Job Description

Start Date (Earliest): 1st May, 2023 Language Requirement: Hindi, English, and Telugu (preferred) Length of Commitment: 8 Months Joining Location:Hyderabad / Open to Remote during Analysis Phase Name of the Project: Leveraging Local Governments to Support Rice Mechanization Sector-Agriculture and Labor About the Organization The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of 194 affiliated professors at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty. J-PAL South Asia, based at the Institute for Financial Management and Research in India, leads J-PAL\'s work in the South Asia region. J-PAL South Asia conducts randomized evaluations, builds partnerships for evidence-informed policymaking, and helps partners scale up effective programs. Over more than ten years of existence, J-PAL South Asia has conducted 193 ongoing and completed randomized evaluations. About the position J-PAL South Asia at the Institute for Financial Management and Researchseeks qualifiedapplicants for the position ofResearch Associateto lead impact evaluations in India. The position offers an opportunity to gain first-hand field management experience in an organization undertaking cutting-edge development research. The Research Associate will join a team of world-class researchers from leading universities in the world and will gain first-hand experience implementing randomized control trials in an organization undertaking cutting-edge development research Read more about our work and projects Project Specific Details- This project aims to understand how changes in agricultural labor productivity affect village labor markets. Working with the Telangana Department of Agriculture, the project has already randomized a government program which facilitates direct seeding. While direct seeding can improve farm profitability by removing the need for transplanting, it also results in much lower agricultural labor demand. Since transplanting is a job traditionally performed by women gender norms may make it particularly difficult for transplanters to find alternate work. By surveying both agricultural laborers and farmers we hope to understand the full impact of this technology. Since the government program devolved responsibility for promoting direct seeding to sarpanches we are also interested in studying how this agricultural transition effected village politics. The RA will be responsible a series of primary data collection exercises for laborers, farmers, farmer\'s wives, agricultural extensionists, and local politicians. The project is led by Steven Brownstone is a 4thyear PhD student at UC San Diego who is advised by Karthik Muralidharan. He worked for IDinsight in Delhi before starting the PhD and currently works closely with CEGIS so is well positioned to advise on all kinds of social sector careers.He will be closely involved in the project and present for much of the data collection Key Responsibilities Research Associates work closely with academic researchers and other field staff to perform a variety tasks including, but not limited to: Designing survey questionnaires, conducting qualitative research, running pilot exercises, refining study design and survey instruments Managing teams: Recruit, train, and supervise both field-based and data operations teams consisting of project assistants, field managers, field-based surveyors, data entry operators and other field and office staff Supervising data collection and data entry to ensure good data quality during both these phases Co-ordinating with the Administrative and Finance team on a variety of tasks related to field staff contracting and payments Overseeing the implementation of the evaluation in accordance to the research design in association with our partner organization Ensuring that the project complies with IRB and JPAL data collection and security protocols with the help of the Research Manager Maintaining relationship with partner organizations at both headquarters and field levels Assisting with data cleaning and preliminary data analysis Assisting in preparation of documents and presentations for donor reporting as well as dissemination activities Reporting to PIs on all of the above mentioned activities Any other task as assigned by the Research Manager, AD Research or E Desired Qualifications A Bachelor\'s/Master\'s degree in economics, social sciences, public policy, education or related fields Experience living in a developing country is a strong plus Previous experience in development research preferred Excellent management and organizational skills along with strong quantitative skills Fluency and excellent communication skills in English Some conversational-level skills in regional languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Kannada etc. Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and team player Demonstrated ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations Knowledge of Stata (strongly preferred) or other data analysis software is preferred Familiarity with randomized controlled trials/clinical trials/quasi-experiments preferred Ability to deal with unstructured and changing environments Ability to work independently and in rural field locations Note on Work Authorizations: Candidates must have work authorization to work in India.

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