Gender Policy Specialist at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)

• The Gender Policy Specialist will drive the execution of IPA’s evidence-based policy and practice impact and influence strategy, working with a portfolio of countries in East Africa that primarily focus on IPA’s gender and intimate partner violence (IPV) sector research and policy engagements. He/she will work closely with the global policy team, IPV initiative team, country office management, and policy staff in our offices primarily in East Africa to identify, cultivate, and drive strategic policy and practice opportunities that improve the lives of women and girls at scale.
• The strategic goals of the Specialist will be to develop and proactive manage projects that equip gender and IPV sector partners to use evidence in policymaking and program design. This includes: pursuing scale-up opportunities of promising programs centered on women and girls; developing embedded evidence labs with Ministry partners; building strategic partner relationships in the gender/IPV sectors; and hosting/managing policy events. The Specialist will also perform a variety of tasks related to leveraging existing data and developing new research projects to drive greater use of evidence within the IPV research portfolio and the broader gender sector. The Gender Policy Specialist will write policy communications materials to inform policy-making and program design in the area of IPV and gender. S/he will also work closely with the policy and IPV initiative teams to identify and proactively manage the development of funding opportunities to resource strategic policy projects and efforts centered on positively impacting the lives of women and girls.

Responsibilities
As a Gender Policy Specialist, your responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:
Evidence-Informed Policy Communications

• Combine insights from gender and IPV research into policy lessons for decision-makers aiming to apply research to their policies and programs
• Write original subject-matter policy communications publications and materials to communicate IPA’s policy lessons to internal and external stakeholders. This may include writing and/or ghostwriting original blog posts, policy briefs, website content, and other materials communicating IPA’s policy impact and strategy to internal and external stakeholders.
• Coordinate the co-creation and dissemination of analytical work, evidence reviews, and research summaries with policy counterparts
• Identify opportunities to utilize administrative data for research purposes and facilitate collaborations between local and international researchers in pursuit of these opportunities.

Policy Strategy

• Conduct policy and practice needs assessment exercises by interviewing policymakers and program implementers, particularly within the gender and intimate partner violence sectors.
• Cultivate new relationships and strengthen existing relationships with key decision-makers in the gender & IPV sector in East Africa and beyond
• Facilitate government ownership of co-created research opportunities and evidence-informed IPV and gender programming
• Identify and participate in various gender, IPV sector technical working groups and communities of practice
• Support partnerships with gender-focused local and international academics and efforts in attracting new academic partnerships to identify and develop research opportunities that answer key policy questions in the sector

Business Development, Grant Coordination, and Project Management

• Identify opportunities to raise funds for strategic policy work in the gender space and write proposals to pursue those opportunities
• Coordinate grant reporting and deliverable management for a handful of global policy & IPV initiative grants
• Update project information in the knowledge management system
• Other responsibilities as assigned

Qualifications

• Master’s degree preferred in a related field, such as development economics, public policy, gender-related social science, or public health
• 5- 7 years experience in a similar role in the policy sector
• Experience in managing complex projects or programs
• Demonstrated ability to understand academic research studies and analyze bodies of research
• Familiarity with impact evaluations, specifically randomized evaluations
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English including the ability to effectively write evidence reviews, policy briefs, policy blogs, or any other required materials in a clear, precise, and non-technical manner
• Experience in the public sector or working closely with ministries of gender/women, and private sector actors in the gender or IPV space
• Good knowledge of the gender/IPV sector in East Africa (and particularly Kenya)
• Excellent management and organizational skills
• Experience with business development or fundraising
• Ability to work independently and to carry out assignments to completion within parameters of instructions given, prescribed routines, and standard accepted practices
• Must be able to work under pressure, independently and in a team, and meet deadlines, flexibility, self-motivation, and pro-activity are highly valued