Senior Assessment Officer – Cross Crisis Humanitarian Needs Analysis

Background on impact and reach

REACH was born in 2010 as a joint initiative of two International NGOs (IMPACT Initiatives and ACTED) and the United Nations Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). REACH’s purpose is to promote and facilitate the development of information products that enhance the humanitarian community’s decision making and planning capacity for emergency, reconstruction and development contexts. REACH facilitates information management for aid actors through three complementary services: (a) need and situation assessments facilitated by REACH teams; (b) situation analysis using satellite imagery; (c) provision of related database and (web)-mapping facilities and expertise.

IMPACT Initiatives is a humanitarian NGO, based in Geneva, Switzerland. The organisation manages several initiatives, including the REACH Initiative. The IMPACT team comprises specialists in data collection, management and analysis and GIS. IMPACT was launched at the initiative of ACTED, an international NGO whose headquarter is based in Paris and is present in thirty countries. The two organizations have a strong complementarity formalized in a global partnership, enabling IMPACT to benefit from ACTED’s operational support on its fields of intervention.

Background on Multi-sector needs assessment (MSNA)

Grand Bargain signatories required that humanitarian needs assessments be impartial, unbiased, comprehensive, context-sensitive, timely and up to date. This requirement was designed to inform more effective and equitable prioritization of need.

With the financial support from ECHO and USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), and co-funding from other country-based donors, REACH has supported the facilitation of independent, crisis-wide Multi-sectoral Needs Assessments (MSNAs) since 2016 to meet these criteria. MSNAs promote a shift in how humanitarian needs are measured and how response is planned, contributing to a change in the approach to planning, prioritization and decision making, by promoting needs-based, evidence-based and people-cantered decision making. The MSNA is a high visibility assessment, which is coordinated with humanitarian coordination structures and a range of stakeholders across responses to provide an evidence based for yearly humanitarian prioritization and planning.

We are currently looking for a Senior Assessment Officer to join the Global Humanitarian Planning and Prioritization Unit in HQ.

Title: Senior Assessment Officer (SAO)

Location: Geneva with travel (up to 20% field deployment)

Contract duration: Open-ended

Start date: ASAP

POSITION PROFILE

Under the supervision of the Global Humanitarian Planning and Prioritization unit (HPPU) manager, the SAO will lead and support on various initiatives within the Research & Development workstream of the HPPU related to inter-sectoral analysis as well as global and cross-crisis analysis using MSNA data collected at national level. The individual fulfilling this role will play a critical function in providing technical, programmatic, and strategic support to a high profile and impactful work stream on the global REACH team.

Functions and responsibilities

The REACH SAO will support the below core areas of work:

Supporting global Research & Development on inter-sectoral analysis

• MSNA cross-crisis analysis (piloting methods to produce comparative analysis of needs between humanitarian crises, using core indicators collected across 2023 country MSNAs):
  • Oversight of the direction of this sub-workstream
  • Implementation of key workflows, in collaboration with the R&D team, that can include data officer(s);
• In collaboration with the data officer(s), produce global MSNA analysis based on consolidation and standardization of large country datasets including related documentation on data collection and sampling methods across countries;
• Test various techniques to identify the most reliable and fit-for-purpose comparisons of needs on an absolute scale;
• Develop technical recommendations on the direction of REACH cross-crisis analysis methods, processes, and indicators based on the analysis conducted.

Informing global decision makers

• Produce global MSNA analysis products – consolidating country datasets, performing quantitative analysis to identify key global trends and findings from the data, and producing short briefs, dashboards, or other similar products for global audiences;
• Support communications and dissemination activities at global level – including website articles, social media, webinars, and other similar activities;
• Direct external engagement with global stakeholders, donors, and other REACH partners.

Country support and engagement

• Technical support and guidance to REACH MSNA country teams at various stages of the research cycle, including research design and sampling methodologies; data collection planning; data processing, cleaning, and management; quantitative data analysis; and the reporting and dissemination of inter-sectoral findings;
• Ad hoc surge support including country deployment up to 20% – this support may be provided remotely and/or through a field deployment, depending on the extent of support required and the specific needs of the country team.

Requirements

• Excellent academic qualifications, including Master’s degree in a relevant discipline (e.g. development, humanitarian studies, international relations, research methods, social sciences)
• At least 2 years of experience in the humanitarian sector and/or field-based roles in fragile or development contexts
• Experience with designing and implementing primary research, in particular large-scale quantitative surveys and/or humanitarian needs assessments
• Excellent communication and drafting skills for effective reporting
• Strong interpersonal skills, include good external engagement and coordination skills
• Familiarity with the humanitarian system and global humanitarian policy frameworks, in particular the Grand Bargain and the JIAF
• Willingness to engage in short term field deployments, including to complex and challenging security environments
• Ability to operate in a cross-cultural environment requiring flexibility
• A self-starter with proven ability to work independently
• Fluency in English required; proficiency in French or a second relevant language an asset
• Prior experience leading the design or implementation of MSNAs an asset
• Ability to operate InDesign, a strong plus
• Ability to operate R, or a related statistical programming an asset