Research & Learning Officer

Evidence generation and knowledge management

What this life looks like

You turn experience into knowledge and knowledge into better practice. Research and Learning Officers generate evidence about development challenges and programme effectiveness, manage knowledge across organisations, facilitate learning processes that help teams improve their work, and ensure that evidence from the field informs strategy and programme design. It is a role that sits at the boundary between academic research and operational development — bringing rigour to practice and relevance to research.

What she actually does

You design and conduct research on development challenges and programme effectiveness, manage knowledge management systems that make learning accessible across an organisation, facilitate after-action reviews and programme learning events, synthesise existing evidence from literature and evaluations, produce research reports and learning briefs, present findings to programme and leadership teams, and contribute to the organisation's external publications and thought leadership.

Where you can work

Sector	Places in Africa
International NGOs	Large NGOs with dedicated knowledge management and learning functions: Oxfam, IRC, CARE, Save the Children
Think Tanks	ODI (Overseas Development Institute), Brookings Africa, African Centre for Economic Transformation, ISS
Development Finance	World Bank Knowledge & Learning team, DFID/FCDO evidence and learning, USAID learning agenda
African Research	APHRC, CODESRIA, African Journals Online — Africa-based research and learning institutions

Why it matters in Africa

Africa is the subject of enormous quantities of research — but too much of it is conducted by non-African researchers, published in non-African journals, and shaped by non-African questions. The growing movement for African-led research — producing knowledge about African challenges from African perspectives, using African methodologies, and building African research institutions — needs Research and Learning Officers who can bridge the operational development world and the academic research world.

Your pathway in

Study a social science, public health, education, or technical field — with strong research methods training
Develop both quantitative and qualitative research competencies
Build knowledge management skills: information architecture, database management, and knowledge translation
Gain experience with programme evaluation and operational research in development settings
Connect with the Evidence to Action initiative, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), and African research networks

Skills you will need

Research design and methodology
Knowledge management systems
Evidence synthesis and literature review
Writing for non-academic audiences
Facilitation of learning processes
Presentation and communication

A woman in this field

Moky Makura

Nigeria

Moky is an elite Nigerian communications specialist, author, and non-profit executive with over 25 years of experience shaping narratives across the African continent. Her career represents the pinnacle of strategic development communications, public relations, and narrative advocacy. Before leading major donor collaboratives, she served as the Deputy Director for Communications Africa at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she was directly responsible for designing and executing continent-wide communication strategies to protect and amplify the institution's multi-million dollar investments in public health, agriculture, and gender equity.

Research the African Journals Online (AJOL) at ajol.info — it hosts thousands of peer-reviewed African research journals and is the best starting point for understanding what African-led research looks like
Study knowledge management concepts: explore the UNICEF Knowledge Exchange platform and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) knowledge management resources — both publish practical guides
Learn to write a research brief — a two-page synthesis of research evidence on a specific development question. This format bridges research and practice and is a core output of research and learning roles
Connect with CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa) at codesria.org — they are the most important continental social science research network and support African researchers across the continent

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