Researcher, Education at the International Rescue Committee (IRC)

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Researcher, Education

Requisition ID: req38247
Location: Abuja (FCT), Nigeria
Sector: Research & Development
Employment Category: Fixed Term
Employment Type: Full-Time
Open to Expatriates: No

Job Description

• The IRC’s Airbel Impact Lab designs, tests, and scales life-changing, cost-effective solutions for people affected by conflict and disaster. By applying deep technical expertise and field experience with a range of skills from the behavioral sciences, human-centered design, rigorous research, and multi-disciplinary problem-solving in humanitarian contexts, we work to develop breakthrough solutions that combine creativity and rigor, openness and expertise, and a desire to think afresh with the experience of a large-scale implementing organization.
• IRC reaches over a million children annually with education and child protection programs in 25 countries around the world. The Education technical unit defines the vision and strategic priorities for all of IRC’s education programs. The team provides evidence-based and contextually-relevant technical support to programs, with the goal of ensuring they are technically sound and achieving the outcomes we seek.  

Job Overview / Summary

• We are seeking an experienced researcher to join the Airbel Impact Lab and work closely with the Education Unit to advance the IRC’s research on education. This position will provide technical research support to different education research projects. Currently, the education research portfolio has over 30 on-going studies in 15 countries affected by conflict and crisis, including:    
  • USAID’s Improving Learning Outcomes for Asia (ILOA) in Asia
  • FCDO’s Education Research in Contexts of Conflict and Crisis (ERICC) in Nigeria, Bangladesh, South Sudan, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
  • Lego’s PlayMatters in Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania
• The Researcher, Education will lead field-based research on Education programs, backstop new and ongoing research projects across the IRC’s Education portfolio, develop and submit proposals around IRC’s priority research questions, and partner with technical units and country teams to support evidence-based programming.

Major Responsibilities

• Lead the design, analysis and reporting of quantitative/qualitative research, including: 
• Needs assessments, learning assessments, and formative research studies to identify problems and existing practices.
• Implementation research to identify quality and fidelity of implementation and the degree to which they moderate education outcomes.
• Impact evaluations to explore the effects of education interventions on the literacy, numeracy, socio-emotional skills, transition outcomes of children in conflict and crsisi affected settings. 
• Measurement research to assess the reliability and validity of outcome and quality of implementation tools and establish protocols for improvement.
• Research on how to improve coherence for access, quality and continuity in systems of education.
• Work with an internal team focused on education research moving our education research priorities forward. 
• Contribute to dissemination of research findings by writing blogs, briefs, and publications in academic journals and practitioner-focused outlets.
• Support in business development processes for research, including gathering information ahead of proposals. 

Job Requirements

• MA or PhD in Education, Economics or related field.
• High level of experience and knowledge of statistical skills, and ability to accurately interpret research findings from studies using causal inference research and multi-level modeling, using software such as Stata or MPlus.
• Experience with qualitative research, using software like NVivo, AtlasTi or Dedoose.
• Minimum five years of progressive experience in education research and/or relevant practice.
• Experience in systems-level research and/or political economy analysis highly desirable.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively in a multi-cultural environment.
• Solid organizational skills: ability to be flexible and work well under pressure, dealing with competing priorities, in a fast-paced team environment.
• Interest in and ability to think and plan at the ‘big picture’ level.
• Fluency in English a must; additional fluency in French, Arabic, Spanish, or Swahili preferred.

Working Environment

• Standard office work environment.
• Expected travel up to 25% of time.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.