Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) seeks to recruit a senior research associate, Socio-emotional skills in women’s business development – IPA – Nigeria

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is undertaking a research study with the World Bank Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) to assess the returns to socio-emotional skills training for people working in the agri-business sector. IPA and GIL will work with the Nigerian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development to carry out a randomized control trail across six states to increase the understanding of how to effectively deliver these skills and in turn impact individuals earnings, employment, and entrepreneurship. This study will contribute to a larger research program studying the impacts socio-emotional skills in a range of populations and contexts.

The Senior Research Associate will work closely with leading researchers and other field staff to perform a variety of tasks including, but not limited to: coordinating research plans with project partners, piloting survey questionnaires, conducting qualitative research, refining study design and surveying instruments, managing survey teams, negotiating contracts with survey firms, cleaning and analyzing data, assisting in the writing of project reports and policy memos, and coordinating with local partners running the programs being evaluated.

 

Responsibilities  :

Throughout the life of the project, the Senior Research Associate will be expected to carry out the following activities :

• Developing and piloting the survey instruments and managing the translation of the survey into local languages ;
• Creating and implementing protocols and monitoring mechanisms for a smooth roll out of the intervention ;
• Hiring, training, and managing field teams and/or survey firm who will conduct the interviews and implement the intervention monitoring ;
• Working closely with partners running the intervention and liaising between all stakeholders to ensure all interests are aligned and accounted for ;
• Managing all field logistics, procuring equipment, and ensuring the study and the intervention have approvals from local authorities ;
• Ensuring all data quality protocols are followed including auditing enumerators and performing daily checks of the incoming data; correcting the errors of staff iteratively to ensure the data is of the highest quality ;
• Managing the data from collection at the household to delivery of a final, cleaned dataset ;
• Managing the budget, including tracking all expenses to ensure costs are within project funds ;
• Writing regular progress reports and leading project meetings to ensure deadlines are met ;
• Organizing and providing training in impact evaluation for project team(s) and partners as needed ;
• Cleaning and merging datasets, providing support to researchers on initial analysis tasks ;
• Other task as required.

 

Qualifications  :

• A degree (Master’s preferred) in economics, public policy, international development, health, or related fields ;
• Excellent project management skills and attention to detail, with a quality-focused mindset ;
• Experience interacting with partners, government officials and other key stakeholders in a developing country context ;
• Cultural sensitivity and demonstrated ability to work successfully with diverse constituencies ;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English ;
• Ability to work independently, problem-solve, and enlist support when needed ;
• Strong quantitative skills and very good knowledge of Stata ;
• Must be able to work under pressure and meet deadlines ;
• Experience working or living in developing countries.

 

Additional desired qualifications :

• Experience working in Nigeria or the West African context ;
• Experience supervising data collection and teams of field workers ;
• Knowledge of randomized controlled trials and econometrics ;
• Knowledge of measurement and instrument development ;
• Experience working on sensitive issues related to gender and social norms ;
• Knowledge of qualitative data collection methods.