Closing date: May 31, 2021
Research
& Learning Associate: TaRL Africa
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Reports
to: Research Manager
Apply
by: 21st May 2021 or until filled
About the Role:
Teaching at the Right
Level (TaRL) Africa seeks a Research and Learning Associate to support the
research, learning and evidence generation for the TaRL programme in Africa.
This role provides an excellent opportunity to be part of a leading
evidence-based initiative tackling low learning levels.
The role will be based
in Nairobi (Kenya), with frequent travel within Africa (mainly Zambia, Nigeria
and Cote d’Ivoire). The position is suitable to help the selected candidate
prepare for graduate-level studies in public-policy research and/or further
professional opportunities in impact evaluation.
About
Teaching at the Right Level Africa:
TaRL Africa is a new
international initiative formed between education NGO Pratham and the Abdul Latif Jameel
Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL),
who have been working together to develop cost-effective, scalable education
programs for more than 15 years. These efforts have led to the development of
an education program now called Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL).
TaRL is an educational
approach that aims to build foundational skills in math and reading for
children before leaving primary school. When TaRL is implemented within
government systems, TaRL teams help ensure that everyone in the system remains
focused on improving children’s learning outcomes. Simple assessments, onsite
mentoring and support, as well as reviews at different levels of the school
system, all contribute to the effectiveness of the program.
Role
purpose:
The Research and
Learning Associate will support the research and learning process at TaRL
Africa with an aim to continuously improve the effectiveness of the TaRL
approach over time. The associate will support research studies across several
African countries and undertake activities including study design, project
planning, field planning, data collection, implementation monitoring, data
analysis and documentation. The Research and Learning Associate will also
build, manage and engage internal and external research stakeholders on a
regular basis.
Main
responsibilities:
- Working
with the research team to brainstorm, scope, select and implement research
projects based on research and learning goals.
- Overall
Project Management
- Anticipating
upcoming activities, seeking support, using resources effectively and
efficiently and delegating when appropriate
- Taking the
lead on managing overall project timelines and deadlines using appropriate
project management tools with limited supervision
- Managing
project spending by tracking expenses and ensuring timely reflection of
project expenses
- Scoping,
designing and testing research and learning activities. Including but not
limited to;
- Performing
literature reviews
- Assisting
with applications to local and international institutional review boards
- Supporting
design and rollout of possible research program models including
qualitative and rigorous quantitative studies
- Contributing
to the design of research instruments and monitoring systems
- Overseeing
and supporting research study implementation including training of
stakeholders and ensuring that it complies with standards for research and
data quality
- Monitoring
research study implementation and providing periodic reports
- Carrying
out recruitment, training and supervising enumerators on data collection
- Overseeing
data collection, and ensuring that it complies with standards for data
quality Including carrying out high frequency checks)
- Cleaning,
analyzing and presenting data for study design or computation of results
(often in Stata and/or R)
- Writing
clear and concise do files
- Rigorous
analysis of survey results following global best practices
- Performing
high-frequency checks and data cleaning processes to ensure data quality.
- Reporting
and disseminating research study outcomes
- Writing
high-quality documents for the evaluation, including training manuals,
process reports and reports of results from the different rounds of data
collection.
- For
research activities requiring support from external survey firms, managing
the external survey firms from tendering to project finalization
- Working in
close collaboration with the research team and partner organizations to
track overall progress on the project and ensure adherence to timelines
and the project-plan
- Join and
contribute to learning team meetings and brainstorming on other TaRL
Africa research projects
- Manage and
engage internal and external stakeholders
- Creatively
communicate research lessons and results with the TaRL community and more
broadly (ex. through blogs, podcasts, newsletters, etc.)
- Any other
duties as assigned by the line manager
Minimum
Requirements
· A Bachelor degree in
economics, statistics, education, or a related field
· A minimum of three
years of experience working in a similar research-focused position
· Demonstrated
experience with data collection platforms and data analysis software, such as
Stata or R
· Excellent
communication skills in English, including writing, conversing and presenting
· Strong interpersonal
skills with cross-cultural teams
· Desire to help
improve learning outcomes for students at scale
· Experience working
in Africa.
· Willingness to
travel frequently and flexibly
Advantageous
· A Masters degree in
economics, statistics, education, or a related field
· Kenyan citizens are
strongly preferred but those residing on the continent with a work permit for
their country of residence will also be considered
· Fluent in French
(speaking and writing)
How
to Apply
Please fill in this application form by 31st May 2021.
Shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete an assessment, followed by two
interviews. Due to the large volume of applications, we will only be able to
respond to short-listed applicants.