In the months ahead, the Local Government Revenue Initiative will be expanding our team to support new research and advisory support programs, working in partnership with governments in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Potential roles would join with existing LoGRI team members to support partner governments with reform diagnostics, designing local revenue reform initiatives and piloting new reform strategies, and/or in leading or supporting the delivery of research projects and learning initiatives alongside those reform initiatives.
As we plan the details of that expansion, we invite Expressions of Interest from individuals at both mid-career to senior (PhDs graduates and/or existing professional experience in a closely related field) and junior levels (strong MA degrees, or recent PhDs) interested in joining the LoGRI team. We are seeking individuals with an interest in working at the intersection of research and policy, while for junior positions in particular we are specifically seeking candidates with appropriate technical skills related to GIS, data collection methods and/or data analysis.
We have a preference for hiring at our institutional hub at the University of Toronto, but are also able to engage qualified candidates based elsewhere. We particularly invite expressions of interest from those based in or from Africa and South Asia, and those who can work in both English and French. More details about the LoGRI program can be found here, while a more detailed description of the services required follows below. If interested, please write to logri.munkschool@utoronto.ca by January 30th, but ideally earlier. Please include a short cover letter explaining your interest and experience, along with a copy of your CV.
Background
In 2021 the Local Government Revenue Initiative (LoGRI) was launched as an autonomous program of the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD), with the goal of developing policy-relevant research, knowledge, expertise, and tools to support governments to raise more local government revenue, more equitably and fairly, and in ways that promote trust, transparency, and accountability. LoGRI expands on the work of the African Property Tax Initiative (APTI) and is based at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto.
The LoGRI program, building upon prior research at the ICTD, has been a global leader in developing research and applied knowledge about the core challenges facing local government revenue mobilization in lower-income countries and about concrete strategies for improving outcomes. That research has supported the development of novel reform strategies tailored to the distinct needs of individual lower-income countries. This was first reflected in support to the successful implementation of novel reform strategies as part of a property tax reform program in Freetown, Sierra Leone, while the LoGRI program is now involved in supporting diagnostics, pilot programs, research projects and reform implementation in over 15 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. As the program has grown it is increasingly also exploring links between local revenue raising and broader state building, including links to land administration, urban planning, service delivery, public participation and national revenue mobilization.
At the core of the program is a commitment to operating at the intersection of research and practice in order to generate practical knowledge and concrete impact. We mobilize research knowledge to support governments in diagnosing reform challenges and then designing, testing and delivering reform strategies that support effective, equitable and accountable revenue mobilization that is linked to improved service delivery. In turn, through our involvement in supporting reform design and implementation we engage in applied learning, and design parallel research projects to support new knowledge generation – in the form of academic articles, as well as more applied and policy focused knowledge outputs – that speaks directly to concrete challenges of public sector reform.
Summary of Potential Roles
Having built a core team over the past four years we are now looking to expand our capacity to:
- Support governments around reform diagnostics, design and implementation,
- Deliver applied research and learning projects, including research for academic publication.
Among the key upcoming projects for which we are recruiting are a new program of support to African Mayors as part of the African Mayoral Leadership Initiative, a partnership with the Nigeria Governors Forum to deliver support to Nigerian states, and planned new advisory and pilot projects in Benin, Togo, Zambia, Ethiopia and/or Sri Lanka. Each project will focus primarily on support to government partners, while also incorporating broader learning objectives and research projects.
More specifically, new members of the team are likely to be involved in four core types of activities.
- Diagnostics: Working with government partners to diagnose reform challenges, particularly but not exclusively related to property taxation, through detailed investigation of existing system performance following the LoGRI diagnostic framework. That diagnostic framework includes assessment of key technical, institutional and political drivers of system performance, and then the identification of key binding constraints and corresponding reform recommendations.
- Reform Design: Supporting governments in the design of local government revenue reform efforts, with a particular focus on property taxation. Drawing on the results of diagnostic assessments our team works with government partners to translate reform recommendations into concrete reform plans that align with local priorities and constraints.
- Pilots and Implementation Support: Supporting the implementation of new pilot projects related to proposed reform strategies, including related to property mapping, valuation, digitalization and tax compliance. Those pilot projects may serve to secure greater buy-in for government reform priorities among key stakeholders, while offering an opportunity for learning and for tailoring reform strategies to the details of local contexts.
- Research: Supporting the delivery of research interventions, and data collection, for LoGRI-led research projects. A core objective of our program is to learn systematically from pilots and reform initiatives undertaken by partner governments, in order to inform subsequent reform. That research may combine quantitative and qualitative assessments of reform dynamics, or the design and implementation of specific reform interventions for study through randomized control trials, among other possibilities. Research outputs include academic articles as well as applied learning products targeting policy audiences.
All members of our team also contribute insights from individual projects toward the development of the broader learning and research agenda of the LoGRI program, and participate in sharing lessons with key partners and stakeholders.
Qualifications and Experience
We welcome candidates with a research background, but with an interest in working at the intersection of policy and practice, or those with relevant technical skills and/or professional experience who are interested in supporting governments with reform while contributing to broader knowledge generation and learning. A critical expectation for any role with the LoGRI team is the ability to work closely and respectfully with government partners in diagnosing revenue-raising challenges and identifying potential strategies and solutions. Strong written and oral communication skills, flexibility, and an ability to work relatively independently, are critical to success.
For more senior candidates, we seek those with PhDs in a related field and/or who have relevant professional experience and skills related to taxation, local government finance, or related fields (e.g. land administration, public financial management). Such candidates should possess at least one of:
- experience working closely with government partners on reform diagnostics, reform design or reform delivery, ideally related to local governments and/or fiscal issues.
- strong technical skills relevant to diagnostics and reform design, including skills related to data collection, data analysis, GIS and/or digital systems for public administration.
- significant research experience in closely related fields, and a demonstrated desire and ability to work at the intersection of reform support and research.
For more junior candidates we are seeking candidates with a recent PhD, or a strong master’s degree that includes relevant field knowledge (e.g. fiscal decentralization, taxation) and relevant technical skills in GIS, data collection methods and data analysis.
Submitting an Expression of Interest
If interested, please send a cover letter of 1-2 pages describing your experience and interests, along with an updated CV, to logri.munkschool@utoronto.ca by January 30th, while earlier submissions are encouraged.
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