Vacancies at Busara Center

About the role:

• The Associate supports both the advisory and research arms of Busara by leading the planning, execution, and day to day management of Busara projects.
• As primary project manager for all external Busara projects, an Associate quickly gains an expert understanding of a particular problem or research question and uses all tools at their disposal, both within and outside Busara to execute an engagement to the highest possible degree, with careful consideration of timing and budget. An Associate develops creative and rigorous solutions to client and partner needs and manages both internal and external relationships with energy, enthusiasm, and professionalism. 
• Associates directly manage other project staff that work on their project and, as well as liaise with other Busara teams and are expected to coordinate and manage staff effectively.

Key Accountabilities/Responsibilities
CORE PROJECT RESPONSIBILITIES: Associates will work closely with Busara offices and directly with academic researchers and advisory clients to perform a variety of tasks including, but not limited to:

• Engage in multiple large-scale research and advisory projects at a given time.
• Plan, manage, and execute external and internal engagements independently from start to finish with limited supervision.
• Incorporate the latest research in qualitative and quantitative methods, behavioral science, psychology, economics, and development to provide creative solutions to engagements.
• Manage and conduct qualitative and quantitative research and data analysis.
• Design, launch, and analyze effective quantitative and qualitative survey instruments with coordination among project staff (Analysts, Project Leads, Data and Programming, and Operations teams).
• Serve as a point of contact for clients and partners.  Effectively manage the needs of stakeholders through proactive communication and troubleshooting.
• Contribute to project on-boarding and off-boarding for knowledge management.
• Responsible for project timelines, deliverables, reports, and staffing.
• Contribute to the creation of proposals, concept notes, and pitch decks for new business opportunities and knowledge sharing. Present at conferences, networking events, or client meetings.
• Contribute to the design, execution, and dissemination of Busara internal research projects.
• Work closely to lead or support other Associates to fulfill engagement requirements.
• Perform any other duty as may be assigned by the project supervisor.

CORE ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• In addition to project responsibilities, Associates also have the following organizational responsibilities to ensure a healthy and functioning organization.
• Work with the Associate team to conduct goal-setting exercises, objectives and key results, and team building events.
• Contribute to skills-building workshops for Associate teams.
• Assist with internal initiatives where necessary.
• Serve as mentors to Analysts and Project Lead team members, when requested.

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience: Minimum Requirements

• A Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or related fields; Clear interest in health focused research and behavioral science.
• Strong qualitative, quantitative, research, and data analytic skills.
• 2+ years previous work experience in health focused research.
• Experience managing large scale research and consulting projects in developing countries.
• Demonstrates the ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations.
• Strong quantitative skills including knowledge of and experience working with data analysis software (STATA, Python, R)
• Experience managing and mentoring staff
• Ability to quickly understand and adapt to new contextual situations
• Excellent management and organizational skills.
• Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and a team player.
• Interest and experience working in a fast-paced working environment.
• Fluency and excellent communication and writing skills with a mastery of English.
• Ability to execute projects while sustaining a global focus and vision for institutional planning and decision making.

Desired Qualifications:

• A Master’s degree in Economics, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or related fields.
• Experience managing or mentoring staff.
• Familiarity with randomized controlled trials and/or quasi-experimental designs
• Technical understanding of qualitative research techniques.
• Strong academic behavioral science background.
• Knowledge of the application of behavioral science to real-world problems.

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Role Purpose Statement:

• The Senior Analyst supports the advisory and arm of Busara in making informed decisions and setting priorities on projects. 
• The Senior Analyst will be expected to have accurate knowledge of a situation, a market, an issue, or a social context that is often useful in accessing project parameters.
• The Senior Analyst will engage in a variety of research activities both qualitative and quantitative and will be required to support research preparation. The Senior Analyst will be tasked with research preparation, structuring, and ultimately composing reports, deliverables, and analysis on ongoing projects, in close coordination with the Associates. S/he will also be responsible for sensitive and delicate client interactions, and final project outputs, requiring extreme attention to detail and dedication to high-quality outputs.

CORE PROJECT RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Conduct research preparation activities including literature reviews. 
• Engage in multiple large-scale research and advisory projects at a given time.
• Manage external and internal engagements independently and with limited supervision.
• Interpret, evaluate, and clarify research requests to determine potential data sources and informational resources; identify, and discuss research needs with Associates and Engagement Directors.
• Provide customized reports, highlighting main findings and key points, and effectively communicate the results to the end-user both orally and in writing.
• Identify, troubleshoot, and resolve inquiries on external and internal research data and act as a research resource person for senior leadership, internal teams, staff, and external parties.
• Recommend data sources and make recommendations on all phases of projects. Work closely, when necessary, with the data and programming team to source, clean, and structure data.
• Design effective quantitative and qualitative survey instruments and coordinate all activities associated with survey development and data collection including, formatting, liaising with survey programming teams, analyzing, summarizing, and presenting results; write reports highlighting key findings and present results.
• Contribute to the drafting of client reports, experimental designs, literature reviews, proposals, and pitch decks.
• Contribute to project on-boarding and off-boarding for knowledge management.
• Plan and execute general logistics for project activities as it relates to content outcomes such as phasing of field activities, coordinating client meetings, etc.  Work closely with the Project Operations team and the Project Lead team to plan logistics for field operations, data collection, and data quality assurance.  Ensure that all project work is communicated with the relevant teams at Busara to ensure proper roll-out of the engagement.  This includes, but is not limited to, finance, procurement, operations, and facilities and wellness.
• Maintain and update project timelines.  Alert Associates of upcoming deadlines, deliverables, and meetings.
• Perform any other duty as may be assigned by the project supervisor.
• Maintain an understanding of the high-level engagement, the goals of the clients, partners, and teams within Busara, and continually push the project teams to realign around those goals.
• Identify generalizable lessons and ensure that project teams are working with the most relevant, up-to-date knowledge and insights.
• Work on the most sensitive or complex projects, often with minimal supervision or support.
• Execute the core project responsibilities with the highest degree with respect to creativity, rigor, relevance, detail, and timeliness. 

CORE ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• In addition to project responsibilities, Analysts also have the following organizational responsibilities to ensure a healthy and functioning organization.
• Work with the Analyst team to conduct goal-setting exercises, objectives and key results, and team-building events.
• Contribute to skills-building workshops for Analyst teams.
• Assist with internal initiatives where necessary.
• Serve as mentors to Senior Field Officer team members, when requested.
• Serve on internal committees when necessary.
• Serve as champions for the Analyst team to manage the team and bring forward all relevant and actionable requests to the proper leadership teams.
• Maintain team morale and organizational alignment
• Serve as examples to other Analysts of how to execute project responsibilities to a high degree.
• Serve as sounding boards for initiatives that affect the Analyst team.
• Coordinate internal initiatives, committees, and exercises for the Analysts.
• Coordinate across teams to ensure healthy work relationships are maintained.  Mediate and escalate (to supervisors, HR, or wellness teams) any issues that require attention.

Minimum Requirements

• A Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or related fields.
• Strong qualitative and quantitative research, and data analytic skills.
• 1-year previous work experience in a related field
• Familiarity with basics of experimental design
• Demonstrates the ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations.
• Excellent management and organizational skills.
• Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and a team player.
• Must have a growth mindset, and have interest and experience working in a fast-paced working environment.
• Fluency and excellent communication and writing skills with a mastery of English
• Extreme attention to detail while sustaining a global focus and vision for institutional planning and decision making.

Desired Qualifications

• Familiarity with randomized controlled trials preferred.
• Familiarity with behavioral science.
• Familiarity with R, STATA, Python, SAS, and/or other programming languages 
• Exposure to large-scale research and consulting projects in countries in which Busara has an office.

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Areas of Need

• The consultant will work as part of a larger project team composed of other full-time staff and consultants, and is expected to make contributions to an ongoing research design process for a market assessment to understand demand for crop index insurance. 
• This would involve several steps; Firstly, defining research objectives, such as identifying the target market, understanding their needs and preferences, and assessing the viability of the insurance product. Next, determine data sources, data collection approach and sample size and sampling methods. Analysis and synthesis of insights to draw conclusions and make recommendations on determinants of viability of a crop index insurance product and the best approach to market such a product to the target audience.

The consultant will assist in the following areas:

• Conduct literature review to identify relevant research questions for understanding demand for crop index insurance
• Prepare for primary data collection (IRB draft, draft tool, train and supervise field team)
• Analysis of field data (tool testing)
• Drafting a set of market assessment tools and guides (baseline and endline)
• Draft reports as required
• Co- present at a learning event 

Consultants will need to meet the following requirements:

• 3-5 years experience in micro-insurance market assessments or agriculture insurance product design in Africa
• Masters in a relevant field (Agriculture, Commerce, rural development etc)
• Experience developing and executing standardized research instruments

Consulting Details 

Duties of Busara

• The Busara team will provide overall clarification on expectations and technical support as required.
• Busara will provide contextual information required, including already generated long list of ideas. 

Duties of the Consultant
The consultant will: 

• Operate  from own office  other  than  in  exceptional  situations  and  provide  own manpower, work   facilities,   equipment,   stationery,   supplies, and   all   operational requirements to carry out the assignment and provide the services required; 
• Deliver high-quality service within the agreed timelines.
• Liaise with the Engagement Director on a regular basis to report progress, and report any  issues  and/or  concerns  that  may  affect the performance of the consultancy in the course of the assignment