Volunteer Research Associate to Examine Successes and Failures of Women Institutions in Rajasthan India with Ashoka

This is an opportunity to work with an Ashoka Staff

This is an unpaid, volunteer opportunity

About The Affiliated Organization

Founded in 1980, Ashoka pioneered the field of social entrepreneurship. We are now the largest association of leading social entrepreneurs in the world, a network of 4000 Ashoka Fellows in 93+ countries at work creating systemic change on the most pressing social and environmental issues of our time. We find, support and collaborate with our Fellows to help scale their solutions across countries and continents and work with a wide range of partners to create an "Everyone a Changemaker" world, one in which we all can develop the skills and find our power to contribute meaningful change for the good of all.

Job Description

An Ashoka Fellow from Rajasthan India is creating networks of women federations that can self-replicate across rural India and will be champions within their communities for economic and social development. At the base of his three level system, is a local group of 10 to 15 women. In the middle, a village organization comprising of 10 to 15 local groups, with 300 to 400 women. At the top, is a federation comprising of 20 to 30 village organizations, between 3000 to 4000 women in each federation. By the formation of these federations that are women-owned and led at every level, it enables greater leadership potential and market access for women with provision for credit that can finance small industries (around $5m to $7m).

The idea behind this collectivized network is to build a platform for women to grow in their leadership as they become members at each level, pool resources together to form large market linkages in trades like animal husbandry, dairy, textile, etc., and finally, to build a movement of women that can challenge the status quo in their villages and address the social issues of these areas.

We are looking for a research associate who can work with this Fellow to determine the contributing and constraining factors that lead to the success and failure of rural women institutions in Rajasthan, and how can empirical analysis can inform inclusive and effective policies. They have seen, for example, how traditional approaches of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) as a mechanism for rural development has its limitations, including the over-dependence of villages on external development professionals, the lack of access to markets, and the inability of SHGs to integrate back into their communities as change agents.

If you have interest and knowledge of these cultural and development issues at work in India, and have experience with empirical analysis we'd love to hear from you!

Volunteer Logistics

Estimated hours required per week: 1 to 3 hours

The estimated duration of the project is: 1-3 months

This position is Virtual (Remote)

Language Requirements

English

Desired Skills And Experience

• Expertise in rural development and women's empowerment issues.
• Research expertise
• Mixed method analysis (both qualitative and quantitative)
• Experience with literature reviews
• Secondary Analysis (as in searching for existing data to use for your own needs).