About Innovations for Poverty Action: Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a rapidly growing, global organization, and operates in almost 40 countries.

We design innovative, cutting-edge approaches to solving development problems, rigorously evaluate these programs and promote the adoption of those with proven impact.

This occurs both through the dissemination of results to policy makers, practitioners, and donors, as well as through supporting the large-scale implementation of evidence-based programs.

IPA-Kenya (IPAK) is IPA’s oldest country program, and the site of many of its most influential projects, including seminal studies on de-worming, clean water promotion, bed-net usage and fertilizer subsidies.

IPAK employs more than 400 contracted staff working on 20 different projects across multiple offices.

Program / Project / Initiative Summary: IPA seeks qualified applicants for the position of Research Associate for the EMERGE project (Encouraging Multilingual Early Reading as the Groundwork for Education).

EMERGE is a randomized control trial which aims to improve early childhood literacy and school readiness.

In Kenya and throughout sub-Saharan Africa, many primary school children read below grade level.

While there are many causes of low literacy in primary school, a key contributing factor to the widespread lack of literacy is low level of child readiness for primary school.

Our research focuses on an innovative, light touch early childhood intervention to improve school readiness and classroom-level pedagogy through the provision of children’s books and dialogic reading training to parents of children between 2 and 6 years of age in rural, Western Kenya.

We will work in partnership with a local NGO, Maria’s Libraries, to distribute storybooks in official and local languages.

This impact evaluation measures the impact of distributing children’s storybooks and supporting family reading on a range of child, household, and school-level outcomes.

We seek: first, to quantify the effects of inexpensive literacy interventions on learning outcomes; second, to quantify parent behavioral responses to the availability of the new educational materials; and third, measure the change in classroom environment brought about by improved student preparation before school age.

Following pilot activities in 2012 and 2014, we are now preparing for large-scale implementation with the first phase beginning in June 2015.

This position offers an opportunity to gain first-hand field management experience from project inception to close in an organization at the cutting edge of development research.

Position Summary: The Research Associate will oversee all aspects of field work in Kenya, under the supervision of a Research Coordinator, and in close consultation with Principal Investigators.

Responsibilities:
Manage multiple project data collection activities, including baseline, midline, and endline surveys of parents, children and/or households;
Develop and pilot survey instruments;
Design forms for electronic data collection (using SurveyCTO) and manage survey data;
Train and manage teams to conduct surveys;
Ensure all aspects of data quality and assist with data cleaning and preliminary analysis;
Manage logistics for new pilot activities;
Manage project budget, including tracking project expenses and adherence to the project budget;
Work closely with principal investigators and the local partners to ensure study protocols are followed;
Assist with donor reporting and proposal writing;
Other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:
A Bachelor’s degree in economics, social science, or related field.
Excellent management and organizational skills.
Strong quantitative skills.
Outstanding interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills. Fluency in English is required.
Must be flexible, self-motivating and able to work independently, detail-oriented, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and a team player.

Desired Qualifications:
Master’s degree in economics, public policy, social sciences, or public health.
Experience hiring, training, mentoring, and managing staff; experience managing multiple teams simultaneously and prioritizing projects preferred.
Logistics and coordination experience preferred.
Familiarity with randomized controlled trials is a strong plus.
Experience living in a developing country preferred.
Background in economics, education, human development, or public health is a plus, but not required.
Familiarity with database management is a plus, but not required.
Familiarity with statistical software (Stata or other) is a plus, but not required.

How to Apply:
Please send a cover letter, CV, 3 references, daytime phone number(s), and email address. Your CV should include your scores or grades and other measures of academic achievement, and details about any relevant work experience.

Applications can be submitted to any of our branch offices, or by email to jobs-kenya@poverty-action.org ,if you submit by email, please ensure that the subject line reads: “RESEARCH ASSOCIATE.” REF NO: EMERGE-2015-04-01.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted by email for an interview.

Applicants are encouraged to apply early, as applications will be reviewed on a ROLLING BASIS.