Assessment Officer for Poland, Slovakia, Hungary At IMPACT Initiatives

BACKGROUND ON IMPACT AND REACH

REACH was born in 2010 as a joint initiative of two International NGOs (IMPACT Initiatives and ACTED) and the United Nations 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. 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. The IMPACT team comprises specialists in data collection, management and analysis and GIS. IMPACT was launched at the initiative of ACTED, an international NGO whose headquarter is based in Paris and is present in thirty countries. The two organizations have a strong complementarity formalized in a global partnership, enabling IMPACT to benefit from ACTED’s operational support on its fields of intervention.

We are currently looking for multiple Assessment Officers to support our team in Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.

Department: REACH**

Position: Assessment Officer**

Contract duration: 6 months

Location: Rzeszow (Poland) or Kosice (Slovakia), with field deployments

Starting Date: ASAP

COUNTRY PROFILE

Following the start of the conflict in Ukraine, beginning February 24th, 2022, military hostilities have caused widespread damage to infrastructure and houses, hundreds of civilian deaths, disrupted markets and essential services, and precipitated massive displacement in Ukraine and into neighbouring countries. REACH Initiative proposes to support the setup and scale-up of the assessment and analysis systems required to inform joint planning and monitoring by government and humanitarian actors in such a complex and rapidly evolving situation.

FUNCTIONS

Under the line management of the Research Manager, the Assessment Officer is responsible for the implementation of REACH’s research cycles in PSH, including the preparation, data collection, analysis, drafting, dissemination and evaluation stages. Throughout research cycles, the Assessment Officer engages with partners to promote their participation and maximize their impact. He/she also ensures an efficient and transparent use of resources required for project implementation. This can include the direct supervision of assessment teams.

In his/her mission, the Assessment Officer will be hosted by our 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.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Assessment Officer is responsible for overseeing the planning, implementation and follow up of research cycles to which s/he is assigned, in close coordination with other team members and with relevant external partners. In doing so, the Assessment Officer will ensure an effective management of related projects and resources, including line-management national and international assessment staff.

More specifically the Assessment Officer is responsible for the following:

RESEARCH PLANNING:

Anticipate knowledge gaps prior to the execution of a research cycle;
Ensure that required secondary data review and/or analysis has been conducted in preparation of an assessment;
Ensure that all research cycles are planned in line with the country strategy, relevant research and project objectives and with research cycle and other relevant guidelines;
Design research approaches and methodologies according to REACH’s requirements and principles as well as partners’ information needs;
Compose and construct, in close coordination with GIS and data teams, qualitative and quantitative data collection tools;
For each research cycle, prepare ToRs and ensure their validation by HQ before any data collection begins;
Ensure relevant stakeholders and partners are engaged in research design and planning.

RESEARCH IMPLEMENTATION

Ensure that required enumerators are identified and trained for primary data collection;
Monitor data collection, ensuring its correct implementation in line with agreed TORs;
Manage assessment logistics, including with partner organizations, identifying assessment areas, facilitating design workshops, managing joint data collection processes, and facilitating joint analysis workshops;
Ensure regular situation updates on data collection are produced and circulated to line manager, relevant colleagues and external counterparts;
Keep track of progress and delays of all assigned assessments throughout the research cycle. Ensure that delays or identified challenges for specific assessments are reported in writing and orally in a timely manner;
Ensure logistics, financial, administration, security and HR processes directly related to ongoing and upcoming assessments are appropriately planned;
Ensure that all collected data is stored in line with REACH’s Data Management Guidelines;
Ensure that data is revised and cleaned, and that all revisions are recorded;
Provide data analysis on primary and/or secondary data as per ToRs, ensuring that meaningful techniques are used to analyze the data collected;

DRFTING OF RESEARCH PRODUCTS

Draft timely and accurate outputs that consolidate the analyses from each research cycle into relevant products such as factsheets, reports, briefs, presentations;
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 relevant GIS colleagues to ensure effective spatial representation of research findings in maps or interactive web-portals, as relevant.

EXTERNAL ENGAGEMENT

Consult relevant partners at all stages of research cycle: assessment preparation; data collection; data analysis; review of research products; product dissemination; and lessons learnt;
Follow up on issues identified by partners or during meetings / working groups;
Promote an active use of datasets and research findings by partners and the broader humanitarian community for their decision making;
Present research findings to relevant third parties in order to enhance their use and impact;
Ensure that all partner engagement and all external relations are clearly documented and communicated with the line manager and relevant colleagues;

KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND LEARNING PROCESSES

In coordination with country management, support the conduct of monitoring and evaluation for each Research Cycle, as specified in the research ToRs;
Generate and document robust lessons learned at the end of each Research Cycle;
Ensure knowledge and learning processes are shared with other teams within mission, and with HQ;
When required, provide feedback to appropriate global organizational knowledge learning tools.

PROJECT CYCLE MANAGEMENT

Before project start, ensure the organization of a kick off meeting and the availability of key project management documentations to plan the efficient use of assets, financial and human resources;
In close coordination with line management, finance and grants colleagues, monitor and regularly update the use of assets, financial and human resources;
Ensure that any issue in relation to project implementation is reported to the line manager, finance and grants colleagues, and HQ;
Ensure that a project completion meeting is held and documented for all relevant projects;
Support the line manager, finance and grants colleagues in drafting of relevant project narrative and financial reports.

TEAM MANAGEMENT AND CAPACITY BUILDING

As relevant, line management of national and international assessment team members;
For staff under his/her responsibility, and in close consultation with line manager, conduct of appraisals, provision of regular feedback, and participation in career management;
Prepare and follow up work plans with each staff member that directly reports to him/her;
For all activities, ensure that all assessment and field teams are comprehensively briefed on objectives, expected outputs and that the overall implementation strategy is clearly understood;
Support induction for new staff members, including training in basic technical competencies for research design, implementation and analysis;

DATA CONFIDENTIALITY AND PROTECTION

The 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 degree in relevant discipline;
Research skills Proficiency and proven experience with research methods
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.
Years of work experience At least 2 years of relevant working experience. Experience in humanitarian settings highly desirable;
Management skills Team management experience and skills highly desirable;
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 [relevant] region is desirable;
Language skills Fluency in English is required, competency in Ukrainian/Russian/Polish/Slovak/Hungarian is an asset;
Security environment Ability to operate in a complex and challenging security environment

CONDITIONS

Salary defined by the IMPACT salary grid; educational level, expertise, hardship, security, and performance are considered for pay bonus
Additional monthly living allowance provided in country by IMPACT’s partner ACTED
Food and lodging provided at the organisation’s guesthouse/or housing allowance (depending on contract length and country of assignment)
Transportation costs covered, including additional return ticket + luggage allowance
Provision of medical, life, and repatriation insurance + retirement package