RAPID ASSESSMENT SENIOR ASSESSMENT OFFICER 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 a REACH Senior Assessment Officer to support our team in South Sudan.

Department: REACH

Position: Senior Assessment Officer

Contract duration:12 months

Starting Date: 1 January 2022

Location: Juba, South Sudan but with 50% of the time in field and deep field settings

Country profile

IMPACT, through its own activities, or through REACH, has been implementing programming in South Sudan since 2012. Responding to the Sudan Border Crisis, REACH initially engaged through coordinated information management support – in the form of refugee camp mapping and service provision analyses, thematic assessments, and multi-sectorial needs assessments – in Maban County, Upper Nile State and Pariang County, Unity State. IMPACT was engaged by DFID to provide a series of impact evaluations of their BRACE programming across Greater Bahr el Ghazal and Upper Nile States in 2013; a programme with run for two years, included 5 total assessments, and touched a total of more than 20,000 households. Immediately following the conflict of December 2013, REACH expanded its programming to include the IDP response, participating in Initial Rapid Needs Assessments of conflict affected areas, providing mapping and monthly service provision analyses for major IDP sites around the country, and running large-scale IDP return intentions assessments.

2018 has seen the expansions of both IMPACT and REACH programming to 10 of 10 states, spanning the refugee, IDP and development responses, and covering diverse activities such as cross-border port monitoring, assessments of hard to reach areas, flood mapping and vulnerability analysis, market monitoring and supply chain analysis, analysis of tensions and conflicts over access to natural resources, and third party monitoring of humanitarian and development programming.

Functions

Under the line management of the EP Research Manger, the Rapid SAO will be responsible for;

Using and updating the REACH Area of Concern tracker to identify locations of highest need and work with the ERRM high council to identify information gaps and suitable responses.
Conducting rapid assessments in highly food insecure areas, and to build the rapid assessment capacity within the mission to ensure that, particularly HSM Assessment Officers, are able to oversee rapid assessments with a high degree of autonomy.
Supporting HSM AOs in the coordination of ERRM assessments, including guidance on following the assessment SOP and on the use of tools and methodology note and supporting data collection teams during data collection, data cleaning, analysis, production of information products, and dissemination of information products, etc. Support the HSM/ERRM assessment specialist’s capacity building programmes
Engaging in partner coordination, donor reporting, presentations, and will be required to provide input to the strategic development of IMPACT in South Sudan.

In his/her mission, the Assessment 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.

Responsibilities

Internal learning and capacity building

Working closely with REACH specialists – both in country and globally – to maintain and update the ERRM tracking framework and support the specialist in refining based on lessons learned.
Support HSM AOs in the implementation of ERRM assessments, including training on following the assessment SOP and data collection
Build the capacity of the ERRM AO to lead assessments through the whole research cycle
Able and available to engage with Global Units and global learning processes, such as methodology notes, lessons learn, Communities of Practice, etc.

External engagement and coordination within the ERRM consortium

Support the ERRM AO in providing stakeholders within the humanitarian coordination system with reliable and accurate technical advice and support;
Support country management in representing IMPACT among external actors for technical/thematic discussions, including with stakeholders in the humanitarian coordination system, such as OCHA representatives, clusters, as well as technical working groups and various NGO fora and information management groups;
Enhance the position of REACH within the ERRM consortium (including NRC, DRC, Medair, and ACTED).
Support the ERRM AO in delivering inter-agency, multi-stakeholders knowledge sharing / lessons learned exercises and provides technical feedback to improve ERRM consortium triggers/thresholds and assessment tools.
Share REACH triggers and assessment tools with consortium partners, and conduct trainings with partners on how to use these tools.
Provide regular overviews on areas that have been flagged in the REACH internal ERRM, including presenting REACH assessment findings, and ensuring that information collected by ERRM partners feeds into the internal tracking framework.
Use REACH field presence and ERRM data to support ERRM partners to rapidly gather information on an area when a trigger is met**.**
Explore opportunities to create standardised outputs and creating quarterly factsheets to consolidate ERRM achievements and gaps in the response to as to improve coordination within the overall response.
Conduct rapid assessments with ERRM partners in high priority areas.
More generally, contribute to the creation of a positive image and overall credibility of the organisation, notably through the application of IMPACT’’s mandate, ethics, values and stand- point with regard to other actors and by contributing to creating a culture of rigourous use of evidence and learning among humanitarian responders

Conduct and facilitate rapid assessments

Regularly conduct rapid assessments in high priority deep field locations to understand emergency needs. The assessment specialist will spend around 50% of their time in the field.
Ensure the safety of the field team while leading rapid assessments.
Ensure all assessments adhere to do-no-harm and conflict sensitivity principles. Increase the inclusiveness of assessments to include vulnerable or under-represented groups where possible.
Design assessment methodologies based on information gaps and engagement with internal and external stakeholders, and, in coordination with REACH South Sudan and Global Specialists, develop new and innovative assessment tools or methods when relevant.
Build the capacity of field teams to conduct rapid assessments (as above).
Work within the ERRM consortium to coordinate rapid assessments with consortium partners.
Establish and improve relationships with key NGO and UN partners, outside of the consortium, to conduct rapid assessments.
Ensure that assessment outputs are drafted to a very high quality, requiring minimal internal and HQ review, in a timely manner.
Ensure that assessment findings are disseminated quickly and effectively through key forums (such as the NAWG, FSLC, ICCG etc), and to key partners, to ensure that there is a clear link between REACH information products, and to humanitarian interventions.

Research Planning and implementation

Support the Senior Management team in identifying and materializing opportunities, in line with strategic directions of the mission;
Support in accurately estimating research cycle timelines and resources needed for research cycle implementation;
Ensure that research design, data collection and analysis and product drafting for all relevant research cycles comply to IMPACT’s requirements, guidelines and strategic direction;
Monitor implementation of research cycles, identifying any major risks or issues, support team to resolve these challenges in line with IMPACT research standards and in close coordination with IMPACT HQ as relevant.
Ensure that the applied methodology, analysis and products maximize the impact of the research cycles in line with the intended objectives;
Review of information products to ensure accuracy;

Line-Management

Directly line-manage the ERRM Assessment Officer
For staff under his/her functional responsibility, support to line managers by contributing to conduct of appraisals, provision of regular feedback, and participation in career management;
For staff under direct line management, prepare and follow up work plans; conduct of appraisals, provision of regular feedback, and career management;
For staff under direct line management, conduct regular team meetings to assess progress in relevant research cycles and to review work plan; ensure that all are comprehensively briefed on their objectives and expected outputs;

Strategy, program and project development

Contribute to unit strategy development with relevant technical and thematic contents;
Ensure that assessment strategies are implemented in a structured and coherent manner in line with project and strategic objectives;
Support the development/revision of assessment/programme strategies, reports, or new proposals.

Data Confidentiality and Protection

The Assessment Specialist will maintain the strictest confidentiality on all data collected and related processes. 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

SPECIALIST

Academic Excellent academic qualifications, preferably including a Master degree in relevant discipline;
Research skills Excellent research and analytical skills required, including a sound understanding of sampling frameworks and their application, an ability to analyse qualitative and quantitative data, as well as conduct temporal or spatial trend analysis.
Experience coordinating assessments: Experience conducting multisectoral assessments in deep field locations is required
Software skills Proven knowledge of the Microsoft Office Suite, to include Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.. Experience with InDesign an asset.
Familiarity with the aid system Familiarity with the aid system and with the research community;
Years of work experience At least 2-3 years of relevant working experience
Experience in key lifesaving sectors Experience working in FSL, health, nutrition and WASH an asset;
Training skills Ability to conduct trainings and mentor IMPACT teams and partners on assessment skills;
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 Strong existing ability to work independently in support of colleagues and partners;
Cross-cultural work environment Ability to operate in a cross-cultural environment requiring flexibility;
Experience in geographical region Past experience in South Sudan is desirable;
Language skills Fluency in English is required, competency in Arabic 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
Free 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