Opportunities With Us

The Accountability Initiative is seeking to hire a Research Associate to work on the PAISA Project. Please send your cover letter, CV along with 2 references and a writing sample to info@accountabilityindia.org. The last date for application is 15th May, 2011

PAISA – (Planning, Allocations and Expenditures, Institutions: Studies in Accountability) is AI’s flagship project aimed at undertaking expenditure tracking exercises and strengthening local decision making with the objective of strengthening accountability and transparency in the process of public expenditure management for core public services. I. Project Background

Brief Project Description:

Since January 2009, the Accountability Initiative has been implementing a project called PAISA in partnership with the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) and ASER Centre.

PAISA is an effort to promote accountability and transparency in India’s public expenditure management systems by:

  • Collecting district level data on annual planning processes, resource allocations, expenditures and institutional arrangements for service delivery
  • Creating “how to” tool-kits to track allocated resources, expenditures and understand institutional roles and responsibilities
  • Disseminating this data to relevant stakeholders with a particular emphasis on citizens (users of services), providers and policy makers
  • Strengthening the capacity of citizens and providers to improve planning processes, expenditure efficiency and implementation of service delivery
  • Informing the policy debate on how to introduce transparency and accountability mechanisms in the implementation of public services

The current focus of PAISA is on elementary education.

In its first year, PAISA was focused on the developing tools to track fund flows and piloting them to assess feasibility. To test the scalability of PAISA, the PAISA tool was implemented across the country in the 2009 and 2010 ASER survey. In addition, pilot activities were undertaken to develop innovative dissemination mechanisms to share expenditure data with relevant stakeholders across the delivery chain.

PAISA has now entered its second phase of implementation. In this phase, PAISA activities have been scaled up to 10 districts across the country. In each district, a PAISA Associate has been hired to manage data collection (administrative and survey) and dissemination activities. A district survey will be conducted every year to monitor fund flows and identify implementation bottlenecks. In addition, institutional analysis will be undertaken to assess implementation capacity. PAISA will also work to devise innovative mechanisms for disseminating this information to stakeholders.

II. Functions / Key Results Expected

Duties and Responsibilities:

  • Managing PAISA programme at the state level
  • Undertaking training and managing PAISA survey’s at the state level
  • Work with members of the PAISA team in coordinating PAISA and preparing PAISA related documents
  • Build and regularly update databases
  • Assisting in day-to-day research work of the Initiative

III. Qualifications

 

Education:
  • Masters degree or higher in relevant field – MPA, Development Studies, Political Science, Economics, International Relations, Social Work etc  

Knowledge and Skills
  • Willingness to travel
  • Strong research and analytical skills
  • Ability to mine data and do basic data analysis
  • Strong computer skills in Microsoft office (word, excel, power point) and other data management programs
  • Strong inter-personal skills

Language Requirements:
  • Fluency in English and Hindi including good writing skills.
  • Working knowledge of regional languages is preferred