Research Fellowship

Women's World Banking
New York City - United States
S: $55,000 - $65,000

Women's World Banking Seeks Research Fellows for the Class of 2017

Women's World Banking is the only microfinance network explicitly focused on supporting women. Headquartered in New York City, Women's World Banking supports the needs of 26 million clients, 80% of whom are women, through a network partnership of 38 microfinance institutions in 28 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Women's World Banking works with these institutions to design financial products and services that fulfill the needs of our clients. The mission of the Women's World Banking is to expand the economic assets, participation and power of low-income women and their households by helping them access financial services, knowledge and markets.

Women's World Banking's approach to product design always starts with in-depth research – understanding the lives of women so they can design products that meet the needs of women while being sustainable for the financial institution. They work with the financial institution to ensure the institution's leadership and infrastructure can support both new product introductions and a potentially new market segment. Once a product is launched, Women's World Banking leverages the lessons learned to successfully introduce and replicate the product to other institutions in other parts of the world. With this global reach, they are able to greatly increase the number of women who can build a stronger financial future for themselves and their families.

The Women's World Banking Fellowship Program enables future global leaders in financial inclusion and women's economic empowerment to experience the challenges and rewards of contributing to an organization that works diligently to create financial opportunities for low income women. Fellowships strengthen the capacity of professionals to identify, investigate and address financial needs of low-income women through rigorous research and evaluation of program and product development.

Fellows will be based in our New York City office starting in late 2015. Travel in the field may be required. Women's World Banking will give preference to those with demonstrated abilities to tackle the type of work required to best support the needs of our clients in developing countries.

Recent studies indicate that more than 1.3 billion women worldwide still remain outside the formal financial system. Beyond reaching the largest number of un- and under-banked women, and ensuring they are served well, Women's World Banking also seeks to better understand the financial and social outcomes for women who have accessed financial products and services. Under the Research, Monitoring & Evaluation program, we are looking to study new areas related to gender and financial behavior, monitor the results of existing programs, evaluate outcomes for low-income women, and synthesize and disseminate findings from these initiatives.

As the authoritative resource devoted to giving low-income women access to the financial tools they need, Women's World Banking has worked for more than 35 years to get a clear picture about the needs of women, as expressed by the women themselves. We work directly with financial institutions to show them the benefit of investing in women, using a mix of quantitative and qualitative research methods. This research includes analysis of the ways gender shapes women's financial lives with respect to family responsibilities, cultural norms, and self-image. By combining this gender analysis with the findings from our additional qualitative and quantitative market studies, we have gained rich insights into women's financial behaviors, the life experiences that shape those behaviors, and thus the financial products with the greatest potential to help women achieve success. It is these insights that financial institutions need to serve this growing and profitable market.




Research Fellows will have the opportunity to:
• Participate in the design/implementation/management/analysis of research projects with direct interaction and impact on low-income clients
• Conduct quantitative/qualitative research in the areas relates to women's access to finance and financial empowerment
• Design/carry out case studies and research briefs
• Analyze/translate data and partner with others to develop recommendations and presentations
• Collaborate on report development and presentation of findings
• Unique opportunity to contribute to the field of financial inclusion by using research insights to enhance financial products and services for women.

Women's World Banking is seeking applicants who have the following qualifications:
• Are independent, open minded, intuitive, and eager to contribute to an innovative financial inclusion organization.
• Demonstrated commitment to changing the lives of those in low-income communities around the world through a dedication to financial inclusion, and economic development.
• Demonstrate competency in understanding both macro and micro components of financial inclusion, from policy and regulation to the needs of a woman and entrepreneur in Asia, Africa or Latin America.
• Have participated in inclusion economic development industry events, conferences, social media, blogs, or program design.

Quantitative Analysis:
• STATA/SAS/SPSS/R experience and previous work with large datasets, statistical analysis with large, complicated datasets (beyond administrative, clean datasets);
• Experience working with longitudinal data and creating panel data sets
• Statistical analysis experience, specifically in longitudinal data
• Experience with parametric and non-parametric metrics, OLS regression and time series analysis.
• Querying experience using large and varied datasets



Research and Evaluation:
• Conducting evaluation projects from implementation to analysis and dissemination of findings, implementing a variety of research and evaluation methodologies appropriate for differing types of research questions (experimental, quasi-experimental, etc)
• Experience with RCTs
• Experience with field research and various survey/interview/focus group methodology: survey design, developing survey instruments, analysis and dissemination of findings
• IRB CITI certification, experience with IRB boards and applications
• Experience conducting comprehensive and exhaustive literature reviews and other forms of secondary research.
• Excellent writing skills; experience writing research papers, research briefs, and other forms of research communications
• Experience translating quantitative data analysis findings into actionable results for implementation.

Additional preferred skills:
• Working knowledge of Tableau; experience creating data visualizations
• Experience working with ArcGIS
• Experience working with salesforce, including report writing and querying
• Experience working with SAP Business Objects Web Intelligence
• Qualitative analysis experience (with qualitative coding in either ATLAS/NVIVO)

Additional requirements:
• We seek candidates with minimum of3-5 years work experience in quantitative/qualitative research and a Master's Degree in international affairs, sociology, applied statistics, business, economics or related field
• Fluency in written and spoken English is required, preference will be given to proficient Spanish speakers.
• Ability to legally work in the United States.

HOW TO APPLY

Our application process is highly competitive and open to interested candidates from across the globe. Please submit your application by September 25, 2015 on our website at www.womensworldbanking.org , click on "About Us" and then click on "Jobs”. Please find details regarding the application process below:

Submission requirements
Please include the following items in your submission.
1. A current resume
2. A one-page cover letter articulating why you will succeed at Women's World Banking
4. An individual writing sample, 10 pages or less.


M/F/V/D EOE

Job summary