Country: Ethiopia

Organization: Johns Hopkins University

Closing date: 23 Dec 2021

Background:

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) eases suffering and provides assistance to people in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS has been working in Ethiopia for nearly 60 years, responding to natural and man-made disasters affecting Ethiopia's most vulnerable communities. Moving beyond emergency response, CRS' disaster mitigation and recovery projects in drought and flood-prone areas have rebuilt individual and community assets through non-food aid in the form of agriculture, livestock, health, nutrition, and water and sanitation assistance. With funding from USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), CRS anticipates continuing work in Ethiopia in the coming years and is planning to implement two multi-year programs, the Joint Emergency Operation (JEOP) food assistance program and Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA).

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health (JHSPH) will serve as the learning partner for both the JEOP and RFSA and support CRS and consortium members in developing and implementing learning agendas for both programs that seek to deepen the impact of emergency food security programming across the country and promote evidenced-informed programming. JHSPH works closely with CRS and other program partners throughout the RFSA and JEOP to ensure high quality research initiatives that support program success.

JEOP is an emergency food assistance mechanism which targets transitory food insecure households through a participant targeting process led by the Government of Ethiopia’s (GoE) National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC). JEOP complements emergency needs outlined in the GoE’s Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) and has been operational for a decade with a caseload that fluctuates from 1.5 to over 6 million people annually. Led by CRS, JEOP consortium includes CARE, Food for the Hungry Ethiopia (FHE), Organization for Rehabilitation and Development in Amhara (ORDA), Relief Society of Tigray (REST), and World Vision Ethiopia (WV); CRS implements through local Catholic Church partners, Hararghe Catholic Secretariat (HCS) and Meki Catholic Secretariat (MCS). CRS and partners are preparing for another 5-year phase of JEOP implementation, with programming planned across woredas in Amhara Oromia, SNNPR, Sidama, Tigray and Dire dawa City Administration.

RFSA is a five-year multisectoral development activity that aims to improve food security of vulnerable households in targeted Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) communities, contributing to a sustained reduction in rural poverty through multisectoral programming in agriculture, livelihoods, Nutrition, Health, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Natural resource management, and system strengthening interventions. The RFSA will be implemented by a CRS-led consortium including Johns Hopkins University, School of Public Health (JHSPH), Whiz Kids, Harage Catholic Secretariat (HCS), Center for Creative Learning (CCL), Global Sustainable Aid Project (GSAP), Viamo, and Sweet Sense. The RFSA is divided into two phases: 1) The Refinement Phase, designed for research, testing approaches, and refining the theory of change; and 2) The Implementation Phase, which is designed to adaptively implement programming activities and continue with research and pilot initiatives from Phase 1

Job Summary

Under the leadership and guidance of Baltimore-based JHSPH faculty, the Research Coordinator will provide technical guidance and implementation support to the JEOP and RFSA research and learning activities. This will include engagement in a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research activities, ranging from formative research and refinement of the Theory of Change (ToC), design of quantitative impact evaluations and mixed-methods research focused on different RFSA and JEOP interventions, data collection oversight, data management analysis and interpretation and presentation of findings. The Research Coordinator will be responsible for day-to-day oversight of JEOP and RFSA learning activities, including coordination of research staff, and will work closely with Deputy Chief of Party – MEAL and other CRS technical staff to ensure that program delivery strategies are evidence informed with aim of maximizing the effectiveness and innovation of CRS Ethiopia programming.

The position is based at the CRS Addis Ababa Office, with ~40% travel to JEOP and RFSA project sites.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate the support provided by JHSPH and national research institutions, to RFSA and JEOP to ensure high quality research is designed and implemented in line with the RFSA and JEOP learning agendas, seeking to strengthen linkages and layer learning between the two programs.
• Contribute to the development of JEOP and RFSA learning activities and agendas, including identification of research questions and development of rigorous study designs that are feasible to implement within the context of ongoing programming. Provide support in drafting research plans, qualitative and quantitative data collection tools and in securing local ethical and administrative approvals for learning agenda activities as needed.
• Develop research implementation plans to ensure timely high quality data collection that is in accordance with research protocols and appropriately aligned with program implementation across the different JEOP and RFSA locations. This includes logistics and planning, pilot testing and refinement of data collection tools and procedures, training and oversight of data collectors, interface with MEAL team for timely data sharing, real-time data quality review, and coordination with CRS MEAL colleagues on use of electronic data collection platforms and sharing MEAL data to feed into research and learning activities.
• Coordinate progress reviews, the tracking and reviewing of the JEOP and RFSA learning activities and support dissemination of findings within the consortium, including data analysis (descriptive statistics), developing, and producing summaries and briefing documents to inform partners of learning objectives and progress towards objectives as well as key findings that are relevant to program delivery.
• Support research and learning agenda dissemination to external audiences, including collaboration on drafting of briefing sheets, reports, and peer review journal articles as well as preparation of PowerPoint slides for presentations. Establish and maintain relationships with donors, peer organizations, research, and other institutions to help facilitate research uptake, including participation and presentations in (inter)national forums to collect and share best practices and promote the work of the two consortiums.

Job Requirements

Required Qualifications

• A master's degree or higher in public health, development, statistics, nutrition, applied sociology, anthropology, or other relevant subjects
• At least five years relevant and progressively increasing field experience in research, design and evaluation, in development and/or humanitarian settings, preferably 1) including both university/research institution and international non-governmental organization (iNGO) or United Nations experience; and 2) experience working in the areas of food security, cash transfers or safety net programs or resilience
• Strong conceptual knowledge about theories of change, logic models, food, and nutrition security indicators, monitoring and evaluation, data quality assurance, data utilization, gender and protection integration into monitoring and evaluation
• Demonstrated leadership skills and prior experience managing quantitative data collection, with a preference for candidates that also have experience managing qualitative or mixed-methods research. Strong data management skills, including ability to oversee and manage data electronic data collection and conduct real-time data quality reviews
• Ability to conduct descriptive statistical analysis, including proficiency in at least one statistical platform (R Studio, STATA, SPSS), as well as and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint)
• Ability to interpret research findings and present them in a variety of formats for translation into actionable programming within the consortium and for external stakeholders
• Proven ability to communicate successfully through writing and speaking, with fluency in English and Amharic.
• Experience collaborating with diverse stakeholders and the ability to develop strategic partnerships with local organizations, including tailor messaging to cultivate interest and enthusiasm around key themes. Experience in mentoring, coaching, facilitation, and training applying adult learning principles and practices
• Ability to take initiative, work autonomously, and achieve high quality results via the application of strong critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills and good relationship management and communication skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Tigrigna and/or Oromifa language ability
• Prior qualitative research experience, including design, implementation and/or analysis and synthesis
• Experience in humanitarian program research and evaluation, including peer-reviewed journal publications from these contexts or on related subjects of nutrition, food security, cash transfers, livelihoods, recovery and/or resilience

How to apply

You should fill the application form through the link below:**

Collaboration Learning and Adaptation Lead position: CLICK HERE and attach your up-to-date CV on / before the application deadline December 23, 2021.

NB: You will be contacted only if selected for written exam/interview. Phone solicitations will not be accepted. These job opportunities are open to Ethiopian nationals only. CRS requires its staff to treat all people with dignity and respect and to actively prevent harassment, abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking.

**

** Qualified women are highly encouraged to apply