Job Opportunity for Senior Research Associate at Poverty Action Lab in Patna

Project: Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana (SJY)

Start Date (earliest): 15 June 2023

Length of Commitment: 2 years (can be extended based on performance and availability)

Education: Master’s Degree

Organization: J-PAL South Asia at IFMR

Language requirement: Hindi, English

Location: Patna, Bihar

Principal Investigators (PIs): Prof. Abhijit Banerjee (MIT), Prof. Esther Duflo (MIT), Dr. Shagun Sabarwal (WomenLift Health), Dr. Jyoti Prasad Mukhopadhyay (IFMR/KREA), Dr. Sharan M.R. (University of Maryland)

About the Organization:

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) J-PAL was established in 2003 as a research center at the Economics Department at MIT. Since then, it has grown into a global network of researchers who use randomized evaluations to answer critical policy questions in the fight against poverty. J-PAL is propelled by a first-rate team dedicated to research, policy, training, and other vital work, supporting J-PAL’s mission to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence.

J-PAL South Asia, which is based at the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR) in India, analyses and disseminates research results and builds partnerships with policymakers to ensure that policy is driven by evidence, and that programs proven effective are scaled up. We have a growing number of partnerships in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

Project Descriptions:

J-PAL SA supports JEEViKA, the Bihar state’s Rural Livelihoods Mission, in their implementation of the Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana (SJY) program. The SJY scheme is the first large-scale government implementation of a multi-layered livelihoods program (the “Graduation Approach”) with the objective to scale up the program to 1 Lakh ultra-poor households across Bihar. In addition to evaluating the SJY program, J-PAL SA supports JEEViKA in the scale up of the program through process evaluation research and by strengthening JEEViKA’s data management and use.

About the position:

J-PAL South Asia at the Institute for Financial Management and Research seeks qualified applicants for the position of Senior Research Associate (SRA). The position offers an opportunity to gain first-hand field management and research experience in an organization undertaking cutting-edge development research. The SRA will report to the Research Manager and work closely with the Principal Investigators (PIs).

The SRA will represent the research team on the ground and play a critical role to implement the research project. The SRA needs to be experienced and very comfortable in conducting fieldwork (typically managing large field teams), desk analysis and literature reviews, and maintaining strong relationships with the partner organization (Government). Candidates with knowledge of coding to process, analyze and visualize data will be further prioritized.

Key Responsibilities 

Senior Research Associates work closely with academic researchers and other field staff to perform a variety of tasks including, but not limited to:

• Designing survey questionnaires, conducting qualitative research, running pilot exercises, refining study design and survey instruments across process monitoring activities
• Managing teams: Train and supervise both field-based and data operations teams consisting of project assistants, field managers, field-based surveyors, data entry operators and other field and office staff
• Travel to project sites to monitor and coordinate field activities for primary data collection during intervention monitoring
• Overseeing the implementation of the evaluation in accordance to the research design in association with our partner organizations
• Ensuring that the project complies with IRB and JPAL data collection and security protocols
• Engaging with and managing relationships with stakeholders.
• Maintaining relationship with partner organizations at various levels as required in the project
• Coordinating with teams across different verticals within JPAL on a variety of operational tasks
• Supervising data collection and data-entry, and ensuring data quality and productivity
• Assisting with data cleaning, preliminary data analysis, and preparation of documents and presentations for dissemination
• Reporting to RM and PI on all of the above-mentioned activities and any other work assigned
  Assisting in the preparation of documents and presentations for donor reporting as well as dissemination activities
• Maintain compliance with all J-PAL protocols and policies.

Desired Qualifications and Experience:

• Master’s degree in economics, social sciences, public policy, or related fields
• Relevant Experience-4 years or more
• Experience of working in rural areas
• Willingness to travel
• Excellent management/ organizational skills and able to solve unexpected problems
• Excellent quantitative skills (required), qualitative skills (preferred)
• Working knowledge of Stata (required), R, SurveyCTO
• Familiarity with RCTs
• Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and team player 
• Demonstrated ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations
• Ability to deal with unstructured and dynamic environments
• Prior experience in conducting process evaluation assessments 

Note on Work Authorizations:

·      Candidates must have work authorization to work in India.