REACH was born in 2010 as a joint initiative of two International NGOs (IMPACT Initiatives and ACTED) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). REACH’s purpose is to promote and facilitate the development of information products that enhance the humanitarian community’s decision making and planning capacity for emergency, reconstruction and development contexts, supporting and working within the framework of the humanitarian reform process. REACH facilitates information management for aid actors through three complementary services: (a) need and situation assessments facilitated by REACH teams; (b) situation analysis using satellite imagery; (c) provision of related database and (web)-mapping facilities and expertise.
IMPACT Initiatives is a humanitarian NGO, based in Geneva, Switzerland. The organisation manages several initiatives, including the REACH Initiative. IMPACT was launched at the initiative of ACTED, an international NGO headquartered in Paris and present in more than thirty five countries. The two organizations have a strong complementarity formalized in a global partnership, enabling IMPACT to benefit from ACTED’s operational support on its field intervention.
Country profile
Over the last two years, Ethiopia has witnessed a surge in violent conflict following major domestic political shifts. Large-scale displacement, killings, and destruction of property have further exacerbated the impact of pre-existing and cyclical climate-related crises across the country. Late 2019 and early 2020 have brought additional humanitarian crises in the form of a large-scale desert locust infestation, Ethiopia’s worst in 25 years, and the global COVID-19 pandemic, which counted 98,391 cases in Ethiopia as of 5 November and has led to lockdowns and transport bans in many regions that restrict access to markets. Furthermore, unrest in Tigray region during November 2020 has seen large-scale displacement, contributing millions more people needing urgent assistance northern regions. All of these events have severely disrupted livelihoods, affected the availability of staple market commodities, and threatened to sharply escalate humanitarian need for vulnerable populations across the country.
Given the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in particular and its global effects on supply chains, there is a need for a joint rapid market monitoring initiative with dedicated analytical capacity that produces regular, frequent market data, including robust data on changes in market functionality, to meet the demands of the Ethiopia COVID-19 response. While aid actors have conducted market monitoring through past efforts, no efforts have included nation-wide, ongoing monitoring that harmonizes strategies across cash actors.
In 2021 and beyond REACH is looking to expand information support to the humanitarian response in several key areas, including: 1) close collaboration with the Ethiopia Collaborative Cash Delivery (CCD) Network to launch a Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI) to develop an evidence base for the wider use of cash and voucher assistance (CVA), 2) facilitating discussions of changes in critical market dynamics, which are an integral part of cash feasibility considerations, 3) a Humanitarian Situation Monitoring to improve the understanding of hard-to-reach areas, and 4) a thematic monitoring activity focused on food security and nutrition conditions.
We are currently looking for an Assessment Specialist to support our team in Ethiopia.
Department: REACH
Position: Assessment Specialist
Contract duration: 12 months
Location: Addis Ababa
Starting Date: ASAP
Functions
Under the line management of the REACH Research Manager, the Assessment Specialist ensures the validity and strengthens the quality and efficiency of all REACH research cycles in Ethiopia, in accordance with REACH’s standards, partner expectations. In coordination with the Country Senior Management Team, the Assessment Specialist will provide technical inputs at all stages of relevant research cycles, including for secondary data reviews, assessment conceptualization, research design, logistical preparations, training of field staff, supporting data collection teams during data collection, data cleaning, analysis, production of information products, and dissemination of information products, etc. S/he will be involved in partner coordination, donor reporting, presentations, and will be required to provide input to the strategic development of REACH in Ethiopia. The Assessment Specialist will also be responsible for developing and implementing a continuous capacity building program for national and international team members, and (when relevant) for providing trainings to partners
RESPONSABILITIES
Research planning and implementation
• Support the Senior Management team in identifying and materializing opportunities, in line with strategic directions of the mission;
• Ensure a streamlined, coordinated approach across all relevant research cycles to research design, methodology and tool development, data collection and analysis, and product drafting;
• Support in accurately estimating research cycle timelines and resources needed for research cycle implementation;
• Support Assessment teams in designing and implementing research cycle methodologies, tools, ToRs, data collection and analysis, product drafting;
• Ensure that research design, data collection and analysis and product drafting for all relevant research cycles comply to REACH’s requirements, guidelines and strategic direction;
• Monitor implementation of research cycles, identifying any major risks or issues, support team to resolve these challenges in line with REACH research standards and in close coordination with ACTED as relevant.
• Ensure that the applied methodology, analysis and products maximize the REACH of the research cycles in line with the intended objectives;
• Support the identification, trainings and follow up of enumerators resources for primary data collection;
• Review of information products to ensure accuracy;
• Liaise with relevant assessment, GIS and data colleagues to ensure that their joint research benefits from a multi-disciplinay approach is effective spatial representation of assessment findings in maps or interactive web-portals, as relevant.
Team functional and line-Management
• Provide technical leadership throughout the Unit and relevant working groups in the Ethiopia in line with organization core value and principles;
• Provide functional oversight to relevant assessment staff, and produce joint skill development- and work plans with the relevant Research Manager(s) who are line-managing the staff in question;
• Where relevant, directly line-manage assessment, data or GIS staff that provide cross-cutting support to the entire mission;
• For staff under his/her functional responsibility, support to line managers by contributing to conduct of appraisals, provision of regular feedback, and participation in career management;
• For staff under direct line management, prepare and follow up work plans; conduct of appraisals, provision of regular feedback, and career management;
• For staff under direct line management, conduct regular team meetings to assess progress in relevant research cycles and to review work plan; ensure that all are comprehensively briefed on their objectives and expected outputs;
Internal Knowledge sharing, Learning and Capacity Building
• Identify capacity gaps, and resolve to bridge these through targeted capacity building, training, performance monitoring, and backstopping where needed;
• Support to the line managers and specialists in the development and implementation of capacity training plans for assessment and field team members;
• Conduct and support regular training to REACH team, including regular updates on REACH guidelines, adapted (to context) training modules, learning on the job; Complement in house training material with external resources, if and as relevant;
• Ensure REACH of trainings and progression of staff is monitored;
• Pro-actively provide regular technical support and backstopping to assessment teams;
• Support to Assessment / unit teams to systematically review the efficiency and quality of research cycles and information products;
• Support monitoring and evaluation for relevant Research Cycle, as specified in the research ToRs and in line with REACH Guidelines;
• Contribute to generating and documenting robust lessons learned at the end of relevant Research Cycle;
• Ensure knowledge and learning processes are shared across the REACH team;
• Able and available to engage with Global Units and global learning processes, such as methodology notes, lessons learn, Communities of Practice, etc;
• Continuously seek to improve and innovate REACH assessments, information products and processes to identify and meet information gaps in the Ethiopian response in order to support in the facilitation of an evidence-based response;
• Work closely with other specialists in Ethiopia to develop, implement and monitor a multi-disciplinary training and learning plan for REACH teams;
• More generally, contributes to creating a culture of rigour, innovation and learning within REACH’s operations.
Strategy, program and project development
• Contribute to country, regional and unit strategies development with relevant technical and thematic contents;
• Ensure that assessment strategies are implemented in a structured and coherent manner in line with project and strategic objectives;
• Support the development/revision of assessment/programme strategies, reports, or new proposals.
External Engagement
· Support the REACH team in Ethiopia in providing stakeholders within the coordination system with reliable and accurate technical advice and support;
· Participates, contributes to and delivers inter-agency, multi-stakeholders knowledge sharing / lessons learned exercise;
· Contributes to the dissemination of REACH’s products.
· More generally, contribute to the creation of a positive image and overall credibility of the organisation, notably through the application of REACH’’s mandate, ethics, values and stand- point with regard to other actors and by contributing to creating a culture of rigourous use of evidence and learning among humanitarian responders.
INFLUENCING - Data Confidentiality and Protection
The Assessment Specialist will maintain the strictest confidentiality on all data collected and related processes. He/she will actively take measures to prevent the unauthorized sharing of any information and data belonging to REACH and its partners, or collected during his/her assignment with REACH.
· Academic Excellent academic qualifications, preferably including a Master degree in relevant discipline;
· Research skills Excellent research and analytical skills required, including a sound understanding of sampling frameworks and their application, an ability to analyse large data sets, as well as conduct temporal or spatial trend analysis.
· Software skills Proven knowledge of the Microsoft Office Suite, to include Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Advanced skills in R, SPSS and/or STATA or other statistical analysis software are required. Experience with InDesign an asset.
· Familiarity aid system Familiarity with the aid system in a complex humanitarian context. Familiarity with the research community. Ability to read the context of operation, understanding of the risk of operating in a sensitive and prone-to-conflict environment.
· Years of work experience At least 4 years of relevant working experience
· Experience in Humanitarian sector Experience working in complex humanitarian crisis;
· Training skills Ability to conduct trainings and mentor REACH teams and partners on assessment skills;
· Communication/reporting skills Excellent communication and drafting skills for effective reporting;
· Multi-tasking skills Ability to multitask with tight deadlines, on numerous research cycles;
· Level of independence Strong existing ability to work independently in support of colleagues and partners;
· Cross-cultural work environment Ability to operate in a cross-cultural environment requiring flexibility; ability to stay calm and focused while operating in a challenging environment.
· Experience in geographical region Past experience in the Sub-Saharan or East Africa region is desirable;
· Language skills Fluency in English required, competency in French is highly appreciated;