Research Coordinator At War Child Holland

1- Background

War Child Holland (WCH) is an independent and impartial international non-governmental organization investing in a peaceful future for children and young people affected by armed conflict. We strive to empower children and young people while enabling adults to bring about positive and lasting change in the lives of conflict affected children and young people.

Recently, the COVID crisis has pointed out the need for solutions to measure learning outcomes at a distance, when children have to study from home. War Child Holland, in close collaboration with UNHCR and NYU Ties partners, is now building up such an innovative solution: the gamified digital assessment tool will have the potential to measure math and literacy outcomes, as well as social and emotional learning (SEL) skills, in a formative perspective. This should bring valuable support to teachers for remedial teachings for children in primary education (grades 1 to 3).

A strong aspect of innovation in the tool is the gamification process: the test should be easy and motivational for children to take. The admin platform and dashboard are also designed for easy use and interpretation by teachers.

2- Roles and responsibilities during Pilot testing

● The Research Coordinator is essential to the success of the research project- s/he forms the backbone of a research team.

● The Research Coordinator will work in collaboration with a supervisor from the Ministry of Education, and within the local research team to coordinate all aspects of implementation of research activities.

● S/he will be responsible for:

• Implementing the study design protocol designed by War Child team in the Netherlands, partners, and the Ministry supervisor,
• Contributing to the development of qualitative interview guides (that fit the local context) translation into Arabic,
• Ensuring the project meets the standards and required procedures of the ethical approval,
• Training of research assistants,
• Setting up all materials needed to run the testing (in collaboration with project manager and IT assistant at War Child), including tablets, phones and paper-based tests.
• Taking the lead in writing a report of findings,
• Coordinating quantitative and qualitative data collection, data checking, data cleaning, transcription and translation, and safe storage and data management,
• Overseeing transcription and translation of data, and contribute to analysis and interpretation,
• Coordinating inputs from research assistants,
• Participating in coordination meetings with the research team and the Ministry supervisor,
• Research ethics including participant safety, confidentiality, reporting of adverse events, maintaining integrity of research data,
• Child safe-guarding.
• Ensuring data quality, validity, and consistency such as cross-referencing between data collected across formats (digital assessment, paper-and-pencil assessment)

3- Reporting

The research coordinator will report directly to the War Child Project Manager in Jordan, and the latter will liaise with the War Child team in the Netherlands.

The research coordinator will also have direct links with the War Child team in the Netherlands and NYU Ties partners to prepare implementation of the protocol, and for a report call.

4- Profile

Essential:

• At least Bachelor level degree in relevant field (e.g. Psychology, Social Sciences), preferably masters,
• At least 2 years’ professional experience in research with human subjects in a social science field,
• At least 1 year of experience collecting data for research purposes using complex designs such as counterbalancing of protocols
• Experience in supervising research assistants,
• Extensive experience working within Jordan, and in culturally diverse communities,
• Native Arabic speaker with proven track record in implementing research activities and data management for human subjects research projects,
• Ability to communicate the results of research to others in a simple, clear, effective way,
• Ability to operate independently with minimal supervision,
• Reliable and able to work to tight deadlines.
• Knowledge in EGMA/EGRA or other early childhood academic assessments

Desirable:

• Communication skills in English (oral and written: B2)
• Experience in working with children in grade 1 to 3, and with teachers;
• Driving license

5- Deliverables

● Collection of quantitative data (cleaned and checked)

● Collection of screenshots and video recording

● Collection and basic analysis of qualitative data (focus group discussions, interviews)

● Report in Arabic

● Report translated into English

● Participation to preparation and debrief meetings

6- Intellectual property rights All the intellectual property rights – including patent rights, the content rights and the copy rights – resulting from this agreement with regard to those commissions developed for War Child cannot be transferred and/or claimed by other parties. **

7- Location and timeframe Testing will take place in Jordan; duty station is in Amman with regular field work in the governorates of Mafraq and Zarqa including Azraq city. **

Research coordinator will be involved as soon as possible until 15 December 2021. **