Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) Africa Internship Program 2025 (Paid)

Get latest opportunities in your email

About Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab Africa Internship

Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. J-PAL is based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Africa office is based at the University of Cape Town (UCT) with a satellite office in Johannesburg. A small number of staff are also based in Nairobi, Kenya and Accra, Ghana. J-PAL is a dynamic team of motivated individuals who work with a global network of academic development economists.

Internships Available 

Policy internship: Education Portfolio

The Education Portfolio aims to improve lives by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. While much of their work has focused on girls' education, they are increasingly expanding efforts into broader education areas. Their team supports governments in designing education policies and programs through the careful application of global evidence to local contexts throughout Africa. The successful candidate will support scoping opportunities for evidence use and generation in the education sector, map potential partnerships, and drive forward their agenda by crafting communications content and engagement strategies for various partners. This internship is remote or in-person (Accra, Nairobi, or Cape Town) and has a flexible start date.

 

Policy internship: Digital Identification & Finance Initiative

The Digital Identification and Finance Initiative in Africa(DigiFI) funds experimental research to build the evidence base on the impact of digital identification and payment systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. Their Policy team builds partnerships with governments and other stakeholders to generate and support policy-relevant research on this topic. To this end, they are seeking a highly motivated and organized intern to support their continued outreach efforts. The successful candidate would primarily support DigiFI’s Request for Proposal process to facilitate decisions on project funding and assist its project development and evidence dissemination efforts as needed. This internship is in-person at their Nairobi office and has a flexible start date. J-PAL Africa cannot sponsor work visas.

Research internship

J-PAL Africa implements research on labor, education, social grants, environment and energy topics in South Africa. Research interns will support a number of different activities including desk-based research, data analysis, assisting with fieldwork, events coordination and development of project materials. This internship is particularly well-suited to students currently enrolled in an Honours or Masters degree at a South African university. The research internship is in-person at their Johannesburg office and has a flexible start date. Only those with the legal right to work either part time or full time in South Africa will be considered. J-PAL Africa cannot sponsor work visas.

Education & Training internship

The J-PAL Africa training team organizes in-person trainings, online courses and customised workshops for researchers, policymakers and program implementers on the design and implementation of randomized evaluations on the continent. They also manage efforts to bring more African researchers into J-PAL’s network through the African Scholars Program. Interns will assist with a range of activities including webinars for various audiences, knowledge management of training activities, communications products for outreach and planning for in-person courses in 2025. This internship is in-person (Nairobi or Cape Town) or remote and has a flexible start date.

• Sponsor Organisation: Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)

Benefits of Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab Africa Internship

• This is a paid internship
• You get the opportunity to gain professional experience.

Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab Africa Internship Requirements

• A degree in Economics, Statistics, Development or related field OR studying towards a degree in these fields and in the final year.
• For MicroMasters in Data, Economics and Design of Policy students: At least one completed MicroMasters course. Preference will be given to applicants with competitive MicroMasters course grades (75% and above) who have completed multiple DEDP courses (particularly Data Analysis for Social Scientists and Designing and Running Randomized Evaluations). Applicants should indicate which MicroMasters courses they have completed in their application and include a copy of their program record (available through the MicroMasters portal).
• Strong interest in social policy and development research. 
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to meet strict deadlines.
• Excellent communicator.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Ability to speak French, in addition to English, is highly advantageous. 
• National of a Sub-Saharan African country

Application Date and Process

• Click on the link to the application website to apply.

If you have questions, please reach out to Lauren Roode at [email protected].

Application Deadline

03 March, 2025

Scholarship Application Portal

View details of Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab Africa Internship

Apply for Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab Africa Internship