Regional Research & Learning Coordinator – PlayMatters

About the role

The Regional Research and Learning Coordinator will support the PlayMatters 3.0 education initiative across Ethiopia, South Sudan and Uganda. Reporting to the Deputy Project Director – Technical, the role coordinates research design, data collection, analysis and learning dissemination for the consortium and its external partners.

Key responsibilities

• Coordinate and manage IRC‑led qualitative and quantitative research studies, including tool adaptation, programming (CommCare, Tangerine), enumerator training and data cleaning.
• Partner with Airbel’s research team on study design, budget alignment and quality assurance of research outputs.
• Lead the PlayMatters Learning Agenda, designing learning studies, facilitating workshops and producing reports or academic papers.
• Serve as the main liaison between IRC/Airbel, the PlayMatters External Evaluator and national partners, ensuring alignment of technical design and implementation timelines.
• Support RCT preparation, path‑to‑scale planning and governance structures such as the Research Management Group.

Required profile

• Degree in Education, Psychology, International Development, Social Sciences or related field.
• At least three years of experience working in education in low‑resource or emergency settings.
• Background in education research with training in both quantitative and qualitative methods.
• Minimum one year of experience conducting mixed‑methods research on education in emergencies.

Required skills

• CommCare data collection platform.
• Tangerine data programming.
• Quantitative analysis (e.g., statistical software).
• Qualitative analysis (e.g., coding, thematic analysis).
• Instrument adaptation and validation across languages and cultures.
• Research design and mixed‑methods methodology.