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December 13th, 2021 at 09:46 am
POSITION: Senior Advisor, Right-Fit Evidence Unit, Ghana
IPA Ghana is seeking a Senior Advisor in the Right-Fit Evidence Unit (Sr. Advisor, RFE) to support IPA Ghana’s provision of evidence- and data-driven technical assistance to policy and implementation partners for the differentiated learning (DL) scale-up in Ghana.
This is an exciting opportunity to drive effective education policy in Ghana, through providing evidence-based support to the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP), a US$219 million fund from the World Bank, Global Partnership for Education, and FCDO.
Ghana’s Ministry of Education has incorporated findings from the Strengthening Teacher Accountability to Reach All Students (STARS) evaluation into GALOP. Through this opportunity, this role will support the scale-up of evidence-based education in 10,000 of the lowest-performing schools in Ghana, contributing critical knowledge for future innovation in Ghana and beyond.
The Sr. Advisor will lead IPA’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) advisory services and technical assistance for differentiated learning scale-up across Ghana.
This will include working closely with the Ministry of Education alongside the Senior Research Associate, Senior Project Manager, academic researchers, and other team members to design and roll-out monitoring and evaluation plans, nimble experiments, and capacity-building activities to enable the collection, analysis, and use of evidence to improve activities.
The RFE Sr. Advisor will report to the Sr. Project Manager in the IPA Ghana Country Office, with a dotted line to a Senior Manager from the global RFE team.
This role will work closely with the Right-Fit Evidence Unit (RFE) at IPA, a global advisory team. In close collaboration with IPA’s sector programs, policy team, and country office teams worldwide, the unit advises organizations on how to use data and evidence to design more effective programs and create meaningful measurement routines, accompanying them through the process of analysis and adaptation.
We particularly encourage Ghanian nationals to apply, although the role is open to international applicants. We also encourage those with the following profiles to apply as these skills and interests are a particularly strong fit:
- Management consultants with some international development experience who would be excited in a career shift to an entrepreneurial and impact-focused environment leveraging their skillset
- M&E practitioners who are interested in broadening their scope and impact on the field by advising organizations on state-of-the-art M&E practices
- Research professionals in international development who enjoy working closely with practitioners and are interested in broadening their scope to all the types of data and evidence that can inform decisions.
Irrespective of their background, RFE staff tend to learn through their work, and this position is a great fit for anyone with a growth-oriented mindset.
Responsibilities
Provide strategic and technical advisory expertise: target credible, actionable, and cost-effective advice on MEL systems to build government capacity to identify and improve on challenges in implementation during DL roll out, including but not limited to the following examples:
- Lead the data collection design process, analysis, and reporting in collaboration with the Sr. Research Associate and GES to ensure that learning is effectively incorporated in implementation progress
- Guide GES in the development of MEL tools, such as monitoring forms and revision of the reporting platforms to ensure effective usage at the school and district level
- Design prototyping and pilot exercises to answer key learning questions and reduce risks in implementation success, such as testing new content adjustments
- Lead on updates and roll-out of live digital teacher training evaluation, analysis, and reporting systems for teacher training to enable the reinforcement of key points based on feedback from evaluation results dashboards.
- Support on the design of potential nimble RCTs to test different models of refresher training and follow up nudges to improve adoption of teaching practices, in collaboration with academic researchers
Project management:
Lead work planning and project management for the MEL technical assistance to ensure effective and timely implementation of our work. Contribute to financial management through strategic prioritization of activities within the given budget
Stakeholder communication:
Maintain strong communication and partnership with key stakeholders, including direct stakeholder management with leadership staff from partner organizations and GES
Workshop design and implementation:
Design and facilitate various kinds of external MEL-related workshops, improving the capacity and ownership of government around long-term MEL practices
Professional deliverables:
Own the preparation and presentation of various types of advisory and analytical deliverables, maintaining the highest standards of communication efficiency
- A Bachelor’s or Master´s degree in economics, public policy, international development, or related fields and ;
- 2-5 years of relevant work experience, including experience in M&E (public sector), organizational performance/R&D/operational research (private sector), or experience in management consulting/other professional services. Exceptions may be made for excellent candidates who do not meet this criterion.
- Superior analytical and conceptual thinking skills
- Strong client-facing and presentation skills. Ability to present information in a structured and insightful way, both in writing and orally.
- Demonstrated ability to manage relationships with partner organizations;
- Self-starter, entrepreneurial mindset, versatility, and ability to learn at a fast pace.
- Excellent project management and organizational skills; attention to detail;
- Familiarity with statistics and data analysis (including strong command of Excel)
- Willingness to travel within Ghana;
- Capability to manage multiple tasks efficiently;
- Passion for making data-driven decisions a reality in the international development sector
HOW TO APPLY
CLOSING DATE: ONGOING
Note that you are able to submit your application before your references complete their recommendation letters; however, you must include their contact information before submitting your application. Given the volume of applications received, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview.