REACH Research Manager (RM) at ACTED

ACTED has been committed since 1993, to immediate humanitarian relief to support those in urgent need and protect people’s dignity, while co-creating longer term opportunities for sustainable growth and fulfilling people’s potential. ACTED, headquartered in Paris, France is present in four continents and our teams intervene in 37 countries towards 14 million people, responding to emergency situations, supporting rehabilitation projects and accompanying the dynamics of development. Over 5,000 staff are dedicated to implementing and developing our projects.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: REACH Research Manager (RM)

Location: Borno

Country profile

In North East Nigeria (NEN), the ongoing crisis continues to have a profound impact on the population, leading to displacement both within and out of the region and high rates of unmet needs among internally displaced persons. The conflict additionally exacerbates prior unmet needs among non-displaced and host communities. While the primary driver of the conflict remains violent conflict, including ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province), JAS (Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad) and associated armed opposition groups (AOGs), other underlying factors, such as climate change, poverty, and disease outbreaks, exacerbate need and further complicate aid delivery.
Against the backdrop of this protracted crisis, the humanitarian situation in Northeast Nigeria remains one of the world’s most severe. Out of the Northeast’s Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe (BAY) state’s total population of 13 million people, an estimated 7.9 million need humanitarian assistance. Borno state remains the epicenter of the crisis, containing over 80% of the region’s over 2 million internally displaced persons. Major incidents throughout 2019 have led to continued mass displacements and severely affected the provision of humanitarian assistance in the region.
The sudden influx of arrivals added strain to the existing infrastructure of the humanitarian community, resulting in high rates of unmet needs, overcrowding in camps, and exposure to protection risks for vulnerable groups. The congestion status of the camps has resulted in over 60% of IDPs residing outside of camps within host communities, further complicating service delivery. The intensity of needs within Maiduguri and the instability of the security situation in more remote regions has resulted in increased focus on populations in accessible areas; however, populations in the less accessible areas are presumed to have even greater needs.
These hard-to-reach areas are estimated to contain around 971,000 persons. Extraordinarily little is known about the specific conditions and needs of the populations living in these areas, but they are presumed to have little mobility, limited essential services, and little or no access to humanitarian aid. The same threats that severely limit the ability of humanitarian actors to conduct thorough assessments also immediately affect the population living in the region. REACH’s Humanitarian Situation Monitoring (HSM) assessments in the Hard-to-Reach areas of Borno state have found that people in these inaccessible areas lack of access to basic services including health facilities, access to livelihoods and have decreased access to foods, access to improved water sources and access to humanitarian services. As such, the needs for evidenced-based Humanitarian Aid and information on populations in both accessible and inaccessible areas is paramount to a coordinated response. REACH has been present in Nigeria since 2017, providing a growing evidence base for humanitarian response planning through sectoral, multi-sectoral and area-based assessments as well as information management services. In 2019, REACH is looking to continue to provide the humanitarian community with relevant and reliable information to strengthen strategic programming and needs-based targeting in Northeast Nigeria.
As an initiative deployed in many vulnerable and crisis-affected countries, REACH is deeply concerned by the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic may have on the millions of affected people we seek to serve. REACH is currently scaling up its programming in response to this pandemic, with the goal of identifying practical ways to inform humanitarian responses in the 20+ countries where we operate, including Nigeria

About the Job

Under the direct line management of the IMPACT Country Coordinator, the REACH Research Manager is responsible for managing research cycles, including research design, data collection, data cleaning and analysis, output creation, dissemination and evaluation. He/she directly supervises assessment and field staff and plays a key role in the development and implementation of IMPACT strategy in Nigeria.
In his/her mission, the REACH Assessment Officer will be hosted by ACTED and will fall under the responsibility of ACTED’s Country Director and his/her delegates. S/he and will fully abide to ACTED’s Security, HR, Administration and Logistics rules and regulations.

Functions
The REACH Research Manager will fulfil the following functions:

Ensuring that all assessments are planned in line with relevant project and program objectives and with REACH research cycle and other relevant guidelines.
Ensure that required secondary data analysis has been conducted in preparation of an assessment.
For each assessment, review ToRs before they are sent to Geneva for validation and ensure that TORs are validated by HQ before any data collection begins.
Ensure that ToRs are understood and used by assessment staff and stakeholders, and updated as required; Compose and construct, in close coordination with GIS and data management team, qualitative and quantitative data collection tools; ensure engagement with GIS teams on GIS requirements of research cycle/assessment;
Keep track of progress and delays of all assigned assessment throughout the research cycle. Ensure that delays or identified challenges for specific assessments are reported in writing and orally in a timely manner.
Ensure relevant stakeholders and partners are engaged in assessment design and planning.
Ensure that required enumerators are identified and trained for primary data collection.
Monitor data collection, ensuring its correct implementation in line with agreed TORs.
Ensure that Country Coordinator is alerted to any issues that prevents full implementation of the methodology in line with the agreed TORs; ensure that all changes to the methodology are documented throughout implementation.
Ensure logistics, financial, administration, security and HR processes related to REACH have been appropriately implemented and with the relevant ACTED departments.
Ensure regular situation updates on data collection have been produced and circulated to relevant REACH, ACTED and external counterparts. Provide support and follow up on identified challenges during the data collection process.
Ensure that all collected data is stored in line with IMPACT’s Data Management Guidelines, and with the ToRs (data management plan Annex);
Ensure that data is revised and cleaned, and that all revisions are recorded.
Oversee analysis on collected data as per ToRs;
Ensure that meaningful techniques are used to analyse the data collected.
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.
Maintain regular communication with IMPACT HQ on progress and deadlines for written products.
Ensure the drafting of timely and accurate assessment outputs (i.e. reports, factsheets, etc.), which comply with IMPACT’s guidelines and quality standards.
Review all products before they are sent to IMPACT HQ for validation.
Ensure that all written products are validated by IMPACT HQ before external release.
Under the direction of the Country Coordinator, engage in the dissemination of research products, including through articles, IMPACT social media contents, targeted e-mails, presentations, meetings, etc., in line with IMPACT Dissemination and External Communication Guidelines and Research ToRs;
Under supervision of IMPACT HQ, ensure that research products are uploaded in relevant data portals, as specified in Research ToRs;
Ensure that lessons learned are gathered and documented at the end of each research cycle.
Support the Country Coordinator to conduct monitoring and evaluation as specified in the research ToRs and in line with IMPACT Guidelines.
Conduct regular meeting with all Assessment Team members to assess progress in all research cycles and to review work plan.
Management of assessment, data/GIS and field team members, including (in consultation with Country Coordinator) the conduct of appraisals, as well as participation in staff career management.
In coordination with Country Coordinator, conduct induction for new staff members, including training in basic technical competencies for assessment design, implementation, and analysis.
Support to the Country Coordinator in the development and implementation of capacity training plans for REACH assessment and field team member.
Be available to provide regular support and technical backstopping.
When relevant, support/ lead staff appraisal and recruitment process in collaboration with Country Coordinator.
In coordination with the Country Coordinator, ensure that relevant partners are consulted and involved at all stages of research cycle: the preparation of the assessment; data collection; data analysis; review of research products; product dissemination; and lessons learnt; ensure that partner engagement is documented;
In coordination with the Country Coordinator, present research findings to relevant third parties, to enhance their use and impact.
Ensure that external communications with partners and key stakeholders, including relevant UN agencies, local and national government, and NGOs has been conducted and documented as appropriate.
In coordination with the Country Coordinator, represent REACH/IMPACT in technical external engagements related to assessments.
Support the IMPACT Country Coordinator in external engagement in relation to REACH/IMPACT strategy or (when requested and with focal point) to fundraising and grants management.

In support to the Country Coordinator, the Research Manager will actively contribute to the development of the REACH strategy in Nigeria. S/he will support in identifying and formalising:

The need for assessments, in line with humanitarian priorities
Synergies with other assessment and knowledge management actors
Strategic partnerships with key humanitarian stakeholders and decision makers
Key events / milestones that should be informed
Advocacy and dissemination strategies to strengthen the impact of our work
Support in the preparation and follow up of country level internal strategic workshops and plans
Engagement with IMPACT HQ in global level strategic priorities

Other related Activates:

Support the Country Coordinator in drafting of relevant project narrative and financial reports.
Maintain an oversight of budget availability and expenditure for assessment activities for which s/he is responsible.
Other tasks as requested by supervisors.

About You

All employees should master ACTED’s core Principles: Independence, Neutrality, Non-discrimination, free and direct access to victims, Ethics, Professionalism, anti-Corruption, Transparency and Accountability
Moreover, we also expect the following:

Requirements and Qualifications:

Excellent academic qualifications, including a Master’s degree in relevant discipline.
3 years of relevant working experience in a humanitarian setting.
Excellent team management, coordination, organisational and planning skills required, including ability to manage large workloads, oversee multiple teams and effectively meet deadlines, through an excellent ability to multi-task and prioritise.
Experience with external engagement (donors, partners, and other key stakeholders) required.
Familiarity with the humanitarian coordination system required.
Understanding of processes involved in conducting assessments an asset.
Excellent communication and drafting skills required for effective donor reporting and proposal development.
Excellent analytical skills required.
Experience managing budgets an asset.
Ability to work independently and manage people remotely required.
Solution-oriented, flexible, and open-minded, including ability to operate in a cross-cultural environment required.
Good understanding of the Nigeria context – experience in the region is desirable.
Fluency in English required.
A sense of curiosity and a drive to work to improve the humanitarian sector.