Research Officer (Somali Speaking) At Africa’s Voices Foundation

Position Title: Research Officer – Somali Speaking

Position Type: * Consultancy Contract (project based) / on a need to basis

* Must be available immediately

* Work from AVF’s Offices in Nairobi

Application deadline: 30th November 2024 at 5 pm EAT

Daily Rate: USD 70 Tax-inclusive Per Day (7.5 hours per day)

Location: Based in Nairobi with occasional travel to Somalia

BACKGROUND

Africa’s Voices Foundation (AVF) is a non-profit organisation, capitalising on interactive media and digital communications to curate and spark engaging discussions that convene citizens’ voices as evidence and elevate them to the level of decision-making. We equip development, humanitarian and governance organisations with unique capabilities to listen intelligently to the citizens they serve. Spun out of cutting-edge research at the University of Cambridge, we have an established presence in East Africa and beyond with a vibrant growing core team in Nairobi and Somalia. Our clients include Swiss Agency for Development and Corporation (SDC), UNICEF, the European Union, World Bank and MasterCard Foundation.

JOB SUMMARY:

The Research Officer will provide support across the organisation with the overall programme and research design, management of thematic analysis and preparation of project reports. The incumbent will ensure data validation is conducted according to AVF standards and that meaningful statistical analysis and techniques are used to infer from the data collected.

SUMMARY OF KEY FUNCTIONS

Under the the supervision of the Research Manager, the Research Officer will;

• Present thoroughly researched information for background/formative research; implementation of the projects; preparation of project documents’ drafts, work plans, progress reports, policy briefs, position papers, presentations and proposals on implementation arrangements.
• Compile the researched material in a systematic way and prepare background briefs/briefing notes as and when required.
• Provide effective support to management of the programme (and projects). Support overall programme and research design, Focus Group discussion guide, Communication plan, implementation of the gantt chart etc.
• Conduct relevant and timely research, interviews and focus group discussions.
• Develop research, monitoring and evaluation tools for assigned projects; including survey and questionnaire design and translation.
• In charge of creation, co-designing workshops and maintenance of Textit flow.
• Manage all thematic analysis and manual labelling of all local-language data
• Perform quantitative and qualitative analysis from the audience engagement both in terms of scheduling automated analysis and engagement.
• Develop analysis plans to inform regression analysis by statisticians. Support in conducting statistical analysis, including regressions and correlation analyses, on a complex dataset.
• Provide analytical support in interpreting findings and provide a report to the line manager.
• Develop monitoring tools for tracking impact, document and write success stories
• Any other duties that may be assigned by the supervisor within the programmes department.

KEY COMPETENCIES

• Mandatory – Excellent spoken and written English, Kiswahili & Somali (Maxaa Tiri, Af Maay dialects).
• Efficiency in responding to emails and general queries and communication.
• Ability to share knowledge with the team and be a great team player.
• Ability to multitask and manage different activities at the same time.
• Accountable and holds high levels of Integrity to manage small budgets for participants
• Use of WhatsApp and other technology for sharing and receiving documents.
• Other duties as requested by the supervisors

KEY SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Good understanding of Somali culture, social dynamics, and norms
• Scoping and undertaking high quality, rapid research to inform policy, scientific or business decision making and solutions.
• Strong ability to draw out messages from complex evidence, present them for a lay audience in plain English and write compelling reports
• Independently identify and innovative, diverse sources of quantitative and qualitative data and intelligence. Exhibit thorough understanding and presentation on the limitations of the data.
• Extensive experience of presenting to a diversity of audiences, ranging from senior management, external technical experts, policy professionals and wider teams of non-experts (adapting the presentational approach accordingly)
• Comfortable working with technical and scientific information
• Skills in project management including planning, resourcing, monitoring and reporting is desirable.

SELECTION CRITERIA:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Research Applications, Mathematics, Statistics & Economics, social sciences or its equivalent from a recognized university;
• Demonstrated relevant working experience of at least 5 years within international organisations, research institutes, government, or other relevant organisations;
• Proficiency in a statistics package such as SPSS, SAS, Matlab, or E-Views is a plus.

PERSONAL SPECIFICATIONS

• High level interpersonal and cross-cultural skills including ability to build alliances and collaborative relationships with sensitivity to diversity; excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to establish, build and maintain relationships with diverse stakeholders at all levels of the organisation.
• Passionate mission led individual who shares the values of Africa’s Voices Foundation.
• Demonstrates creativity and critical thinking when designing and delivering research
  and recommendations
• Capable communicator, listens carefully, clearly sharing information (written and verbal) and is able to persuade and influence others, establishing positive relationships with a wide range of stakeholders
• Well organised with effective time management, able to deliver at pace to tight deadlines whilst regularly re-prioritising according to business priorities
• Good judgement in determining the appropriate level of quality in their work. Recognises the importance of attention to detail and precision, whilst also knowing when to balance that with when the output is good enough for its purpose.
• Flexible and enthusiastic about working in a growing organisation.
• Able and willing to learn more, develop skills and fill gaps in knowledge and to support others in doing the same.
• Self-motivated with the ability to work on own initiative, while also delivering collaboratively as part of a team.