Position: Senior Research Associate

Program: Women’s Political Participation in Pakistan

Start Date: June 2021

Job type: Full-time

Location: Gulberg IV, Lahore, Pakistan

Are you passionate about Pakistan, its economic development and the importance of research and evidence-based policy? Are you looking for an opportunity to work at a policy think-tank led by committed researchers? The Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives (IDEAS), a policy think-tank based in Lahore, is looking for smart and qualified individuals to join the IDEAS team. We are looking for a Senior Research Associate to work on the Women’s Political Participation Program within the Political Economy Cluster.

The Political Economy Cluster at IDEAS provides an opportunity for highly motivated budding social scientists to work on a set of exciting applied research programs focused on key topics in development, governance, and politics in Pakistan. One of these programs analyzes the dynamics of women’s political participation and substantive representation, and the link between women’s political empowerment and development outcomes.

The Women’s Political Participation Program aims to unpack political entry barriers for women and evaluates the impact of women’s substantive representation in deliberative processes. It is a part of EGAP’s Metaketa Initiative which is a collaborative research model aimed at improving the accumulation of knowledge from field experiments on topics where academic researchers and policy practitioners share substantive interests. EGAP funds and coordinates studies across countries, clustered by theme, to improve and incentivize innovative research alongside integrated analysis and publication. As one of the countries part of EGAP’s Metaketa V, the program aims to analyze how women’s mobilization in consultative processes would likely improve public service provision. For Metaketa V, all of the projects use common interventions that include a placebo treatment, a treatment arm increasing collective efficacy of women-only action committees, and an additive treatment arm that adds high quality training participation skills to advocate for issues of concern to group members.

The program is led by faculty from Stanford, Yale, Institute of Development Studies at Sussex and LUMS. This is an excellent opportunity to get involved in first-hand field research, interact with academics and policymakers, and is particularly suited for those interested in continuing further studies in economics, political science, public policy, or political economy. Past members of the research staff have gone on for graduate studies in economics and political science at Duke University, UCSB, University of Pennsylvania and the University of Essex.

A Senior Research Associate at IDEAS has following responsibilities:

1.     Independently analyze research findings and occasionally co-author work;

2.     Conduct primary and secondary research and turn it into policy briefs and reports. This includes interviewing academics, policy makers and important stakeholders for writing of research reports and policy briefs;

3.     Collect and analyze information and assemble information from a wide variety of sources, both primary and secondary and synthesize research material;

4.     Produce research findings in various statistical formats and creatively represents that data in different charts, tables, and graphs;

5.     Responsible for the overall logistics of any seminars, workshops and conferences organized by the research cluster.

6.     Coordinate with and manage internal and external stakeholders. This includes regular reporting to resident and remote research fellows;

7.     Offer research and/ or administrative support to other research clusters as required

 

·      Masters candidates with at least 1- 2 years of experience with data-based research, in Economics, Political Science, Public Policy, or any related discipline from a reputed university

·      Outstanding research, writing, and analytical skills.

·      Ability to work independently and as part of a team, demonstrating initiative and reliability.

·      Strong interpersonal skills, organizational skills, and attention to detail required.

·      Willingness to do fieldwork and travel as required.

·      Should have excellent knowledge of econometrics, and statistical analysis toolkits such as R and STATA

·      Work experience of 2-3 year preferably in a research environment.

·      Ideally should know how to multitask and prioritize deadlines

·      Thorough knowledge of library and online research resources with capacity to conduct independent research and fieldwork.

·      Knowledge of Latex is also preferred.    

Interested candidates should fill this online form AND also send their CV, cover letter, and transcripts to jobs@ideaspak.org with the subject line “IDEAS Recruitment – Summer 2021”