Assessment Officer (Emergency Team)

Assignment

REACH Initiative is a unique humanitarian NGO, which provides research, data, and analysis to support more effective humanitarian intervention in crisis contexts. By providing precise and rigorous information on the humanitarian situation of crisis-affected populations in Ukraine, REACH informs better aid delivery and more transparent and reliable decision making. In Ukraine, REACH is hosted by our sister organisation, ACTED.

IMPACT is seeking an Assessment Officer (AO) to support the Emergency Team in conducting multi-sectoral rapid needs assessments in hard to reach, frontline and newly accessible areas of Ukraine. This small team is a new initiative for REACH in Ukraine, and therefore will require a proactive, creative candidate to support its activities. The AO will support the team in establishing and maintaining a network of partners and key informants, coordinate field activities by developing movement plans for field staff, support on the development of assessment methodologies, overseeing data collection, collect primary data by interviewing key informants and conducting focus group discussions, and support the assessment team in drafting of assessment reports.

The AO may be asked to present findings of these assessments and engage externally with senior staff from the UN, National NGOs, and International NGOs to ensure findings are received and understood by key stakeholders. Finally, the Emergency Team aims to develop and rapidly deploy ad-hoc assessment tools in response to critical events with high humanitarian needs, such as mass population movements, natural or environmental disasters. The AO will be expected to support the Emergency Team in quickly responding to such situations by developing, and implementing the necessary assessment methodologies.

This position is based in Dnipro, Ukraine, with regular travel throughout the North, East and South of the country, including conflict-affected areas in Donetska and Khersonska oblasts. As such, the ideal candidate will be someone comfortable operating in high-security contexts and with a degree of autonomy and decision-making while in the field.

FUNCTIONS

The Assessment Officer will be responsible for the following tasks:

1. Assessment preparation and planning

• Keep abreast of the latest developments of the war that may impact humanitarian needs in specific areas, including recent strikes, planned offensives, damage to critical infrastructure etc.
• Establish and maintain a network with relevant local authorities and other actors to obtain secondary data that can be used both in preparation for assessments and for triangulation of primary data.
• Drafting data collection instruments and data analysis plans in line with ACTED tools and templates.
• Consulting external stakeholders such as UN partners, National and International NGOs to ensure instruments are of a high quality, relevant and field-ready.
• Preparing materials for enumerator training sessions, and focus groups discussions with local communities.
• Prepare movement plans and movement requests for field activities, and obtain all necessary security clearances from ACTED Security and Logistics teams in a timely manner, as well as the IMPACT Field teams.
• Translate questionnaires and interview guides or check versions for accuracy.

2. Research cycle management and data collection activities

• Gather primary data by conducting interviews with Key Informants (KIs) such as local authorities, response actors, school teachers or hospital workers.
• Gather primary data collection by conducting Focus Groups Discussions (FGDs) with affected communities in areas close to the frontline, those newly liberated, or otherwise affected by high levels of humanitarian need.
• Coordinate, with the support of the Field Manager and Field Officers, the implementation of Rapid Needs Assessments (RNAs) that include household-level data collection.
• Conducting to necessary enumerator training sessions in preparation for field activities.
• Ensuring overall quality of data and adherence to standard ACTED processes.

3. Output production

• Conduct analysis of primary data and secondary data.
• Support the drafting of English language short-form reports, presentations and other products on assessments results.
• Support on the development of translations of English-language reports into Ukrainian and Russian.
• Any additional tasks as required by the Senior Research Manager of the Emergency Team.

4. Dissemination

• Support the continued development of a network of local authorities and response actors operating in conflict-affected areas. This network is both a key source of information during assessments and a key audience for translated assessment reports in Ukrainian and Russian.
• Regularly check in with local partners, including authorities, to gather feedback on reports produced by the Emergency Team and suggest adjustments as needed to the team.

Perform other duties and responsibilities as required and necessary within the area of responsibility.

Qualifications

Education

University level education in social sciences, political sciences, research or relevant field

Technical requirements:

• At least 2 years of progressively responsible experience in data collection and/or report writing and or drafting of analytical products
• Excellent presentation skills
• At least 1 year of experience in working with local authorities and NGOs in humanitarian/development context
• Prior professional experience with Adobe products (InDesign in particular) preferred
• Experience in drafting short-form English-language reports or documents with the intention to inform or advocate.
• Strong skills in Microsoft Office suite including Excel and Power Point skills
• Understanding and familiarity with structures of datasets and frequency tables
• Previous experience in managing complex professional relationships
• Fluency in Ukrainian and Russian
• Good command of English (at least Intermediate level B1)

Additional capacities

• Good organizational, communication and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent networking skills.
• Ability to think creatively in terms of process development and optimization.
• Flexibility and adaptability to ever-changing needs and responsibilities.
• Ability to work independently.
• Attention to detail.
• Excellent critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Conditions

• Salary defined by the ACTED salary grid; educational level, expertise, hardship, security, and performance.
• Cosy office in the central part of the city.
• Flexible working hours.
• Medical insurance after 3 months of work.

REACH believes investing in each staff is a critical part of our work. As a member of the team, you will receive training and the opportunity to participate in learning and development.

Job is available in Dnipro.

Starting date: ASAP