Research Associate- Leaf Color Charts Evaluation - J-PAL South Asia

Location

India | India

Job description

Project Title: Assessing the impact of Leaf Color Charts among cotton farmers in India

Country: India

States: Maharashtra (Nagpur)

Start Date: ASAP

Length of Commitment: 12 months

Education: Bachelor's/Master's in agriculture, economics, social sciences or related fields

Organization: J-PAL South Asia at IFMR

Company description: J-PAL South Asia at the Institute for Financial Management and Research seeks a qualifiedapplicant for the position of Research Associate to lead impact evaluations in India. The position offers an opportunity to gain first-hand field management experience in an organization undertaking cutting-edge development research. The Research Associate will join a team of world class researchers from leading universities in the world and will gain first-hand experience implementing Randomized Control Trials in an organization undertaking cutting-edge development research. Theposition would be based in Nagpur with frequent trips to the field and coordination with the study partner.

About the Project

Farmers in low and middle-income countries face multiple barriers to optimizing agricultural decisions. Farmers often don't have access to actionable information to adapt their practices, and learning from experience is challenging as the benefits associated with behavior changes are stochastic and observed with a lag. These challenges are particularly salient in fertilizer application: returns to fertilizer are highly heterogeneous, making it difficult for farmers to observe the effectiveness of their actions. With large fertilizer subsidies in South Asia, many farmers overuse nitrogen fertilizers. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the cost-effectiveness and scale potential of Leaf Color Charts (LCC), a user-friendly decision support tool to help farmers assess leaf nitrogen needs in real-time, and optimize fertilizer use. The study proposes to rigorously measure the impact of LCCs on cotton farmers nitrogen fertilizer use and production costs and determine the cost-effectiveness of different LCC distribution mechanisms. The study includes a full-scale RCT.

The Principal Investigators on the project are Tomoko Harigaya and Jagori Chatterjee from Precision Development, which is a global non-profit that harnesses technology, data science, and behavioral economics to build digital services that empower people in multiple countries including India.

Key Responsibilities

Research Associates work closely with academic researchers and other field staff to perform a variety of tasks including, but not limited to:

• Design and refine survey instruments
• Manage a full-scale randomized control trial. Oversee the implementation of the evaluation in accordance to the research design in association with our partner organization
• Manage teams during pilot and scale-up phases: Recruit, train, and supervise a team of enumerators
• Supervise data collection and data-entry to ensure good data quality during pilot and scale-up phases
• Maintain relationship with partner organizations at headquarters
• Build relationships with local stakeholders on field to ensure smooth project implementationAssist with data cleaning and preliminary data analysis
• Assist in preparation of documents and presentations for donor reporting as well as dissemination activities
• Report to PIs on all of the above-mentioned activities

Desired Qualifications

• A Bachelor's/Master's degree in agriculture, economics, social sciences, or related field
• Previous experience in development research preferred (any experience in agriculture sector in India is beneficial)
• Excellent management and organizational skills along with strong quantitative skills
• Fluency and excellent communication skills in English. Knowledge Marathi skills (read/ write and speak) are strongly preferred
• Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and team player
• Demonstrated ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations
• Knowledge of Stata (strongly preferred) or other data analysis software is preferred
• Familiarity with randomized controlled trials preferred
• Ability to deal with unstructured and changing environments

Note on Work Authorizations:

Candidates must have work authorization to work in India.

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Salary