(Senior) Program Associate, Financial Inclusion

The Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) seeks a full-time (Senior) Program Associate to coordinate our Financial Inclusion sector research initiatives. The Financial Inclusion sector builds a rigorous, policy-relevant evidence base about how tools for managing money – from mobile payments, to digital credit and insurance – can be made more inclusive and effective to help low-income households save, transact, and grow their businesses.

 

CEGA is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion – please read our values statement here.

Reporting to an Associate Director, the (Senior) Program Associate will work closely with faculty leadership and engage with other CEGA affiliates, partners, and sponsors interested in financial inclusion and international development research. The position requires knowledge of impact evaluation, and project management skills. The Senior Program Associate will help design and execute effective research management, dissemination, and related administrative systems to meet programmatic goals and support sector fundraising. Currently, the sector primarily focuses on coordinating the Digital Credit Observatory (DCO) research program, and launching a nascent research program on financial technologies (fintech) in partnership with other Center partners on the UC Berkeley campus.

 

●     Research dissemination: Facilitate the written dissemination of research findings to partners and other stakeholders. This includes drafting summaries of research; drafting and editing reports, blogs, and briefs; and updating WordPress-based program websites.

●     Partnership development: Support the cultivation of new and existing partners; conduct outreach to policy-makers, implementing organizations, and other stakeholders.

●     Events and convenings: Organize initiative-related convenings and leadership meetings; and contribute to agenda development, the design of event-related materials, and outreach.

●     Subject matter expertise: Deepen expertise in the evidence base on financial inclusion as well as randomized evaluations and quasi-experimental impact evaluation methods. Stay up-to-date on relevant research and policy developments.

●     Grantmaking: Coordinate competitive research grant-making processes for research initiatives, including drafting requests for proposals (RFPs), tracking applications, coordinating peer review, drafting award letters, etc.

●     Reporting: Track research, policy partner updates, and preliminary findings and support relationships with partners and donors, particularly around grantee reporting. Support CEGA grant reporting to funding agencies.

●     Data management and analysis: Grow to manage program budgets, financial tracking, and portfolio monitoring for funded initiatives. Maintain project and personnel tracking in Salesforce (and other systems) to support project management. Generate inputs for CEGA internal reports and/or analyses by gathering and analyzing administrative and other resource data.

●     Fundraising: Support the Associate Director and CEGA leadership in pursuing strategic opportunities to fundraise and expand CEGA activities by drafting concept notes and grant proposals, monitoring external research and policy initiatives relevant to the Center’s sector areas, and supporting related partnership development, outreach, and communication.

●     Center-wide development: Contribute to important CEGA-wide activities, including internal working groups, process documentation, outreach and communications, and major events.

Education: You hold at least a bachelor’s degree. Degrees in international development, public administration/policy, economics, business or a related field; training in intermediate-level economics and econometrics is highly preferred.

Experience: You have 1-3 years of relevant professional experience.

Communication: You have outstanding written and oral communication skills, with the ability to translate complex scientific findings into accessible, non-technical language.

Organization: You have exceptional organizational and project management skills, including a demonstrated spirit of innovation and proven attention to detail, an ability to multitask and responsiveness to deadlines. You are a strategic thinker, well-organized, and service-oriented.

 Skills: You have a demonstrated interest in and knowledge of financial inclusion, economic development, and impact evaluation, preferably with research or professional experience. It’s preferred (but not required) that you have field experience, particularly on rigorous impact evaluation research. It’s preferred that you have experience managing grants and/or contracts, with demonstrated success writing research grant proposals. You are comfortable working in or learning MS Office and Google Suite, WordPress, and Salesforce, and ideally have experience with Adobe Creative Suite, especially InDesign and Photoshop.

Cultural competencies: You are comfortable and adept at working in a diverse and multicultural work environment, with colleagues, partners and policymakers from around the world. You display cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Attitude: You love learning. You are passionate about international development policy and the rigorous research that informs it. You are agile, adaptable, self-motivated, hard-working, and collaborative. You have a sense of humor with a positive attitude in approaching challenges and uncertainty.

 

Compensation (and the title designation of “Senior”) is commensurate with experience. UC Berkeley offers a competitive benefits package. For information on the comprehensive benefits package offered by the University visit: http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/forms_pubs/misc/benefits_of_belonging.pdf

Online application is required. Please click on the green Apply Externally button and search for Job ID# 18322. Please submit a brief cover letter and resume as a single PDF attachment when applying. The cover letter should be no more than one page, and include (1) your specific interest in working with CEGA, (2) your main qualifications for the responsibilities listed above, and (3) how you will contribute to diversity and inclusion on the UC Berkeley campus and within CEGA, whether through life experiences or activities you have been involved in. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

 

Hiring staff will first review applications by 5/24/2021 and applications submitted after this date will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

 

Please note this position is not eligible for US visa sponsorship, though foreign nationals with permission to work in the US are encouraged to apply.