Call For Researchers: A Gender Data Project

Duration of project: 4 weeks

Application deadline: March 17th, 2023

About LDRI

The Local Development Research Institute (LDRI) is an action-oriented non-profit think tank supporting African countries in their efforts to take practical, evidence-informed actions to end extreme poverty, end hunger, and reduce inequalities. We build the capacity of governments and other stakeholders across Sub-Saharan Africa to use data and evidence for better socio-economic development outcomes. In Partnership with Data2X, LDRI will be responsible for research and policy lead on the political will for gender data for a subset of countries in Anglophone Africa. 

Project Scope and Background

Data2X is a civil society organization and gender data alliance, working with partners to improve the production and use of gender data through strategic partnerships, research, advocacy, and communications.

The Project believes that gender data is critical to achieving gender equality and Sustainable Development Goals. Though gaps remain, over the last 10 years much progress has been made to identify key gender data gaps and to recognize gender data as a political priority. However, worldwide, core gender data systems remain underfunded and the use of data in policymaking is infrequent and inconsistent. Data2X theorizes that this is in part due to insufficient political will around gender data. Anecdotal evidence from interviews with civil society organizations and gender data focal points in national statistical offices suggests that this challenge of political will may be due (but not limited) to the following factors:

• Lack of connection between gender data focal points at NSOs and political actors who set programmatic and funding priorities.
• Low domestic resource mobilization for gender data which includes a lack of understanding by NSOs and civil society actors about how gender data budgets are formulated, allocated, and expended—as well as no clear set of advocates tracking (and demanding accountability for) gender data budgets over time. 
• Communication barriers between technical experts and policymakers include a lack of technical capacity of policymakers to interpret gender data.
• Lack of relevance of gender data to policy priorities because data is old, not comparable, inaccessible, or other issues.

Country researchers will be expected to undertake the following tasks towards gathering evidence and providing expert assessments for select  countries;

• Submit a work plan with the key informant list, and scheduled and confirmed interview dates.
• Conduct a subset of 4-5 interviews engaging relevant NSOs, government ministry, and donor contacts in the key informant list as scheduled in the work plan and submit interview notes on a rolling basis.
•  Draft a political scene briefing for their country to inform a global gender data policy brief on the same subject by April 7th, 2023. 

Eligibility criteria

Who are you?

The ideal country researcher must:

• Have a high standard of written English and English comprehension;
• Be fluent in the language of one or more of the main administrative languages of the country they are researching;
• Be educated to Masters level and above; 
• Have a mix of technical and policy backgrounds;
• Have in-depth knowledge of the country they are researching, including knowledge of recent policy developments;
• Have relevant knowledge and understanding of the topic of gender data.
• Have relevant contacts and networks to draw upon.

Applications are open for Nigeria, Togo, Rwanda, and Liberia

Country researchers must not:

• Be a government official or employee, or a contractor deriving a substantial proportion of their income from the government;
• Have any conflicts of interest that would affect their ability to provide an impartial assessment.

We look forward to working with researchers that we will be able to work with again on future editions of the Gender data policy brief as well as interim surveys. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

How to Apply

• Complete the application form here. The deadline for applications is 17th March 2023