Design Team Research Fellow at Spark MicroGrants: (Deadline 11 August 2023)

Design Team Research Fellow at Spark MicroGrants: (Deadline 11 August 2023)

We are hiring a Design Team Research Fellow 

Terms of Reference:  

About Spark

Spark Microgrants believes in a world where everyone lives with dignity and determines their own positive future. Spark has pioneered a poverty alleviation model in East Africa that draws on the evidence from ultra poor graduation and community-driven development approaches, known as the facilitated collective action process (FCAP). The FCAP combines a cash grant plus facilitated community meetings and trainings to catalyze improved livelihoods, stronger social cohesion, and greater gender equity. Spark is partnering with NGO and Government partners to scale adoption and impacts for rural communities – on their own terms. Read more about our Approach, Impact and Values on our website.

Spark is seeking an experienced Research Fellow to increase our internal capacity to gather, review, conduct, and digest research that can further our programmatic, design, and evaluation goals. The Fellow will bolster Spark’s efforts toward building evidence through internal and external evaluations, developing and maintaining strong evidence-program-policy linkages, and strengthening the feedback loop between the body of literature and Spark’s program design.

About the role

The Fellow will add capacity to Spark’s team by supporting its Design team on research and learning initiatives. Focus areas may include community-oriented climate resilience strategies, distilling best practices from the body of relevant peer reviewed literature, country-specific government policy and strategy, among other topics. The Fellow will:

• Report to Rachel Jones, the Design Director, and will have weekly check-ins related to projects, performance, and professional development.
• Participate in weekly team meetings and monthly team training.
• Be given 10% of their workload to focus on a passion project. This project benefits the team and the organization but is outside of the key tasks given by the supervisor.
• Participate in human-centered design practices and trainings.
• Have a portfolio of literature reviews, concepts notes, and best practices of Community Driven Development at the end of this opportunity.

The core role for the Research Fellow is to gather research from the global community and help guide design initiatives; especially in regards to community driven development (CDD), climate change, savings groups, social entrepreneurship, etc.

Responsibilities

1. Conduct literature reviews as requested by Spark leadership team (for example, best practices in community-driven development and poverty alleviation programs)
2. Distill learnings from academic literature and peer reviewed publications into easily digestible information for Spark team and partners
3. Contribute evidence-rooted perspectives to program design conversations and initiatives
4. Develop concept notes for new partnerships and studies
5. Participate in Spark’s focus group discussions with program participants and conduct qualitative analyses
6. Participate in rapid prototyping of new approaches and initiatives
7. Build capacity of  design team by training staff on key learnings from research
8. Undertake passion project with 10% of time

Requirements and other considerations

• Masters degree in a related field plus 2+ years experience in research focused roles
• Experience working in global south required
• Experience writing concept notes and proposals is preferred
• Excellent English written and oral communication
• Preference for knowledge and expertise in areas including sustainable agriculture, gender equality, economic development, democracy, and entrepreneurship 

OTHER INFORMATION

Job Location: Preference for Fellows located in the East Africa, Central Africa, or Greenwich Mean / British Summer Time zones

Contract Duration:  Term of fellowship is 6 months with potential to extend based on Spark needs and team capacity.

• Monthly stipend will be provided based on education, experience, and cost of living in Fellow’s location.

Start date: 18 September 2023

Application deadline: 11^th August 2023

WHAT WE OFFER

• A competitive salary, depending on experience.
• Talented and welcoming colleagues, 90% of whom are based in the countries where we work.
• A supportive environment with plenty of professional development opportunities.
• A chance to help shape the future of international development.

TO APPLY

Follow the Link to apply: https://sparkmicrogrants.bamboohr.com/careers/71

Application Details:

• Attach your resume and a cover letter that explains why your experience and background make you the ideal candidate for this position. Resume should be no more than two pages.
• Please also include a sample of writing relevant to this position’s responsibilities.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Spark Microgrants provides equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals. Employment decisions at Spark are based on merit, qualifications, and abilities. Spark does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by the law. Spark will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities unless doing so would result in undue hardship to daily operations.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE AND APPLY