Policy Associate - Gender - J-PAL South Asia

The Policy team at J-PAL South Asia (J-PAL SA) disseminates findings of J-PAL’s research, develops relationships with government, civil society, and academic stakeholders, catalyzes scale-ups and replications of effective projects, and assists in conceptualizing new research projects. J-PAL SA seeks a Policy Associate to contribute to its mission of promoting evidence-informed policy through new randomised evaluations, synthesising and disseminating evidence, and supporting ongoing partnerships with governments, international organizations, philanthropic foundations and NGOs in India. The Policy Associate will support work across these mandates in J-PAL’s Gender sector.

J-PAL's Gender sector works with governments, NGOs, and donors to generate rigorous evidence on promoting gender equality and women and girls’ empowerment. The sector seeks to evaluate policy solutions designed to improve gender attitudes and women’s agency, strengthen women’s livelihoods and workforce participation, and make spaces safer for women and girls. 

The Policy Associate will work closely with the Gender team to expand its work across two key initiatives. First, in supporting J-PAL SA’s efforts to build partnerships to generate new evidence on innovative solutions to prevent and address gender-based violence and sexual harassment outside the home in India. Second, supporting J-PAL SA’s newly launched Gender Impact Lab with the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, to build new research on women-led development and more broadly, institutionalize a culture of evidence-informed policymaking. 

The position will provide the right candidate with exposure to a vast array of partners and projects on the evidence-to-policy spectrum within the area of gender equality.

Candidates should have an understanding of impact evaluation methods (especially randomised evaluations), be passionate about social policy and gender equality, and have excellent communication skills. 

J-PAL SA is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to age, disability, family status, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation and other attributes protected by law. We strongly encourage people from marginalized communities to apply for this role and to request any necessary accommodations during the application process. Candidates can use the cover letter to describe how this opportunity furthers their personal and professional journeys. All information shared during the application process will be treated with strict confidentiality.

Key Responsibilities

Support the Policy Team in its mission of promoting evidence-informed policy in the Gender Sector: This will entail understanding, summarizing, and supporting the generation and dissemination of J-PAL evidence in the Gender sector. To this end, the Policy Associate will support:

Evidence Generation: This would involve:

• Supporting efforts to understand and document the policy landscape in the Gender sector;
• Catalysing new randomized evaluation research by matching innovative projects in the region with J-PAL affiliated researchers in the sector;
• Coordinating project development activities for new projects, such as the development of timelines, budgets, and proposals, ensuring adherence to J-PAL standards and protocols

Evidence Synthesis and Dissemination: This would involve:

• Drafting internal reference materials and policy outreach materials summarizing evidence from J-PAL evaluations related to the Gender sector (e.g., summaries, briefs, policy memos, concept notes, letters, presentations) in clear, accurate, and non-technical language;
• Support evidence dissemination activities by curating customized decks and synthesising evidence notes that can be used to present J-PAL’s Gender evidence to relevant actors like civil society organisations, donors, governments, and other organisations;
• Track policy developments in the Gender sector and communicate these developments internally to the team;  
• Support efforts to prepare senior management for meetings with background research and meeting notes/memos.
• Help organize policy outreach events and workshops to advocate for evidence-based decision-making.

Institutionalising an evidence-based approach to policy: Support the work on new and existing strategic partnerships between J-PAL SA and Indian central and state government partners aimed at institutionalizing a data and evidence-informed approach to policy decisions in the sector

Scale-ups: This would involve:

• Support the development of an evidence-based implementation toolkit as part of J-PAL SA’s effort to develop our evidence to policy pipeline on issues relating to gender.
• Support identification of any new evidence-based scale-up programs in the Gender sector by working closely with relevant partners and J-PAL SA’s scale-ups team;

Provide additional support to the Policy Team as required:

• Provide cross-sectoral support to further J-PAL’s mission to ensure policy-making is driven by rigorous evidence;
• Support J-PAL SA in the curation of public goods within the Policy vertical as well as other verticals as required.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s or Master's degree (preferably in economics, public policy, gender, or a related social science field).
• Experience: This position requires 0-1 years of relevant experience in addition to a relevant Bachelor’s or Master's degree.
• Interest: Demonstrated interest and/or experience in areas relating to gender is strongly preferred;
• Understanding of Randomized Evaluations: A keen understanding of the randomized evaluation methodology in development research and its usefulness for policy decisions is desirable;
• Skills and Competencies:
  •  Excellent spoken and written communication skills;
  • Attention to detail and excellent writing and presentation skills for communicating policy lessons from academic papers in ways that policymakers understand;
  • Ability to handle several different projects/tasks at one time, successfully complete tasks assigned, and meet deadlines;
  • Strong interest in international development policy, thematic areas of gender and sexuality, South Asia development, and/or program evaluation as demonstrated by coursework and professional experience;
• Language: Fluency in English (written and oral).