Regional Researcher, West & Central Africa

Strategic Direction

• Defining the evidence agenda, by ensuring that the planned research and evaluation activities are well-articulated, timely, strategic, and rigorous. This includes: managing the research agenda in proposal development (ensure that relevant evidence activities are included), developing and executing annual research plans, contributing to the development of consolidated monitoring systems, assisting teams in articulating information needs and identifying the most appropriate primary and secondary sources to respond to them, and providing guidance and oversight to each platform’s research objectives.

Relevant, Rigorous and Quality Research

• Responding to the organization’s information needs requires knowledge and understanding of research design and an analytical and strategic approach to communicating and maximizing the use of evidence. PSI conducts quantitative, qualitative, operations and marketing studies to provide evidence for decision-making for social marketing activities throughout their design, implementation and evaluation. Across the region, we conduct research in the areas of family planning, HIV/aids, malaria, nutrition, water and sanitation, and non-communicable diseases. The regional researcher leads or engages with local teams and external consultants on logical framework development, study design, questionnaire development, data collection, data analysis, dissemination, and data use. You also ensure that research activities are compliant with PSI’s ethical and quality standards and is responsible for submission of all study documentation into PSI’s knowledge management systems.

Managing Human Resources Effectively

• Our work relies on the skills, talents, and motivation of our teams.  Strong research teams are built through effective recruitment, camaraderie, identifying opportunities for collaboration and information sharing, encouraging creativity, and investing in staff development and through training and performance management. The regional researcher maintains close relationships with PSI’s global research teams to ensure that network members receive appropriate technical support, learn from global trends in research, and contribute to our knowledge base with their research products.

Strengthening the Network

• A strong organizational network requires proactive engagement by every network member. Regional and technical resources serve as a bridge to access network resources across the globe and to contribute lessons and experiences with others. The regional researcher plays a key role in building capacity of network members and partners to design studies, oversee data collection, and analyze/interpret/disseminate results to guide program decisions and activities. This is achieved through direct capacity development activities and by supporting teams in identifying internal and external skills and talent, managing relationships with research consultants or stakeholders, and supporting platform-to-platform capacity building within the region and across the PSI global network.

Supporting Evidence-based decision making

• PSI network members conduct research studies and collects routine data to inform and evaluate programs. The regional researcher facilitates and supports local M&E and program teams to use and transform research findings into evidence-informed actions by implementing data to action frameworks and data use strategies, and by developing appropriate formats to communicate research results to different audiences. You are also responsible for tracking data use for strategic projects and engaging with communities of practice to facilitate internal and external dissemination and use of evidence.