TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR)

STT/STC RESEARCH ASSISTANT

TF 057272 – Dutch Basic Education Support Program

1. Background

The Royal Government of the Netherlands established the Dutch Basic Education
Support Program (DBESP), which has the overall goal of carrying out the necessary
technical analyses using global knowledge and international best practices to help the
Ministry of National Education (MONE) reach the objectives of its Medium-term
Strategic Plan (RENSTRA) and successfully implement policies under the December
2005 Teacher Law.

One component under the DBESP is Monitoring and Evaluation (component 4). The
purpose of this component is to improve the effectiveness of monitoring and evaluation
systems for MONE’s education programs.

There are several ambitious impact evaluation initiatives underway related to this
component. These include
• Determining the impact of an early childhood development project (ECED). The
evaluation applies a randomized evaluation design using the phase in of the
program, and a matched control from villages outside of the project areas.
• Determining the impact of doubling teacher salaries (as part of the Government
certification program) and teacher training on student outcomes that part of
BERMUTU project.
• Responding to intermittent Government of Indonesia requests related research in
education policy. Recent topics include: options to increase incentives for
performance for teachers, how the quality of incoming students to teacher training
colleges has changed since the introduction of a teacher certification law, and the
impact various interventions to increase engagement of the school committee.

In order to ensure that the policy research mentioned above is executed efficiently and
meets, high quality standards, the World Bank seeks a research analyst with experience
preparing and analysing data, conducting quality checks of survey work, working with
survey firms and Government partners to execute research, and writing analytical reports.

2. Purpose of the Consultancy

Overall, the consultant will participate in studies related to education policies and
projects, mainly supporting the ECED and BERMUTU impact evaluations, managing
and analysing data from these studies, and producing policy documents for Government,
policy and research audiences.

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3. Scope of work

The consultant will assume the following responsibilities

1. Undertake, with the guidance of other education team members, primarily research on
education policy, outcomes and projects. This includes conducting literature review,
analyze existing (statistical) information, analyzing survey and testing data collected
for the projects, and helping to design studies on a range of issues related to education
in Indonesia.
2. Clean, prepare and manage datasets. This includes merging and managing data from
multiple surveys and rounds of surveys
3. Draft survey instruments and survey manuals
4. Provide socialization to Government officials about impact evaluation
5. Monitor compliance with randomization design
6. Provide technical inputs into terms of reference and budgets, mainly for survey work
7. Oversee and provide quality control of survey work, including observing school-
based interviews, field supervision, data entry. Make recommendations on quality
improvements to training, data entry programs and fieldwork
8. Present research findings to Government

Outputs

• Relevant data sets prepared ready for statistical analysis

• Statistical tables or analysis results
• Summaries on data processing/manipulation procedures and statistical results
• Input into analytic reports (including data analysis and literature review) discussing
survey findings
• Draft survey instruments, such as those for the Bermutu school surveys
• Budgets for survey work
• Presentations for Government or other audiences about survey findings or study plans
• Periodic reports (weekly, monthly, etc, as specified by the supervisors) on quality of
survey training and/or fieldwork, including suggestions for improvement of quality.
Consultant may be asked to produce presentations or training materials related to
recommended improvements.

Selection Criteria

• Minimum of B.A. in Economics or related subjects with minimum 1 year of relevant

working experience
• Excellent knowledge of econometrics and statistical analysis techniques and related
principles underlying World Bank’s economic work
• Excellent data skills and familiarity with statistical methods and standard econometric
software packages, especially STATA
• Experience in using various large scale quantitative survey data

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• Excellent knowledge of data collection, principal sources and retrieval systems of
economic and social development survey data
• Ability to interpret and present statistical information
• Ability to write analytical reports and papers based on data analysis
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills in English. Knowledge of Indonesian
would be helpful but not required
• An excellent team worker but can also work independently

Length and terms of assignment

This is a full-time position initially for a period of 150 days under a local- hire, short-
term consultant contract. If performance is satisfactory, it is expected the position will
extended under an “extended term consultant (ETC)” contract which is a salaried position
and has duration of a maximum of two years. The work will require travel throughout
Indonesia to oversee survey operations in the field.

Note that if the individual is applying from overseas, World Bank will only provide a
daily salary (ie, air travel to Indonesia, language training, housing, and health insurance is
not included). However, the salary is competitive (ranging from approximately USD 60-
120 per day depending on experience) so the individual is expected to cover those costs
his/herself. Of course all work-related travel in Indonesia will be covered by the World
Bank.

Applying

Interested candidates should apply to Imam Setiawan (imamsetiawanfeui@yahoo.com)