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I. Background:
The Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund (SIEF) is a multi-donor trust fund launched in March 2012 with support from the British government’s Department for International Development and will run from 2012 to 2020. The objective of the Trust Fund is: “to strengthen the design, implementation and use of results-focused monitoring and evaluation in order to improve the effectiveness of development policies in programs affecting human development outcomes.”
As part of this effort, the fund is supporting the development of the Impact Data and Evidence Aggregation Library (IDEAL) in collaboration with the Development Research Group (DECRG) - an effort to (i) publish and document RCT (Randomized Control Trial) data based on a set schema and ii) consistently document effect sizes of different RCT-tested policies so that they can be used in evidence aggregation exercises.
The Development Research Group is seeking to hire an extended term consultant (ETC) to advance this work program on evidence aggregation, to conduct research on the measurement of costs in the context of impact evaluations, and to assist in internal and external outreach & dissemination of impact evaluation evidence.
II. Responsibilities
The IDEAL library [60%].
Tasks for this workstream include:
Supervision during pilot. Activities would include checking the accuracy of data extracted by human coders (and potentially machine learning tools), providing real-time support to coders to clarify any uncertainty about fields in the schema or about matching information in a published RCT to the fields in the schema, and reporting on accuracy and inter-rater reliability to IDEAL principal investigators.
Documentation and revision of extraction and aggregation protocols. Activities would include documenting extraction and aggregation protocols for the IDEAL library in clear, transparent, and accessible way, similar to what has been done by the World Works Clearinghouse for studies related to education in the United States.
Recruitment of coders. After the pilot, the ETC would be expected to help with screening of additional coders and outreach to organizations who can contribute to the IDEAL library.
Research using library data. The ETC would also be expected to contribute to research papers that will present the library to the research community and that will use pilot data from the library.
Costing [30%].
Data collection: The consultant would work with operational teams and researchers to collect and analyze cost data of interventions that are being evaluated in the SIEF portfolio and for a select set of RCTs featured in the IDEAL library. For some costing exercises, the consultant may need to go into the field and take the lead on data collection. For others, particularly when the operational team has been very involved in monitoring and evaluation activities, the consultant may need only work with the operational team to put the data together from various sources.
Coordination with other organizations working on costing. There are a few organizations and researchers working on costing methods (for example, the International Rescue Committee, USAID, DfID, and Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab). The consultant would be expected to coordinate with them so that the work program builds upon and does not duplicate others’ efforts.
Compilation of a database on cost data. The ETC would also take the lead in building a database of cost data for SIEF-funded evaluations that would be (i) fully mergeable with data in the IDEAL library and (ii) serve as an example of how to incorporate cost data into the IDEAL library. Cost data would include a detailed listing of all resources and activities (that is, ingredients) required for program implementation and the prices and quantities associated with these ingredients, in addition to the calculation of total and unit costs.
Dissemination and outreach [10%].
The ETC would also be responsible for supporting the SIEF team with the dissemination and knowledge sharing of evaluation results and approaches, including updates on the IDEAL library. Specifically, the ETC would be responsible for the following activities:
Newsletter design and distribution – monthly preparation of newsletter template for distribution, using content supplied by the SIEF Program Manager.
Evidence to Policy (E2P) Note design and distribution -preparation E2P template and email template for E2P distribution, using content supplied by the SIEF
Program Manager.
Management of SIEF’s online media accounts (Flickr for photo storage, Vimeo for video storage, and adobe campaign for email distribution).
Web updates – Updates of SIEF’s website (edits to existing webpages, insertion of links, and creation of new pages for additions to the portfolio).
BBL invitations – creation and distribution of SIEF’s BBL invitations.
Preparation of inputs for SIEF’s annual report (newsletter and E2P open rates, etc.)
To accomplish these dissemination and outreach tasks, the ETC would be expected to attend World Bank training on the use of the following software:
Adobe InDesign
Mail Chimp
Adobe Campaign (World Bank IT accreditation required)
Adobe Experience Manager (World Bank IT accreditation required)
III. Reporting and duration
The ETC will report to Alaka Holla and Anja Sautmann.The ETC’s initial contract will be for 1 calendar year with a renewal of up to two additional years based on performance.
