J-PAL is looking to hire an experienced (Senior) Policy Manager to help launch and deliver a new research initiative focused on promoting rigorous evaluation of humanitarian interventions, including a focus on humanitarian protection. The selected candidate will join J-PAL Europe’s growing Policy and Communications team based in Paris and report to the Associate Director for Policy at J-PAL Europe.The candidate will work with two academic co-chairs to lead outreach to humanitarian organizations based in Europe, build awareness of and exposure to rigorous impact evaluation methods among these organizations, and develop a learning agenda around priority questions regarding humanitarian effectiveness.
About J-PAL: The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of some 200 affiliated professors at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty. The Policy & Communications Group plays a key role in translating research by J-PAL affiliates into actionable poverty alleviation policies around the world and in helping create new links between partner organizations and researchers to launch new evaluations. Staff connect the dots between economics and policy and are passionate about working with organizations to form partnerships for evidence-informed development policy.
About the Humanitarian Initiative: The new Humanitarian Initiative aims to foster the design and implementation of a multi-million dollar portfolio of rigorous evaluations of humanitarian programming. In 2020, the initiative will focus on outreach to governments, humanitarian organizations, other implementing partners, and researchers to develop a learning agenda that responds to practitioner priorities and focuses on the effectiveness of humanitarian programming. The learning agenda will then guide the launch of a competitive research initiative to fund randomized evaluations of humanitarian interventions, with the overarching goal of improving the effectiveness of humanitarian policy, with a focus on protection.
Responsibilities
As a (Senior) Policy Manager, your primary tasks will involve partnership and project development, learning agenda development, communications/writing, and event planning.
Outreach, partnership and project development: Map and develop a deep understanding of key actors, policies, and programs related to humanitarian protection. Forge new connections and maintain strong relationships with key partners in government agencies, NGOs, foundations, and humanitarian agencies. Initiate and build partnerships to identify new opportunities for rigorous evaluation of humanitarian protection policies.
Learning agenda development: In close collaboration with the academic chairs and the Governance, Crime, and Conflict Initiative team, engage with relevant stakeholders from academic, government, and humanitarian organizations to map out a learning agenda for the effectiveness of humanitarian interventions.
Communications/Writing: Draft and edit materials for policy outreach, including tailored evidence note presentations, policy briefs, as well as other high-level deliverables, as requested by J-PAL staff and affiliates.
Write blog posts and other materials to support outreach around J-PAL’s activities related to humanitarian protection. Additional tasks, projects, and areas of work may be added as needed.
Professional Development
The Policy Group invests in your professional development. As a Senior Policy Manager, you will learn, engage, travel, and grow.
Learn: J-PAL supports a culture of learning. All J-PAL staff are also eligible to take the innovative online MITx MicroMasters credential in Data, Economics, and Development Policy (DEDP) free of charge. You will also be a member of an active community of economists and professionals at the Paris School of Economics dedicated to evaluating social programs and development programs around the world.
Engage: Managers have the opportunity to work directly with J-PAL affiliates and directors by disseminating lessons learned to policymakers and practitioners.
Travel: Managers have the opportunity to present at and attend policy events across the region in which they are based.
Grow: Managers can expect to join a peer group eager to build institutional knowledge, focused on sharing and implementing best practices and lessons learned. In addition, J-PAL staff receive one-on-one mentorship from a designated coach and have the opportunity to work directly with affiliated professors.
Qualifications
Your technical expertise, strong communication and organizational skills, passion for translating research into action, and interest in poverty reduction and development make you an ideal candidate for this role.
Education: You hold a Master’s degree in economics, public policy, or a closely related field, including coursework in microeconomics, econometrics, and development economics.
Experience: You have six or more years of relevant and substantial work experience (more for a Senior Manager), including work related to impact evaluations and evidence-informed policymaking and to humanitarian work.
Skills: You have strong project management skills, preferably including Salesforce and understand how to write and manage budgets. You have excellent written and oral communication in English and an excellent command of Excel, word and PowerPoint.
Communication: You are detail-oriented and have advanced writing skills. You understand how to communicate policy lessons from technical academic research in ways that policymakers and practitioners understand. You are precise, clear, and creative. You are adept at managing relationships across countries and time zones.
Organization: You are a strategic thinker. You can handle multiple projects at once with little supervision, meet deadlines while conducting high-quality work, and effectively manage your time. Attitude: You love learning. You are passionate about international development policy and the rigorous research that informs it. You are self-motivated, work hard, and enjoy working in teams.
This posting is for an appointment at either the Policy Manager or Senior Policy Manager level. Appointment will be made based on the level of the successful candidate's experience.
This vacancy is archived.