Evidence and Impact Advisor

This role could be homebased or based in the UK in the London office (with the opportunity to work from home on some days each week in line with Christian Aid’s hybrid working approach). The salary quoted is for homeworking but if based in our London office, the salary will be £42,629.

About us

Christian Aid exists to create a world where everyone can live a full life, free from poverty. We are a global movement of people, churches and local organisations who passionately champion dignity, equality and justice worldwide. We are the changemakers, the peacemakers, the mighty of heart.
In 2016 we set up a Centre for Excellence in Research, Evidence and Learning (REL). Following a recent organisational restructure, the REL hub now sits in the Programme Policy, Research and Learning team (PPRL), one of three teams that make up Christian Aid’s Policy, Public Affairs and Campaign Department. PPRL exists to generate and provide thought leadership to the organisation; offer research and sector-based expertise to support practice across our global programmes, and to enhance the links between national programme delivery and learning; and global policy analysis and understanding.
REL exists to enable and strengthen the generation and use of research, evidence and learning in Christian Aid that is informed and led by those living in poverty. It also works to centralise their voices in our programmes, policies and practices, and in the development sector to bring about social, systemic and individual transformation for people living in poverty. It seeks to achieve this by:

• Opening up spaces for research, evidencing and learning collaborations in the global South
• Producing, promoting and supporting high-quality ethical research and evidencing gathering on poverty that is aligned with Christian Aid’s strategy ‘Standing Together’)
• Guiding processes of evidence use and learning in Christian Aid
• Strengthening technical knowledge of research, evidence, impact and engagement
• Evidence-based influencing and learning from wider debates in the northern and southern academic and development sector around how we understand and conceptualise poverty and development.

About the role

The Evidence and Impact Advisor has two key roles. Firstly, the post holder will develop and lead a portfolio of evidencing and impact strengthening work to capture learning and assess impact in Christian Aid’s programme and policy work in line with our organisational strategy Standing Together. This will include meta-studies, multi-country studies, thematic studies, research into areas of strategic interest to Christian Aid (such as partnership, working with faith actors, or different operational models) and studies to enable Christian Aid to better understand how and where it achieves impact. At times you will design, develop and deliver the study yourself, at other times you will work in partnership with staff across the organisation and support and advise them in their practice; occasionally you might commission work externally, or collaborate in a research partnership.

Secondly, the post-holder will work alongside the other REL advisors to support staff across the organisation in their evidence needs to help embed a culture of high quality research, evidence, research uptake and learning across Christian Aid’s programme/policy work. This includes responding to diverse technical support requests at different stages of the research and evidencing cycle, including advice on research design; research partnership development; and research funding; and assessments on the quality of evidence generated (including within organisational theories of change). Advisory support could be one-off and time-bound, or include closer engagement and continuous accompaniment.

All REL team members are committed to reflective practice and are encouraged to capture reflections from experience of strengthening research and evidence processes within Christian Aid, to contribute to organisational learning and promote good practice in practitioner research both within Christian Aid and the broader sector.
About you

You will have a strong practitioner research background and experience of applying these skills in impact assessment. This means that you will be confident as a researcher, but understand how to apply this in a programme context. You will be clear about the trade-offs in different approaches to research and evidencing and be realistic about what can and can’t be done in the impact assessment space for an INGO. You will understand how to frame impact against broad strategic goals and understanding of broader change processes (theories of change) and you will have experience in scoping and delivering multi-country and/ or meta studies. You will be confident in monitoring and evaluation methodologies both qualitative and quantitative research, interested in creative research methodologies, experimental in how to capture impact, including through participatory and empowering approaches, and be confident in ensuring that our impact and evidencing initiatives align with our organisational values. You will also be confident in approaches to organisational influencing and agenda building.

You will enjoy working in a practice setting, developing robust research, evidence and learning initiatives that respond to the needs and interests of programmes and policy/ advocacy colleagues. You will have excellent project management skills and enjoy balancing a hands-on research and evidencing role with advising/accompanying others in their practice. You will be comfortable engaging with academics and development/ humanitarian practitioners, and you will have had experience of working with colleagues across the globe. As such you will be confident in team leadership and cross-departmental and team working. You will also have a deep commitment to strengthening the quality of evidence in an INGO and you will understand the role of culture and context in research, evidence and learning and be aligned with REL’s commitment to epistemic justice.

Equally important will be your interpersonal skills, your ability to build strong relationships and work across different departments, and help colleagues to reflect and learn, make sharper decisions and achieve better results. You will have a good appreciation of the diversity of cultures, workstyles and perspectives that exist. You will be good at managing your own workload and competing priorities.

Further information

This role requires applicants to have the right to work in the country where this position is based.

From 1 July 2021, the process for completing right to work checks has changed and we can no longer accept EU passports or ID cards as valid proof of right to work, with the exception of Irish citizens.

There are now two types of right to work checks: a manual check and an online check. A manual check can be completed against relevant documentation as outlined by the Home Office. An online check can be completed if you hold digital proof of your immigration status in the UK. We will require your share code and date of birth to carry out this check. Please see Government website for more information on acceptable documents.

All successful candidates will require either a Basic or Enhanced Disclosure Barring Service certificate (DBS) and a Counter Terrorism Sanction check as part of your clearance for commencing your role with us. Information will be forwarded to you by the HR team with your offer.

We value diversity and aspire to reflect this in its workforce. We welcome applications from people from all sections of the community, irrespective of race, colour, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief.

Christian Aid is committed to providing a safe and trusted environment for every person connected to the work we do; and to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour including sexual harassment and exploitation, abuse, and financial misconduct. Any candidate offered a job with Christian Aid is expected to share and demonstrate our values and adhere to Christian Aid’s Safeguarding policy and sign Christian Aid’s Code of Conduct.

You can expect a wide range of rewards and benefits, including a generous holiday allowance, a season ticket loan, and flexibility that will ensure you enjoy a good work/life balance.