2021 CEGA Non-Resident Fellowship: Request for Applications

CEGA invites researchers interested in developing their skills in impact evaluation to apply for a 12-week Non-Resident fellowship to be completed starting July 19, 2021. The application deadline is 5:00 PM GMT on June 21, 2021.

If you would like to hear more about the CEGA Non-Resident Fellowship, and ask questions about the fellowship activities, eligibility, and application process please register here for a webinar on June 7th at 4:00 PM GMT//7:00 PM EAT.

About the Non-Resident Fellowship

The CEGA Non-Resident Fellowship seeks to equip early career African social scientists with the skills needed to carry out rigorous evaluations of economic development programs. Selected researchers will have a chance to remotely audit courses at Berkeley or other universities, develop skills in impact evaluation, and have access to a personalized mentorship program to develop their research ideas. Each non-resident fellow will be paired with a faculty mentor affiliated with CEGA. CEGA staff and PhD students will provide additional mentorship during the fellowship.

CEGA Non-Resident Fellows will be engaged remotely for 12 weeks, at about 15-20 hours per week. Fellows will receive a stipend to support their internet data costs and their time spent on the fellowship. CEGA non-resident Fellows will be considered a member of the East Africa Social Science Translation Collaborative (EASST) network. They will also be invited to join the Network of Impact Evaluation Researchers in Africa (NIERA), an association of African scholars seeking to advance decision-focused impact evaluation of development programs through capacity building, evidence generation and policy outreach. Through these networks fellows will have access to annual research grant competitions, online and in-person convenings, training workshops, and more.

The CEGA Non-Resident Fellowship complements CEGA’s in-person Visiting Fellowships under CEGA’s EASST Collaborative and Development Impact West Africa (DIWA), and non-resident fellows will benefit from engaging with EASST and DIWA in-person fellows throughout the 12 weeks and beyond. The CEGA Non-Resident Fellowship may serve as either a precursor or alternative to the EASST and DIWA in-person fellowships.

Fellowship Activities

During the 12-week fellowship, non resident fellows will:

• Actively audit a course at UC Berkeley or another University (UCLA, Harvard etc.) through the Remote Student Exchange, such as a doctoral-level seminar in impact evaluation;
• Participate in modules on research transparency and reproducibility and cost-effectiveness analysis;
• Carry out an independent research project under the mentorship of a CEGA faculty member, CEGA staff, and an Africa based mentor (projects can use existing data for retrospective analysis or set-up a study design for future data collection);
• Meet and collaborate with faculty and students in multiple academic departments;
• Present their own research during online seminars and workshops;
• Attend online CEGA conferences and other relevant events

Eligibility

Applicants to the non-resident fellowship program must:

• Be a national of East or West Africa (includes Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo);
• Have completed a Master’s degree within the last 10 years in economics, statistics, epidemiology/public health, or another social science discipline; or be pursuing a PhD; or have completed PhD in last 10 years;
• Have a current affiliation with a research institution, university or other research organization in Africa, preferably one that supports policy-relevant, quantitative social science research

Selection Criteria

Successful candidates must:

• Demonstrate strong analytic skills, with past coursework in economics or statistics;
• Have participated in or have familiarity with impact evaluation research (either randomized or quasi-experimental studies), policy analysis, and micro-level field data collection;
• Demonstrate a commitment to and experience with engaging policy-makers and implementing bodies and disseminating research findings;
• Demonstrate a commitment to building the capacity of African research institutions/universities;
• Demonstrate a commitment to institutionalizing rigorous evidence within their institution;
• Submit a clear and innovative research proposal to evaluate a specific public policy or program in Africa, using a randomized controlled trial or quasi-experimental methodologies;
• Be computer literate, fluent in English, and a strong public speaker.

Female applicants are strongly encouraged to apply. Preference will be assigned to fellows who have a doctoral degree in progress or have already completed a doctoral degree (PhD) in a relevant field of study.

To Apply

Please see the application instructions and templates in the Request for Applications (RFA). Please submit completed versions of all required documents at this link by the submission deadline of June 21, 2021 5:00 PM GMT.