Consultant: Economic
Growth Research and Evaluation
Company Overview:
About Palladium - Palladium is a global leader in the design, development and delivery of Positive Impact - the intentional creation of enduring social and economic value. We work with governments, businesses, and investors to solve the world's most pressing challenges. With a team of more than 3,000 employees operating in 90 plus countries and a global network of over 35,000 experts, we help improve economies, societies and, most importantly, people's lives.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion - We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.
Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com
Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as "the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm". We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.
Project Overview and Role:
Palladium is seeking multiple mid- and senior-level
consultants to provide research and evaluation support on an as needed basis to
support donor funded projects. Studies or tasks will primarily focus on
economic growth, are mostly - but not exclusively - funded by USAID, and often
use a mixed methods approach. The studies will be led out of the Palladium's
Data, Informatics and Analytical Solutions (DIAS) Community of Practice.
Consultants with experience in mixed methods and have multiple language
proficiencies (e.g., French and Spanish) are needed.
The DIAS Practice is a dynamic and innovative group with
talented and passionate members working toward the goal of improving informed
decision making and implementation efficiency in international development
projects. The Palladium DIAS practice vision is to improve economic growth,
private sector development, and other development investments and outcomes by
strengthening information and governance systems and local capacity and
ownership to use quality data in real time for positive impact.
The location of this position is flexible, but candidates
must have a visa to work in the US. Candidates also must be available to work
on Eastern Standard Time hours. At this time, no travel is envisioned, but that
may change depending on the scope of work. Assignments could be anywhere from a
few days to engagement over several months depending on the scope of work.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities:
- Lead
or support development of research/evaluation protocols. This includes the
following tasks:
- Working
with stakeholders to identify key study questions - Designing
or contributing to the research/evaluation methodology - Developing
qualitative and quantitative data collection tools and validating tools - Developing
analysis plans appropriate for given methodology - Ensuring
procedures are in place to ensure protection of human subjects - Training
field teams in data collection - Ensuring
high quality data collection and analysis through appropriate quality
control measures and data cleaning - Analyzing
quantitative data and generating descriptive statistics (e.g. two-way
cross tabs) or more sophisticated statistics (e.g. multivariate analysis,
modelling) - Coding
and analyzing qualitative data - Triangulating
data - Drafting/contributing
to final reports and presentations
- Support
the development of research/evaluation elements of business development
activities
Required Qualifications:
- Proven
experience leading and designing research and evaluation studies funded by
donor organizations in at least one of the following topic areas: economics,
private sector development, entrepreneurship, agriculture, agribusiness,
finance, investment, value chains, inclusive markets, trade, economic
policy, governance, or other related areas - Experience
in drafting materials for IRB submission - Experience
leading mixed methods studies - Advanced
skills using statistical software (e.g., Stata, SPSS, R, SAS, or SQL) - Advanced
skills using qualitative analysis software (e.g., NVivo, Atlas.Ti) - Experience
in using study findings to draft final reports and/or manuscripts - Experience
in facilitating use of findings among stakeholders - Ability
to communicate professionally and effectively with diverse stakeholders - Excellent
written and verbal communication skills; ability to effectively write
technical documents - Fluency
in English - Strong
management and coordination skills - Strong
work planning and budgeting skills - Ability
to deliver under extremely tight deadlines - Comfort
with ambiguity in task load and able to operationalize ideas into
solutions - Critical
and reflective thinking skills; systems thinking skills - Ability
to fully use or learn the Microsoft Office Suite, including: Excel, Word,
PowerPoint and the Teams collaboration suite.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience
conducting evaluation-based cost benefit analysis - Experience evaluating the
gender impacts of interventions - Data
science skills - Experience
designing data management systems and dashboards or other data
visualization tools - Cross
regional experience (Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia and
the Pacific - Experience
conducting Political Economy Analysis - Ability to work in French, Spanish, Portuguese,
and/or Arabic
Core Competencies:
- Detail-oriented
and deadline-driven with strong organizational skills and the ability to
perform multiple tasks and balance competing priorities often within a
limited timeframe - Curious
with a strong sense of initiative and accountability - Highly
adaptable and able to pivot workflow and plans rapidly - Highly
self-motivated and able to work independently as well as in team settings - Ability
to communicate effectively and professionally with diverse stakeholders
(written and oral), strong interpersonal skills - Demonstrated
ability to work effectively as a member of a fast-moving and multicultural
team while maintaining a client-centered focus
Interested candidates should submit a CV as well as a
cover letter that includes the following information:
- A one
paragraph summary explaining how you are qualified for this position - An
estimate of when you will be available to start working
- An
indication of what percentage of time you will have available to work on
Palladium assignments
Palladium
Nov 17, 2024