IPA-Côte d’Ivoire is looking to hire a (Senior) Research Associate (S/RA) to oversee a cost-effectiveness study that aims to inform the implementation of ECD models in Cote d’Ivoire.
Since 2015, the Transforming Education in Cocoa Communities (TRECC) initiative has been adapting and piloting programmatic models in early childhood development (ECD), primary education, and vocational training in cocoa communities in Cote d’Ivoire.
After a substantial pilot phase in the last two years, during which five ECD projects tested three distinct models of parenting coaching, four pilots are progressing towards the next stage of scale and integration with national systems from 2020.
Early childhood stimulation has been successfully tested in multiple geographies, but researchers and implementers have not yet translated this evidence into cost-effective impact at scale. As TRECC looks towards scale, the learning agenda is shifting towards understanding the two components of cost-effectiveness for each program: impact and unit costs.
The PIs on this project are Karen Macours (professor at the Paris School of Economics) and Jere R. Behrman (Ph.D. Economics, MIT).
The SRA/RA will work closely with the PIs, the Research Manager and other IPA Côte d’Ivoire’s country office staff.
This position offers the opportunity to work with a dynamic partner organization and senior PIs on exciting research questions that has already generated much interest among academics, policymakers, and donors.
This study will help inform all the government programs related to early childhood development.
The (Senior) Research Associate will perform a variety of tasks including, but not limited to: designing survey questionnaires, conducting qualitative research, running pilot exercise, refining study design and surveying instruments, managing survey teams, negotiating contracts with survey firms, checking, cleaning and analyzing data, assisting in the writing of project reports and policy memos, and coordinating with local partners running the programs being evaluated

Responsibilities
Oversee large scale data collection:
- Implement Computer Assisted Interviewing (CAI) for surveys;
- Develop and pilot survey instruments; manage translation into local languages;
- Manage data flow (both survey and cost data) and assist in data cleaning and analysis;
- Ensure adherence to data quality protocols, including auditing enumerators, monitoring data collection, and conducting data quality audits and;
- Recruiting, training and managing survey enumerators;
- Liaise with implementation partners to assure collection of all relevant cost data
- Ensure close collaboration and coordination with PIs in all above steps.

Management of the project:
- Liaise with implementation partners to assure compliance with experimental design;
- Managing budgets, timelines and procurement processes;
- Oversee funding and human subjects’ approval applications, and ensure that all necessary approvals are in place;
- Perform related duties as assigned by supervisor or PIs;
- Maintain compliance with all company policies and procedures;
- Monitor financial reports regularly to insure PIs have all information requested for their financial analysis and;
- Participate to cost analysis for the cost-effectiveness study.

If SRA the below additional responsibilities can be assigned to the recruited candidate:
- Participate in meetings with key stakeholders and present research findings;
- Manage critical high-level relationships with partner organizations;
- Write reports detailing research findings and implications.

Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in economics, statistics, public policy, international development, or related fields
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills in French and English, including ability to effectively communicate with internal and external stakeholders
- Excellent project management and organizational skills; meticulous attention to detail; ability to work independently
- Must be able to work under pressure and meet deadlines, while maintaining a positive attitude and providing exemplary relationship management will all stakeholders
- Demonstrated ability to lead staff efficiently to achieve project goal
- Strong quantitative skills and very good knowledge of Stata required
- Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently and a team player
- Cultural sensitivity and demonstrated ability to work successfully with diverse constituencies required
- Familiarity with randomized controlled trials

Preferred additional qualifications:
- Master’s degree in economics, statistics, public policy, international development, or related fields
- Previous experience in a research setting and data analysis
- Experience with electronic data collection preferred
- Familiarity with SurveyCTO strongly preferred
- Programming and other technical knowledge a strong plus, especially related to survey data collection softwares
- Familiarity with cost-effectiveness analysis