Research Award Competition – Corporate Strategy and Evaluaton Division

Deadline: August 7, 2013

Please note that all applications must be sent electronically.

IDRC is one of the world’s leaders in generating new knowledge to meet global challenges. We offer a number of research awards providing a unique opportunity to enhance research skills and gain a fresh perspective on crucial development issues. These one‐year, paid, in‐house programs of  training and mentorship allow award holders to pursue their research goals and work in one of IDRC’s dynamic program or division teams.

The Corporate Strategy and Evaluation division (CSED) is responsible for coordinating and monitoring the five‐year strategic framework that guides IDRC’s work. CSED is responsible for policy analysis as the government liaison for IDRC, as well as evaluation, including strategic evaluation and external program reviews. CSED works with program staff and management to encourage evaluative thinking, do high quality evaluations, and develop evaluation approaches that enrich IDRC programming by addressing complex realities and challenging persistent social
inequalities.

This Research Award offers a unique opportunity to conduct a research project that contributes to the ongoing work of the division and is embedded in internal practice and programming. This offers our awardees significant engagement with our team and supports direct utility of their work.

CSED welcomes a range of potential research topics but particularly encourages proposals from applicants interested in:

• Organizational learning: How can learning from evaluation be strengthened at IDRC? What can we learn about evaluating strategy from the experience of the programs, who use a variety of approaches, including formative and developmental evaluation, to assess and adjust their program strategies? What lessons are coming out of the ‘learning from failure’ movement, and how could they be applied to IDRC?
• Research on corporate strategy: What are some of the cuting edge modalities for strengthening research systems in the developing world? What are some of the approaches used by funders of research to evaluate corporate level objectives and goals? How do international organizations track and evaluate policy analysis and evaluation functions? What are the emerging good practices?
• Research about doing evaluation: How can new thinking from systems and complexity science be further adapted to inform evaluation practice in research for development? How can evaluation approaches challenge persistent inequities? How can research evaluation  approaches be adapted to address the challenges of unstable or fragile contexts where evaluation practice and uptake face constraints?

Emerging trends:

• What can we learn from social impact investment as a new model in international development financing? How should it be monitored and evaluated?
• Who are the new actors in international development circles, and particularly in research for development? What roles are they playing and how effective are they? How is the private sector engaging?

The awardee will work as part of a team supporting IDRC Programs management with information, analysis, and advice on research‐for‐development.

Who can apply:

To be eligible, you must meet the following requirements:

• Be a citizen or permanent resident of Canada, or a citizen of a developing country.
• Be either currently enrolled at a recognized university at the master’s or doctoral level or have completed a master’s or doctoral degree at a recognized university. These awards may be part of an academic requirement.
• Your proposed research must focus on one or more developing countries and/or Canada.

Candidates should have the following qualifications:

• A professional interest in public policy and strategic management and/or evaluation;
• Knowledge of the principal trends in international development and related research issues;
• Experience living or working in the developing world. The applicant’s past study and proposed research will reflect this;
• Be flexible and willing to work in a collaborative, fast‐paced environment; and
• Strong verbal and written communications skills.

CSED is strongly interested in proposals that link awardee research with IDRC programming. Please note that proposals for funding project or program evaluations will not be considered for the Research Award. Applicants interested in the Research Award may contact us at evaluation@idrc.ca with their proposed ideas.

This position is located at IDRC’s head office in Ottawa.

—————————————————————————

A key part of Canada’s aid program, IDRC supports research in developing countries to promote growth and development.

International Development Research Centre
150 Kent * PO Box 8500 * Ottawa ON Canada K1G 3H9
Phone: +1 613 236 6163 * idrc.ca