Regional Research and Learning Coordinator, PlayMatters

About this role

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

BACKGROUND:                                                                              The IRC has been working in Uganda since 1998 supporting refugees, vulnerable host communities, and various institutions in the country notably the government, community-based organizations, civil society, and the private sector. Currently, the IRC in Uganda has a presence across five sub-regions and six refugee settlements, implementing programming in the sectors of health, protection and rule of law (PRoL), women’s protection and empowerment (WPE), economic recovery and development (ERD), and education. IRC Uganda also implements cross-cutting programming focused on systems strengthening and accountability to affected persons. 

Job Overview/ Summary: PlayMatters 3.0 is a 4-year education initiative (2026-2030) with a goal of improving the well-being and holistic learning outcomes of pre-primary and primary school aged children (ages 3-12+), including those who are affected by conflict and crisis, in Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Uganda by strengthening education systems to deliver quality education services using active teaching and learning through play. The PlayMatters consortium is made up of the IRC, Plan International, and War Child Alliance, in collaboration with national partners and the LEGO foundation. PM prioritizes strengthening education systems to be resilient and scaling impact by working with and through existing systems rather than establishing parallel systems. PM has three main outcomes: Outcome 1: Education systems have increased capacity, uptake, and coordination of Learning through Play (LtP) as a teaching method; Outcome 2: School-aged children in refugee hosting and post-crisis recovery zones have increased access to quality learning opportunities in safe environments; Outcome 3: School-aged children's holistic development is protected in times of acute crisis. 

Research and learning are core to PlayMatters, which emphasizes evidence generation and use. The Regional Research and Learning Coordinator will directly support the PlayMatters regional research team to coordinate, design, implement, and disseminate IRC-led PlayMatters research, and support the regional PlayMatters MEL teams to collect, store, analyze, use, and disseminate learning internal and external to the Consortium in Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Uganda. He/she will work closely with the regional team and country-based teams in support of quality evidence-building and actionable learning activities in support of moving PlayMatters forward on the Path to Scale. This role also serves as a key coordination point between the PlayMatters Consortium and its internal (Airbel) and external (the PlayMatters External Evaluator) research partners, ensuring alignment across technical design, implementation timelines, and evidence dissemination.

Major Responsibilities:  The Regional Research and Learning Coordinator will lead and support a broad range of PlayMatters research and learning activities, including the following:  Coordinate and Manage the Operationalization of the Research Agenda and Plan: • Coordination and implementation of IRC-led qualitative and quantitative research studies, including a range of formative and implementation research studies that utilize a range of methods and analytical strategies, including: • Coordinate with Airbel's research team on study design, data management, budget/level-of-effort alignment, and quality assurance of research outputs; 

• Instrument adaptation and validation, including cognitive pretesting of tools across languages and cultures and the calibration of classroom observation tools across cultural contexts. 

• Programming of tools as needed for the different studies, in preparation for data collection activities, using CommCare and Tangerine primarily.

• Enumerator trainings as needed for the different studies, in preparation for data collection activities. 

• Data cleaning and analysis, including both quantitative and qualitative analysis as needed. 

• Capacity building for research teams across PlayMatters. 

• Coordination and support to WCA-led research studies, including reporting and dissemination of findings; 

• In collaboration with the External evaluator and the donor, RCT preparation and support across the three countries, including support with path to scale planning, RCT design, timelines, data collection strategies, logistics, etc.

Lead Learning Activities, including integrating learning into adaptive management and the PlayMatters Learning Agenda: • Co-design and lead the actualization of the PlayMatters Learning Agenda, including a range of learning studies utilizing a range of quantitative and qualitative methods

• Serve as Consortium lead and focal point for learning, providing strategic thinking and design to establish a Consortium culture of learning and viable learning products and opportunities

• Support the collection, storage, analysis, use, and dissemination of learning across a spectrum of systematic collection

• Conduct evidence reviews, including desk reviews and literature reviews to support the design and implementation of PlayMatters interventions.

• Facilitate a broad

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