Lead – Research, Evidence and Innovation via DevNetJobsIndia

Job Description

1.                Introduction

2.                Context

Jal Seva Charitable Foundation (JSCF) is registered in India as a not for profit company under Chapter 8 of the Companies Act, 2013. JSCF, is an associate member of WaterAid International and uses the brand name ‘WaterAid’ in India.

WaterAid India seeks to improve access to clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene for everyone, everywhere.

We started in 1986 because no non-profit like us existed. We are determined to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. Only by tackling these three essentials, in ways that last, can people change their lives for good.

In India, WaterAid works with communities in rural and urban areas. Thanks to our amazing supporters, we have reached millions of people with these three essentials – clean water, decent toilets, and good hygiene – enabling communities to unlock their potential to break free from the cycle of poverty and to change lives for good.

We will not stop. Not until clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene are a normal part of everyday life for everyone, everywhere.

WaterAid India’s (WAI) country office is based in New Delhi with State Offices in Bhopal, Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Patna and Lucknow. We currently work in 11+ states across the country.

WAI’s Programme focus in the next five years is on ensuring that communities – especially low-income families – are WASH secure i.e. with assured access to safe drinking water at the household level; with safely managed sanitation’ institutions such as anganwadi’s, schools and health care facilities with adequate and appropriate WASH infrastructure and with good hygiene behaviours. We seek to do this through demonstration and the provision of technical and knowledge support to governments at all levels who can facilitate this adoption on scale.

3.                Overall Responsibilities

• Lead and drive the research agenda for WAI and ensure the quality of work is consistent with WAI quality standards.
• Build technical competence of WAI’s teams and partners on research, evidence generation and innovation.
• Collaboration with cross functional and locational teams for effective delivery of WAI strategy.
• Provide advice and assurance to leadership and senior managers on research related works.
• Government and stakeholder engagement for collaborative action.

A. Organisational level Responsibilities

• Lead or support evidence generation activities for the Policy and Technical Support (PTS) team, across thematic areas, in close collaboration with the technical experts.
• Ensure effective planning, delivery of Policy priorities and utilisation of financial resources and budgets allocated for the function.
• Ensure that organizational planning processes incorporate evidence generation/research to inform policy and build the evidence base for the thematic areas of work.
• Initiating necessary institutional ethics systems and processes for research and evidence creation, as necessary.
• Work with Program teams to jointly identify research needs (for policy and programmatic strengthening at the State and district level).
• Contribute to proposal development (focusing on any research/evidence-generation activities to be incorporated, and/or sharing relevant research to build the proposal)
• Work with Media and Communication team for appropriate use and positioning of evidence to inform campaigns, policy and programs and to disseminate research reports and briefs
• Set up and manage review protocols for research studies, and provide support to review and finalize research reports and papers from across WAI interventions
• Lead the processes to support WAI PTS team, Programme Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (PMEL) and Program colleagues to prepare and present quality abstracts and research papers from their works/ studies in targeted conferences and knowledge events
• Represent WaterAid India in internal and external fora on research and coordinate with PMEL to ensure dissemination of research across the organization
• Participate or lead, as necessary, and contribute to organisational management systems and processes – setting and driving the research agenda.
• Support teams with appropriate and updated evidence for Government engagement at various levels, and for engagement with non-Government stakeholders.

B.  Policy level Responsibilities

• Lead/ support comprehensive analysis of relevant sectoral policies (in collaboration with technical specialists in the team)
• Collate evidence from India focused and global studies, across the thematic areas (as needed) with a view to inform relevant policies/ to identify strategic priorities for policy interventions
• Identify innovative practices to be piloted, implemented or scaled up across WAI interventions.
• Lead manage or guide research and evidence generation activities for WAI on specific policy priorities across thematic areas
• Develop, update and internally disseminate strategy, standards and guidance for policy research and evidence generation for WaterAid India.
• Provide support to government and external entities wherever necessary, for designing, conducting or managing research/ studies, as necessary, of relevant policies and initiatives around WAI thematic areas
• Work closely with policy thematic leads in dissemination and policy uptake of studies conducted and evidence generated.
• Inform the organisational leadership about various developments and updates on policy research and knowledge uptakes.
• Develop evidence briefs across thematic areas (drawing on WAI’s work, WA work, and external research) for policy advocacy at state and national levels
• Lead or support stakeholder engagement for dissemination of relevant research in a timely manner.

C. Technical level Responsibilities

• Provide technical guidance on appropriate research methods to be deployed to undertake studies (quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, systematic review)
• Lead identification of external agencies and consultants to undertake research work across thematic areas, and manage their work wherever necessary
• Provide continuous guidance and oversight to external agencies and consultants throughout the research process (review of research protocol, research tools and data collection plan, data analysis, and reporting).
• Guide implementation of the innovative approaches, integrated with concurrent research and evaluation processes.
• Develop standards and protocols for evaluation of technical support initiatives and innovative approaches by WaterAid India.
• Provide guidance and necessary support to document or study or evaluate the impact of innovations being implemented in the field.
• Work closely with technical leads to ensure dissemination of evaluations held and for knowledge translation/uptake initiatives.
• Inform the leadership with updates on evaluation and aptness of WAI technical support interventions and innovations, from time to time.
• Collaborate with other platforms engaging in evidence generation to disseminate findings from WAI’s work, innovative approaches and to highlight evidence gaps.

4.                Eligibilities and Requirements

A.               Education / Qualification

• Master’s degree or equivalent qualification relevant to WASH, such as Public Health, Public Policy, Economics, Political Science, Environmental Sciences etc, with a consistent engagement in research on WASH and related themes.
• PhD in relevant themes desirable. Preference will be for an established researcher with robust experience in WASH related research.

B.               Experience

• Proven track record of leading research studies (preferably quantitative and mixed methods), and action research
• Demonstrated experience of using research to develop programmatic and/or policy recommendations (beyond academic research)
• Experience with working across teams to lead and support research studies
• Experience engaging with Government at the national level or state level, to share research, and position research as relevant for policy action
• At least 10 years of relevant research experience, with 5 years of intensive experience on leading research studies as Principal Investigator
• Demonstrated ability to communicate research findings with diverse stakeholders to    inform and strengthen programs and policy
• Track of publications (journal articles, reports, advocacy reports)

5.                Skills, Aptitude and Attitude

• Language: Fluency in speaking, writing, reading English and Hindi. Fluency in another Indian language (Telugu, Odiya, Bengali, Kannada, Marathi) preferred.
• Excellent computer and analytical skills.
• Ability to collaborate with different teams across WAI and the WA Federation
• Proactive in exploring and testing new research methods
• Ability to collaborative work with team members to deliver on research.
• Command over subject manner and leadership position with humility / demonstration of WaterAid values and principles.

Application Process

To apply please download the attached application form. Kindly note that ONLY applications submitted on WaterAid’s standard application form will be considered.

Please mention position and location in the subject line “Lead – Research, Evidence and Innovation”.

Please save the application form with your name and position, you have applied. Completed applications should be sent to [email protected] 

Closing date: 21 January 2022.

Only Shortlisted candidates will be intimated of the interview. 

WAI, is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment.

Women and the differently abled are encouraged to apply.