Associate Director, BIU Network
Reports to: Deputy Director(Behavioural Design & Impact/BIU Network)

Overview of CSBC
The Centre for Social and Behaviour Change (CSBC), Ashoka University - India’s leading liberal arts University – is funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The vision of CSBC is to establish an institution, based out of India that is globally reputed for thought leadership and excellence in impactful behaviour change interventions for low-income and marginalised populations. The Centre is focused on bringing new capabilities such as behavioural science, design thinking, advanced data analytics, and responsive feedback to governments, practitioners, and donors to help better design and optimise behaviour change interventions. We work closely with Central and State Governments as well as other stakeholders in the areas of nutrition, sanitation, financial inclusion, maternal and newborn care, data privacy, and agriculture.

Overview of Role

• Establishing a Behavioural Insight Unit network in India, both at the Central and State Government levels.
• Providing Strategic Support and Technical Assistance to improve policy outcomes by generating behavioural solutions across sectors of health, nutrition, education, sanitation, financial inclusion, etc.
• Empirical consulting, for both the government and the private sector, in applying behavioural science.

The Behavioural Design & Impact vertical at CSBC is responsible for:

The Associate Director, BIU Network, would be responsible for leading the establishment of the first-ever Behavioural Insights Units within the State Government of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to strengthen policy outcomes through the application of behavioural insights.
The key responsibility of the role would be to conceptualise and strategize the establishment of the two State BIUs, aligned with the priorities of the State Governments, CSBC and BMGF and ensuring their long-term success and sustainability. The role would provide an opportunity to work with senior bureaucrats to institutionalise the use of behavioural insights in policy design to drive the long-term success of policy outcomes.

We are seeking a highly entrepreneurial person who has strong strategic thinking and problem-solving capabilities.
S/he must be able to function independently and flexibly, solving problems as they arise and should be comfortable juggling multiple competing objectives.

Responsibilities

Developing and executing the strategic framework for the establishment of the State BIUs.

• Working with State Governments and BMGF to identify optimal mechanisms to embed the BIU.
• Identifying priority areas and opportunities for the application of behavioural insights for strengthening policy programmes.
• Identifying and building a base of strong on-ground partners to collaboratively to develop and implement projects.

Developing and rolling out an effective advocacy program within the government (including training and knowledge dissemination) for the deployment of solutions for scale.

• Developing and executing a training curriculum that focuses on core technical and behavioural science principles and their applications in the field.
• Developing and executing a core plan for generating interest and appetite for behavioural insight application through workshops, webinars and other events.
• Creating an advocacy strategy for generating buy-in on various behavioural solutions.
• Developing core knowledge products outlining the work of the BIU and to showcase the use of behavioural sciences.

Overseeing the deliverables of the State Programme BIU Teams:

• Providing rapid advisory to state/districts on the integration of behaviour change
• components into ongoing programmes.
• Working closely with the CSBC empirics team to run pilot projects for generating
• behavioural solutions to solve policy challenges.
• Creating scale-up plans for effective behavioural interventions that are aligned with
• existing government processes and structures.

The Associate Director, BIU Network would also be responsible for:

• Ensuring timely delivery of high-quality project outputs as per project requirements.
• Overseeing budget, financial management, grant reporting and contracting requirements related to projects.
• Ensuring strong knowledge management processes of the project.
• Building strong relations with senior government and partner institutions.
• Supporting and mentoring programme managers and associates for their capacity building and professional growth.
• Bringing innovation and creativity to project approach and processes.
• Ideating and innovating on the application of behavioural insights for addressing policy challenges and for contributing to larger behavioural literature.
• Supporting with other organisational growth and needs as required.

Skills Required

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in economics, social sciences, public policy, sociology, or related fields.
• A minimum of 6-8 years’ of work experience in an analytical, research, consulting or policy role.
• Previous experience in overseeing or leading end-to-end project delivery and of managing 2-3 associates/analysts.
• Previous experience in working with senior government officials, advocacy and influencing policy decisions.
• Strong understanding of the Indian policy landscape.
• Deep understanding of experimental research, data-driven decision making, and behavioural science.
• Familiarity with the design and implementation of lab, lab-in-the-field and field experiments.
• Ability to manage and respond to varied tasks quickly and efficiently.
• Strong interpersonal and communications skills to be able to develop strong project documents and briefs.
• Self-directed/self-motivating personality, with proven ability to manage multiple work demands.
• Strong critical and analytical thinking skills.
• Quick to learn, motivated to self-teach and capable of independently translating new knowledge into practice.
• Ability to give and receive constructive feedback.
• Ability to deal with unstructured and changing environments.
• Willingness to travel and stay for an elongated period in field settings (based on existing circumstances).
• Fluency in English and Hindi (Required).

Venue and Days of Work

This role is based in India. Hence, the candidate should have work authorisation in India (preferably Indiancitizenship or Overseas Citizenship of India). However, due to the COVID-19 situation, CSBC has switched to a work-from-home model of operations. Given these circumstances, the role would be on-boarded and executed remotely. The person would need to have their own laptop and access to a functioning internet connection. They would need to be available through regular working calls to virtually join team discussions and to support project requests.
 

Based on the evolving COVID-19 situation, candidates could be asked to relocate to Delhi for full-time in-person working days.

Send your application to csbc@ashoka.edu.in

Please mention the position title (Associate Director State BIU/AV) in the subject line of the email.
Please include your resume and a cover letter highlighting your experience.