Program Officer, Measurement Learning & Evaluation (Women’s Economic Empowerment) – Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Mark Suzman, under the direction of co-chairs Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates and the board of trustees.

The Foundation

We are the largest nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Founded on a simple premise: people everywhere, regardless of identity or circumstances, should have the chance to live healthy, productive lives. We believe our employees should reflect the rich diversity of the global populations we aim to serve. We provide an exceptional benefits package to employees and their families which include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with no premiums, generous paid time off, paid family leave, foundation-paid retirement contribution, regional holidays, and opportunities to engage in several employee communities. As a workplace, we’re committed to creating an environment for you to thrive both personally and professionally.

The Team

The India Office Measurement, Learning and Evaluation (MLE) team generates, synthesizes, and mobilizes insights from rigorous data-driven research and evaluation to inform and improve the foundation’s strategy and portfolio of investments to achieve our mission. We promote the use of evaluation across the strategy life cycle to provide insights on how best to achieve desired outcomes in specific contexts; on intended and unintended consequences of current approaches; and adjustments needed to improve the likelihood of achieving and sustaining goals. The MLE team’s work has two core parts: internal engagement in support of the success of our program strategies and external engagement to strengthen the data, evidence and evaluation ecosystem.
On the internal front, the MLE team, as part of the India Country Office’s (ICOs) business team, works closely with the strategy, portfolio planning & management, and program administration functions to support program teams in developing, adapting, and implementing their strategies. At the core of the internal role is being a “critical friend” – a trusted source of support and advice and a constructive critic, who elevates the probability of programmatic success. MLE officers help program and business teams to examine outcomes at the level of portfolios and investments from multiple points of view, identify alternative/more effective ways to achieve goals, and anticipate and mitigate potential risks, taking into account political economy and other factors.
On the external front, the MLE team builds relationships with grantees and data and evidence ecosystem partners (in government, academia, etc.); fosters partnerships, capacities, and networks for evaluation; and maintains a dynamic understanding of the political, social and cultural context that the foundation’s strategies and programs need to navigate to be successful and sustainable.

Your Role

We are recruiting a Program Officer for Measurement, Learning and Evaluation in support of our Women’s Economic Empowerment strategy (PO – MLE, WEE). The WEE strategy focuses on livelihoods interventions aimed at enhancing women’s ability to earn and control income by expanding women’s access to productive resources and markets and addressing restrictive social norms. The strategy looks at 5 key levers: Capital, Care, Digital Tools, Data and Markets. The strategy also emphasizes the role of addressing skills and gender norms, and identifies different scaling platforms including aggregation mechanisms (such as women’s groups), digital technology, public-private partnerships as well as evidence-based policy and advocacy.

The position will report to the ICO Senior Program Officer – Measurement, Learning & Evaluation and work closely with the WEE program team in India and the Global WEE Data & Evidence team.

What You’ll Do

The PO will work closely with the WEE program team and MLE colleagues to develop and lead a workstream focused on data and evidence generation and synthesis to advance strategy implementation and the foundation’s WEE and gender equality goals in India. The WEE pillar on data and evidence includes evidence generation on “what works” to inform internal and external partners on evidence-based programming and policymaking in support of women’s livelihoods and, in partnership with country statistical systems and global institutions and organizations, addressing pervasive measurement and data gaps in gender-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and other key economic indicators.

Areas of deep engagement will include:

Partnering with the WEE program team and partner teams to inform strategy, programmatic and policy priorities, and approaches: The PO will work in an embedded fashion with the India and global WEE program teams and adjacent teams (such as Financial Services for the Poor, Development Policy and Finance, Agriculture teams) to identify MLE priorities including key learning questions; shape and design learning and evaluation plans, including theories of change and portfolio- and investment-level results frameworks; support sense-making and synthesize evidence to inform program design and implementation through knowledge products (for internal use and public goods); support design of program investments, particularly integrated MLE components; and facilitate learning from and application of insights for programs and policies. A key marker of success is the effective communication, translation, and use of evidence by internal and external  partners. The PO will also contribute to the implementation of portfolio performance management processes, helping to foster effective program strategy implementation,  alignment and collaboration across programs where appropriate, and supporting communication and reporting to ICO, WEE program, and foundation leadership.

Developing and managing investments (grants and contracts): The PO will handle a portfolio of MLE investments on priority WEE topics and ensure that investments achieve their outcomes, making course corrections and adjustments to ensure success. The PO will design (scope of work, budget, deliverables, competitive/multi-sourcing processes) and lead investments (including being a thought partner to grantees on research design and methods) and support grantees for high quality implementation, often in collaboration with program colleagues. Further, the PO will support partners to creatively capture and communicate insights, innovations and lessons learned to inform the work of foundation teams and external actors.

Strengthening research and evaluation capacities: The PO will help strengthen the use of data and evidence on WEE internally and by the broader ecosystem and serve as a point of contact on data and evidence in select program areas. The PO will provide ongoing support and thought partnership to program teams and partners to ensure that MLE practices are embedded right from investment/program design to implementation. The PO is expected to track and communicate trends in gender data and evaluation and identify and pursue opportunities for strengthening the practice of evaluation and evidence use, including by strengthening in-country networks, communities of practice, and partnerships among researchers, statisticians and gender experts linked closely to practitioners, government agencies and bilateral/multilateral institutions. The PO is also expected to engage in professional networking, actively follow the scientific literature, nurture connections within scientific networks and communities of practice, and contribute to enhancing capacities and networks in India.

Your Experience

• Master’s or other advanced degree in a field related to gender studies, public policy, data science, evaluation or development economics.
• Minimum of five years’ experience in program evaluation, ideally in the gender/women’s economic empowerment/livelihoods/financial inclusion domain.
• Experience designing and implementing research and evaluations on/with programs or policies related to equality and inclusion, with a focus on learning, adaptation and accountability.
• Expertise in the areas of gender equality, women’s economic empowerment, gender data, women’s livelihoods and financial inclusion.
• High degree of methodological and analytical fluency, skills spanning evaluation design/methods, quantitative and qualitative research methods, data interpretation and visualization.
• Ability to work on complex, challenging problems and creative solutions by bringing diverse  partners (e.g., across  subject areas and geographies) together and to create and nurture networks.
• Experience in grant-making, portfolio design, delivering on grant or other investment approaches whether from philanthropy or international funding environment desirable.

Other Attributes

• Experience in a role requiring collaboration across and within complex internal and external organizations, as well as a demonstrated ability to work with efficiency and diplomacy.
• Excellent at prioritization and multi-tasking; able to work quickly, efficiently, and manage and move a portfolio of both short and longer-term outputs; attentive to detail, deadlines and processes.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills. Ability to conceptualize, analyze, and communicate evidence in a critical, accessible and  useful manner in writing and verbally is essential (and demonstrated by publication history).
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Comfortable in and adaptable to varied contexts and with a desire to work in and with nonprofit sector is critical.
• Fluency in an Indian language is desirable.

*Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.

Hiring Requirements

As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment will be contingent upon successful completion of a background check.

Candidate Accommodations

If you require assistance due to a disability in the application or recruitment process, please submit a request here.

Inclusion Statement

We are dedicated to the belief that all lives have equal value. We strive for a global and cultural workplace that supports ever greater diversity, equity, and inclusion — of voices, ideas, and approaches — and we support this diversity through all our employment practices.

All applicants and employees who are drawn to serve our mission will enjoy equality of opportunity and fair treatment without regard to race, color, age, religion, pregnancy, sex, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and prior protected activity.