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Careers and Opportunities

Research Assistant, Governance

Location: Remote
Program area: Good Governance
Deadline: March 8, 2024
Type: Independent contractor

The Asia Foundation’s Regional Governance Team operates across the Foundation’s governance strategy and programming portfolio across its 17 country offices. With the senior director based in Hanoi and several other team members in Asia and Australia, the team works remotely to support program design and implementation of governance programs to support and promote the Foundation as a thought leader in the key sectoral areas in which it operates, to build skills and capabilities of Foundation staff and partner organizations, to help country office staff keep abreast of the latest thinking in international development, and to connect the Foundation into relevant regional and international dialogue and fora.

With its role in promoting thought leadership, the Governance Team frequently conducts research. That may involve managing or contributing to large research projects, such as recent survey work on shrinking civic spaces in South Asia and ongoing research on Democratic Resilience across Asia, or contributing to smaller qualitative studies, such as recent work on gender exclusion in cities during Covid-19; or bespoke support to the Foundation’s program staff seeking to publish articles, op-eds or blogs on their work or insights into the contexts in which they are operating.

Governance is a broad topic, and, as such, the team’s research efforts are also necessarily varied and expansive. Subtopics include political economy approaches to development, democracy and democratization, inclusion and inequality, decentralization and local governance, judicial and legal sector reform, urban governance, social media and mis- and disinformation, technology and governance, civil society, and civic spaces. They stretch from local case studies of a city, community, or individual organization to national-level thematic or sectoral analyses to subregional and regional assessments.

The Governance team’s research work also supports its other activities. Case studies of the latest development programming techniques feed into training and workshops for staff. Larger studies contribute to positioning the Foundation for future funding with donors and provide the substance of presentations in international conferences and webinars.

Scope of Work

The Governance team seeks to bring on a part-time research assistant with a strong background in research (particularly in academic settings) in the social sciences to support these initiatives. The research assistant will support the team by undertaking research, managing research projects, disseminating findings, and engaging with key internal and external stakeholders to broaden the scope of the team’s research activities while strengthening the quality and timeliness of research products and their uptake. This position is expected to work 2.5 days a week over six months, with the possibility of extension.

The Governance research assistant will:

  • As agreed with the senior director, keep abreast of literature on critical topics and provide briefings to internal and external audiences.
  • Help design research activities, including developing robust research methodologies, clear terms of reference, and uptake and engagement strategies.
  • Undertake and support others in scoping analyses, literature, and desk reviews, in particular drawing upon a range of sources with an emphasis on academic literature.
  • Support and mentor the Foundation’s staff in country offices in carrying out their research projects.
  • Support evidence generation on the impact of governance programs across the Foundation and the socialization and communication of lessons learned to various audiences.
  • Present and support others to present research results and recommendations.
  • Independently manage small research projects.

Qualifications

  • Minimum of a master’s degree in a Social Science field. The role is open to current doctoral degree candidates.
  • Relevant experience designing and implementing research projects using qualitative and quantitative methods.
  • Knowledge and experience in political economy analysis or political science would be an advantage.
  • Relevant experience in working across multiple teams of varying composition and cross-cultural stakeholder engagement.
  • Excellent English-language skills, capable of writing at a publishable academic standard, with strong attention to detail and appropriate citations. Proficiency in an Asian language is a plus.
  • A background in or interest in learning about international development topics in Asia.
  • Able to work independently in a remote online setting.

Requirements for application

  • Latest CV, including a list of publications
  • Cover letter
  • Additional examples of writing and research skills may be requested

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