About MEF and its #jobsfortunisia project
We carry out our mission as a non-profit civic enterprise: think tank, new social media laboratory, public forum, and media platform. Our hallmarks are big ideas, impartial analysis, pragmatic policy solutions, technological innovation, next generation politics, and creative engagement with broad audiences.
MEF’s staff, fellows and board believe in the possibility of transformative change. For thousands of years Tunisia has repeatedly managed to reinvent its society, economy, and political system in the face of sweeping changes at home and abroad, while still holding to the promise of a an open, modern society. We believe that through the power of people, ideas, technology, and participatory democracy, we can and must renew ourselves again.
We aim to nurture a new generation of public intellectuals – scholars, policy experts, and journalists who could address major social, economic, and political challenges in ways that would engage the public at large — and to provide a set of blueprints for Tunisian renewal in an era of globalization and digitization. The initial challenge, which continues today, is to find the minds and foster the debates needed to guide Tunisia into this new era of profound, exhilarating, but often threatening change.
MEF’s #jobfortunisia project will provide a platform that enables individuals and groups working on solutions to drive different stages of change, from inspiration to implementation. The project will concentrate on the following categories:
Identify and nurture new and diverse thinkers, researchers and writers; helping them to join the public conversation and debate.
Develop and implement ideas and policies to address socio-economic problems at the local, “governorate”, national and international levels.
Bridge the worlds of technology, policy, politics and academia, both by creating, testing and piloting new communication and advocacy technologies and integrating existing channels into policy solutions.
Purpose of Job
To contribute under the supervision of a Programme Leader or Research Fellow to developing, fundraising for, conducting and managing policy relevant, high-quality and innovative research, policy advice and public affairs programmes, broadly within the Institute’s overall strategy and with the aim of inspiring and informing policy.
To contribute to policy research and advisory projects, generally cross-country and cross-institutional, engage with policymakers in research and advisory processes, and disseminate results.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
Research and Funding:
- Contribute to the development of research proposals, expressions of interest and full project proposals;
- Liaising with donors and partner institutions on research programme funding issues and opportunities for collaboration;
- Specific technical inputs to ongoing research projects such as literature reviews, interviews, data analysis and preparing reports;
- Supporting research project activities or leading parts of research projects including field work, holding workshops, producing written outputs and preparing reports for donors, under the supervision of a Research Fellow.
- Undertake some travel overseas for research related purposes
Policy advice, public affairs and dissemination:
- Authoring or co-authoring research reports, policy briefs and other documents for publication;
- Organising meetings series and (multi-)media outputs from research projects
- Presentation of research results internally and externally at conferences and meetings nationally and internationally
- Disseminating research results through MEF web pages, the media, conferences, etc;
- Liaison and networking with a wide range of agencies including attending meetings on behalf of Programme and providing short meeting summaries for distribution within the team and more widely
Collegiate life:
Contribute to the Think-and-DO-Thank’s collegiate life through:
- MEF series as the Working Papers, Research Studies, Briefing Papers, and journals
- MEF activities as discussion groups, lunchtime meetings, staff meetings, working groups, interviews, external representation
- Intellectual exchanges with other research team members
Essential
Knowledge and Qualifications:
- A Master’s degree/ Ph.D. candidate in Economics or related field.
- Active knowledge of key international institutions in the sector and beyond
Experience:
- Experience in producing research outputs
Skills/Abilities
- Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to negotiate successfully and cultural awareness
- Excellent analytical and writing skills
- Good presentation and networking skills
- multitasking skills
- Excellent IT skills (Word, Excel, Power Point)
- Ability to work in a team
- Willingness to travel on a frequent basis
- Ability to work on own initiative
Desirable:
- Some developing country work experience
- Previous experience in an international policy development research environment, i.e. policy-oriented research, demonstrated by publications and reports
- Experience in producing research outputs in a short period of time and for different audiences
- Some fieldwork experience (survey based, or qualitative)
- Fluency in a language other than English and competency in others
- Ability to analyse quantitative and qualitative data
- Knowledge of qualitative data storage packages
- Experience of editing
Key Relationships and Contacts:
Internal:
- Head of Research, Research Fellows, Communication Officer
External:
- NGOs/donors
- Local partners/individuals in Tunisia
- Other research institutes/universities in Tunisia and internationally
All staff members are expected to:
- Positively support equality of opportunity both within MEF and externally
- Help maintain a safe working environment and take responsibility for own and colleagues’ Health and Safety
- Undertake such other duties within the scope of their post as may be asked by their manager
Salary and benefits
A competitive local salary is offered (2,000 dinars -negotiable). This is an opportunity to contribute to the development of a new think tank in Tunisia and the Maghreb.
How to apply?
Send your CV and Cover Letter to [email protected] no later than 28th February 2016.