Researcher: Indigenous inclusion for informed Disaster Risk Reduction decision-making in Bolivia Terms of reference

Location: Bolivia (Amazon and Highlands)

Travel: To locations to be confirmed; non-travel time will be home-based

Reporting to: CLEAR Global Project Officer

Timeframe: June-Dec 2024, with possibility of extension (up to 47 FTE days total)

CLEAR Global is an equal opportunity employer, committed to having a diverse team where individuals of all backgrounds collaborate and learn from one another. We believe we can be most effective with diverse experience and expertise in our team. We recruit on merit, actively seek diverse applicant pools and encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, age, gender identity and expression, national origin, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, marital or parental status, or sexual orientation, and welcome all types of diversity.

Background

CLEAR Global is looking for a researcher to lead research in partnership with Practical Action for the project “Indigenous inclusion for informed Disaster Risk Reduction decision-making in Bolivia”.

The project will build on the Lloyd’s Register Foundation 2021 World Risk Poll data. This data shows that climate-related weather hazards are a serious concern in Latin America, with 80% of people surveyed in Latin America and the Caribbean concerned about experiencing serious harm from severe weather. While Indigenous people constitute 48% of Bolivia’s population, they are largely excluded from data that informs policymaking. Despite playing a crucial role in disaster response, they lack participation in formal decision-making processes, resulting in uninformed risk reduction strategies. Informed by the insights of the World Risk Poll data, this project aims to integrate Indigenous knowledge into datasets, tailor communications to diverse groups, and empower Indigenous communities in disaster management and policymaking, focussing on Early Warning Systems and Disaster Risk Reduction initiatives.

Alongside its project partners, CLEAR Global will collaborate with Indigenous communities in Bolivia, prospectively the Tacana and Tsimane Moseten in the Amazon and the Aymara in the Highlands. The project will comprise three stages. The researcher will be engaged in the first stage of the project, which comprises activities including workshops to co-produce and validate Indigenous knowledge on climate change and promote its integration into formal plans and procedures, a sociolinguistic assessment to understand communication needs, a development of a glossary of DRR/EWS terms, and an advocacy plan for Indigenous integration into DRR. This will inform subsequent project stages to include training development for Indigenous leaders, collaborative mapping activities, co-design of risk management plans, assessment of risk communication strategies, language mapping, and integration of findings into Lloyd’s Risk Poll dataset.

The role

The researcher will lead CLEAR Global’s contribution to the research study under this project, including fieldwork with the Tacana, Tsimane Moseten, and Aymara communities in Bolivia. They will work with remote support from CLEAR Global’s project team and Practical Action’s Bolivia office and coordinating staff, and in collaboration with Practical Action’s research lead.

The research will include key informant interviews and focus group discussions with community members to understand the conceptualization of risk, climate change and adaptation in local languages and communication needs around climate change and weather-related emergencies among the participating communities. A short glossary of key terms will be developed in relevant Indigenous languages, with the consultant developing the tools for and facilitating focus group discussions to test and validate this terminology. The researcher will produce a written overview of their findings to include recommendations to inform further phases of the project.

Responsibilities

• In collaboration with Practical Action, CLEAR Global and project partners, develop KII/FGD guides and other relevant tools for the assessment in line with CLEAR Global’s ethical research standards. This will include tools for KIIs and FGDs to understand communication needs and terminology testing FGDs.
• Collaborate with Practical Action to identify key informants, focus group participants and set up KIIs/FGDs
• Prepare and train interpreters who will support in-person activities and possibly research assistants provided by project partners
• Conduct key informant interviews and focus group discussions to understand communication challenges and needs
• Conduct focus group discussions to test comprehension of terminology in the domain of disaster risk reduction and/or early warning systems
• Analyze and develop a summary of findings and recommendations, in English, and finalize it in consultation with CLEAR Global and Practical Action

Deliverables

• Preliminary desk review
• A complete methodology and toolkit for all components of the research, agreed and signed off by CLEAR Global
• Audio files of all data collected during the assessment, complete with signed consent forms
• Coded data set in Dedoose (access provided by CLEAR Global). Analysis and clear summary of findings and recommendations, and short guidance including terminology, in English
• Presentation of findings for validation workshop(s), and a summary of workshop outcomes
• Summary of findings for relay to research participants and project partners
• Final report of the findings, in English

Qualifications and experience required

• Social science background, at least to the level of Masters studies, preferably specializing in language-related or anthropological study
• Experience of leading research (design, implementation and analysis) with Indigenous communities, ideally in Bolivia or other Latin American contexts
• Experience of research on topics relating to climate change, disaster risk reduction, or early warning systems
• Demonstrated understanding of language barriers in relation to climate change, communication for development, or other humanitarian or development issues
• Experience of recruiting, training and managing research teams, including interpreters
• Experience of liaising with national government authorities in low- and middle-income countries and with international development organizations; an understanding of international aid systems and politics considered a plus
• Strong information management skills and a track record of producing analysis clearly grounded in original data
• Demonstrable understanding of ethical data collection and data protection practices
• Excellent writing skills in English with a capacity for plain-language communication
• Good communication skills in Spanish; knowledge of one or more Indigenous languages of Bolivia considered a plus
• Mature and collaborative personality, self-starter, flexible and committed

Terms and conditions

Payments will be made as follows:

• An advance of 20% of the total contract value within 30 days of the signature of the contract
• Interim payments based on deliverables
• A final installment of 20% of the total contract value payable on satisfactory completion of the work and presentation of all deliverables.

In addition, CLEAR Global will cover the following agreed costs from the project budget:

• Return travel to Bolivia from the researcher’s home base, and domestic travel and associated costs, including visa fees
• Per diems and accommodation costs in Bolivia
• Interpretation support, as required

The researcher will be expected to provide documented evidence of their own insurance cover. The researcher will be expected to provide their own equipment and supplies (laptop, mobile phone, any recording equipment, etc.).

The researcher will be briefed on security management plans if relevant and must sign to confirm their acceptance of rules.

How to apply

CLEAR Global will accept offers from individual consultants and consulting firms.

To apply for this consultancy please send the following documents:

1- A technical and financial offer to include:

• a brief description (no more than two sides of A4) of how you would tackle this role
• a proposed work plan (including the number of days required for each task)
• a financial offer, specifying daily fees. Please also state your daily fee in the ‘Desired Salary’ field in the application.

2- Curriculum vitae highlighting experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) and at least three professional references.

3- Examples of relevant similar work to review are welcome.

Please upload the technical and financial offer as one document under “cover letter” and present the CV(s) of the expert(s) proposed in one document under “CV”.

About CLEAR Global

CLEAR Global helps people get vital information, and be heard, whatever language they speak. We believe that everyone has the right to give and receive information in a language and format they understand. We work with nonprofit partners and a global community of language professionals to build local language translation capacity, and raise awareness of language barriers. Our network of over 100,000 community members translate millions of words of life-saving and life-changing information a year.

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CLEAR Global employees and volunteers passionately believe in the value of this work and take personal responsibility for achieving the mission. CLEAR Global’s mission and organizational spirit embody the core values established in its strategic framework:

• Excellence: In communicating humanitarian information in the right language, CLEAR Global is a leader in the translation industry and in the non-profit sector.
• Integrity: In believing that every person, whether it’s the people who we serve, our volunteers or our staff, has value, deserves respect and has inherent dignity.
• Empowerment: In using language to empower people around the world to control their own development and destiny.
• Innovation: In recognizing and celebrating the power of innovation to address humanitarian and crisis issues around the world.
• Sustainability: In recognizing that meeting our mission requires the establishment and maintenance of a solid financial and organizational infrastructure.
• Tolerance: In that our staff and volunteers value each other, our partners and our end users, create a supportive work environment, and conduct themselves professionally at all times.