Summary
Date Posted: Wednesday, February 02, 2022 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
Associate Program (Lusaka, Zambia) – 2022
About IDinsight
We amplify social impact by partnering with leaders to develop tailored solutions. Our mission is to use data and evidence to help leaders combat poverty worldwide.
IDinsight is a mission-driven global advisory, data analytics, and research organization that helps global development leaders maximize their social impact. We tailor a wide range of data and evidence tools, including randomized evaluations and machine learning, to help decision-makers design effective programs and rigorously test what works to support communities. We work with governments, multilateral agencies, foundations, and innovative non-profit organizations in Asia and Africa. Our work spans a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, education, health, governance, sanitation, financial inclusion, and other areas.
We have expertise in a variety of rigorous approaches and methodologies, which we tailor to each client depending on their needs and constraints. To achieve a positive social impact we:
Support clients’ use of data and evidence for routine and major decision-making.
Inform funding decisions – toward high-impact initiatives and away from less effective programs or approaches.
Create and share tools, knowledge, and ideas that expand the use of data and evidence for social good.
Our diverse, growing team of roughly 180 outstanding colleagues operate in nearly two dozen countries around the world. Learn more about our mission and values at www.IDinsight.org.
About the Asscociate & Senior Associate role
IDinsight Associates and Senior Associates are high-performing early-career professionals passionate to experience the front-line realities of evidence-informed decision-making. These roles provide a rich, varied experience with responsibilities ranging from in-depth research and analysis, data collection management, client interactions, and internal team building. We seek intellectually curious, resilient, and team-oriented individuals who – in addition to developing professional and technical skills – are highly motivated to grapple with the difficulties and unpredictability of trying to improve lives at scale.

Associates and Senior Associates are responsible for the following areas of work:
Managing project team workflow, systems, deliverables
• Driving the day-to-day execution of the project work according to project plans and leading internal coordination efforts for their team
• Conducting and supporting fit-for-decision and right-fit research design, data collection or acquisition, technical analysis, and results visualization/packaging, etc. for project tasks
• Creating client deliverables, including reports, slide decks, and oral presentations to inform decisions and actions of clients
• Developing strategic communications to build awareness of IDinsight projects and learnings, contribute to sectoral knowledge, and shift the sector towards more evidence-informed policy and practices
Supporting their team in developing strong client relationships
• Engaging with client and stakeholder relationships
• Contributing to client development, including developing proposals and concept notes
Leading data collection activities
• Overseeing all data collection activities to ensure quality, including managing data collection teams
• Traveling to project sites, IDinsight offices, embedded client locations, and other areas as per project needs
Contributing to internal team building
• Developing, piloting, and implementing internal systems or other organizational contributions (e.g., event management) for IDinsight, in coordination with functional teams such as Operations, Communications, Finance, etc.
• Contributing to office life and culture building, such as facilitating All Hands Meetings; participating in Social Cultural Committee events; and engaging with the DEI Working Group.
Examples of recent Associate and Senior Associate work streams include:
• Embedding in several African and Indian governments to support evidence-based decision-making capabilities
• Supporting household registration and post-distribution monitoring for the government’s COVID-19 Urban Cash Intervention response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi
• Conducting remote, qualitative data collection to understand drivers and barriers to vaccine demand, and uncover possible approaches to better reach poor, rural adults with the Philippine Department of Health’s Bureau of Health Promotion Utilizing visual storytelling to lead Theory of Change workshops for an NGO-led digital menstrual health program for Senegalese young women and girls
• Building a monitoring, evaluation, and learning system for Rockefeller Foundation’s Power and Climate Initiative that will influence the direction of their global strategy
• Leading a multi-part process evaluation consisting of multiple rounds of phone surveys; qualitative interviews; analysis of administrative data; and an assessment of the quality of infrastructure for a government social protection program
• Helping the Delhi Government collect high quality data on employment and unemployment in the city to estimate the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on livelihoods of Delhi’s residents through primary data collected from 9,900 households
• Leading a process evaluation to understand the implementation of digital cash transfers and inform scale up plans with the United Nations Development Program and Pasig City Government (Philippines) as part of the city’s COVID-19 economic relief package
• Supporting the creation of remote data collection infrastructure for IDinsight’s Africa regional project teams when in-person data collection was not possible
• Participating in IDinsight’s internal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion working group on the Recruiting Committee, Careers & Promotions Committee, and/or the Work Culture Committee
• Analyzing data from IDinsight’s recruitment processes for our Global Operations team
Associates learn professional, technical and life skills while working on some of the world’s most critical problems. No two experiences are the same. Some work deeply on one project for their entire program commitment, while others work across a variety of projects.
• Workstreams can immerse Associates in remote, front-line program contexts, deep statistical analyses, and/or high-level, strategic interactions.
Associates and Senior Associates will be staffed on IDinsight projects according to various factors including organizational need, timeline and availability, team dynamics, skills optimization, and professional growth and development. While we aim to factor in individual preferences whenever possible to staffing decisions, they are one of many factors in the project staffing process.
The Associate role is not a typical “9-5” job, and can require early mornings and late nights to accommodate the time zone differences of a dispersed team, as well as busy periods within project workflows. Associates work hard and so IDinsight encourages balance with flexible work hours and wellness benefits, including comprehensive mental health care support and organization-wide wellness days off. Many find this balance to yield rich professional and personal rewards, and therefore progress to more senior roles with IDinsight.
Career development
Skill and career development are core to IDinsight’s values and long-term impact strategy, and have been noted highlights of the Associate and Senior Associate experience. Associates and Senior Associates receive significant mentorship from IDinsight leadership, support from talented peers, and earn considerable autonomy in their work. They maintain professional development plans and are given “stretch” opportunities designed to strengthen a variety of skills. Real-time feedback and structured reviews are regularly provided to enable maximum professional growth. Additionally, Associates and Senior Associates have access to an annual professional development stipend that they are encouraged to utilize to explore their career interests and develop their skills.
Alumni placement
The Associate and Senior Associate experience has prepared former IDinsighters for outstanding educational and professional paths. Associates have progressed to IDinsight management and leadership roles, started their own organizations, and joined leading private and non-profit institutions, such as Bain & Company, Clinton Health Access Initiative, Facebook, GiveDirectly, International Monetary Fund, Lyft, McKinsey & Company, One Acre Fund, SocialCops, and more.
Alumni have also enrolled in graduate and Ph.D. programs including Duke Sanford School of Public Policy; Columbia Business School; Harvard Business School; Georgia Institute of Technology; Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Law School; Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University; London School of Economics; MIT Sloan School of Management; Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, University of Chicago, Booth School of Business; UCSF Medical School; Yale Law School; Yale School of Management, and more.

Qualifications
IDinsight Associates and Senior Associates come from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, including economics, data science, policy research, development projects, and more. Given that no Associate or Senior Associate comes in with the same exact background as another, we’re typically looking for candidates with a broad range of qualifications and former experiences. Here are some examples of the key qualifications most successful candidates should possess:

Knowledge, skills & abilities
• Strong analytical skills, with the exposure to (either via professional work experience or academic coursework) the basics of econometrics, data and research analysis tools, and quantitative and qualitative research processes or an ability to quickly understand these topics
• Strong writing skills with the ability to translate technical jargon into well-structured, writing-based deliverables (e.g., policy briefs, project memos, analytical reports, external blog posts, and more)
• Ability to understand complex concepts and topics quickly even with limited prior knowledge or exposure and a willingness to invest in learning new concepts, skills, and methods without being prompted
Locations Behaviors & mindsets
• Highly organized, attentive to deadlines, and able to manage a high volume of work with efficiency
• Excellent interpersonal skills, can effectively engage with stakeholders ranging from school children to senior government officials to internal colleagues, and places a high value on being a teamplayer
• Demonstrated ability to be a self-starter and fast learner; resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges
• Intellectually curious and a willingness to share your opinions with the team, question the status quo, and encourage others to expand their perspectives
Additional preferred qualifications
• Proficient in statistical analysis and data collection softwares, such as Stata, SPSS, R, SurveyCTO, and/or Open Data Kit
• Deeply passionate about combating poverty worldwide and improving lives in disadvantaged populations
• Willingness to travel for extended periods of time once COVID-19 allows, including to remote and rural areas
• Fluency in the local language(s) of country placement

Education Requirement: No Requirements

Job Experience: No Requirements

Work Hours: 8

Job application procedure
Candidates will be evaluated for an Associate vs. Senior Associate role based on their qualifications, previous experiences, and performance in the hiring processes. Additionally, candidates may be considered for other available roles based on experience and qualifications.
Locations
Associate positions will be based in Zambia (Lusaka) with possible significant regional travel depending on project needs and organizational expansion.
Start dates
Start dates in the first and second quarter of 2022.
To apply for this job please visit internationalcareers-idinsight.icims.com.

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