MEL & Policy Advisor at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a research and policy nonprofit that discovers and promotes effective solutions to global poverty problems. IPA brings together researchers and decision-makers to design, rigorously evaluate, and refine these solutions and their applications, ensuring that the evidence created is used to improve the lives of the world’s poor. In recent decades, trillions of dollars have been spent on programs designed to reduce global poverty, but clear evidence on which programs succeed is rare, and when evidence does exist, decision-makers often do not know about it. IPA exists to bring together leading researchers and these decision-makers to ensure that the evidence we create leads to tangible impact on the world. Since its founding in 2002, IPA has worked with over 600 leading academics to conduct over 830 evaluations in 52 countries. This research has informed hundreds of successful programs that now impact millions of individuals worldwide.
IPA’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: MEL & Policy Advisor

Location: Abuja (FCT) 

Job Overview

• Complementing this core business, IPA has developed the Right-Fit Evidence Unit, aimed at helping organizations build strong and tailored Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) practices that balance the need for information on impact with operational data to support management decisions. In close collaboration with IPA’s sector programs and country office teams worldwide, the unit provides consulting and direct services to implementers, donors, and governments to help them figure out what reliable data and evidence to gather, how to do it cost-effectively, and how to make the promise of data-informed programmatic decisions a reality.
• IPA is seeking a MEL and Policy Advisor to work closely with a financial services regulator in Nigeria. IPA has established an embedded evidence lab with the regulator, putting a strong focus on equipping them to regularly use evidence to improve their decision-making, policies, and programs. This position will support these activities, reporting to the Consumer Protection Embedded Lab Manager and dotted-line reporting to the Right-Fit Evidence Unit and Policy & External Relations Team.

Key Responsibilities

• Support mapping of the data needs of specific departments within the regulator against the existing data available, complemented with an assessment of its quality.
• Support the analysis and visualization of both primary and secondary data using statistical software such as Stata, PowerBI, etc.
• Support the development, design, implementation, and supervision of data collection projects aimed at generating evidence for policy implementation.
• Work closely with the Project manager, Sector and RFE teams to conduct capacity building in data analysis, visualization, monitoring, evaluation, and learning.
• Contribute to the development and delivery of high-quality policy and research outputs such as policy reports, briefs, concepts, and notes.
• Support the project manager to prepare and deliver presentations, briefings, and other content.
• Support a variety of strategic MEL activities, including crafting theories of change and MEL frameworks for programs, designing indicators and data collection tools, and facilitating the dissemination of findings.
• Support the design and delivery or other potential policy and RFE engagements.
• Coordinate administrative and logistical requirements, as needed.

Education and/or Work Experience Requirements:
Required qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Economics, Public Policy, Social Science, Statistics, or a related field
• 3-5 years of relevant work experience, including experience in research implementation, data analytics, M&E (public sector), organizational performance, R&D, or operational research (private sector)
• Experience in analyzing data using statistical tools such as Stata, PowerBI, etc.
• Experience in both qualitative and quantitative data collection.
• Superior analytical and conceptual thinking skills
• Familiarity with statistical methods, data analysis, and visualization
• Demonstrated ability to coach and train others in MEL methodologies or data analysis.
• Ability to present information in a structured and insightful way, both in writing and orally.
• Self-starter, entrepreneurial mindset, versatility, and willingness to learn.
• Passion for making data-driven decision-making a reality in the development sector.

Preferred additional qualifications:

• Master’s Degree in Economics, Public Policy, Social Science, or a related field
• Experience in management consulting or other professional services
• Experience with programs relating to financial inclusion and/or consumer protection.
• Experience working in developing countries.
• Familiarity with the concepts surrounding the Theory of Change and the core tools of MEL (both quantitative and qualitative research methods)
• Familiarity with SurveyCTO, Open Data Kit, Kobo or similar survey software

Application Closing Date
31st January, 2024.