Guided by the remarkable legacy of its co-founder, Helen Keller, Helen Keller Intl partners
with communities that are striving to overcome longstanding cycles of poverty. By delivering
the essential building blocks of good health, sound nutrition, and clear vision, we help millions
of people create lasting change in their own lives. Working in 20 countries – across Africa,
Asia, Europe, and the United States – and together with a global community of supporters,
we ensure every person has the opportunity – as Helen did – to reach their truepotential.

We are seeking a Gender Research Lead to design and oversee the implementation and
analysis of mixed methods participatory research studies to understand the range of barriers
women face in seeking and accessing five lifesaving health services (prenatal supplements,
support for optimal breastfeeding and complementary feeding, vitamin A supplementation of
children 6-59 months, and the early detection and treatment of acute malnutrition in children
under five) to inform improved delivery models.

We envision designing the research to engage local women in formulating research questions
and testing the identified solutions for more gender-responsive service delivery. The
Research Lead will engage with governments and communities to reflect on the implications
of key findings and determine how best to apply them to inform policies and learning
materials to overcome the barriers identified by the research. They will then help consolidate
learnings to strengthen the delivery of these five nutrition services by the respective health
systems.

Functional Relationships
Reporting to the Program Director, the Gender Research Lead will be a member of the
central Project Management Team (PMT) for Transforming Lives through Nutrition. To ensure
congruity and consistency of technical approaches and cross-organizational learning, the
position will also have a dotted-line reporting relationship to the Monitoring Evaluation &
Research Advisor for Africa and will be a key resource person for the global nutrition team.

The Research Lead and other members of the PMT provide oversight and guidance to
country office teams. They liaise with Country Directors, and Project Managers and their
teams to facilitate the integration of all facets of the program work with the common goal of
ensuring that project objectives are met. The position will also serve as a co-manager of the
research leads in implementing country offices.

Helen Keller has a matrixed reporting structure. Regular communication and a spirit of
teamwork are essential to make this structure thrive.
Helen Keller’s programs require close relations with governments, partner NGOs, and
donors, including UN agencies. The Research Lead will contribute to nurturing and
overseeing some of these cooperative relationships and will represent Helen Keller to donors
and the international community, as needed.

Key Responsibilities
Overall Management and Leadership
• As a member of the PMT, participate in strategic planning and direction setting and the
development of a growth strategy for the multi-country portfolio, lending you’re their
unique perspective and expertise to the process.
• Collaborate with relevant colleagues to develop and guide high-quality research
planning, management, execution and analysis, including oversight of program
activities in the assigned portfolio.
• Provide regular updates on the research and learning to the PMT and make
recommendations based on analysis of progress to date and challenges encountered.
• Review and assess the status of the portfolio research, tools, procedures, and
workflows, identify gaps or outdated approaches, and prioritize improvements.
• Participate in work groups, as assigned, to develop global policies and approaches
and/or optimize systems, procedures, global indicators, training modules, etc.

Manage Research Portfolio; Disseminate Findings
• Collaborate and coordinate with relevant colleagues to define the research design for
the assigned portfolio.
• Draft research protocols for identified research questions to include: objectives,
methods (study population, sample size, study procedures, data collection, entry and
management, ethical approval), analysis and reporting plan, and budgeting.
• Align design with donor requirements such as the gender-responsive strategies
and interventions with the Global Affairs Canada Feminist International
Assistance Policy (FIAP) key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Integrate safeguarding protocols.
• Coordinate and guide the implementation of research in the assigned portfolio:
o Develop and/or adapt data collection tools.
o Develop and roll out training.
o Oversee work of local managers to ensure gender equality indicators and
outcomes are accurately reported and inform the project’s logframe and
performance management framework.
o Conduct regular analyses of the performance of the assigned research portfolio.
• Aggregate and synthesize data for analysis and/or reporting for assigned
portfolio.
• Conduct and/or review data analysis in partnership with country teams.
• Write and/or edit donor reports, lessons-learned reports, policy briefs for
government partners, and manuscripts for peer-reviewed publications.
• Draw from findings to identify indicators that can be integrated into
organization-wide tools.
• Based on research findings and in collaboration with the program MERL team, lead
the creation, testing, adaptation, and dissemination of training materials and
counseling tools for health and community workers, policy guidelines for health
managers, and other relevant solutions to reduce gender-related barriers to
Transforming Lives program activities.
• Develop tools for monitoring the impact of these interventions on women’s
receipt of the key lifesaving services.
• Review and contribute to writing all Transforming Lives reports, internal and
external, their quality and timeliness.
• Upon request, provide technical advice and guidance to other teams on approaches to
reduce gender-related barriers.
• Collaborate with country office and Transforming Lives leadership to:
• Contribute to the development of country-specific budgets, procurement plans,
and financial monitoring tools linked to activities, implementation plans, and
donor requirements.
• Review work planning tools and financial reports to monitor the project
budgeting and activities and course correct, as needed.

Human Resources Management
• Collaborate with program office leadership to build highly effective research teams
to carry out studies. Delegate authority, consult with and guide staff to achieve
goals, and contribute to an atmosphere conducive to professional growth and
development of team members.
• Model collaboration for your matrixed team. Consult with and inform colleagues to
maximize efficiency and knowledge sharing and integrate guidance and direction
from subject matter experts in each country team and elsewhere in the global
organization to optimize performance.
• Provide ongoing feedback in a context of mutual respect to ensure accountability to
clients, partners, colleagues, and donors.

Required Qualifications/Competencies
• Demonstrated experience in:
o Designing and conducting operational research, including use of both
qualitative and quantitative methods;
o Implementing surveys and research protocols that integrate safeguarding
measures and training and supervising survey and/or research teams in Africa
or Asia;
o Conducting gender analyses, applying participatory methods, and
utilizing data for program improvement;
o Developing and implementing gender-responsive strategies and
interventions; and
o Undertaking both local and high-level representation and advocacy
to strengthen the delivery of services within health systems.
• Track record in publishing in peer-reviewed journals.
• Experience working in Africa and/or Cambodia, with a deep understanding of the
cultural and gender dynamics in at least one of the priority countries.
• Very good oral and written English language skills, including the ability to quickly
synthesize complex technical and programmatic issues into concise
communications.
• Ability to communicate in French.
• Well-established and practiced organizational and planning skills.
• Experience collaborating across departments to contribute to fulfilling the finance
and administration requirements in project implementation.
o Examples include: preparing budgets and procurement plans; reviewing work
plans and program and donor deliverables; and monitoring budget vs. actuals.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including an ability to lead multicultural teams,
communicate a vision, make timely and transparent decisions, and manage conflict.
• Collaborative, flexible and solution-oriented. An ability to maintain balance when
under stress.
• High computer literacy including:
o Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite or equivalent;
o Strong Excel skills, including pivot tables; and
o Proficiency in statistical analysis using Stata.
• Prior experience developing and delivering training in data collection methods is
strongly preferred, alongwith demonstrated knowledge of effective adult learning
techniques.
• Ability and willingness to:
o Flex schedule to accommodate the availability of colleagues in other time zones;
o Travel at least 20% to project country offices and/or to meetings and
conferences.
o NOTE: All staff must be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to travel
internationally.
• Demonstrable respect for all persons regardless of religion, ethnicity, class or gender,
with a high comfort level working in a diverse environment with a demonstrated
commitment to high professional ethical standards.
• Personal commitment to Helen Keller’s mission and the values embodied by our
namesake and co-founder: courage, integrity, rigor, and compassion.

Qualifications
• Master’s degree or higher in Gender Studies, Public Health, Nutrition, Epidemiology,
Statistics or a related field, plus
• A minimum of 8 years of experience in gender analysis, gender-responsive
programming, and research design and management, preferably in the context of
nutrition or public health, or an equivalent combination of education andexperience.