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(Senior) Program Associate, Outcome Measurement Team - Chennai

Position Summary 

Within CEGIS, the Outcome Measurement (OM) team’s role is to support institutionalization  of data driven decision making by setting up the required infrastructure and technical  capacity with the Planning department and relevant line departments in the State. High quality data and insights generated through this facility are expected to provide assistance to  the State in goal setting, progress monitoring and strategic decision making for personnel and  budget/ finance management.  
Specifically, this will, among other things, entail: 

  • Conducting independent household level outcome measurement across various sectors  such as school education, health, child nutrition, water & sanitation, jobs &  unemployment, public safety and agriculture etc. to assist the government in goal  setting and progress monitoring 

  • Measuring integrity of administrative data gathered and managed by the state  machinery and suggest ways of improving its quality 

  • Conducting high-frequency measurement of outcomes and monitoring (of key programs  and schemes) using various tools and techniques 

  • Generating learning notes to document project milestones and lessons for the future, and  share generalizable knowledge with the wider team. 

The (Senior) Program Associate (PA) - Outcome Measurement will play an important role in  contextualizing and executing the CEGIS vision in a select state. The role will work closely with  the Outcome Measurement technical team and project delivery teams in the respective State team.  
The (Senior) Program Associate will be directly reporting to the Program Manager, Outcome Measurement in the state.  

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Role and Responsibilities 

  • The key responsibilities of the (Senior) Program Associate include:  

  • Assist in developing technical notes and measurement and analysis protocols for the vertical

  • Oversee complex digital data collection operations (to be carried out by an external agency) involving multiple rounds of multi-sectoral surveys

  • Design and manage other smaller scale survey operations in-house (including both in-person and phone surveys) as per the requirement of the project delivery teams 

  • Ensure adherence to data quality protocols, including auditing enumerators, monitoring data collection, and conducting data quality audits

  • Replicate any analysis submitted by external partners to ensure rigor and quality of outputs

  • Gather administrative data from relevant government line departments, review them using a prescribed template and conduct analysis as required

  • Manage all the primary, secondary, and administrative data by strictly following data management and security protocols 

  • Keep track of global best practices in measurement and assist in strengthening team’s capacity to adopt those

  • Develop high quality outputs for dissemination at various forums 

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Required Qualifications, Skills and Abilities 

  • Education and Experience  

    • Bachelor’s degree (Master’s degree or equivalent preferred) in economics, public policy, social science or related fields from a reputed institution 

    • 0 to 3 years work experience in India with a research organization (research agency/ think-tank (government or private sector) preferred

    • Experience with data cleaning and analysis of large and complex data sets and econometric analysis

    • Knowledge of STATA or R (strongly preferred) or any other data analysis software preferred

    • Understanding of experimental and non-experimental research methods

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Personal Characteristics and Desired Qualities

  • Excellent problem-solving and strategic thinking skills, strong research aptitude ability to analyse complex quantitative and qualitative data and formulate solutions

  • Fluency in English and excellent writing and communication skills (ability to communicate complex ideas in a meaningful way and across different audiences) within and outside the organization. Tamil proficiency is preferable. 

  • Strong planning and organizational skills, and an ability to be able to set priorities, plan timelines and meet deadlines

  • Ability to think creatively, willing to take risks to experiment with new ideas and the ability to turn ideas into action

  • High ability to collaborate and actively listen to others, understanding and valuing others’ views
    Demonstrated ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations

  • Operating style suited to working independently and in a small-organization setting, where teamwork and resourcefulness are highly valued

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Location and Compensation

This role will be based out of Chennai with the possibility of regular travel.
 

Remuneration will be competitive with Indian philanthropy and social sector pay scales and will depend on the candidate’s experience levels.

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Interested candidates are requested to submit their application here.

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Pre-reads for the application process

To learn more about the type of reforms CEGIS is seeking to implement in states, please go through the following materials before sending in your application:

 

  1. Podcast episodes with Prof. Karthik Muralidharan – one each on education and healthcare in India.

  2. Collection of Prof. Karthik Muralidharan’s work here.

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