Behavioral Insights Advisor

Breakthrough solutions are needed to match the urgency and gravity of the problems faced by people affected by crises. That’s why the IRC created the Airbel Impact Lab, the IRC’s research and innovation team that designs, tests and scales life-changing solutions for people facing conflict and disaster. The Airbel team focuses on addressing some of the world’s most pressing problems, in some of the toughest environments, such as: (i) treating child malnutrition, (ii) delivering last mile education, and (iii) women-centered health programs to save lives and provide choice iv) supporting climate resilient agricultural livelihoods and v) mental health and psychosocial services. Across each of these areas, we build solutions as big as the problems. Our vision is not only to increase IRC’s impact, but to change the way humanitarian aid is delivered around the world!

Job Overview:

How do you identify malnourished children who live in the most remote, crisis-affected areas on Earth? How can we encourage uptake of mental health services in a scalable, culturally appropriate way? As refugee crises grow more protracted and urbanized, how can we avoid interruptions in the education of young people? That’s where you come in! As a member of Airbel, you will be a key part of designing, testing and scaling breakthrough solutions for major challenges such as these.

Specifically, the Behavioral Insights Advisor will help to lead behaviorally informed products and services in IRC’s growing behavioral science portfolio addressing these pressing issues. They will have the opportunity to shape the Airbel’s growing behavioral insights team, lead behavioral science research projects, and promote the application of behavioral insights across the IRC.

Major Responsibilities:

Lead behavioral design of new solutions across different projects

• Gather relevant inputs, synthesize, and develop new behaviorally-informed products and services to improve outcomes for people in crisis
• Lead behavioral prototyping, testing and iteratively improving behaviorally-informed solutions, using a wide range of conceptual, strategic, and technological trends.
• Coordinate and manage the operationalization of behaviorally-informed interventions working closely with IRC colleagues.
• Lead or support the design and implementation of behavioral science research including study designs, questionnaire development, and data analysis; lead high-frequency, small-scale RCTs to inform programming and decision-making.
• Openly share lessons and findings from the field with the broader humanitarian, behavioral science, and social innovation communities; present and publish behavioral science research findings in academic journals and practitioner-focused outlets.
• Identify, pursue and/or contribute to opportunities for fundraising and program development to advance IRC’s behavioral science portfolio.

Identify the potential to apply behavioral science insights across IRC projects and enable teams to use behavioral insights in program design

• Identify behaviorally-informed research questions and areas of interest within the IRC’s organizational research and innovation priorities
• Promote, teach, and explain behavioral science concepts and techniques to IRC staff
• Contribute to the development of behavioral science evidence reviews; co-develop behavioral science evidence products and organizational theories of change
• Support the development of proposals to integrate behavioral insights into projects across our portfolio of projects.

Behavioral science partnership management and development

• Further IRC’s connections to behavioral science actors at a global, regional and national level – including academics, donors, other implementing organizations, behavioral science associations and foundations.
• Seek avenues for partnership, collaboration and coordination, such as supporting the launch of a behavioral insights’ community of practice.