REGLAB Research Analyst/Associate
About REGLAB
REGLAB (Recherche expérimentale sur la gouvernance locale au Burkina Faso) is a research collaboration between the government of Burkina Faso (in particular its Programme d’appui aux collectivités territoriales, or PACT) and researchers at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA) and the World Bank’s Development Impact Evaluation Unit (DIME). We develop and test innovative ways of improving municipal government performance, accountability and civic participation.
Our work involves several large-scale policy experiments that test innovative ways of exposing municipal governments to greater scrutiny by citizens. We have also initiated Burkina Faso’s annual municipal performance survey — one of the first of its kind in the world. For parts of the research program, our partners include the Association of Mayors of Burkina Faso (AMBF), Burkina Faso’s National ICT Promotion Agency (ANPTIC), OpenData Burkina, and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) Burkina Faso. More information is available at www.reglab-burkina.org.
Tasks and Responsibilities
As REGLAB research analyst, you will primarily be responsible for managing and processing REGLAB research data and controlling data quality. This includes
- setting up a cloud database for REGLAB research data,
- merging and matching different primary and secondary data sources,
- programming and performing data quality checks,
- cleaning and documenting data sets,
- constructing new indicators from existing data,
- contributing to the development and programming of data collection instruments.
You will further contribute to analytical products, such as analysis plans, reports, research articles, and the REGLAB website. For this, you will mainly use R. The work involves:
- programming data analyses, visualizations and maps
- creating replication files and writing technical documentations.
Additionally, you can be involved in managing field experiments and data collection, in close coordination with implementation and data collection partners in Burkina Faso. This would involve travel to Ouagadougou and beyond. You can further get involved in outreach to policy makers, media and funding partners and in developing new research opportunities for REGLAB. There is significant scope for learning and taking on important responsibilities in these areas, or for continued collaboration, e.g. in connection with a Ph.D. project.
Required Skills
- Master’s degree in a social or behavioral science or statistics/data science
- Excellent written and spoken communication skills in French and English
- Proficiency in R
- Experience working with research data
- Good understanding of field experiments/randomized controlled trials
Other Useful Skills (or On-The-Job Learning Opportunities)
- Willingness to travel to or work in Ouagadougou (and occasionally elsewhere within Burkina Faso)
- Experience communicating with government partners
- Work experience in Francophone West Africa
- Outreach to media or funding partners
- Python programming
- Cloud databases/SQL
- SurveyCTO/XLSform
- R markdown and LaTeX
- Academic writing or presentation
- Interest in graphic design and visualization
- Interest in local-level governance, elections, and democratic accountability
- Research ethics training
Desired Personal Qualities
- Makes things happen and keeps the project on schedule
- Feels personally responsible for the success of the project
- Asks questions and seeks clarification wherever necessary
- Is transparent and precise in handling research data (utmost avoidance of mistakes and proper documentation of all data work)
- Anticipates problems and issues, informs the PIs and takes measures to prevent them
- Acts professionally and diplomatically towards all stakeholders involved in the research initiative
- Takes responsibility for the planning and structuring of the work, sets priorities and makes realistic assumptions about time
- Is able to handle multiple competing tasks and gets back to pending tasks without reminder
- Understands the research, its purpose and its value to society and is able to explain it well
- Is resourceful and proposes solutions/fixes to problems (and alternatives if a proposed solution does not work)
- Produces outputs that meet professional standards (proper language, spelling, formatting, and good organization)
Terms of Employment
The research analyst will be hired as a consultant by the World Bank or the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies for a minimum of one year (combined contract duration), renewable conditional on performance and funding. The research analyst can be based in Hamburg, Ouagadougou or Washington DC. The research analyst will report jointly to the PI and co-PI of REGLAB.
All rights in and to any work created in connection with this employment, including all data, documents, information, copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets or other proprietary rights in and to the work remain with the REGLAB PIs and their respective institutions and collaboration partners. The consultant is not allowed to post or publish (electronically or in print) any project-related information without the explicit permission of the REGLAB PIs.
Application Process
To apply, please send your resume, a brief statement of interest and qualifications (no more than 1 page), and an example of R code prepared by you that best indicates your level of experience.
Please e-mail your application to contact[‘at’]reglab-burkina.org by February 20, 2019. After that date, further applications may be considered on a rolling basis. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted.