Careers – Page 2

September 19, 2013September 19, 2013

Jobs in Development – FHI 360 seeking research assistant

FHI 360 is a nonprofit human development organization dedicated to improving lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions. Our staff includes experts in Health, Education, Nutrition, Environment, Economic Development, Civil Society, Gender, Youth, Research and Technology– creating a unique mix of capabilities to address today’s interrelated development challenges. FHI 360 serves more than 60 countries, all 50 U.S. states and all U.S. territories. FHI 360 is currently seeking qualified candidates for the position of Research Associate II, Global Learning, in Washington, DC.

Position Description:

FHI 360 is looking to fill the full-time position of Research Associate at the Education Policy and Data Center (EPDC) based in Washington, DC. EPDC is a research and analysis unit in the Global Learning Group of FHI 360. The FHI 360 Global Learning Group provides technical expertise and implements comprehensive education development programs across the globe.

Working under the oversight of EPDC Director, the Research Associate will play a key technical role in data management and research. Core tasks will include:

• Data management: data collection across a variety of data sources, including household surveys, achievement databases, national administrative data collection, and other relevant education data repositories. The incumbent will contribute to the development of Stata .do files, as well as adapt existing codes, used to gather relevant information on key education indicators, such as school participation rates, learning outcomes, the composition of school-going and out-of-school populations, etc., and ensure that the EPDC database is up to date.

• Identify historical and geographic trends and contribute to the development of core EPDC resources such as country profiles, data reports, and interactive tools for education planning.

• Lead or contribute to the design, implementation and publication of EPDC research on key issues in education, using sound quantitative research and analysis methods, with a particular emphasis on strengthening causal inference for non-experimental studies. The incumbent will be expected to contribute to larger team projects as well as initiate and lead smaller-scale projects.

• Lead or contribute to client-driven data analysis or visualization projects, including working with internal or external clients to conceptualize and develop project scopes and budgets, engaging in data management and analysis and the visual and written presentation of findings.

• Provide research and data services to ensure that relevant FHI 360 business development activities are well informed and data driven.

Minimum Requirements:

• Master’s degree in international education, international development, international policy, or related field.

• Minimum five years of experience in international education, with at least two years of experience working with large-scale datasets, including household surveys.

• Strong command of Stata a must, other statistical packages a plus.

• Good command of advanced functions and model building in Excel.

• Strong writing skills in English required (writing sample requested).

• Research experience, with at least three research projects that resulted in a conference presentation and completion of a paper, preferably using quantitative analysis of international education data.

• Language proficiency in French, Spanish, or Arabic a plus.

PLEASE APPLY ONLINE: Research Associate

April 14, 2013September 4, 2013

Law and International Development in Private Practice

April 14, 2013 – Maria Parra-Orlandoni

LIDS was delighted to host panelists Anne Falvey from Sidley Austin and Dolly Mirchandani from Allen & Overy to discuss private firm work related to international development, including project finance, energy and infrastructure, and public-private partnerships. What followed was a stimulating conversation about the intricacies of this practice area. Dolly and Anne explained that much of the work’s complexity can be traced to the differing perspectives of each potential client, which includes government agencies, debtors, and project owners themselves. Accordingly, the panelists highlighted some of the challenges of brokering ideas to different clients to ensure that a proposed project would be completed. Dolly and Anne also discussed yet another layer of complexity: international development projects, while mostly built on a series of commercial contracts, often have complex policy underpinnings.

Overall, the guest panelists’ account of their work was fascinating. Each of them described the exciting variety of industries their work has touched, including renewable energy, electricity transmission, schools, and even satellites. Both Anne and Dolly graciously hosted small group discussions following the panel presentation, leaving many law students eager to learn more about an international development practice in a private law firm!

November 8, 2011September 4, 2013

LIDS Speaker Series: Careers in Microfinance

November 18, 2011 – Amreeta Mathai

If you’ve been wondering how to embark upon a legal career in microfinance – the perennial hot topic in international development – you’ll be interested to know what the panelists in LIDS’ recent careers event had to say.

The panelists included Austin Choi – General Counsel for Kiva, Deborah Drake – Vice President at the Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International and Jennifer Chien – Policy Consultant at CGAP/World Bank Group. Below you’ll find an edited transcript of the panelists’ responses to questions about their careers and what they look for in prospective employees.

Q: Can you tell us about your organizations?

Choi: Kiva is a personal microlending platform. Our mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. We work with on the ground microfinance institutions. These institutions post their clients’ project profiles on our website and people who visit the website can lend.

Drake: ACCION International is a network non-profit. We work with non-profits, finance companies and other types of finance institutions to support the growth of financial organizations that provide access to credit to low income and impoverished communities around the world.

Chien: The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) is not a microfinance institution. We are more like a think tank for the industry as a whole. We work at the macro level with policy makers and donors. I work on the policy team – it’s a small team of former lawyers who work on the intersection of law and microfinance.

Q: What do you do on a daily basis? How did you prepare for this role?

Choi: I am Kiva’s general counsel. I work on issues of compliance at an organizational and transactional level. This involves working with the microfinance partners internationally. Legal questions could involve issues such as how Dodd-Frank/non-profit/securities regulation laws affect what Kiva is able to do. I also support internal teams. For example, if teams want to use new software, or if we want to set up a new partner in Kenya, I work out the legal logistics. In terms of how I wound up here, I studied development economics in undergrad. Then I started working at a venture capital firm figuring out how to structure deals and how to manage risk. But then I wanted to go back to development and figure out how to apply all this in a development field.

Drake: I look at the supple side of microfinance – what investors are investing in microfinance? I also look at governance issues. 20 years ago, there were no roles for a lawyer at ACCION but now we have four to five lawyers. I have spent a lot of time looking at the enabling environment – what needs to be done to make microfinance institutions grow? I work with governments that are trying to create regulatory environments that encourage microfinance growth. I was at the World Bank and came into microfinance from there. I have a background as a commercial banker.

Chien: Microfinance has evolved substantially in the last decade and I focus on consumer protection issues and branches banking. I am currently a consultant to various projects. For example, I am working on a research publication on disclosure regulations – an aspect of consumer regulations. I am also working with Bank of Namibia to allow deposits from microfinance institutions. I was in management consulting for a few years after undergraduate. Then I worked at the World Council of Credit Unions. After law school, I worked for a firm for a few years – to pay off my loans. Then I had to do a lot of networking and finally made my way to CGAP.

Q: What would you look for from a resume?

Choi: Something that demonstrates a capacity to get a job done with limited resources. Perhaps that you’ve worked with a small team or an organization that is trying to address an issue with limited resources. The reality of working for a non-profit is that you have to pull a rabbit out of a hat with limited resources. Some of the job requires on the ground experience. It depends on the job but banking or internet banking experience can be helpful.

Drake: I echo what Austin said – you should be able to do things relatively quickly with limited resources and work with people who don’t necessarily know what it means to be a lawyer. You will be working with passionate people who are very smart – but you in some ways are getting in their way. It requires patience and flexibility. Working in this environment can be frustrating when you are coming from a corporate law firm.

Chien: We look for regulation CVs and international experience. In the field is always better. Something involving legal analysis is great. There aren’t a ton of positions and the ones available tend to be part time. The policy team isn’t very large and the people on it are very technical. We tend to need technical expertise in a particular topic. Be flexible.