Program Evaluations Analysis Fellow 

Role: IRC’s routine monitoring capabilities have been greatly strengthened over the past four years and the partnership between Airbel and the Technical Units has fortified our research practice. However, we have not been focused on asking and answering questions such as “we have now been conducting X intervention in Y country for Z years, what cumulative outcomes are we seeing?” or “how did the changes we made during implementation lead to better/worse outcomes than we were expecting?” Dozens of program evaluations are conducted every year across IRC programs, usually in response to donor demand, and yet the results are rarely used to drive improved quality or impact. Donors, such as BHA, have increased their expectations around program evaluations in recent years, providing us with the opportunity to leverage their interest to answer our own burning questions about our programs. And yet, IRC does not currently have any established standards or guidance on when and how to conduct routine program evaluations. The purpose of this fellowship will be to conduct a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis of IRC’s program evaluation practice over the last 3 years. In this role, the candidate will analyze Terms of Reference, Budgets, Inception Reports, and Evaluation reports to identify key drivers, or lack thereof, of evaluations and evaluative processes. They will interview or conduct focus group discussions with Regional, Country, or Technical colleagues to identify existing challenges and best practices. They will collate existing internal resources for program evaluation standards and document examples of best program evaluation practices that can begin to nurture a stronger global practice. 

The candidate should have strong analytical skills, have experience with descriptive data analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, have good writing skills. English language is required, proficiency in French, Arabic or Spanish is a plus.  

Potential deliverables: 

• SWOT Analysis report of program evaluation practices  
• Documented use cases or case studies of using evaluations for data driven decision making.  
• Collation of existing guidance/tools alongside recommendations for merging/strengthening them to create a global standard set of guidance

Potential travel involved: No travel will be involved for this position.

Desired Skills:

• Data analysis skills (especially qualitative)
• Knowledge of evaluation practices
• Good writing skills
• Fluency in English
• Language proficiency in French, Arabic or Spanish is a plus.  

Requirements: Students must be a matriculated graduate or Ph.D. student at The New School. Fellows are hired as Research Associates by The New School.

Work Environment: This fellowship will work with the Airbel Impact Lab based in the IRC’s HQ in New York City. While this fellowship is remote, all Fellows must be physically located in the US.

Fellowship Length: This fellowship carries a maximum of 20 hours/week during the Summer 2025 semester (May 17, 2025 – August 24, 2025). Continuation into Fall 2025 is potentially available.

How to apply: The deadline to apply is March 17, 2025. Please submit one PDF document containing a cover letter, CV/resume, and two work samples (writing and/or design portfolio – 5 pages maximum per sample) to Catherine McGahan, McGahanC@newschool.edu.

Interviews will be conducted in mid-March via Zoom.

Team: Airbel Impact Lab, Research and Innovation at the IRC. The Airbel Impact Lab designs, tests, and scales life-changing cost-effective solutions for people affected by conflict and disaster. By applying the IRC’s deep technical expertise and field experience with a range of skills from the behavioral sciences, human-centered design, research, and multi-disciplinary problem-solving in humanitarian contexts, we work to develop breakthrough solutions that combine creativity and rigor, openness and expertise, and a desire to think afresh with the experience of a large-scale implementing organization. Within Airbel, the Best Use of Resources team provides analysis and decision-making support to improve the cost-efficiency and cost-effectiveness of IRC programs.

The Measurement Unit sets and drives the vision for Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) across the Crisis Response, Recovery and Development (CRRD) department, for decisions to be increasingly grounded in deep understanding of our clients, programs and outcomes, enabling us to achieve greater impact for more people. The Measurement Unit is a part of CRRD’s Technical Excellence and supports the measurement of IRC’s programming across all sector units. To do this we promote technical excellence in MEAL methodologies, develop technical and technology tools, facilitate collaboration with others, and ensure consistency with IRC’s strategy and CRRD priorities.