IPA
recruit
RESEARCH AND INTERVENTION SUPPORT ASSOCIATE
Description du poste
Online job description here: https://www.poverty-action.org/job/research-and-intervention-support-associate
IPA-Côte d’Ivoire is looking to hire a Research and Intervention Support Associate (RA) to support an intervention and manage an endline survey for an RCT that aims to investigate (i) the degree to which pressure to share resources within social and family networks leads to economic disincentives for workers; and (ii) examining whether payroll innovations and financial products that help people to hide their earnings and privately save money can reduce this pressure. The project is implemented by the World Bank Gender Innovation Lab. The PIs on this project are Aletheia Donald, Eliana Carranza and Supreet Kaur. The RA will work closely with the PIs, the Research Manager and the partners of the intervention. This position offers the opportunity to gain first-hand experience with quantitative data collection and implementing an intervention in the sector of financial inclusion.
The World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) is conducting a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) impact evaluation of the Kin Networks, Forced Solidarity and Women’s Employment in Agro-Processing in Côte d’Ivoire. The project aims to encourage productivity increases amongst workers by allowing them to save any extra income earned in a private savings account. To accomplish this, workers are provided with the option to directly deposit monthly earnings in excess of their historical average earnings into an illiquid savings account. The project is being implemented in four locations in central Côte d’Ivoire where OLAM has cashew-processing facilities. It also relies on the cooperation with OLAM’s partner agencies who recruit workers and the Caisse Nationale des Caisses d’Epargne (CNCE) who designed specifically the commitment saving account for this project.
A quantitative baseline survey was designed by the GIL research team in collaboration with IPA and conducted with 1,297 cashew processing workers at the end of 2016. Then, the intervention, which consists in opening commitment saving accounts for the workers, was launched gradually in the different plants.
The role of the RA will be to provide implementation support and conduct a follow-up survey. Implementation includes the roll-out of the intervention in one or two plants, as well as continuous monitoring activities in all the plants where the savings accounts are being offered. The follow-up survey will take place in 2018 to measure the impact of having a commitment savings accounts on workers, and in particular whether it has led to an increase in productivity. This study will lead to a couple of publications including reports for the partner, a policy brief and an academic paper.
Responsibilities
Intervention support and monitoring
Manage two IPA field coordinators based in the plants and in charge of supporting the intervention by liaising daily with partners, facilitating some parts of the intervention and collecting important information
Collect and digitalize key administrative data, both at the worker level (productivity data) and at the plant level (organization of workers, flows of nuts, etc.)
Pilot the intervention including conducting qualitative interviews, testing the savings account at a small scale and providing recommendation on the implementation
Conduct the randomization by compiling the administrative data necessary and writing a dofile
Launch the intervention by organizing marketing campaigns and coordinating with partners to support them in their respective roles
Monitor the intervention in several plants by managing the process of computation of saving amounts by worker, biweekly account crediting and ensure the delivery of receipts to workers
Support the partners to conduct all the tasks related to the intervention and continuously seek to improve processes (e.g. implementing unique IDs, facilitating the administrative burden, etc.)
Writing monthly reports on the intervention
Communicate weekly with PIs to provide feedback and discuss corrective actions to take
Follow-up Survey
Revising and piloting the survey instruments, including programming questions onto a mobile phone/tablet and managing the translation of the survey into the local languages
Recruiting, training and managing survey enumerators in accordance with IPA HR policies
Identifying the sampled workers and implementing processes to successfully track them
Planning and managing the data collection
Monitoring and ensuring data collection complies with IPA standards of data quality, including auditing enumerators, and conducting data quality checks
Maintaining compliance with all IPA procurement procedures
Maintaining financial control of study expenditures including budget verses actual reporting and regular revisions to spending projections
Cleaning data and assisting in econometric analysis
Writing field reports
Performing related duties as assigned by supervisor
Communicating weekly with PIs to keep them updated on the progress
Data analysis and Reports Writing
With support of colleagues and PIs, contribute to data analysis and the production of a few reports/briefs reflecting the main analytical findings from the administrative and survey data, and the short-term impacts of the commitment savings account intervention
Profil du poste
Qualifications
A Bachelor's or Master’s degree in economics, public policy, international development, or related fields
At least 1 year of work experience, preferably in a research setting and with exposure to data analysis and project management
Excellent project management and organizational skills; meticulous attention to detail; ability to work independently
Demonstrated experience to liaise and collaborate successfully with external partners
Excellent verbal and written communication skills in French and English, including ability to effectively communicate with internal and external stakeholders
Must be able to work under pressure and meet deadlines, while maintaining a positive attitude and providing exemplary relationship management will all stakeholders
Strong quantitative skills and good knowledge of Stata preferred; programming and other technical knowledge a strong plus
Demonstrated ability to lead staff and activities efficiently to achieve project goals
Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently
Cultural sensitivity and demonstrated ability to work successfully with diverse constituencies required
Experience with electronic data collection preferred
Familiarity with randomized controlled trials
Dossiers de candidature
Application Instructions
Complete the J-PAL/IPA common application: https://apply.povertyactionlab.org/
After completing a brief registration, choose the Research job category, then select “Research and Intervention Support Associate”. Most applications for research positions require you to include at minimum two letters of recommendation, a statement of purpose (cover letter), CV, and transcripts.
Note that you are able to submit your application before your references complete their recommendation letters; however, you must include their contact information before submitting your application.
Given the volume of applications received, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview.
