(HARP) Facility – Study Reviewing the Current State of Protection in Humanitarian Assistance and HARP-F’s Role in the Sector

About the role

Background and context

The HARP-Facility is the principal pillar of the UK’s Humanitarian assistance in Myanmar. Launched in 2016, the Facility acts as both a grant funding mechanism and a knowledge platform for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the wider humanitarian community. The humanitarian context in Myanmar can be characterised as a complex protracted crisis, where humanitarian access is often constrained due to geographical inaccessibility, safety and security issues, restrictions imposed by authorities and, since March 2020, restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Coup on February 1^st of this year has furthered the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar and created an increasingly difficult operating context for humanitarian actors.

Research objectives and target audience

The purpose of this study is to understand how HARP-F has worked within the protection sector in Myanmar and learn from the experience of partners on how best actors, and particularly national actors, can be supported to address protection issues.

The study should specifically answer the following:

Protection Sector in Myanmar

• Identify current protection needs facing Myanmar, especially in Rakhine, Chin, Kachin and Northern Shan state? How do protection needs differ geographically? How do they differ for different segments of the populations, particularly women and children? Are there any new or increased protection concerns after the coup and Covid-19 pandemic?
• To what extent is there capacity in Myanmar to meet the needs and priorities in the protection sector? What methods are used to ensure relevant protection priorities are met? Which organisations are most able to respond to protection needs in Myanmar? Any impacts after the coup and Covid 19 Pandemic? How did the sector ensure to effectively and timely fulfil the protection needs among existing context challenges, the military coup and Covid 19 Pandemic? Identify challenges encountered and how these challenges were overcome. What could be done better and by whom?

Approach and Methodology

HARP-F has supported a total of six partners with direct protection activities as part of their programme. In addition, HARP-F aims to include protection awareness across other sector interventions implemented by all HARP-F partners. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods proposed by the researcher is encouraged, engaging both stakeholders in HARP-F as well as external stakeholders in the humanitarian sector in Myanmar.

Given travel restrictions and access constraints, in particular Covid-19 lockdown and stay-at-home restrictions recently imposed, the study can be conducted remotely using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods proposed by the researcher. However, and dependent on the Covid-19 situation, researchers able to propose a national team who are able to access some or all of the operational areas concerned will have an advantage.

About you

Research team composition and required competencies

• Proven experience conducting rigorous research and demonstrated expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research methods
• Strong qualitative and quantitative data analysis skills
• In-depth understanding and experience in humanitarian programming and protection issues in the context of providing humanitarian aid in a protected crisis.
• Expert knowledge and skills on humanitarian protection preparedness and responses
• Familiarity with the Myanmar humanitarian context and ability to communicate cross-culturally
• Ability to conduct interviews in Burmese language
• Ability to synthesize and present findings in an engaging and accessible manner
• Excellent report writing skills in English

Bids and queries can be sent to: evaluations@harpfacility.org using the subject line: Study Reviewing the Current State of Protection in Humanitarian Assistance and HARP-F’s Role in the Sector

About us

You’ll be working with Crown Agents which is a high impact social enterprise passionate about transforming the future for millions of people. Since our creation in 1833 we have worked across the globe to improve public services and drive economic growth. Our expertise is finding new solutions to difficult problems for clients in the areas of health, governance, economic growth, humanitarian action and supply chain services. We work with and train leaders at local, national and international level to achieve lasting change drawing on our insight and experience.