Regional Research and Learning Coordinator, PlayMatters job at International Rescue Committee (IRC)

BACKGROUND:

The IRC has been working in Uganda since 1998 supporting refugees, vulnerable host communities, and various institutions in the country notably the government, community-based organizations, civil society, and the private sector. Currently, the IRC in Uganda has a presence across five sub-regions and six refugee settlements, implementing programming in the sectors of health, protection and rule of law (PRoL), women’s protection and empowerment (WPE), economic recovery and development (ERD), and education. IRC Uganda also implements cross-cutting programming focused on systems strengthening and accountability to affected persons.

Job Overview/ Summary:

PlayMatters 3.0 is a 4-year education initiative (2026-2030) with a goal of improving the well-being and holistic learning outcomes of pre-primary and primary school aged children (ages 3-12+), including those who are affected by conflict and crisis, in Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Uganda by strengthening education systems to deliver quality education services using active teaching and learning through play. The PlayMatters consortium is made up of the IRC, Plan International, and War Child Alliance, in collaboration with national partners and the LEGO foundation. PM prioritizes strengthening education systems to be resilient and scaling impact by working with and through existing systems rather than establishing parallel systems. PM has three main outcomes: Outcome 1: Education systems have increased capacity, uptake, and coordination of Learning through Play (LtP) as a teaching method; Outcome 2: School-aged children in refugee hosting and post-crisis recovery zones have increased access to quality learning opportunities in safe environments; Outcome 3: School-aged children's holistic development is protected in times of acute crisis.

Research and learning are core to PlayMatters, which emphasizes evidence generation and use. The Regional Research and Learning Coordinator will directly support the PlayMatters regional research team to coordinate, design, implement, and disseminate IRC-led PlayMatters research, and support the regional PlayMatters MEL teams to collect, store, analyze, use, and disseminate learning internal and external to the Consortium in Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Uganda. He/she will work closely with the regional team and country-based teams in support of quality evidence-building and actionable learning activities in support of moving PlayMatters forward on the Path to Scale. This role also serves as a key coordination point between the PlayMatters Consortium and its internal (Airbel) and external (the PlayMatters External Evaluator) research partners, ensuring alignment across technical design, implementation timelines, and evidence dissemination.

Major Responsibilities:

The Regional Research and Learning Coordinator will lead and support a broad range of PlayMatters research and learning activities, including the following:

Coordinate and Manage the Operationalization of the Research Agenda and Plan:

• Coordination and implementation of IRC-led qualitative and quantitative research studies, including a range of formative and implementation research studies that utilize a range of methods and analytical strategies, including:
• Coordinate with Airbel's research team on study design, data management, budget/level-of-effort alignment, and quality assurance of research outputs;
• Instrument adaptation and validation, including cognitive pretesting of tools across languages and cultures and the calibration of classroom observation tools across cultural contexts.
• Programming of tools as needed for the different studies, in preparation for data collection activities, using CommCare and Tangerine primarily.
• Enumerator trainings as needed for the different studies, in preparation for data collection activities.
• Data cleaning and analysis, including both quantitative and qualitative analysis as needed.
• Capacity building for research teams across PlayMatters.
• Coordination and support to WCA-led research studies, including reporting and dissemination of findings;
• In collaboration with the External evaluator and the donor, RCT preparation and support across the three countries, including support with path to scale planning, RCT design, timelines, data collection strategies, logistics, etc.

Lead Learning Activities, including integrating learning into adaptive management and the PlayMatters Learning Agenda:

• Co-design and lead the actualization of the PlayMatters Learning Agenda, including a range of learning studies utilizing a range of quantitative and qualitative methods
• Serve as Consortium lead and focal point for learning, providing strategic thinking and design to establish a Consortium culture of learning and viable learning products and opportunities
• Support the collection, storage, analysis, use, and dissemination of learning across a spectrum of systematic collection
• Conduct evidence reviews, including desk reviews and literature reviews to support the design and implementation of PlayMatters interventions.
• Facilitate a broad range of learning activities for the consortium and beyond, including workshops, presentations, written products including reports and academic papers for peer-reviewed journals, stakeholder engagement, and dissemination.
• Provide high quality connections with HQ to connect PlayMatters with broader organizational and Education sector learning and strategy.

Coordinate Research Across the PM Consortium, with Airbel and with External Evaluation Partners:

• Serve as a key point of contact and coordination lead between IRC/Airbel's internal research team and PlayMatters country and regional teams.
• Liaise with the PlayMatters External Evaluator (EE), including reconciling EE technical design with realistic implementation plans, and engaging the EE in relevant working groups (e.g., the Research Management Group).
• Support communication and coordination mechanisms between the EE, PMCs, National Partners, and the PlayMatters Consortium.
• Support convening and coordination of PM research governance structures (e.g., Research Management Group, RMEAL Reference Group), including quality assurance review of research products.
• Ensure coordination between Research and MEAL workstreams across the Consortium.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Deputy Project Director - Technical, PlayMatters

Position directly supervises: N/A

Indirect Reporting: N/A

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

• Internal: RMEAL Advisor, PlayMatters; RMEAL Advisor, LF Framework; Engaged researchers from Airbel Impact LaB.
• External: External Evaluator

Education and Technical Competencies:

• Degree in Education, Psychology, International Development, International Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies, Policy Studies, or other related Social Sciences-Related discipline.

Skills and Competencies

• At least three years of experience working in education in low-resource environments,
• A background in education research, including training in both quantitative and qualitative research methods,
• At least one year of experience doing research on education in emergencies;
• At least one year of experience supporting the implementation of mixed-methods research studies focused on education, psychosocial support, or other areas related to Learning through Play;
• At least one year of experience supporting the implementation of measurement and learning systems in complex programs
• Strong writing skills (in English) and significant writing experience;
• Experience coordinating research activities across multiple institutional partners (e.g., research organizations, academic institutions, or external evaluators) is a plus.
• Experience publishing in peer-reviewed journals is a plus.
• Experience analyzing qualitative data using Dedoose, nVivo or other qualitative data analysis software is a plus;
• Experience analyzing quantitative data using SPSS, Stata, or other statistical analysis packages is a plus;
• Experience working in East Africa is a plus.
• Fluent in written and oral English; knowledge of other regional language preferred

Working Environment:

• Standard office working environment
• Travel required 25%
• The position may be based in any IRC country program or IRC office
• This is an in-person position open to internal candidates based in countries where IRC operates who have the right to work in their location. Successful candidates will be hired on a local employment contract and according to local salary scale.

• Coordination and implementation of IRC-led qualitative and quantitative research studies, including a range of formative and implementation research studies that utilize a range of methods and analytical strategies.
• Coordinate with Airbel's research team on study design, data management, budget/level-of-effort alignment, and quality assurance of research outputs.
• Instrument adaptation and validation, including cognitive pretesting of tools across languages and cultures and the calibration of classroom observation tools across cultural contexts.
• Programming of tools as needed for the different studies, in preparation for data collection activities, using CommCare and Tangerine primarily.
• Enumerator trainings as needed for the different studies, in preparation for data collection activities.
• Data cleaning and analysis, including both quantitative and qualitative analysis as needed.
• Capacity building for research teams across PlayMatters.
• Coordination and support to WCA-led research studies, including reporting and dissemination of findings.
• In collaboration with the External evaluator and the donor, RCT preparation and support across the three countries, including support with path to scale planning, RCT design, timelines, data collection strategies, logistics, etc.
• Co-design and lead the actualization of the PlayMatters Learning Agenda, including a range of learning studies utilizing a range of quantitative and qualitative methods.
• Serve as Consortium lead and focal point for learning, providing strategic thinking and design to establish a Consortium culture of learning and viable learning products and opportunities.
• Support the collection, storage, analysis, use, and dissemination of learning across a spectrum of systematic collection.
• Conduct evidence reviews, including desk reviews and literature reviews to support the design and implementation of PlayMatters interventions.
• Facilitate a broad range of learning activities for the consortium and beyond, including workshops, presentations, written products including reports and academic papers for peer-reviewed journals, stakeholder engagement, and dissemination.
• Provide high quality connections with HQ to connect PlayMatters with broader organizational and Education sector learning and strategy.
• Serve as a key point of contact and coordination lead between IRC/Airbel's internal research team and PlayMatters country and regional teams.
• Liaise with the PlayMatters External Evaluator (EE), including reconciling EE technical design with realistic implementation plans, and engaging the EE in relevant working groups (e.g., the Research Management Group).
• Support communication and coordination mechanisms between the EE, PMCs, National Partners, and the PlayMatters Consortium.
• Support convening and coordination of PM research governance structures (e.g., Research Management Group, RMEAL Reference Group), including quality assurance review of research products.
• Ensure coordination between Research and MEAL workstreams across the Consortium.

• Experience working in education in low-resource environments
• Background in education research, including training in both quantitative and qualitative research methods
• Experience doing research on education in emergencies
• Experience supporting the implementation of mixed-methods research studies focused on education, psychosocial support, or other areas related to Learning through Play
• Experience supporting the implementation of measurement and learning systems in complex programs
• Strong writing skills (in English) and significant writing experience
• Experience coordinating research activities across multiple institutional partners
• Experience publishing in peer-reviewed journals
• Experience analyzing qualitative data using Dedoose, nVivo or other qualitative data analysis software
• Experience analyzing quantitative data using SPSS, Stata, or other statistical analysis packages
• Experience working in East Africa
• Fluent in written and oral English
• Knowledge of other regional language preferred

• Degree in Education, Psychology, International Development, International Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies, Policy Studies, or other related Social Sciences-Related discipline.