Sindh Nutrition Response Research Fellow

Role: The IRC Nutrition Program in Sindh has established  ten social enterprises run by local women across various project locations, with the objective of addressing malnutrition and improving health outcomes in the remote villages. Each social enterprise serves as a hub for nutritional screening, awareness-raising, and referral follow-ups, and is led by a woman entrepreneur who has been trained to screen children and women for malnutrition, refer them for treatment, and raise awareness through delivering counselling and awareness sessions about the factors contributing to malnutrition. At the enterprises women also sell consumable goods to the local community, engaging women and providing a space for education on nutrition. These enterprises have been (one time) financially supported by the IRC project to purchase grocery consumables.  

As a Research Fellow, your role will be to evaluate the effectiveness of this social enterprise model in promoting nutritional health. You will assess key determinants and metrics linking the social enterprise model to improved nutrition outcomes. Your research will involve, gathering data on whether the social enterprises are making an impact on nutrition outcomes, how effective social enterprises  are at screening and referring women and children for health services evaluate the financial sustainability of the social enterprises, recommend actions to scale this model across other locations in Pakistan and evaluate whether these enterprises provide long-term engagement with women and children fostering local community health. 

These findings will allow the IRC to further develop the social enterprise model as a conduit for women and children’s health and to further scale it, broadening the access to early health screenings to other vulnerable areas and population profiles.   

With the support of the Nutrition Project Lead, you will be working on: 

• Identifying data collection points that are proven determinants of enterprise effectiveness 
• Identify measurable metrics related to women and children’s nutritional health 
• Identify a research methodology to link the work of women-led social enterprises in relation to advancing nutritional outcomes for women and children 
• Designing a questionnaire and data collection methodology. The field research and interviews with respondents from women entrepreneurs, local CSOs, and other stakeholders involved in the initiative will be done by IRC‘s local teams. 

Analyzing the data  and developing a first draft, including recommendations to improve the initiative, with the support of the Nutrition Project Lead. 

Potential deliverables: 

• Formulating research methodology including metrics, tools and questionnaires designed for data collection  
• Analyzing the data collected  
• Developing draft report including findings and recommendations 

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

Desired Skills:

• English language speaking and writing skills  
• Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills including methodology development, data collection design, questionnaire development, etc. 
• Able to manage processes that involve input from multiple staff and external stakeholders 
• Knowledge and understanding of marginalized communities in Pakistan and community social dynamics 

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).

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.

IRC has been working in Pakistan since 1980, providing a wide range of programming to Afghan refugees, temporarily displaced persons, and other marginalized and underserved communities across the country. Its programs focus on health (including WASH), disaster risk reduction, protection (including women’s protection and empowerment), livelihood, and education. 

Sindh is province of Pakistan where 45.5% under 5 children are stunted and 23.3% wasted. Sindh also has the highest proportion of under 5 children suffering from concurrent stunting and wasting (10% in Sindh compared to 5.9% in Pakistan) and women of reproductive age suffering from iron deficiency anemia (22.8% in Sindh compared to 18.2% in Pakistan). Responding to the situation, the Government of Sindh has launched initiatives aimed at improving the nutritional status of the province while IRC is also implementing a European Union funded program.  The 24-month action aims to address malnutrition in Sindh, through improving local civil society organizations’ capacity to lead policy dialogue, improve facility-based treatment, and increase community outreach for nutrition. The action works closely with the government health department and nutrition actors to improve nutrition-related skills, supply chain management, and establish connections between community outreach health workers and community committees. The action targets more than 950,000 under 5 children, pregnant and lactating women, and caregivers who will benefit from the awareness and nutrition service delivery component.