Policy Associate - Agriculture and Environment, Energy, and Climate Change - J-PAL South Asia

Location: New Delhi, India

 

The Policy team at J-PAL South Asia (J-PAL SA) disseminates findings of J-PAL’s research, develops relationships with government, civil society, and academic stakeholders, catalyzes scale-ups and replications of effective projects, and assists in conceptualizing new research projects. J-PAL SA seeks a (Senior) Policy Associate to contribute to its mission of promoting evidence-informed policy in J-PAL’s Agriculture and Environment, Energy, and Climate Change sectors.

 

J-PAL’s Agriculture sector focuses on improving agricultural systems in developing countries, including strategies to help farmers adopt practices and technologies that are profitable or environmentally sustainable. J-PAL’s Environment, Energy, and Climate Change (E2C2) sector measures the real-world impacts of energy and environmental policies, particularly on climate change mitigation, pollution reduction, climate change adaptation, and energy access.

 

Key Responsibilities

 

  • Support the Policy Team in its mission of promoting evidence-informed policy in the Agriculture and E2C2 Sectors: This will entail understanding, summarizing, and supporting the generation and dissemination of J-PAL evidence in the Agriculture and E2C2 sectors. To this end, the Policy Associate/Senior Policy Associate will support:
  1. Evidence Generation: 
    1. Support efforts to understand the policy landscape in the Agriculture and E2C2 sectors and catalyse new randomized evaluation research by matching innovative projects in the region with J-PAL affiliated researchers in the sector;
  2. Evidence Synthesis and Dissemination: This would involve: 
    1. Drafting internal reference materials and policy outreach materials summarizing evidence from J-PAL evaluations related to the Agriculture and E2C2 sectors (e.g., summaries, briefs, policy memos, concept notes, letters, presentations) in clear, accurate, and non-technical language;
    2. Support evidence dissemination activities by curating customised decks and synthesising evidence notes that can be used to present J-PAL evidence in the Agriculture and E2C2 sectors to relevant actors like civil society organisations, donors, governments, and other organisations; 
    3. Track policy developments in the Agriculture and E2C2 sectors and communicate these developments internally to the team;      
    4. Support efforts to prepare senior management for meetings with background research and meeting notes/memos.
  3. Institutionalising an evidence-based approach to policy: Support the work on new and existing strategic partnerships between J-PAL SA and Indian states aimed at institutionalising a data and evidence-informed approach to policy decisions in the sector; 
  4. Scale-ups: This would involve:
    1. Support the development of an evidence-based implementation toolkit as part of J-PAL SA’s effort to develop low touch scaling opportunities.  
    2. Support identification of any new evidence-based scale-up programs in the E2C2 sector by working closely with relevant partners and J-PAL SA’s scale-ups team;
  5. Sector Strategy: Contribute to designing and operationalizing the overall strategy for the Agriculture and E2C2 sectors;
  6. Stakeholder Engagement: Support efforts to build and maintain relationships with key partners in governments, NGOs, foundations, and multilateral aid agencies in the region.

 

  • Provide additional support to the Policy Team as required:
  1. Provide cross-sectoral support in order to further J-PAL’s mission to ensure policy-making is driven by rigorous evidence;
  2. Support J-PAL SA in the curation of public goods within the Policy vertical as well as other verticals as required. 

 

Qualifications

 

  • Education: Bachelor’s or Master's degree (preferably in economics, public policy, energy, environment, climate action, or a related field).
  • Experience: This position requires 0-2 years of relevant experience in addition to a relevant Bachelor’s or Master's degree. Demonstrated interest and experience in the agriculture, energy, environment, air and water pollution, and/or climate space is preferred;
  • Understanding of Randomized Evaluations: A keen understanding of the value of randomized evaluations and their usefulness for policy decisions is desirable;
  • Skills and Competencies:
    • Excellent spoken and written communication skills.
    • Attention to detail and excellent writing and presentation skills for communicating policy lessons from academic papers in ways that policymakers understand
    • Ability to handle several different projects/tasks at one time, successfully complete tasks assigned, and meet deadlines;
    • Strong interest in international development policy, thematic areas of sustainable agriculture, energy, environment, air and water pollution, climate action, South Asia development, and/or program evaluation as demonstrated by coursework and professional experience;
    Language: Fluency in English (written and oral).