Senior Research Associate – Child Disability and Education Survey At Sightsavers

Location: Monrovia, Liberia

Contract: Fixed Term Contract 1 year with potential to extend

(This post is subject to contract finalisation)

Purpose of role

Sightsavers are recruiting a highly motivated and dynamic research professional to join their Research team to provide leadership, technical guidance and oversight to a large scale, nationally representative survey in Liberia. This community-based survey will measure disability and educational participation among school-aged children across Liberia.

The individual will have strong knowledge of quantitative survey methods, and experience in leading the successful completion of surveys in Liberia. The role will be based in Liberia, working with Sightsavers’ global Research team and Liberia Country Office, as well as the Liberian Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), the Ministry of Education, and Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs). The successful individual will have the right to work in Liberia.

About the role of Senior Research Associate, Child Disability and Education Survey

• Leading collaborative work with multiple non-governmental and governmental stakeholders to agree detailed study objectives and methods; to develop the study protocol and tools; and to obtain ethical and administrative approvals appropriate to the local context.
• Liaising with the Liberian Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), Ministry of Education, and Sightsavers’ Research team to develop fieldwork procedures and plans, and a training package and materials for fieldworkers.
• Leading the design, development and implementation of data collection, including creation of an electronic data collection system, establishment of data management and quality control systems, and fieldworker supervision.
• Reviewing and managing the data quality throughout data collection, to ensure a complete and accurate dataset for analysis.
• Leading data cleaning, analysis and report writing.
• Setting up processes and leading on the communication and dissemination of research findings.

Essential:

• Master’s degree or equivalent qualification in Epidemiology, Public Health or similar quantitative field. Preference to candidates with a relevant PhD, or extensive experience in quantitative research leadership.
• Extensive experience of quantitative survey methods, including digital data collection and management.
• Demonstrated experience in leading community-based surveys focusing on health, education, and/or disability in sub-Saharan Africa, preferably in Liberia.
• Experience in developing research protocols and survey tools.
• Experience in submitting research protocols to ethical review bodies and navigating ethical and administrative review processes.
• Good understanding of research governance and ethical principles particularly in relation to research with children and vulnerable people.
• Knowledge of disability measurement tools, such as Washington Group questions and the UNICEF/ Washington Group Child Functioning Module.
• Strong statistical analysis skills.
• Experience working with governmental and non-governmental partners and within multi-disciplinary teams.
• Excellent communication and organisational skills.
• Current right to work in Liberia

The Senior Research Associate, Child Disability and Education Survey is a highly varied and involved role and the above is not an exhaustive list of duties or required professional skills. Please see the Job Description for full details.

Shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a skills task during the week commencing 06 June 2022. For those invited to interview post task, we intend to conduct interviews week commencing 14 June 2022.

As an equal opportunity employer, we actively encourage applications from all sections of the community. Sightsavers is a Disability Confident Leader therefore qualified people living with a disability are particularly encouraged to apply