Research Consultant in Socio-Cultural Anthropology, Adolescents 360

Job Description

Opportunity Research Consultant in Socio-Cultural Anthropology
Department Family Planning/Reproductive Health
Reports to the Deputy Director, Strategic Research & Evaluation

Who we are

We’re Population Services International (PSI), the world’s leading non-profit social marketing organization. We work to make it easier for people in the developing world to lead healthier lives and plan the families they desire by marketing affordable products and services that range from mosquito nets to contraceptives to HIV testing.

There are over 9,000 “PSI’ers” around the world. It’s a diverse group of entrepreneurs and professionals with an unusually wide range of backgrounds - from the medical industry to the music business - all with unique skills we bring to the job.

Join us!

PSI seeks a Research Consultant specializing in Socio-Cultural Anthropology to support the design, analysis, and application of qualitative research on adolescent girls’ sexual and reproductive health in Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania.

With the generous support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), PSI is implementing Adolescents 360, an innovative investment with a consortium of partners including the Society for Family Health/Nigeria (SFH/Nigeria), Triggerise, the Center on the Developing Adolescent from the University of California, Berkeley, IDEO.org, and Ogilvy & Mather Africa. The project will work with adolescents, young people, parents, community members, providers, and policy makers in Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania to design scalable, cost-effective models aimed at increasing voluntary, modern contraceptive use among adolescent girls aged 15-19.

Qualitative research in Ethiopia and Nigeria will be used to launch an intensive user-centered design process to develop these models. This research will incorporate youth participatory action research approaches and methods of design research. We seek a Research Consultant with in-depth experience in socio-cultural anthropology to incorporate key tenets of anthropological theory and analysis into the conduct of this research process. The Consultant will also support interpretation of findings and their application in programmatic decision-making on the design of models that account for the socio-cultural contexts in which adolescent girls grow and develop.

Sound like you? Read on.

Your contribution

• Provide technical review of study protocols for Ethiopia and Nigeria to ensure technically appropriate application of ethnographic and other qualitative data collection methods to address sexuality, marriage, and child-bearing within specified geographic and cultural regions of Ethiopia and Nigeria and in collaboration with user-centered design and developmental neuroscience partners
• Advise on field data collection plans to be implemented by PSI and partners, including youth researchers
• Provide technical review of data analysis plans to ensure integration of specific anthropological modes of analysis and interpretation for data collected, which may include photo or verbal narrative, observation, interview transcripts, and field notes
• Participate in project synthesis meetings to support application of findings into model ideation in a manner that addresses socio-cultural norms regarding adolescent girls and their identity formation processes on sexuality, marriage, and child-bearing

What are we looking for?

The basics

• PhD in socio-cultural or applied anthropology and 5 years of experience; or MA in socio-cultural or applied anthropology and 10 years of experience
• Demonstrated experience conducting anthropological research in sub-Saharan Africa, preferably in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and/or southern Nigeria
• Expertise in adolescent sexual and reproductive health highly desired, including conduct of research with girls and their families
• Familiarity with user-centered design and market research approaches to conducting qualitative research

What would get us excited?

Pragmatic: You have experience conducting research with research partners outside of academia and focus on practical, cost-effective and creative solutions.

Strong Communicator: You communicate effectively with researchers and non-researchers along a variety of learning curves and needs. You have excellent written, verbal and inter-personal communication skills.

Self-starter: You can work independently, manage your own projects, and meet deadlines.

PSI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages applications from qualified individuals regardless of actual or perceived race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, personal appearance, matriculation, political affiliation, family status or responsibilities, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions or breastfeeding, genetic information, amnesty, veteran, special disabled veteran or uniform service member status or employment status.

Your contribution

• Provide technical review of study protocols for Ethiopia and Nigeria to ensure technically appropriate application of ethnographic and other qualitative data collection methods to address sexuality, marriage, and child-bearing within specified geographic and cultural regions of Ethiopia and Nigeria and in collaboration with user-centered design and developmental neuroscience partners
• Advise on field data collection plans to be implemented by PSI and partners, including youth researchers
• Provide technical review of data analysis plans to ensure integration of specific anthropological modes of analysis and interpretation for data collected, which may include photo or verbal narrative, observation, interview transcripts, and field notes
• Participate in project synthesis meetings to support application of findings into model ideation in a manner that addresses socio-cultural norms regarding adolescent girls and their identity formation processes on sexuality, marriage, and child-bearing

What are we looking for?

The basics

• PhD in socio-cultural or applied anthropology and 5 years of experience; or MA in socio-cultural or applied anthropology and 10 years of experience
• Demonstrated experience conducting anthropological research in sub-Saharan Africa, preferably in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and/or southern Nigeria
• Expertise in adolescent sexual and reproductive health highly desired, including conduct of research with girls and their families
• Familiarity with user-centered design and market research approaches to conducting qualitative research

What would get us excited?

Pragmatic: You have experience conducting research with research partners outside of academia and focus on practical, cost-effective and creative solutions.

Strong Communicator: You communicate effectively with researchers and non-researchers along a variety of learning curves and needs. You have excellent written, verbal and inter-personal communication skills.

Self-starter: You can work independently, manage your own projects, and meet deadlines.

PSI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages applications from qualified individuals regardless of actual or perceived race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, personal appearance, matriculation, political affiliation, family status or responsibilities, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions or breastfeeding, genetic information, amnesty, veteran, special disabled veteran or uniform service member status or employment status.

PI93533827

About the Organization

About PSI: PSI is a leading global health organization with programs targeting malaria, child survival, HIV and reproductive health. Working in partnership within the public and private sectors, and harnessing the power of the markets, PSI provides life-saving products, clinical services and behavior change communications that empower the world's most vulnerable populations, in over 65 countries to lead healthier lives. Over 150 staff in the Washington D.C headquarters, 100 overseas expatriate staff and almost 8,000 local staff work to execute PSI’s critical and innovative programs worldwide. Health Impact and Donors: PSI has a unique focus on measurable health impact much like successful corporations measure profitability. Measuring the results of PSI’s health interventions isn’t as simple as counting lives saved. PSI employs an entire team of researchers to continuously evaluate PSI performance against evidence-based objectives and verifiable indicators. Such strict measurement of PSI performance is what sets the organization apart from others in the field and feeds into the design of innovative, targeted and cost-effective interventions. By utilizing the DALY (Disability Adjusted Life Year) system, PSI estimates that in 2009 alone, its programs directly prevented more than 156,000 HIV infections, 2.6 million unintended pregnancies, almost 150,000 deaths from malaria and diarrhea and 19 million malaria episodes. In addition, roughly 25,000 patients were treated for TB. With a focus on decentralized management and local experts, innovative programs and successful benchmarking, PSI is proud of its long term commitment to serve those most in need. PSI is supported by several major donors including: governments of the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands; the Global Fund, various United Nations agencies, private foundations, corporations and individuals. Areas of PSI focus: HIV: PSI has HIV programs in over 60 countries around the world. Interventions, which include social marketing of HIV products and services and targeted HIV communications, are based upon a commitment to produce measurable health impact and an emphasis upon rigorous research and evaluation. Although condom social marketing and targeted communications remain the cornerstones of PSI's work to address the HIV pandemic, country programs also implement an increasingly comprehensive range of interventions in response to the changing needs of specific country contexts and populations. PSI is increasingly implementing innovations such as male circumcision services and targeted communications for concurrent sexual partnerships and injection drug use interventions. TB: Tuberculosis (TB) is a curable and preventable illness, yet it remains a major cause of death worldwide. It is one of the biggest killers of women of reproductive age and the most common cause of death among people living with HIV/AIDS. PSI provides a variety of innovative TB and TB/HIV-related services, engaging private providers in diagnosis and treatment and integrating HIV counseling and testing with TB services. It also creates innovative behavior change communications campaigns to increase awareness of TB and TB/HIV and to promote healthy behaviors. Child Survival: Vulnerable children are one of PSI’s most important target groups. According to the WHO, nearly 10 million children under the age of five die each year – more than 1,000 every hour. Tragically, about two-thirds of child deaths are preventable through practical, low-cost interventions. PSI works to improve child survival by helping developing countries address water-borne diseases such as diarrhea, malaria, pneumonia and HIV with prevention and treatment education and products. PSI’s child survival programs improve the health and save the lives of children under five in more than 30 countries. Reproductive Health: In over 30 countries throughout the world PSI empowers women and couples to lead healthier lives by providing access to innovative family planning and maternal health products and services. Every year, there are more than 60 million unintended pregnancies and more than 500,000 women die from pregnancy-related causes. In 2008 alone, PSI prevented an estimated 3.1 million unintended pregnancies and 15,000 maternal deaths, and enabled millions of couples to plan their families. Over the past three decades, PSI has expanded the contraceptive methods in its portfolio from male condoms and oral contraceptives to include injectable contraceptives, intrauterine contraceptive devices (IUD), emergency contraception pills, implants, female condoms, voluntary sterilization, and fertility awareness methods such as the Standard Days Method using Cyclebeads®. PSI’s RH platform has also grown to address maternal mortality through the prevention of post-partum hemorrhage and sepsis, and the prevention of unsafe abortion. Clean Water: Access to clean water is a challenge in almost all of the countries PSI operates in. Increasing awareness of water borne diseases and accessibility to treated water are a core part of PSI’s efforts across its health areas. PSI and its many partners are working together to promote the Safe Water System, a water quality intervention that employs proven, easy-to-use and inexpensive solutions such as household water treatment appropriate for the developing world. Household water treatment and safe storage ensures that each sip of water is safe to drink. Household water treatment can be adopted quickly, inexpensively, at national scale in both development and emergency situations, making an immediate difference on the lives of those who rely on transporting to and storing water in their homes. Malaria: PSI provides malaria control support to national Ministries of Health in over 30 countries worldwide. PSI tailors its malaria control programs to the unique environment in each country and the needs outlined by the Ministry of Health to achieve the Abuja Targets and MDGs. PSI’s malaria control programs include delivery of insecticide treated mosquito nets, pre-packaged malaria treatment, behavior change communications and operational research.