Senior Policy Manager at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)

IPA Ghana seeks a (Senior) Policy Manager to engage with local and global stakeholders to embed existing evidence in programs and policies and develop new research projects in alignment with Ghana’s goals and challenges in various sectors. The (Senior) Policy Manager will lead IPA Ghana’s policy impact strategy, focusing on creating and managing high impact policy opportunities for using evidence in decision-making. Reporting to the Country Director, with dotted line functional oversight from the global policy and communications team and substantial collaboration with Ghana research teams, this position will grow IPA’s policy outreach and impact work in Ghana, building and deepening relationships and identifying and creating evidence-to-impact opportunities.

Responsibilities 

Lead Ghana in Policy Outreach Strategy (35%)

• Build expertise on the global and local evidence base in 1-2 sectors and cultivate relationships with key local stakeholders in those sectors.
• Work together with the global policy and communications team to lead and/or participate in strategic events for policy purposes, including but not limited to summits, conferences, workshops, technical working groups, and round tables. Support researchers and country management to participate.
• In collaboration with researchers and in support of the country director, represent IPA locally in policy conversations and at events.
• Support research management staff in executing the “Policy Impact Minimum Must Dos” and in identifying and stewarding high potential partner relationships, particularly with senior levels within government or large organizations.

Cultivate and Manage High Impact Policy Opportunities (50%)

• Lead Ghana in continuously identifying and prioritizing high impact policy opportunities for evidence to be used.
• Cultivate relationships with key local decision-makers in 2-3 sectors (education, financial inclusion, social protection, health, agriculture), particularly those with decision-making authority over identified evidence-to-impact opportunities.
• Launch high impact policy opportunities, including scale-up technical assistance, and either manage small-scale engagements personally with global support, or collaborate with global teams to raise funds for additional staff to realize these opportunities.
• Manage IPA Ghana’s embedded labs program, which supports selected government ministries to collect and use data more effectively for decision making.
• Directly supervise a team of 3-5 to advance these high impact policy opportunities, paying particular attention to their professional growth.

Develop Research Projects with Policy Embeddedness (15%)

• Identify opportunities and cultivate relationships that lead to developing large-scale policy evaluations with key decision-makers. Support research teams and researchers in development and execution.
• Identify opportunities and cultivate relationships that lead to developing field replications to consolidate research on key policy-relevant research questions. Support research teams and researchers in development and execution.
• Together with the country director, act as lead steward to key partner relationships and support key research partner conversations.

Other

• Perform other duties as assigned by supervisor.
• Maintain compliance with all company policies and procedures.

Qualifications 

Manager

• Master’s degree in economics, development, international relations, public administration, public policy or a closely related field strongly preferred (will accept additional experience in lieu of education for exceptional candidates).
• 5 or more years of relevant experience, including at least 2 years of experience working closely with large NGOs and/or national government officials in an African country, preferably in Ghana.

Senior Manager

• Master’s degree in economics, development, international relations, public administration, public policy or a closely related field.
• 7 or more years of relevant experience, including at least 3 years of experience working closely with large NGOs and national government officials in Ghana.

Both

• Knowledge of and demonstrated interest in the use of rigorous evidence for international development policy required.
• Expertise in one or more IPA Ghana priority sectors (education, financial inclusion, social protection, health, agriculture).
• Knowledge of government policy making processes, systems for nationwide program implementation and development financing.
• Experience organizing events, such as conferences, workshops or round table discussions.
• Attention to nuance and advanced presentation skills for communicating policy lessons from academic papers in ways that policymakers understand. This requires clear, precise, non-technical writing, and confident, effective spoken communication and presentation style.
• Proven ability to multitask and successfully complete projects on tight deadlines with little supervision.
• Willingness to work hard, be self-motivated, and learn will be essential for doing well in this position.
• Ability to supervise staff and manage projects independently.

Physical Requirements:

• Ability and willingness to travel to various project sites
• Ability to safely and successfully perform the essential job functions consistent with government standards, including meeting qualitative and/or quantitative productivity standards
• Ability to maintain regular, punctual attendance consistent with IPA standards
• Must be able to talk, listen and speak clearly on telephone