Survey Coordinator, Individual Consultancy, Kananga At UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is offering an individual consultant position within the team in our UNHCR Kananga Sub Office, DRC.

UHCR is looking for a survey coordinator for the upcoming socio-economic survey in the Grand Kasaï, DRC: Focus on IDPs, returnees and host communities, financed by the UNHCR-World Bank Joint Data Centre on Forced Displacement. The main objectives of the socio economic survey in the Grand Kasai are twofold: 1- to generate quality data to inform UNHCR DRC’s programming and multi-year strategy development as well as UNHCR Angola’s voluntary repatriation plans, in addition to provide strong evidence for other partners, that are intensifying presence in the Kasais, to design interventions in the context of the Triple Nexus; 2- to contribute to the meagre literature on internally displaced persons, returnees, repatriated as well as their respective host communities. The consultant will be working with a team of internal researchers.

UNHCR is a global organisation dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. Every year, millions of men, women and children are forced to flee their homes to escape conflict and persecution. We are in over 125 countries, using our expertise to protect and care for millions.

• Title: Survey Coordinator
• Duty Station: Kananga, DRC
• Duration: 5 months
• Contract Type: Individual consultancy
• Closing date: 28/10/2021
• Start date: 15/11/2021

Organisational context

Over the past five years, the DRC has consistently been in the top two countries with the highest number of new displacements associated with conflict (IDMC, 2021). In 2020 alone, the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) increased with an estimated 2.5 million individuals. Conflict accounted for nearly 90% of these displacements. The country is currently home to the second largest population of IDPs associated with conflict worldwide: an estimated 5.27 million Congolese are internally displaced, about 6% of the country’s population (IDMC 2021). The vast majority of these IDPs do not reside in camps, but instead take refuge with local families (IDMC 2021, UNHCR 2021). In addition, thousands of Congolese refugees displaced in neighbouring countries return home every year.

In 2016, a large violent conflict spread across the three Kaisai provinces causing the displacement of an estimated 1.4 million people. Though the security situation has improved in the Kasais in recent years, pockets of insecurity remain. While many people have been able to return home, hundreds of thousand individuals remain displaced. Many of them have not been able return to their homes due to fears of reprisals. In addition, the Kasai provinces are home to nearly 20,000 repatriated Congolese refugees, who recently returned from Angola. More refugees are expected to return from Angola in the near future, and UNHCR Angola is actively supporting voluntary repatriation. In this context, the recent withdrawal of the UN peacekeeping forces (MONUSCO) from the Kasai provinces generates a need for actors to ensure peace remains stable and therefore further engage resources towards the development of the provinces, while continuing to address the underlying economic causes of the conflict.

To respond to the existing data gap, UNHCR Kananga secured funds from the UNHCR World Bank Joint Data Centre on forced displacement to run a large socio-economic survey (5,000 households) in order to generate quality data for UNHCR’s own programming as well as others’ in the context of the Nexus, and contribute to the meagre, but growing literature on forced displacement. Novel survey methodologies and tools will also be explored with the aim to support improvements in quality of data collection in displacement contexts. The research team is composed of UNHCR staff and renown academics (New York University and Antwerp).

The position

The consultant will monitor, report on, and contribute to all aspects of the household survey in liaison with UNHCR and the research team. The National Statistics agency will be responsible for data collection, while the consultant will provide technical oversight for the activities and report findings to UNHCR and the research team. The position will be based in Kananga and hosted by UNHCR Sub Office, with frequent visits to data collection areas in the three Kasais.

The consultant will report to the field officer in the Kananga Sub-Office, and the Senior Development Officer (and task team leader for the survey) based in Brazzaville.

Duties and responsibilities

The main functions of the Consultant will be to:

1. Monitor the survey preparation and implementation activities and report findings to UNHCR and the research team;
2. Take steps to ensure the collection of high quality and accurate data;
3. Support UNHCR and the research team data work;
4. Serve as the local liaison with the National Statistics Agency and with other local partners, in partnership with the UNHCR Sub-Office;

Activities

Specifically, the consultant will:

1. Work in collaboration with the National Statistics Agency and the research team on the finalization of the survey instruments and the field protocols, including translation if necessary.
2. Ensure that National Statistics Agency is on track with all preparation activities associated with data collection (permits and clearances, hiring and training of enumerators, translations, and fieldwork protocols) and communicate progress to UNHCR and the research team.
3. Participate in the training of enumerators and follow-up field-testing of questionnaires.
4. Accompany survey enumerator teams during fieldwork. Verify that survey questionnaires are administered properly to ensure quality and consistency with the design of the impact evaluation. Ensure that the data collection protocol is being followed carefully.
5. Supervise the use of the CAPI software and report issues.
6. Oversee data quality control by checking completed questionnaires and, when necessary, requesting survey re-interviews.
7. Conduct verification checks, cleaning and preliminary statistical analysis of the data, together with the research team.
8. Ensure that the National Statistics Agency follows up on requests from the UNHCR and the research team for information and requests for interim data.
9. Provide weekly written updates to UNHCR and the research team and respond to requests for information.
10. Any other task requested by UNHCR and the research team necessary to ensure the success of the activity

Deliverables

• Field supervision updates: a written weekly summary of progress and field supervision activities, that includes a detail program for the following week.
• Final data collection report documenting the impact field work activities, describing the collected data, identifying issues for follow-up work.

UNHCR shall, solely and exclusively, own all rights in and to any work created in connection with this agreement, including all data, documents, information, copyrights, patents, trademarks, or other proprietary rights in and to the work. The consultant is not allowed to post or publish (electronically or in print) any project-related information without the written consent of the UNHCR.

Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required

• Master’s degree in economics, or related field.
• Relevant experience in quantitative analysis, with use of statistical software (e.g. stata, spss, R).
• Previous experience (at least 6 months) on supervising the implementation of household surveys, preferably in DRC or another displacement context.
• Previous experience in training enumerators.
• Knowledge of CAPI software.
• Excellent command of written and spoken French is essential.
• Excellent team player, ability to work within a diverse team.
• Demonstrate a genuine desire to learn and develop.

Location

The successful candidate will be based with the team in Kananga Sub Office, with travels to the survey location in the Grand Kasai.

Conditions

The consultancy is for 5 months. It is a full-time role with working hours starting from 8.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday (40 hours per week).