Evaluation Specialist Job

Job Title: Evaluation Specialist

Organisation: Educate!

Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda

About US:

Educate! prepares youth in Africa with the skills to succeed in today’s economy. We tackle youth unemployment by partnering with schools and governments to reform what schools teach and how they teach it, so that students in Africa have the skills to attain further education, overcome gender inequities, start businesses, get jobs and drive development in their communities. Our model is delivered through practically-trained teachers and youth mentors. Educate!’s goal is to make this practical, skills-based model part of national education systems.

Job Summary: Educate! is seeking a driven, organized, and collaborative Evaluation Specialist to design and manage research and evaluation projects, and analyze and disseminate the results of our research. In ten years of operating in East Africa, one of Educate!’s differentiating factors has been our commitment to impact evaluation and learning, and we believe that continuing to invest in research & development is a key component of continued growth and innovation. Educate! has recently launched a Rapid Impact Assessment System, an ambitious attempt to embed rigorous quantitative evaluation into our program development process. As an Evaluation Specialist, you’ll be an integral member of the evaluation team overseeing this system. You’ll work closely with our Director of Monitoring and Evaluation and Technical Evaluation Lead, as well as with our programs, design, and innovation teams, to implement our ambitious evaluation and learning strategy across three countries.

The right person for this role will have at least 3 years of work experience, have taken courses in statistics or econometrics, and have either a master’s degree or equivalent work experience in a field like M&E, research methods, or public policy. You’ll be passionate about generating and using evidence to inform programs and policy, and excited to use data to piece together a story. You’ll be an ultra-organized and self-motivated planner and project manager, capable of keeping multiple balls in the air with limited supervision, and a collaborative team player who can build relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders. You’ll also be fluent in Microsoft Excel and STATA (or other data analysis software) and bring strong skills in research and evaluation design, quantitative and qualitative analysis, and writing.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Research and Evaluation Design

Support design of evaluation and research projects to answer pressing program and policy questions, working closely with our product teams to ensure that evaluation and research projects meet the needs of the intended user
Ensure selection of best evaluation methodology (qualitative and quantitative) to answer learning objectives of each evaluation
Support measurement and tool design to ensure evaluation and research measures target outcomes including teacher pedagogy adoption and quality, student-level soft and hard skills, and economic and life outcomes.
Ensure research adheres to best practices for delivering high quality, fit-for-purpose research

Research and Evaluation Management

Plan and manage research and evaluation projects, including evaluations run internally and with external consultants.
Manage testing of measurement tools for reliability and validity
Ensure that research and evaluation projects are well-planned and coordinated with other team priorities, and that projects proceed on time with course corrections as needed
Collaborate with evaluation team to ensure all research and evaluation projects adhere to best practices for delivering high quality, fit-for-purpose research
Manage large and small data collection, including hiring, training, and supervising teams of enumerators for qualitative and quantitative evaluations
Ensure data collected is high quality, minimizing errors, following best practices in research ethics, and providing reliable measurement of key outcomes
Collaborate with Performance Metrics and Product teams programs to integrate monitoring data into evaluations

Analysis and Interpretation

Clean and prepare survey data for analysis
Conduct quantitative data analysis, including summarizing descriptive statistics of Educate!’s primary outcomes of interest
Conduct statistical analysis of rapid impact assessment data using a variety of identification strategies to estimate the impact of Educate!’s programs on primary outcomes of interest (youth skills, economic activity, savings and income)
Write well-documented, reproducible analysis code for data cleaning, descriptive statistics, regression analysis, and any other analysis required
Conduct qualitative research and analysis as needed, tailoring the analysis approach and methodology to the evaluation objectives
Summarize and interpret data to create clear, actionable recommendations for product teams, using the data to piece together an evidence-based narrative about how youth experience Educate!’s programs

Evidence Use and Results Dissemination

Summarize research findings to facilitate action by internal and external stakeholders, including Educate!’s Product and Program Implementation teams, as well as government partners and funders
Advise product strategy teams to incorporate learnings from each evaluation into product strategy and learning agenda and organization-wide theory of change
Stay up to date with literature on youth skill development, sharing evidence with product teams and understanding where Educate! fits into the landscape
Support Director of M&E and Technical Evaluation Lead to position Educate! as a thought leader in youth skills programming, evidence generation, and measurement

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

The applicant must hold a Master’s degree in economics, education, or other social science with coursework in econometrics, quantitative and qualitative research methods PLUS
Five years of professional experience (in addition to education) in conducting research analysis, conducting research, analyzing data, and working with large datasets
Experience working with large data sets and on impact evaluations, especially randomized evaluations.
Experience with evaluations of education, skills, or labor market interventions, is highly preferred.
Experience developing and testing skills measurement tools.
Strong research and analytical skills, including ability to quickly digest and analyze a diverse range of information and data collected from varied sources
High proficiency in STATA or alternative statistical software
Excellent at summarizing complex research for a policy or practitioner audience, proficient in Excel, PowerPoint, data visualization software (Tableau, etc.)
Self-starter, well-organized and, diligent with great attention to detail and passion for extracting as much information as possible out of a dataset while maintaining a commitment to rigor
Collaborative team player
Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills