Vacancy title:
Research and Learning Manager

Jobs at:
Spark MicroGrants

Deadline of this Job:
4th May 2017

Duty Station:
Kampala, Uganda

Job details:
Spark MicroGrants is a young, rapidly scaling organization pioneering a new approach to international aid. Spark proactively reaches out to rural poor villages and helps community members to design, implement and manage their own social impact projects. Since July 2010 we have mobilized over 140 communities across Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo to manage social impact projects including schools, community farms, electricity lines and more.

Job Summary: The Research and Learning (R&L) Manager will steer a growing research and learning agenda and design strategies for gathering and disseminating learning. The R&L Manager will closely with teams across departments and regions. The R&L Manager’s core responsibility domains are to manage third party evaluations of Spark’s work, design and coordinate internal studies and manage the organizations research agenda. This includes identifying priority and emerging areas for internal and external research and learning; providing in house expertise on methodology and approaches; maintaining oversight of quality and rigor; supporting the integration of research and learning outcomes into Spark’s work; and building organizational capacity for knowledge management, program development, and organizational change management.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:
• The incumbent will manage third party evaluations
• The jobholder will also design and coordinate internal studies
• Oversee organizational research priorities
• Develop and manage a learning team with potential for further departmental growth
• Provide advising support to departments across Spark
• Build and manage a board committee on research and learning to draw external perspectives into the organization
• Ensure methodological rigor and appropriateness of all research and learning efforts, including pilots, studies and evaluations, and other internal learning for program development

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
• The applicants for the Research and Learning Manager job placement should at least hold a Bachelor’s degree in the social sciences, evaluation, development, area studies or other relevant discipline. Master’s degree in the social sciences, evaluation, international development, area studies or other relevant discipline is desired.
• At least three to six years of professional experience, including at least 2 years of experience in research, learning systems, data collection or analysis
• Computer literacy i.e. advanced experience in Microsoft Office and Google applications, especially Microsoft Excel and Google Spreadsheets
• Proven ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic, entrepreneurial environment
• Broad knowledge, understanding and appreciation of participatory and facilitative approaches to leadership, decision making, capacity building and facilitated learning.
• Passionate about working with and within rural communities.
• A strong belief in the core principals of Spark, demonstrated by a passion to promote dignity, inclusion, empathy and mutual accountability and a strong understanding of the equal importance of the process as well as the end result.
• Skills in support, coordination, or involvement in field-based program evaluation are desired
• Good team management and/or capacity building skills are an added advantage
• Strategy development and planning
• Skilled in quantitative data analysis software (e.g. R, STATA or SPSS) and/or qualitative analysis software (e.g. Nvivo or Atlas.ti)
• Fluent written and spoken English. French language skills will be an added advantage

Job application procedure
All suitably qualified and interested candidates should send the following as a single PDF via E-mail to: hr@sparkmicrogrants.org 
• Resume including any research or publications
• Cover letter that addresses how your skills match those listed above
• Writing sample of primary or secondary research - please provide information on the context of the sample and your contribution.
• Please use “RLM Manager – Last Name, First Name” in the subject line of your email.