The Center seeks a Research Assistant to provide research and organizational support to Vice President Dennis de Tray and Research Fellow Stewart Patrick on a new Fragile States Initiative, specifically on corruption and governance in fragile states and the relationship between weak states and transnational threats. The Research Assistant must demonstrate strong analytical and writing skills, as well as a proven track-record and capacity for teamwork. The successful candidate will contribute to the intellectual evolution of this new research program, which consists of work in fragile states on the following topics: corruption, weak states and transnational security threats, natural resource management, aid effectiveness, and donor coherence.
For more information about the Fragile States Initiative, see: /section/initiatives/_active/engagingfragilestates.
General Responsibilities:
- Conduct literature reviews and data searches for ongoing research projects on corruption and governance challenges in fragile states.
- Conduct literature reviews on security and transnational threats in fragile states, including analysis of the security/development link and a range of transnational threats.
- Track policy developments in relevant areas.
- Provide other research, writing and editing support for various reports, book manuscripts and other documents.
- Help to organize and attend several meetings/conferences related to the research projects.
- Perform other duties as necessary in support of senior researchers and staff members within the Initiative.
The successful candidate will have the following qualifications and skills:
- Master's degree in economics, political science or other development-related field, supplemented with at least 1 year of work experience. Excellent candidates with bachelor's degrees and relevant work experience will also be considered.
- Training in development economics and basic econometrics. Ability to use Excel and STATA.
- Familiarity with current issues related to development economics, foreign policy, and related topics.
- Knowledge of U.S. development programs and foreign policy, and links between national security and development.
- Outstanding teamwork, communications and writing skills.
- Experience in organizing meetings. Detail-oriented and ability to maintain meticulous records.
- Ability to work independently and with limited supervision.
- Work and research experience in a developing and/or post-conflict country is highly desirable, as is knowledge of and/or experience working in the security and development field.
Salary
Low to mid $30’s, commensurate with experience.
Applicants should send a cover letter, CV and short writing sample to [email protected] by August 25, 2006. Please use the title “Research Assistant – Fragile States Initiative” in all e-mail correspondence.
No phone calls please.
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