International Rescue Committee Senior Research Specialist Jobs in Uganda

International Rescue Committee Senior Research Specialist Jobs in Uganda


About the Global Women’s Institute (GWI)

The Global Women’s Institute at the George Washington University (GWU) is a university-wide initiative dedicated to improving gender equality and supporting the rights of women and girls worldwide.

The Institute’s action-oriented research spans from prevalence studies that generate rigorous evidence on the magnitude of gender-based violence (GBV) to evaluations that measure the effectiveness of interventions preventing and responding to this violence.

With a particular expertise in conducting research on GBV during conflict and post conflict periods, GWI documents experiences of women and girls during times of crises and generate evidence on what works to reduce the violence they experience.

By strengthening the global knowledge base on gender issues and being a catalyst for change, GWI aims to make a difference in the lives of women in the US and around the world.

About the International Rescue Committee (IRC)

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) manages projects in over 40 countries with an annual revenue of over $700 million.

The IRC supports communities in transition to help people whose lives and livelihoods are destroyed by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future.

The IRC works in five different critical outcome areas, including economic wellbeing, education, health, power and safety, with each outcome maintaining a strong gender component. Each outcome area promotes high-impact and cost-effective solutions to help people affected by crisis.

The IRC began implementing programs in northern Uganda in 1998 in response to mass displacement and devastation wrought by the rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army.

In 2002, the IRC expanded to the remote, conflict-affected region of Karamoja with programs focused on improving outcomes in health, nutrition, and livelihoods. In 2011, began working with refugees in Kampala and Kiryandongo settlement and scaled up its response to refugees arriving in the West Nile region in 2016.

The IRC currently operates in four newly established refugee settlements as an implementing partner for UNHCR.

Senior Research Specialist Roles and Responsibilities

  • The Senior Research Specialist will be based in Kampala with frequent travel to the field to support participatory action research activities.
  • The position will support GWI’s Empowered Aid project in refugee-hosting areas of Uganda. This links to GWI’s existing work, “Building GBV Research Capacity in Refugee Settings”, also in Uganda as well as IRC’s “Listen Up!” project on preventing sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA).
  • The Senior Research Specialist will be the face of the project within Uganda, and oversee the day-to-day activities of conducting participatory action research with refugee women and older adolescent girls (Year 1) to better understand the ways in which distribution of material resources in emergencies may create or reinforce opportunities for sexual exploitation and abuse of women and girls. Preference will be given to candidates who have experience with program monitoring and evaluation, as the second year will focus on testing ways to make distributions safer.
  • S/he will be responsible for developing and maintaining good working relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders, including government, civil society, I/NGOs, UN, academia, and others.

    Primary responsibilities will include the following:

    Education & training

  • Master’s degree in Social Sciences, Social Work, Gender/Women Studies, Public Health or related field with women-led participatory action research and program evaluation experience in women & girls’ protection and empowerment programming within emergencies.

    Job Requirements:

  • Experience with women-led qualitative or participatory methods (such as focus groups, key informant interviews, community/body mapping, safety audits, and/or ethnographic research techniques) related to GBV or gender issues and preferably in humanitarian settings;
  • Demonstrated ability to work well with collaborative, participatory and creative processes, where ideas and plans may change, while ensuring timeline, budget & reporting requirements are met;
  • Oriented toward learning, open to independent study to improve skills necessary for successful completion of project;
  • Experience working with
    refugee communities, preferably in Uganda within the last 5 years;
  • Proven experience in design and developing materials such as GBV research protocols and tools, service referral materials, ethical guidelines and training of staff, research briefs, curricula, guidance documents, and project reports;
  • Experience designing and implementing evaluations and/or M&E systems related to GBV in humanitarian settings;
  • Experience directly providing GBV response services or managing women and girls protection and empowerment programs in Uganda is a plus;
  • Existing professional networks among humanitarian stakeholders and GBV networks in Uganda is a plus.

    IT / Software / Skills:

  • Familiarity with MS Office software, including Excel. Knowledge of qualitative data collection and analysis tools such as Open Code is a plus.

    Language Skills:

  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English required. Proficiency in the language spoken by members of the refugee community (Juba Arabic) preferred.

    Detailed Responsibilities & Tasks

  • Act as the Research Manager for Empowered Aid in Uganda and ensure project activities move forward with the agreed timeline and principles.
  • Provide technical assistance to IRC WPE program team and coordinate with local stakeholders, including UNHCR and other humanitarian actors, throughout the life of the contract.
  • Design and develop materials for the “Empowered Aid” study, often through collaborative processes, including but not limited to research protocols and tools, referral materials, research briefs, meeting notes, guidance documents, and project reports. Proactively troubleshoot issues as they arrive, in close communication with GWI Project Lead.
  • Organize and co-facilitate a participatory action research training for WPE team members supporting Empowered Aid implementation, with support from GWI Research Scientists and IRC WPE Technical Advisors. This will be developed and delivered in coordination with Project Lead and with support of other GWI staff and IRC WPE Technical Advisors.
  • Organize and co-facilitate 2 participatory action research workshops (1 in Bidibidi and 1 in Imvepi) with the women and older adolescent girls who will implement the research activities in close coordination with GWI Project lead and with support of GWI staff and IRC WPE Technical Advisors.
  • During 3 months of data collection, be on-site (i.e. in the settlements where the study is being undertaken) at least 50% of the time to oversee WPE team research activities.
  • Monitor the implementation of the project by setting up a system to collect relevant data and contribute to project reporting requirements.
  • Organize and co-facilitate in-person meeting of the Uganda Technical Advisory Group (TAG) including periodic virtual check-ins (phone or Skype) 2-3 times.
  • Strengthen relationships with various stakeholders important to the project, including agencies engaged in distribution of material assistance, the Empowered Aid Technical Advisory Group members, government and UN stakeholders at Kampala and District/settlement levels, humanitarian actors, other researchers, etc.

    How to Apply

  • Please submit by email to UA-IRCJobs@rescue.org by 25th December, 2018 including your CV, a cover letter explaining your relevant experience, daily rate and start date availability. Please note your daily rate should cover your travel to Yumbe, accommodation, per diem etc. You will be required to use your own laptop and internet.

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