- Reports to:Senior
Director, East Africa - Location:
Lilongwe, Malawi - Application
Deadline:Applicants
will be reviewed on a rolling basis - Start
date:June
2015
Innovations for
Poverty Action (IPA) discovers and promotes effective solutions to global
poverty problems. IPA designs, rigorously evaluates, and refines these
solutions and their applications together with decision-makers to ensure that
the evidence created is used to improve opportunities for the world’s poor.
Since our founding in 2002, IPA has worked with over 350 leading academics to
conduct over 450 evaluations in 51 countries. This research has informed
hundreds of successful programs that now impact millions of individuals
worldwide.
Position
Summary:
IPA seeks a Country
Representative/Research Manager in Malawi to manage and lead IPA’s Malawi
country program. The CR/RM will work closely with the Global Programs team and
key stakeholders to initiate and manage the development of new research
projects and oversee ongoing impact evaluations in a range of sectors, which
may include finance and savings, agriculture, health, education, and others.
The CR/RM works closely with the country office to ensure effective support is
provided to projects, and that projects are working within the relevant
policies and procedures. She/he will actively grow IPA’s portfolio in Malawi
through strategic partnerships with researchers, donors, policymakers,
implementing organizations, and others to develop new projects. Successful
staff in the Research Manager position will have the opportunity to transition
to Country Representative.
Responsibilities:
Lead Country
Program development and manage external relations (20-40%)
- Build
IPA’s presence and portfolio of projects in Malawi - Work
with IPA Global, researchers and partners to initiate and manage the
development of new research proposals including both the technical design
as well as identifying and applying for funding support - Identify
priority research questions and key concerns for policy makers in Malawi - Build
and manage relationships with current and potential IPA partner
organizations in the implementation of interventions whose effect we are
researching - Develop
new relationships with researchers, government agencies, local
organizations, and others to explore opportunities for collaboration - Represent
IPA at national and regional conferences and events - Liaise
with US-based and local Principal Investigators, IPA headquarters and
other country programs - Disseminate
results via local and international presentations, reports, and
publications - Lead
IPA’s policy impact efforts in Malawi, by ensuring that policy impact
plans of Malawi are in strategic alignment with IPA’s overall policy
strategy of impact through One Project at a Time, and ensuring all
projects create and execute a One Project at a Time policy impact strategy
Ensure
high-quality research (40-60%)
- Work
closely with project staff to ensure that projects meet all of IPA
research and administrative protocols as well as the quality standards of
the independent researchers (Principal Investigators) - Oversee
project design and budgeting during the proposal stage to ensure
evaluations meet IPA standards - Build
systems and structures to build staff capacity and ensure overall data
quality, including developing computer-assisted interviewing (CAI)
capacity in the office - Directly
supervise project research staff, and help with transitions, on-boarding
of new research staff and maintaining institutional memory of project
activities - Promote
inter-project best practices and take a lead in sharing best practices
with projects through formal and informal trainings
Oversee finances
and ensure sound operations of IPA Malawi (20%)
- Manage
a team of Research Associates/Coordinators, whose responsibilities include
project design and implementation, data collection, data management and
analysis, and reports - Hire
and supervise additional support staff, as needed - Oversee
basic administrative tasks related to the management of the Malawi office,
create and manage project budgets, participate in grant reporting, and
other financial management tasks - Ensure
proper compliance with financial procedures, approve expenditures, make
accurate projections and ensure overall compliance
Qualifications:
- Graduate
degree in international affairs, international public policy, development
economics, business, or field related to international economic
development - Entrepreneurial,
self-starter with a passion for connecting rigorous research to policy
makers and practitioners and communicating what works and what does not
work in development - Experience
in economics or social science research. Field experience very highly
valued. - Experience
with data management, econometrics, and advanced knowledge of Stata. - Demonstrated
ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations - Experience
with budgeting and project planning - Excellent
management and organizational skills and ability to work independently - Demonstrated
ability to work successfully with diverse constituencies
https://www.poverty-action.org/getinvolved/jobs/Africa/IPAMalawi101462
