Senior Policy Manager, Embedded Labs Program

Position Summary

IPA’s Embedded Labs put governments in the driver's seat to generate the data they need and use it to make decisions. 

An embedded lab is a team within a government organization working to strengthen the use of data and evidence in public policy. In the early stages of lab incubation, IPA staff work shoulder-to-shoulder with this team to support their work and demonstrate proof of concept, but one of the main attributes of the model is that we expect the government partner to increase their ownership over time while IPA’s support gradually fades. By working side-by-side, IPA and our partners engage in mutual capacity transfer in a learning-by-doing environment. IPA works with government partners supporting these partners to scope, incubate, and institutionalize embedded evidence labs: permanent infrastructures that equip government to deliver more effective programs and policies to improve outcomes at the national level. 

Since IPA’s first experience embedding an evidence lab within the Ministry of Education in Peru (MineduLAB) in 2014 our portfolio has expanded in terms of sector and regional coverage. IPA current portfolio consists of 16 active Lab engagements with additional 8 in the pipeline. These engagements are distributed across 8 sectors including education, human trafficking, justice, health, environment, gender, and social protection among others. These engagements present also a diversity of contexts being spread across 11 different countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

One of the Embedded Labs Program's priorities is the implementation of a learning and knowledge management strategy that allows the program to articulate the knowledge we generate at various levels (country office, program, and overall IPA), and translate it to toolkits, case studies, and other knowledge products. These resources are shared internally and in global forums with the goal of increasing impact of both IPA teams and other stakeholders working on Lab implementation. The SPM will play a key role in this effort by managing the program's learning agenda and various learning and exchange strategies, such as the Embedded Labs Community of Practice, the Cross-Country Learning Exchange, the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) of our labs, and workshops and trainings. Additionally, the SPM will support the generation of knowledge products and dissemination across different contexts and mediums, assist in coordinating and providing technical support to our Labs teams at the country office level, and support the business development efforts of the program. The Senior Policy Manager will work closely with the Senior Director of Embedded Labs.

Responsibilities

Support Embedded Lab Program learning and knowledge management strategy (50%) 

• Work closely with the Director of Policy to refine, implement, and monitor the Embedded Labs Program’s learning and knowledge management strategy. 

• Coordinate several learning strategies such as the Embedded Labs Community of Practice, Cross-Country Learning Exchange (CCLE), IPA’s Labs Monitoring, and Evaluation and Learning (MEL) efforts. 

• Support the production of knowledge products contributing to blog posts, briefs, website content, case studies, toolkits, guidelines, evidence reviews, and other materials communicating IPA’s Embedded Lab impact and strategy to internal and external stakeholders. 

• Support the implementation of the program’s communication strategy leveraging it to disseminate program’s lessons and knowledge products. 

• Coordinate these efforts with high functioning global and country office policy teams. 

• Represent IPA in policy conversations and at events. 

Equip global Research & Policy Team and Country Programs for policy impact (20%) 

• Build IPA and stakeholders staff capacity to implement Embedded Labs through developing and delivering focused training; supporting teams to understand and use Embedded Lab program resources; building knowledge across teams on how implement Labs; and other policy tools 

• Build and socialize onboarding and training modules for Lab implementation for staff across the organization, including training / reference materials on Embedded Labs 101 (target audience: Country Directors, Research Managers, Research Coordinators) 

Support Embedded Labs Program impact (30%) 

• Proactively identify policy fundraising and policy-relevant business development opportunities and lead the pursuit of these opportunities in collaboration with global and country office-based staff.