Country Director NGO Employment Opportunity – Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)

Job Title:        Country Director
Organization: Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)
Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda
About IPA:
Innovations
for Poverty Action (IPA) discovers and promotes effective solutions to global
poverty problems. IPA designs, rigorously evaluates, and refines these
solutions and their applications together with decision-makers to ensure that
the evidence created is used to improve opportunities for the world’s poor.
Since our founding in 2002, IPA has worked with over 350 leading academics to
conduct over 450 evaluations in 51 countries. This research has informed
hundreds of successful programs that now impact millions of individuals
worldwide.
Job Summary: The Country Director will lead a rapidly growing
country program that is establishing a strong presence in the local research
environment with governmental, IO, private and NGO partners.  This position provides a unique opportunity
to be closely involved in cutting-edge policy-relevant research and work with
top academics in the field of experimental economics and political science
research. The Country Director work with IPA Global and key stakeholders to set
the strategic direction of the office and oversee multiple simultaneous impact
evaluations in a range of sectors, including education, agriculture, finance,
health, entrepreneurship, governance and others. The Uganda Country Director
will also manage a team of more than 40 local and international staff, oversee
country office operations, lead strategic planning and project development for
the country office, inspire capacity building of local staff and partners, and
lead the dissemination of results to local practitioners and policy makers. The
Uganda Country Director will also actively contribute to IPA’s continued
expansion by initiating new partnerships and projects in the country, and by
focusing on strategic organizational development within the country program. The
Uganda Country Director, assisted by the IPA Uganda Senior Management Team,
will also provide overarching oversight of all project and office operations,
including finance and human resource systems, data collection, in-house data
entry, and a short-term staff payroll of up to 500 contractors at any given
time.
Key Duties and Responsibilities: 
1. Oversee and initiate
high-quality research:
  • Manage the project design and budgeting
    during the proposal stage to ensure evaluations meet IPA standards and
    costing structure
  • Build and manage relationships with and
    provide services to Principal Investigators (academic researchers)
  • Build systems and structures to build staff
    capacity and ensure overall data quality; including spearheading skills
    training for staff
  • Ensure that IPA research, including data
    collection and data entry is implemented according to IPA’s research
    protocols and data quality standards and Principal Investigator’s
    direction
  • Provide research management for IPA project
    teams
  • Oversee the management of project budgets and
    donor reporting with support of the Finance Manager, in coordinating with
    IPA’s global Grants team on all ongoing research grants and studies
  • Work to incorporate best practices and
    lessons learned in research and operations by other IPA offices and
    research affiliates
  • In charge of capacity building, crisis
    management, data collection, data entry, data management, data quality,
    economic development, entrepreneurship financial management, human
    resources, impact evaluation, information technology, local development,
    local government, office administration, organizational development, political
    science research, procurement public, policy research grants, trainings, USAID
2. Policy Impact:
  • Responsible for leading IPA’s policy impact
    in Uganda; including evidence dialogue and dissemination as well as
    research collaborations for policy and oversight of the development of a
    policy engagement plan to be led by the Deputy Country Director
  • Build and maintain high-level relationships
    with partners in the Government of Uganda, including Ministries of Health,
    Education, Agriculture, and the Office of the President
  • Build working relationships, studies, and new
    partnerships in sectors that are prioritized by for IPA Uganda’s policy
    engagement
  • Engage government partners to identify
    research questions of interest and priority to key leadership and
    cultivate potential research projects in those areas
  • Build and maintain close relationship with
    the International Growth Centre office in Uganda for policy events and
    engagement
3. Develop and implement
IPA Uganda’s strategic plan, in line with IPA’s global plan and mission:
  • Identify priority research questions and key
    concerns for policy makers and initiate and manage the development of
    corresponding new research proposals
  • Develop new relationships in order for the
    country office to maximize its impact
  • The Country Director will lead and initiate
    project development with researchers, funders and partner organizations
  • Ensure that country office structures can be
    supported by incoming revenue
4. Ensure sound
operations of IPA Uganda:
  • Oversee and manage a team of Research
    Managers, (Senior) Research Associates and Field Managers, whose
    responsibilities include project design and implementation, data
    collection, data management and analysis, and reports
  • Coordinate office and country-wide meetings
    and trainings, in coordination with the Research Manager
  • Oversee and manage human resources, IT,
    operations, and finance; manage the Finance Manager and Deputy Country
    Director
  • Develop and oversee office administration,
    including human resources, information technology, project budgets and
    accounting; and hiring of long-term IPA staff in the country program
5. Oversee finances for
IPA Uganda:
  • Ensure proper compliance with financial
    procedures, approve expenditures, make accurate projections and ensure
    overall compliance
  • Strengthen finance systems to ensure the
    systems are robust for country program growth and compliant with strict
    donor requirements (e.g., USAID, DFID)
6. Mitigate and manage
risks:
  • Set security standards and parameters for
    work and ensure that IPA Uganda staff follow security measures
  • Keenly monitor security concerns for IPA
    operations and act as primary contact in crisis management
  • Take steps to mitigate risk and to safeguard
    the organization’s reputation
  • Oversee procurement, safety, billing and
    security and ensure organizational legal compliance
  • Manage annual NGO legal registration process
  • Manage work permit applications and renewals
    for international staff
7. Manage external
relations:
  • Represent IPA Uganda in national and local
    government agencies and partner organizations, including presentations on
    IPA’s work in Uganda and globally
  • Strengthen local presence of IPA in Uganda
  • Build and manage relationships with current
    and potential IPA partner organizations.
  • Oversee capacity building of local
    development partners in evidence-based policy making and rigorous impact
    evaluations
  • Work closely with IPA Uganda’s regional
    partner, J-PAL Africa, on research, policy and capacity building.
  • Oversee targeted dissemination, encourage
    scale up of successful projects
Qualifications, Skills and Experience: 
  • The ideal candidate for this vacancy should
    hold a Master’s degree in international affairs, international public
    policy, development economics, or field related to international economic
    development
  • At least five years of relevant work
    experience
  • Previous J-PAL/IPA work experience or
    experience developing new RCTs or working with researchers on RCTs highly
    desired.
  • The position requires experience in grants
    and contracts management, preferably in a research setting, and
    familiarity with grants compliance is a strong asset.
  • Experience living and working in Africa
    /Uganda is desired
  • Excellent oral and written communication
    skills in English is required.
  • Broad working knowledge of human resource and
    financial management
  • Previous experience with budgeting and
    project planning
  • Passion for connecting rigorous research to
    policy makers and practitioners and communicating what works and what does
    not work in development
  • Ability to lead a large and complex country
    program and oversee rigorous impact evaluations
  • Show commitment to leading a diverse team and
    building staff capacity
  • Ability to communicate effectively across
    cultures with multiple stakeholders including international and local
    academic researchers, government officials, NGO partners, enumeration
    teams, and study participants
  • Excellent management and organizational
    skills and ability to work independently
  • Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage
    multiple tasks efficiently, and a team player
  • Strong quantitative skills and familiarity
    with randomized controlled trials
How to Apply: 
All
suitably qualified and interested candidates should complete the J-PAL/IPA
common application online, Click Here. After completing
a brief registration, choose the Finance and Admin job category, then select “Country
Director, Uganda.” Most applications to admin/finance positions require you to
include a statement of purpose (cover letter) and CV.
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