Executive Director, Institute for What Works to Advance Gender Equality (IWWAGE)

Location: New Delhi 

Type: Full-time 

Salary: Commensurate with qualifications and experience 

About LEAD at Krea University:

LEAD is an action-oriented research centre of IFMR Society (a not-for-profit society registered under the Societies Act), leverages the power of research, innovation and co-creation to solve complex and pressing challenges in development. LEAD specialises in developing in-depth granular understanding of socio-economic contexts and harnessing actionable insights that have a wide range of applications in industry, policy, and academia. LEAD is a collaborative hub that brings experts from diverse disciplines and sectors together to develop innovative solutions by harnessing innovation, technology and analytics.

About IWWAGE: 

Institute for What Works to Advance Gender Equality (IWWAGE) aims to build on existing research and generate new evidence to inform and facilitate the agenda of women’s economic empowerment. IWWAGE is an initiative of LEAD, an action-oriented research centre of IFMR Society (a not-for-profit society registered under the Societies Act). LEAD has strategic oversight and brand support from Krea University (sponsored by IFMR Society) to enable synergies between academia and the research centre.

About the Position:

We are seeking a motivated Executive Director to lead the Institute for What Works to Advance Gender Equality (IWWAGE). The objective of the institute is to create a platform to promote, synthesise and generate evidence on “what works” to advance gender equality. 

The role combines a passion for creating impact with strong leadership abilities and a collaborative approach to gather, synthesise and generate evidence on women’s empowerment and presents an exciting opportunity to move the needle on women’s empowerment. The chosen candidate will lead and/or coordinate all impact evaluation activities of the institute, including planning, designing and organising evaluations and synthesising research studies, with support from a team of researchers. 

The Executive Director will play an instrumental role in ensuring the successful implementation of the institute’s three key strategic goals: 

• Creating a go-to Centre of Excellence on Gender; 
• Establishing a high-quality research and evaluation institute on gender with implementation research; 
• Building the institute as an important policy and program design think tank for both public and private sector players. 

The Executive Director will oversee policy and advocacy activities, encompassing the active dissemination of the research findings through publications, research communications and national and international meetings. 

Responsibilities: 

• Overall responsibility for developing and implementing IWWAGE’s vision, mission and strategy;
• As a key spokesperson of the institution, lead efforts to enhance IWWAGE’s visibility in the domestic and international spheres and strengthen the brand image of the institute as a go-to think tank and resource centre for gender;
• Ensure that the institution’s program of work aligns with policy priorities at the state/national levels; 
• Provide strong and supportive leadership to the IWWAGE team and its collaborators, as well as foster a culture of excellence, collaboration, trust, integrity and innovation; 
• Identify opportunities to collaborate with international networks of donor agencies and build a pipeline of funding from domestic and international funders, and be a major contributor to fundraising activities; 
• Hire, manage and retain exceptional staff; motivate the team to deliver high-quality results and exceed expectations. 

Qualifications:

• Minimum 15-20 years of demonstrated experience in leadership roles in public policy/gender equality/development practice; 
• Demonstrable experience in supporting the capture and recording of impact from research projects; 
• Significant experience in establishing strong relationships with external partners, such as government, industry, non-profits, think tanks and multilateral donor organisations; 
• Excellent communicator, both written and oral, able to express complex technical issues in plain language; 
• Demonstrated ability to lead the team and a strong understanding of the entire research project development and research management cycle; 
• Excellent relationship management skills at an executive level. 

Application Instructions:

Deadline: Applications will be open till the position is filled. To apply, please submit your resume and cover letter to preeti.bawa@ifmr.ac.in.

Note: Due to the large volume of applications we receive, we are unable to contact each candidate individually regarding the status of their application. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted for interview purposes.