Associate Director, Global Financial Inclusion and Post Conflict Recovery Research Initiatives

• Reports to: Director, Global Financial Inclusion Initiative and Director, Post Conflict Recovery Initiative
• Location:New Haven, CT
• Application deadline: August 15, 2013

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 partner organizations 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, finance, governance and agriculture.

Position Summary:

The position will support two research initiatives, the Global Financial Inclusion Initiative (GFII) and the Post Conflict Recovery Initiative (PCRI), and offers the opportunity to play a key role in the expansion of each initiative by engaging in the development and management of new projects.  This position is based in New Haven, Connecticut and involves working closely with Dean Karlan, and other researchers involved in post conflict recovery research for approximately one year to complete the development of several key projects.  The ideal candidate will have an in-depth understanding of IPA’s commitment savings projects and experience in managing field experiments in developing and post conflict countries.  The Associate Director will be required to travel domestically and internationally on a frequent basis.  

Responsibilities:

Support the Scale-Up of Commitment Savings

The Associate Director will spend approximately 50% of his or her time leading the effort to scale up IPA’s commitment savings work worldwide under the research direction of Dean Karlan, working closely with GFII teams and IPA and JPAL field offices globally.

• Seek out and follow up on donor conversations to expand commitment savings scale-ups;
• Seek out and grow partnerships and relationships with potential partner institutions and stakeholders worldwide;
• Coordinate the development of communications materials for commitment savings scale-up efforts; and
• Travel domestically and internationally to represent IPA at conferences and in support of partnership and funding development.

Support the Expansion of Post-Conflict Recovery Initiative

Depending on funding availability, the Associate Director will spend approximately 40% of his or her time developing and overseeing the Reintegration and Recovery portfolio as part of the PCRI.  He or she will collaborate closely with the Initiative Director to develop and grow the initiative as a whole, with the goal of generating a body of evidence on the impact of post-conflict recovery programs worldwide and developing a set of best practices on data collection and evaluation in conflict-affected settings.

• Develop and refine  the reintegration-focused initiative research agenda in collaboration with current Initiative Director, Principal Investigators, and other stakeholders;
• Develop on outreach and communication materials for the initiative;
• Support a shift in the geographic focus of the initiative through project development in new countries;
• Conduct financial oversight and fundraising for the initiative’s reintegration and recovery portfolio and other projects in collaboration;
• Develop a stronger network of PCRI donors, partner institutions and collaborators;
• Represent the initiative and IPA to important stakeholders;
• Initiate the development of new research including engaging with researchers and IPA or JPAL field offices on the technical design and funding support for reintegration projects;
• Work with IPA and JPAL field office staff and partner organizations on the management of impact evaluations; and
• Oversee interns and staff working on initiative project implementation, reports, and other tasks, while ensuring adherence to IPA research protocols.

Research Management: Character Development Among Ultra-Poor Filipinos

The Associate Director will spend approximately 10% of his or her time supporting the fundraising, reporting and ongoing research management of the Character Development Among Ultra-Poor Filipinos project in the Philippines.   

• Coordinate and assist with revisions of funding proposals and donor reports for the project;
• Manage communication and coordinate among the Philippines country team, PIs, partner organization and other relevant actors;
• Assist principle investigators with ongoing research management, dissemination and reporting tasks on this project as directed; and
• Perform other tasks a necessary to support the research initiatives and projects.

Qualifications:

• A Master’s Degree in public health, public policy or related social sciences.
• At least three years’ experience overseeing multiple complex RCTs in the field and coordinating multiple projects, staff and systems simultaneously in a developing country.
• History of success working as part of a team to procure large grants for rigorous evaluation.
• Experience with and in-depth understanding of IPA’s commitment savings portfolio and past research efforts on savings.
• Experience with and in-depth understanding of conducting RCT field research in the developing world, including conflict-affected areas.
• Demonstrated experience collaborating with PIs and developing and managing high-level partnerships with institutions, donors and government officials for evaluations in multiple sectors.
• In-depth understanding of poverty in the Philippine context.
• Excellent communications skills in English; Tagalog and Spanish proficiency a plus.
• Flexibility, self-motivation, and the ability to manage multiple tasks efficiently as a team player.            

Please note: U.S. work authorization is required

Application Instructions:

Please follow the application instructions below.  Any applications or CVs submitted outside this process will not be considered.  Note, only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview. 

1. Send an email to jobs@poverty-action.org, following these instructions exactly:

• In the subject line:  Copy exactly the following position line: 100970IPAUSA, Associate Director
• In the email body:  Put your full name, first (given) name followed by last (family) name
• Attachments:  Please attach Only your CV and cover letter

Please do not include any text besides your name in the body of the e-mail. Adding extra text will interfere with the processing of your application

2. Fill out our EEO-1 Voluntary Self Identification Form.

IPA is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Affirmative Action Employer.

All persons shall have the opportunity to be considered for employment without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, alienage or citizenship status, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.

IPA will endeavor to make a reasonable accommodation to a qualified applicant with a disability unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of our business. If you believe you require such assistance to complete this form or to participate in an interview, please contact us at jobs@poverty-action.org.

DISCLAIMER: The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of the work to be performed by the Associate Director.  The statements are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all possible duties, tasks, and responsibilities. Management reserves the right to amend and change responsibilities to meet organizational needs as necessary. Please note that IPA will never request any form of payment from an applicant. Applicants are encouraged to confirm the information listed above with IPA prior to releasing any extensive personal information to the organization. Please direct questions to jobs@poverty-action.org.