Job Title: Project Associate Living Goods (Uganda)
Job Description:
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 development partners 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, microfinance, governance and agriculture.
Job Requirements:
Project:The Impact of Community Health Promoters: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Uganda
Location: Uganda
Desired Start Date and Duration: May or June 2013, 7 months commitment with the possibility of extending
Positions Summary
Innovations for Poverty Action seeks two qualified Project Associates to lead the endline data collection exercise for a study that evaluates a network of Community Health Promoters (CHP) who work in rural and peri-urban areas.
The position offers an opportunity to gain first-hand field management experience in an organization undertaking cutting-edge development research. The work will stretch your analytical and management skills to the limit and will require your full commitment in a challenging environment. This position will be based in Kampala with extensive travel in rural areas of the country.
Project Description
The medical know-how needed to prevent and treat deadly afflictions such as malaria, diarrhea and malnutrition have been available for many years, but billions of dollars and a half-century of effort have failed to prevent 10 million children from dying annually of preventable diseases. This fact suggests that medical solutions are not the core of the problem, but that the lack of efficient, scalable, sustainable means of delivering them may be hindering preventive healthcare.
Two NGOs, Living Goods and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) are currently scaling up an innovative model for solving part of the healthcare service delivery problem in Uganda. The project aims to improve access to and adoption of simple, proven health interventions in rural and peri-urban areas, while at the same time creating sustainable livelihoods for community-based workers called Community Health Promoters (CHPs).
In this model, a network of door-to-door mobile CHPs provide basic health education and make a modest income by selling an array of basic health goods (such as bed nets, condoms and water treatment methods). Living Goods goes beyond the typical product mix offered to community health workers, by also providing CHPs with a broad assortment of consumer items that can increase sales and bolster their own financial sustainability. This study will assess the effectiveness of this unique approach, which is being implemented in various parts of Uganda
The Principal Investigators are Jakob Svensson (Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University), David Yanagizawa-Drott (Kennedy School, Harvard University), and Martina Björkman Nyqvist (Stockholm School of Economics).
Job Responsibilities
The two Project Associates will work together to perform a variety of tasks including, but not limited to:
Developing and piloting the survey instruments, including programming questions onto a mobile phone and managing the translation of the survey into the local languages.
Hiring, training, and managing four groups of field teams (each 20-30 people) who will conduct the interviews.
Managing all field logistics, procuring equipment, and ensuring the study has approvals from local authorities.
Overseeing the endline data collection of 8500 beneficiaries, which includes both self reported data and anthropomorphic measurements.
Ensuring all data quality protocols are followed including auditing enumerators and performing daily checks of the incoming data; correcting the errors of staff iteratively to ensure the data is of the highest quality.
Managing the data from collection at the household to delivery of a final, cleaned dataset.
Managing the budget including tracking all expenses to ensure costs are within project funds.
Writing regular progress reports and leading project meetings to ensure deadlines are met.
Working closely with NGO partners running the program and liaising between all stakeholders to ensure all interests are aligned and accounted for.
Desired Qualifications and Experience
A Bachelor's or Master’s degree in economics, public policy, international development, public health or related fields.
Excellent project management and organizational skills; meticulous attention to detail
Strong quantitative skills and knowledge of Stata required; programming and other technical knowledge a strong plus.
Demonstrated ability to lead staff efficiently to achieve project goals.
Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently and a team player.
Experience working or living in developing countries.
Familiarity with randomized controlled trials.
Candidates that are currently eligible to work in Uganda strongly preferred.
How to Apply
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. Applicants will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
1) Send an email to jobs@poverty-action.org and jobs-uganda@poverty-action.org, following the instructions below:
In the subject line: Copy exactly the following position line: 100904IPAUganda, PA
Attachments: Please attach ONLY your CV and cover letter.
In the email body: Put your full name, first (given) name followed by last (family) name
Please do not include any text besides the position line(s) in the body of the e-mail. Adding extra text will interfere with the processing of your application.
2) Complete the J-PAL/IPA common application indicating that you are interested in applying for a "Type 1: Research Analyst or Project Associate" position. Please note: you are not required to include transcripts or letters of recommendation upon initial submission. After submitting, you can edit your application at any time and may add these.
Deadline:30/04/2013
