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Improving performance of state and local governments: Full-time opportunities

  • 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM
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About

The Government Performance Lab

Online at http://govlab.hks.harvard.edu

The Government Performance Lab (“GPL”) at the Harvard Kennedy School conducts research on how governments can improve the results they achieve for their citizens and make more rapid progress in addressing challenging social problems. 

An important part of this research model involves providing pro bono technical assistance to state and local governments. Through this hands-on involvement led by recent graduates of top MPP, MBA, JD, and other graduate programs, the GPL gains insights into the barriers that governments face and the solutions that can overcome these barriers.

Our technical assistance helps governments advance in three key areas:

Performance Improvement
The GPL is providing technical assistance to states and cities seeking to improve the core operations of government agencies so that they can achieve better results. This assistance helps governments target which clients to connect with which services; supports the development of frameworks to make procurement, budget, and programmatic decisions based on performance data; and enables rigorous evaluation of management and policy reforms. The GPL also helps governments implement systematic change in specific policy areas such as homelessness, early childhood, behavioral health, child welfare, criminal justice, and workforce development.

Results-Driven Contracting
The GPL was selected by Bloomberg Philanthropies to join its “What Works Cities” Initiative, through which the GPL is providing technical assistance to 20 cities that seek to adopt results-driven contracting strategies for their critical contracts, grants, and procurements. These strategies include clearly defining performance goals, measuring outcomes, tying payments to successful outcomes, and using performance data to inform management of ongoing contracts and future procurement decisions.

Pay for Success
The GPL assists state and local governments in developing pay for success (“PFS”) contracts—often involving "social impact bonds" (“SIBs”)—to address important social challenges. Policy areas include early education, criminal justice, behavioral health, and child welfare, among others. To date the GPL has awarded technical assistance to over 20 jurisdictions and has helped launch 10 of the 14 existing PFS projects in the US. Project policy areas include reducing recidivism, providing supportive housing to homeless individuals, increasing kindergarten readiness through high quality pre-K provision, reducing substance use-driven removals to the child welfare system, and expanding home visitation programs to improve child and maternal health.

Employment Opportunities

The Government Performance Lab is seeking to hire full-time Fellows to serve as the primary advisors to state and local governments that receive our technical assistance for projects related to Pay for Success, Results-Driven Contracting, and Performance Improvement.

We are also looking to hire several summer graduate interns.

Fellows are typically placed on-site with the government office or agency that is spearheading a project.  These positions are expected to be located in a wide range of locations in the U.S., including California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York (including NYC), Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Washington State; other sites are possible as well. Fellows may also have opportunities to travel to provide technical assistance to additional jurisdictions.

Fellows function as day-to-day project managers, shepherding projects through conceptualization, design, and implementation. Fellows will develop substantial policy-area expertise; hands-on project management experience; technical skills related to benefit-cost analysis, financing, and evaluation; and a deep familiarity with government and NGO processes. Oversight and mentoring will be provided by the government policy lead, by a manager at the Government Performance Lab, and by Government Performance Lab Director Professor Jeffrey Liebman.

Full job descriptions are posted at http://http://govlab.hks.harvard.edu/opportunities