacancy in Rwanda

Research
Associate, Entrepreneurship Development (Rwanda)

Location: Kigali,
Rwanda and nationwide field sites
Desired Start Date: July
28, 2014
Reports to: Country
Representative, IPA Rwanda
Length of Commitment: 2.5
year

Innovations
for Poverty Action (IPA), is an international non-profit research organization.
Based in New Haven, CT, with offices in Washington, D.C. and worldwide, IPA
works with development partners and academic researchers to create and evaluate
approaches to solving development problems, to communicate “what works” in
development

and to scale up successful projects in a variety of fields, including
health, education, microfinance, governance and agriculture.

Project
Description:

The project will target micro- and small-sized
enterprise owners with the potential and motivation to improve their
productivity, grow their firms and create employment opportunities for
others. Specifically, we will examine the impact of two types of support
for micro and small entrepreneurs: remote consulting services provided by Grow
Movement, in conjunction with Educat Rwanda, and an business ICT tool that will
help entrepreneurs manage finance and marketing information.
Entrepreneurs will be carefully screened to identify those with “high-growth”
potential, and those 600 entrepreneurs will be targeted to receive either the
consulting services, the ICT tool, or both.

Position Summary:

The Research Associate position offers an opportunity to manage fieldwork for a
randomized control trial. This position is based in Kigali, Rwanda, with
field work in Kigali, Muhanga, and other cities. The principal investigators
are Stephen Anderson Macdonald and Naufel Vilcassim (London Business School),
and Pradeep Chintagunta (University of Chicago).

The Research Associate will work closely with academic researchers, the
implementing partner and other field staff to perform a variety of tasks
including, but not limited to:

Hiring,
training, and managing survey enumerators
Developing
and piloting survey instruments including managing translation into the
local language
Managing
the logistics of a field experiment, including managing budgets,
timelines, and relationships with partners
Managing
data entry or data capture and assisting in data cleaning and analysis
Ensuring
adherence to data quality protocols, including auditing enumerators,
monitoring data collection, and conducting data quality audits
Managing
relationships with local partners running the program being evaluated and
with local District officials
Overseeing
funding and human subjects approval applications, and ensuring that all
necessary approvals are in place
Other
duties as assigned

Qualifications:

A
Bachelor’s degree in economics, social sciences, public policy, or a
related field
Excellent
management and organizational skills
Fluency
and excellent communication skills in English (French, Kinyarwanda
desirable)
Flexible,
self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and a team
player
Demonstrated
ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations
Experience
living in a developing country is a strong plus
Familiarity
with randomized controlled trials preferred