Policy, Training and Communications Internship at J-PAL South Asia

About J-PAL SA

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.

About the Opportunity 

• Organisation: J-PAL South Asia
• Country: India
• Education: Master’s (desirable) / Bachelor’s
• Start Date (Earliest): June 1, 2023 (Flexible)
• Length of Commitment: 2 months
• Deadline for applications: April 10, 2023 (Friday)

The Policy,  Training and Communications (PTC) team at J-PAL South Asia at the Institute of Financial Management and Research (IFMR) seeks a cohort of interns to contribute to its mission of promoting evidence-informed policy-making.

The team engages with governments and partner organisations on strengthening their capacities, and works towards developing a culture of evidence-based policymaking.

Roles and Responsibilities

• The interns will support the team’s mandates of initiating new randomised evaluations, synthesising and disseminating evidence, strengthening M&E systems and capacities and use of evidence (through CLEAR SA), capacity building and supporting ongoing partnerships with governments, international organisations, philanthropic foundations and NGOs in India.
• The PTC team is a close-knit team, so interns will get the opportunity of working with multiple team members.
• They will also get the opportunity of shadowing senior staff in high-level external partner meetings.

Key Responsibilities

Policy:

• Work closely with J-PAL SA policy sector, scale-ups and state partnership teams to support the generation, dissemination and synthesis of J-PAL’s evidence across our thematic sectors.
• Work with senior staff and academic leadership to identify policy lessons from J-PAL affiliates’ research.
• Support the policy team in creating and populating trackers to deepen our knowledge of state and central government stakeholders and development priorities 
• Assist the team in identifying and promoting a portfolio of evidence-based programs being scaled up by Government partners in India
• Support the policy team in building a local research pipeline by identifying South Asian Academics 
• Assist J-PAL SA’s policy team in preparing background notes, memos, updates, and
• Prepare Presentations for J-PAL SA’s partnerships with state and central governments in India.
• Support the J-PAL SA policy, training and communications teams on any other tasks, as needed.

Training:

• Track changes in the South Asia policy and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) landscape, and create trackers and notes to inform government partnerships.
• Support the team in developing training materials, presentations, manuals and knowledge products for different M&E topics and capacity building initiatives
• Support on  knowledge management activities for CLEAR South Asia and Global Evaluation Initiative

Communications:

• Assist J-PAL South Asia with its public dissemination activities, including planning events (both in-person and virtual).
• Review existing visual material (including photos, videos, and webinar recordings) to create resources for social media campaigns.
• Support the planning and landscaping for media relations and donor communication activities.
• Assist the Communications Team with tracking its media analytics
• Support the J-PAL SA policy, training and communications teams on any other tasks, as needed.

Education:

• Has recently completed a Master’s (desirable) or  Bachelor’s degree in economics, political science, public policy, public health or any related field. 
• Has trained in statistics and/or quantitative research methods.
• A technical understanding of impact evaluations is necessary to ensure that J-PAL’s findings are translated into general policy conclusions in a way that is both simple to follow but also accurate and undistorted.
• Strong interest in international development and public policy, South Asia development, and/or program evaluation as demonstrated by coursework and professional experience will also be preferred.  
• Availability: Able to commit to a full-time intern role for two months (June 1 – July 31, however the dates are flexible based on the candidate’s availability). 

Communication:

• Detail-oriented
• Strong writing and presentation skills
• Understands how to translate technical academic work into policy lessons
• Comfortable with public speaking

How to Apply

• Please apply here. 
• Applications with incomplete submissions will not be considered. Deadline for applications is Apr 10, 2023.
• Given the volume of applications received, only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview.

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