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Project Associate (Bangladesh)

  • Reports to: Principal Investigators
  • Location: Bangladesh
  • Deadline to applyApplications are reviewed on a rolling basis
  • Desired start date: June, 2014
  • Length of commitment: 1 year commitment is required for this position
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.
Program Summary:
In Bangladesh, as in much of the developing world, early female marriage remains widespread despite age of consent laws banning the practice, government and NGO efforts to curtail it, increasing education levels, and economic growth. Early marriage is highly correlated with low levels of education, access to resources, mobility, and ultimately, poor health outcomes for young women and their children. Existing data are not able to distinguish which of these highly correlated factors causes the others, a distinction which is critical for policy decision making and allocation of resources. 
This study evaluates and builds on a program implemented by Save the Children (USA), which engaged adolescent girls in 460 communities between the ages of 10 and 19 in a variety of social, educational and financial interventions in order to identify effective and efficient strategies for empowering girls and delaying adolescent marriage. The research seeks to improve our ability to understand and address the specific channels through which early marriage influences the health and well-being of these girls as they enter marriage, become mothers, and enter the work force and their children. 
An additional element was added to the original Save the Children program to help separate out the impact of education on health and empowerment from the impact of delaying marriage on these same outcomes. In Bangladesh, the main government program aimed at increasing age of marriage provides a conditional cash incentive to families to keep their child unmarried and in school.  Unfortunately the government program misses some of the most vulnerable girls in poor communities where there are no secondary schools or where the girls are unable to maintain sufficiently high grades to stay in the program. Partly to reach these marginalized populations and also to evaluate whether delaying marriage on its own has beneficial impacts on health and education, a noncash incentive program was added to the Save the Children program. Under this program, adolescent girls between the ages of 15-17 receive four liters of cooking oil every four months on the condition that they remain unmarried.
Position Summary:  
The Project Associate will lead the fieldwork for the third phase of a large scale project that measures the impact of delaying marriage, increased educational attainment and labor market outcomes on a range of socioeconomic measures for women in Bangladesh. This position provides an excellent opportunity to gain more senior level experience managing a large scale field project in coordination with a survey company (which will run much of the logistics of the survey). Key responsibilities include: planning new survey questionnaires on maternal and economic outcomes, coordinating with the survey company, supporting training of enumerators, hiring and supervising independent survey monitors, helping with cleaning data, assisting in the writing of project reports and policy memos, and liaising with key government and nongovernmental partners. The Project Associate will work closely with the Principal Investigators, Rachel Glennerster (MIT) and Erica Field (Duke University) to design data collection protocols. He/she will also work closely with IPA country management and research staff.
Responsibilities:
  • Developing and piloting new survey instruments; managing translation into Bangla
  • Coordinating selection and liaison with survey company who will administer the survey
  • Managing the logistics of a large-scale field experiment, including managing budgets, timelines, and procurement
  • Assisting in data cleaning and analysis
  • Ensuring adherence to data quality protocols, including managing a team of independent monitors who audit enumerators and the survey company
  • Participating in meetings with key stakeholders and presenting research findings
  • Writing reports detailing research findings and proposed interventions
  • Overseeing funding and approval applications, and ensuring that all necessary approvals are in place
Qualifications:
  • Excellent management and organizational skills along with strong quantitative skills;
  • Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and a team player
  • Demonstrated ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations
  • Experience running a large-scale survey and managing the survey implementation and data entry process
  • Experience with Computer-Assisted Interviewing is preferred, but not required
  • A Bachelor's or Master's degree in economics, business management, social sciences, public policy, political science or related fields
  • Demonstrated proficiency in Stata and experience with data management, data cleaning, and regression analysis
  • Experience with quantitative research, particularly with randomized controlled trials.
  • Fluency and excellent communication skills in Bangla and English.
Application Instructions:
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.
Complete the J-PAL/IPA common application. Please select the position(s) you are interested in applying for on the 'Submit Application' page. Include two letters of recommendation, statement of purpose (cover letter), CV, and transcripts. We will consider your application even if you are unable to obtain reference letters before the deadline, but please be advised that we will be requiring them should you be invited for an interview.
IPA is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Affirmative Action Employer.
 All persons shall have the opportunity to be considered for employment without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, alienage or citizenship status, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.
IPA will endeavor to make a reasonable accommodation to a qualified applicant with a disability unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of our business. If you believe you require such assistance to complete this form or to participate in an interview, please contact us at jobs@poverty-action.org.
DISCLAIMER: The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of the work to be performed by the Project Associate.  The statements are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all possible duties, tasks, and responsibilities. Management reserves the right to amend and change responsibilities to meet organizational needs as necessary. Please note that IPA will never request any form of payment from an applicant. Applicants are encouraged to confirm the information listed above with IPA prior to releasing any extensive personal information to the organization. Please direct questions to jobs@poverty-action.org.