Research Assistant (3 posts) At Education Sub Saharan Africa (ESSA)

Education Sub Saharan Africa (ESSA)’s vision is high-quality education that equips young people in sub-Saharan Africa with the skills they need for work, enables them to achieve their ambitions, and strengthens society. Therefore, we bring together a network of young people, educators, funders, and policymakers and provide them with reliable data and trustworthy evidence from Africa, to enable these stakeholders to make good decisions to improve the system.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a small but passionate and driven team based in Africa and Europe, to play a key role in advancing our work, partnerships, and impact in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.

ESSA’s values are at the heart of everything we do, and they are:

• Evidence-driven: We are driven by data and evidence to find what works best, building an evidence alliance for education in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Solutions-focused: We seek the highest impact for young people and educators in sub-Saharan Africa with the cost-effective funds we invest.
• Strengthening Trust: We strive to create supportive environments, building trust with the communities we work with.
• Always learning: Everyone’s opinion is valuable; we develop solutions through teamwork

The post is in collaboration with the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre at the University of Cambridge, with funding from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. The post holder will support projects related to the African Education Research Database (AERD). 

Their main task will be to collect metadata from peer-reviewed publications and grey literature identified on education in sub-Saharan Africa from African-based universities and research institutions, including those focusing on Early Childhood Development (and potentially, Foundational Learning).

Although the post holder will be based at ESSA, (s)/he will work closely with colleagues at the REAL Centre who are leading the mapping. This will involve regular engagement with the relevant researchers in the REAL Centre leading the mapping of literature for the database.

RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE:

• Use a search protocol to update the African Education Research Database with peer-reviewed publications from sub-Saharan Africa, including those focusing on Early Childhood Development (and potentially, Foundational Learning). This will involve collecting metadata (i.e., coding of the publications identified, including capturing researchers’ names, institutions, gender and email addresses), as well as assigning keywords to identified publications into an Excel spreadsheet.
• Help with the mapping of Early Childhood Development (and Foundational Learning) grey literature and data from the project target countries (Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda).
• Help with the planning, preparation, and management of in-person, hybrid and virtual events.
• Use lessons and reports from Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning to improve project delivery.
• Assist with any other tasks as skills and competencies allow

HOW TO APPLY

To apply please complete the form by clicking on this link. Please ensure that your CV and cover letter are saved using your given name and surname. For example, Samuel.Nyarko_C.V.

The closing date for applications is Monday, 24 April 2023.

First-round interviews will be conducted virtually in the week commencing 1 May 2023.

Unfortunately, we cannot respond to all applications received. We assure you that your application will be thoroughly reviewed against the person specifications above. If you do not hear from us, it means your application has not been taken to the next stage of the recruitment process.

We would like to thank you in advance for your time and interest in ESSA. Please keep an eye on our social media channels for future opportunities.