Program Associate, Strategic Impact Evaluation and Learning at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)

Job Summary

• The Program Associate, Strategic Impact Evaluation and Learning (SIEL), sits within IPA's Sector Programs department and supports a six-year learning partnership between the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), IPA, and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). 
• The SIEL program aims to establish a robust evidence base for FCDO's global programs and policies, enhance the efficiency of FCDO's interventions, and equip FCDO staff with skills to deploy and leverage impact evaluations for value for money. 
• The Program Associate will support the Program Lead in grant management, project development, and communications across SIEL's four strategic priority areas: growth, humanitarian assistance, climate and nature, and conflict and fragility.

Responsibilities

Research Fund Coordination (40%):

• Coordinate the regular competitive funding process, including drafting calls for proposals, communicating with FCDO and research teams, managing the proposal review process, and supervising the development of grant agreements
• Track the status of grants and projects in SIEL's portfolio through detailed review of grant deliverables and regular communication
• Maintain up-to-date Salesforce records (database management) for all projects
• Ensure accurate and complete grant reporting in compliance with donor requirements
• Participate in the first review and filtering of research proposals for the competitive fund review board.

Project Development (30%):

• Support the Program Lead in project development activities, including conducting outreach and providing support to FCDO teams to develop proposals
• Liaise internally with relevant IPA teams including research support, programs, grants, legal, finance, and global operations
• Coordinate matchmaking between FCDO teams, researchers, and IPA and J-PAL country offices on projects related to SIEL's priority areas
• Contribute to developing new proposals to the research fund through outreach and relationship management efforts.

Communications and Policy (20%):

• Support SIEL's Research Uptake Lead and Program Lead in organizing and preparing materials for dissemination activities
• Support other dissemination activities as needed, including keeping IPA's website up to date with project summaries and planning and presenting at events
• Support SIEL's Capacity Strengthening Lead in organizing and preparing materials for training sessions and other capacity-strengthening activities.

General Program Administration (10%):

• Support financial monitoring and administration
• Contribute to the implementation of IPA's diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy, including tracking SIEL's progress against organizational metrics.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in economics, political science, public policy, or a related field
• Master's Degree in economics, political science, public policy, or a related field (preferred)
• At least 2 years of work experience in project and/or research management, research fund management, and/or research dissemination
• Demonstrated project management skills, including attention to operational and research detail and the ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects efficiently
• Excellent communication skills; ability to communicate clearly and effectively with internal and external stakeholders using cogent, precise, non-technical language
• Ability to present information in a structured and insightful way, both in writing and orally
• Flexibility, self-motivation, willingness to learn, and a team-oriented attitude
• Knowledge of impact evaluation methodologies (preferred)
• Knowledge of topics related to humanitarian assistance, climate and nature, growth, or conflict and fragility (preferred)
• Experience writing evidence syntheses, research summaries, and policy briefs (preferred)
• Proficiency in Excel and CRM software such as Salesforce (preferred).