The Europe office of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL Europe) is looking to hire an experienced manager to lead the further development of our growing work on generating rigorous evidence for more effective humanitarian action. This includes the delivery of two major research initiatives focused on funding new randomised evaluations of humanitarian interventions. 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. Appointments at the Senior Policy Manager level will also be considered for exceptionally qualified candidates.
About J-PAL Europe:
J-PAL is a global research centre working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence, and is anchored by a network of over 900 researchers at universities around the world. Our Europe office is hosted by the Paris School of Economics. 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 organisations and researchers to launch new evaluations. Staff connect the dots between economics and policy and are passionate about developing partnerships to promote evidence-informed development policy.
About the humanitarian workstream:
J-PAL Europe has anchored the network’s growing activities in the humanitarian sector since 2020, as part of a commitment to promoting rigorous impact evaluation of humanitarian action. An initial learning agenda for the humanitarian sector was developed in 2021-22
The Displaced Livelihoods Initiative (launched in April 2023) and the Humanitarian Protection Initiative (February 2024) aim to foster the design and implementation of a multi-million dollar portfolio of rigorous evaluations of humanitarian programming. To that aim, both initiatives run bi-annual funding rounds and engage with researchers, policymakers, and practitioners around recurring training and workshop opportunities to foster a conducive environment for research and learning as well as equitable partnerships. In subsequent years, the focus will be on supporting new project development, building research and learning partnerships with implementing organisations, disseminating the results of completed research and assessing the emerging evidence base for scaling particular interventions.
The post holder will set the vision for J-PAL’s future work on humanitarian action and work with two academic co-chairs, and two staff associates to deliver the work of our research initiatives (in close collaboration with our partner organisation, Innovations for Poverty Action). S/he will lead outreach to humanitarian organisations, build awareness of and exposure to rigorous impact evaluation methods in the humanitarian sector, and work with a diverse group of stakeholders to identify priority research and evaluation questions regarding humanitarian effectiveness, with a special focus on humanitarian protection. S/he will also lead efforts to generate practitioner-friendly evidence synthesis in the field and, in due course, develop resources for organisations interested in scaling evidence-backed humanitarian programming.
Responsibilities:
As a Policy Manager, your primary tasks will involve management of a team of three, coordination with internal and external stakeholders, donor relationship steering, partnership and project development, communications/writing, and event planning.
Outreach, partnership, and project development: Develop a deep understanding of key actors, policies and programmes related to humanitarian protection. Forge new connections and maintain strong relationships with key partners in humanitarian agencies, NGOs, foundations, and government agencies. Initiate and build partnerships to identify new opportunities for rigorous evaluation of humanitarian policies and programs. Organise convenings designed to spur new research collaborations and share policy lessons from completed research and represent J-PAL at external events and in meetings with senior decision-makers.
Communications/Writing and evidence synthesis: 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 action. Raise understanding of J-PAL’s work on related topics by presenting the Humanitarian Protection and the Displaced Livelihoods Initiative and related research at conferences and seminars.
Initiative and grant management: Coordinate closely with key stakeholders for both humanitarian initiatives, including IPA counterparts, donors, and J-PAL Finance and Operations colleagues to ensure timely and high quality delivery of initiative activities in line with J-PAL policies and procedures. Provide guidance for the request for proposal and subaward management processes, donor reporting, training activities, and research network diversification efforts.
Sharing best practices for research in the humanitarian field: Establish the team managing J-PAL’s humanitarian initiatives as a resource for internal and external stakeholders with regards to good practices for co-creating research with humanitarian actors, and quality standards for research in humanitarian and fragile settings.
Training and capacity building: Oversee J-PAL’s humanitarian-focused training and capacity building activities as an investment in a conducive environment for evidence generation and use in the humanitarian field.
Additional tasks, projects, and areas of work may be added as needed, including contribution to J-PAL Europe’s fundraising efforts. This position will require some travel.
Professional Development
The Policy Group invests in your professional development. As a 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 organisational skills, passion for translating research into action, and interest in humanitarian action 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 programme evaluation. Candidates with Master’s-level degrees in other fields may be qualified as long as they have a solid understanding of quantitative research methods.
Experience: You have at least six 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. Some of your work experience has focused on fragile and conflict-affected settings. You have a successful track record of identifying opportunities, developing and managing projects, external partnerships and donor relations, and relevant experience in communication and business development.
Skills: You have strong project and grant management skills, as well as excellent written and oral communication skills in English and at least one other European language. You are comfortable reading and summarising the findings of experimental and quasi-experimental research. Fluency in at least one other European language is an important qualification for this post, and proficiency in French will be an asset. Experience managing or running randomised evaluations would be an asset but is not required.
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.
Organisation: 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 humanitarian policy and practice, the rigorous research that informs it, and the high ethical standards that enable it. You are self-motivated, work hard, and enjoy working in teams.
How to Apply
Interested applicants should send a CV and cover letter, including details on how their experience and qualifications are relevant to the position and on their authorisation to work in the European Union, to europejobs@povertyactionlab.org. A short writing sample that indicates your ability to interpret and analyse quantitative research findings is welcome but not necessary. Shortlisted candidates will complete a written exercise designed to assess your fluency in interpreting experimental research results and identifying potential opportunities for new randomised evaluations.
J-PAL values the strength that diverse teams bring to our work. We actively welcome applicants who come from backgrounds that reflect populations most impacted by poverty and humanitarian crises and from backgrounds that are underrepresented in the economics field.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, but we recommend that you apply as soon as possible preferably by March 10, 2024 and at the latest by March 17, 2024.