Deadline: Ongoing
Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is currently seeking applications from the eligible applicants for the post of Country Director in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The Country Director oversees impact evaluations in a range of sectors, including agriculture, migration, rural finance and savings, health, education and others.
IPA is a research and policy non-profit that discovers and promotes effective solutions to global poverty problems.
Key Jobs Responsibilities
The Country Director will perform the following functions-
- Identify priority research questions and key concerns for policy makers and initiate and manage the development of corresponding new research proposals.
- Develop new relationships in order for the country office to maximize its impact.
- Lead and initiate project development with researchers, funders and partner organizations.
- Ensure that country office structures can be supported by incoming revenue.
- Represent IPA Bangladesh in national and local government agencies and partner organizations.
- Manage relationships with current and potential IPA partner organizations.
- Work closely with IPA Bangladesh’s regional partner, J-PAL South Asia, on research, policy and capacity building.
- Oversee capacity building of local development partners in evidence-based policy making and rigorous impact evaluations.
- Oversee targeted dissemination, encourage scale up of successful projects.
- Verse project design and budgeting during the proposal stage to ensure evaluations meet IPA standards and costing structure.
- Manage relationships with and provide services to Principal Investigators.
- Ensure that IPA research is implemented according to IPA’s quality standards and Principal Investigators direction.
- Oversee data collection and data entry operations for all studies and ensure projects meet IPA’s research protocols and data quality standards.
- Expand the capacity of the country office to program and conduct electronic surveys.
- Build systems and structures to build staff capacity and ensure overall data quality.
- Work to incorporate best practices and lessons learned in research and operations by other IPA offices and research affiliates.
- Responsible for leading IPA’s policy impact in Bangladesh.
- Ensure that policy impact plans of IPA Bangladesh are in strategic alignment with IPA’s overall policy strategy of impact through one project at a time.
- Ensure all projects create and execute a ‘one project at a time’ policy impact strategy.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must have-
- Strong oral and written communication skills in English are required.
- Knowledge of Bangla preferred.
- Master’s degree in international affairs, international public policy, development economics, or field related to international economic development.
- A minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience.
- Previous J-PAL/IPA work experience or experience developing new RCTs or working with researchers on RCTs highly desired.
- Experience living and working in South Asia/Bangladesh is desired.
- Knowledge of human resource and financial management.
- Experience with budgeting and project planning.
- Passion for connecting rigorous research to policy makers and practitioners and communicating what works and what does not work in development.
- Ability to lead a large and complex country program and oversee rigorous impact evaluations.
- Commitment to leading a diverse team and building staff capacity.
- Ability to communicate effectively across cultures with multiple stakeholders including international and local academic researchers, government officials, NGO partners, enumeration teams, and study participants.
- Excellent management and organizational skills and ability to work independently.
- Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and a team player.
- Strong quantitative skills and familiarity with randomized controlled trials.
How to Apply
Applicants must submit their applications included two letters of recommendation, statement of purpose (cover letter), CV, and transcripts through online process.
For more information, please visit IPA.
