Senior Policy Associate, Gender at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)

Position Summary

• The position offers an exciting opportunity to gain first-hand experience in an organization undertaking cutting-edge development research and policy engagement, as well as the opportunity to work in close collaboration with experienced research and policy partners and colleagues from IPA’s policy and the Intimate Partner Violence initiative.
• The Senior Policy Associate (Gender) will support the execution of IPA’s evidence-based policy and practice impact and influence strategy, working with a portfolio of countries in East Africa that primarily focus on IPA’s gender and intimate partner violence (IPV) sector research and policy engagements. He/she will work closely with the global policy team,
• IPV initiative team, country office management, and policy staff in our offices primarily in East Africa to identify, cultivate, and support strategic policy and practice opportunities that show promise in improving the lives of women and girls at scale.
• The strategic goals of the Senior Policy Associate (Gender) will be to work with colleagues to equip gender and IPV sector partners to use evidence in policy making and program design and pursue scale-up opportunities of promising programs centered on women and girls; develop embedded evidence labs with Ministry partners; build strategic partner relationships in the gender/IPV sectors; and host/manage policy events. The Senior Policy Associate (Gender) will write policy communications materials to inform policy making and program design in the area of IPV and gender and will also work closely with the policy and IPV initiative teams to support the development of funding opportunities to resource strategic policy projects and efforts centered on positively impacting the lives of women and girls.

Responsibilities

• As a Senior Policy Associate (Gender), your responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:
• Policy Communications & Strategy
•  Combine insights from gender and IPV research into policy lessons for decision- makers aiming to apply research to their policies and programs
•  Write original subject-matter policy communications publications and materials to communicate IPA’s policy lessons to internal and external stakeholders. This may include writing and/or ghostwriting original blog posts, policy briefs, website content, and other materials communicating IPA’s policy impact and strategy to internal and external stakeholders
•  Conduct policy and practice needs assessment exercise by interviewing policymakers and program implementers, particularly within the gender, intimate partner violence sectors
•  Support in growing IPA’s gender & IPV sector partnerships in East Africa by conducting stakeholder mapping exercises.
•  Conduct regular stakeholder outreach, plan and execute meetings with partners in government and development program implementers in the sector
•  Participate in various gender, IPV sector technical working groups and communities of practice
•  Support partnerships with gender-focused local and international academics and efforts in attracting new academic partnerships to identify and develop research opportunities that answer key policy questions in the sector
• Policy or Research Dissemination Events
•  Support virtual and/or in-person events with coordination, planning, and presentation drafting and support Business Development, Grant Coordination, and Project Management Support
•  Support global policy and IPV Initiative teams with policy proposal writing to raise funds for strategic policy work
•  Support to coordinate grant reporting and deliverable management for a handful of global policy & IPV initiative grants
•  Update project information in a knowledge management system
•  Other responsibilities as assigned

Qualifications

•  Bachelor’s degree in gender studies, public policy, international development, sociology, anthropology, economics, or related fields. A Master’s degree is a plus.
•  At least 3 years of work experience, preferably in the area of gender/IPV policy and research; exceptions may be made for excellent candidates who do not meet this criterion
•  Demonstrate ability to understand academic research studies and analyze bodies of research
•  Familiarity with impact evaluations, specifically randomized evaluations
•  Excellent oral and written communication skills in English including the ability to effectively write evidence reviews, policy briefs, policy blogs, or any other required materials in a clear, precise and non-technical manner
•  Experience in the public sector or working closely with ministries of gender/women, and private sector actors in the gender or IPV space
•  Good knowledge of the gender/IPV sector in East Africa (and particularly Kenya)
•  Excellent management and organizational skills
•  Experience with business development or fundraising
•  Ability to work independently and to carry out assignments to completion within parameters of instructions given, prescribed routines, and standard accepted practices
•  Must be able to work under pressure, independently and in a team, and meet deadlines, flexibility, self-motivation, and pro-activity highly valued