Senior Assessment Officer CDI
IMPACT Initiatives
We are currently looking for a Senior Assessment Officer to support our team in Senegal.
Department: PANDA
Position: Senior Assessment Officer
Contract duration: 12 months
Location: Dakar, Senegal (with regular travels to Abuja, Nigeria)
Starting Date: ASAP
COUNTRY PROFILE
Senegal serves as a regional base for IMPACT Initiatives in West Africa. This position is based in Dakar, Senegal, yet fully dedicated to a Third-Party Monitoring (TPM) Project carried out by IMPACT Nigeria, in the BAY (Borno, Adamawa, Yobe) States of Nigeria.
Nigeria is confronted by multiple security challenges. The Insurgency of The Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād (JAS) – more popularly known as Boko Haram – has entered its twelfth year and has spawned a humanitarian crisis rendering sections of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe state inaccessible, limiting affected population`s access to basic infrastructure and services, and displacing millions. In the Norhtwest, banditry has emerged as a key challenge, becoming more sanguinary with every year. The high levels of crime and increased use of violence and kidnappings have led parents and authorities to pull millions of students out of school. The spotlight remains on the Northeast yet needs – both humanitarian and developmental – are rising in the Northwest, long-running discontent and militancy prevails in the Niger Delta, discontent is increasing between herders and farming communities spreading from the central belt southwards, and separatist Biafra agitations in the Igbo Southeast simmer on.
Against this backdrop, IMPACT Initiatives has developed a wide range of research cycles to provide an evidence-base for the humanitarian community. Historically, IMPACT Initiatives has been present in both the Northeast and Northwest of Nigeria. Thematically, across 2021 – 2023 IMPACT Initiatives fielded Multi-Sectoral Needs Assessments (MSNAs), Hard to Reach (H2R) assessments, Area Based Assessments (ABA), Rapid Overviews of Areas of Return (ROAR), Thematic Assessments (TA), Rapid Assessments (RA), and WASH Infrastructure Mapping, while also playing a key role in Famine Monitoring, Nutrition and Food Security Surveillance, and the Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI).
PROJECT PROFILE
The position is recruited for the Third-Party Monitoring (TPM) Project covering FCDOs Humanitarian and Resilience Programme (HARP) Facility. For this programme, IMPACT has entered into a consortium with CLEAR Global and FACT Foundation.
When in Senegal, the Data Specialist will be hosted by IMPACT’s global partner ACTED and will fall under the direct responsibility and management of ACTED’s Country Director and his/her delegates for all Administrative, Security, and relevant Logistics and Finance issues. S/he will therefore fully abide to ACTED’s Security, Administration, and relevant HR, Logistics and Finance rules and regulations.
When in Nigeria, staff shall be hosted by CLEAR Global and for his or her mission, the Country Coordinator will fall under the direct responsibility and management of CLEAR Global’s Country Director and his or her delegates for all Administrative, Security, Logistics and Finance issues. S/he will therefore fully abide by CLEAR Global’s Security, HR, Administration, and Logistics rules and regulations, and in coordination with CLEAR Global, ensure that all IMPACT staff abide by them.
FUNCTIONS
Under the line management of the IMPACT Research Manager in Nigeria, the Senior Assessment Officer is directly responsible for the implementation of the research for the TPM Project. These incudes but are not limited to the preparation, data collection, data analysis, drafting, and dissemination of the research that falls under the purview of the TPM Project.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Specifically, the Senior Assessment Officer is responsible for the following:
Research Planning and implementation
- Prepare Terms of References for research cycles related to the TPM Project and ensure its validation by HQ before the commencement of data collection.
- Prepare and keep up-to-date Secondary Data Reviews related to the TPM Project.
- For the research cycles, develop the research design, create data analysis plans, in conjunction with the data team, build tools (questionnaires), participate in data cleaning, and following validation of data by the data team, conduct data analyses and produce the relevant information products.
- Support the RM with stakeholder engagement both as part of the research design and as part of the dissemination.
- Liaise closely with the FACT Foundation team and integrate the work of their assessment and data/GIS officers into the consortium’s research workstreams.
- Ensure that the line manager and IMPACT HQ research department are alerted to any issues that prevents full implementation of the methodology agreed in the approved ToRs. Ensure that all changes to the methodology are documented throughout implementation, and that any change is formally validated by IMPACT HQ.
- Ensure that data and its analysis are validated by IMPACT HQ before product drafting stage.
- Ensure that data and its analysis do not contain personal information and are validated by IMPACT HQ before sharing to external parties.
Drafting of Research Products
- Ensure the drafting of timely and accurate outputs that consolidate the analyses from each research cycle into relevant products such as factsheets, reports, briefs, presentations, etc which comply with IMPACT’s guidelines and quality standards.
- Ensure that products accurately reflect the information collected and that information is conveyed in a way that maximizes their impact in line with their intended use.
- Liaise with GIS colleagues to ensure effective spatial representation of research findings in maps or dashboards.
- Follow the designated timeline of reports to be submitted to project partners and donors. Ensure that delays or identified challenges for specific assessments are reported in writing and orally in a timely fashion.
- Ensure that all written products are validated by IMPACT HQ prior to release to donors and Implementing Partners.
External Engagement
- Where warranted, support the RM and CC with stakeholder engagement, presentations, and workshops.
- Where warranted, and after validation by the RM or CC, represent IMPACT in relevant meetings and working groups.
- Where warranted, and after validation by the RM or CC, present research findings to FCDO and Implementing Partners.
- Ensure that all partner engagement and all external relations are clearly documented and communicated with the line manager and relevant colleagues.
- More generally, contribute to the creation of a positive image and overall credibility of the organization, notably through the application of IMPACT’s mandate, ethics, values and standpoint with regard to other actors.
Team Management and capacity building
- Where necessary, provide line management to international and national assessment staff.
- For staff under his or her responsibility, and in close consultation with the RM and CC, conduct appraisals, provide regular feedback, and participate in career management.
- In coordination with the RM and CC, contribute to conduct induction for new staff members, including training in basic technical competences for research design, implementation, and analysis.
Internal Coordination
- Actively participate in regular team meetings.
- Ensure regular coordination and exchange with relevant colleagues.
- Engage in the development and implementation of IMPACT’s strategy for Nigeria.
Data Confidentiality and Protection
The Senior Assessment Officer will maintain the strictest confidentiality on all data collected and related processes, ensuring full compliance with IMPACT’s data protection policy and SOPs. He/she will actively take measures to prevent the unauthorized sharing of any information and data belonging to IMPACT and its partners or collected during his/her assignment with IMPACT.
REQUIREMENTS
- Academic Excellent academic qualifications, preferably including a master’s degree in relevant discipline;
- Work experience At least 3 years of relevant working experience in humanitarian settings such as assessments, monitoring and evaluation, research design and analysis, etc. Familiarity with the aid system is required. Experience working with TPM an asset.
- Research skills and proven experience with complex research methods. Excellent analytical skills in both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies;
- 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 an advantage, Experience with InDesign an asset.
- 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 Proven ability to work independently.
- Cross-cultural work environment Ability to operate in a cross-cultural environment requiring flexibility.
- Experience in geographical region Past experience in the region is desirable.
- Language skills Fluency in English required, competency in French an asset.
CONDITIONS
- For this position, salary between 2’460 CHF and 2’520 CHF monthly (before income tax), etc as well as a monthly living allowance of 300 USD NB – IMPACT salaries are strictly determined by our salary grid depending on the grade of the position and the level of education of staff. A location-dependent security and/or isolation adjustment is then applied as a recognition that some staff are required to work in difficult places where living and working conditions are much more difficult than elsewhere.
- Accommodation and food provided in the guesthouse.
- Enrolment in Swiss private pension fund (Swisslife – approx. 9.975% of staff gross salary), health insurance, life insurance and repatriation assistance.
- Flight tickets every 6 months & visa fees covered (in-country travel costs and professional expenses are fully covered).
- Contribution to the luggage transportation: between 20 and 100 kgs, depending on the length of the contract (+ luggage and personal property insurance)
- Annual leave of 36 days per year. Public holidays of the country of assignment. Family/compassionate leave when applicable.
- Predeparture induction – 3 days at IMPACT Initiatives’s HQ in Geneva + one week pre-departure training in ACTED HQ in Paris, including a 4-days in situ security training;
- IMPACT prioritizes the psychological safety of its staff and the health insurance provided covers, among others, up to 1000 € per year of psychosocial counselling fees.
How to apply
Please apply directly on IMPACT’s website: Senior Assessment Officer | Impact (impact-initiatives.org)