Assessment Officer – Programme Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning in DRC

BACKGROUND ON IMPACT

IMPACT Initiatives is a think-and-do-tank based in Geneva, Switzerland, which specialises in data collection, management and analysis in order to support humanitarian and development action thought its initiatives AGORA, PANDA and REACH. IMPACT is a sister organization of ACTED, an international NGO whose headquarter is based in Paris and which is present in thirty countries. The two organizations have a strong complementarity formalized in a global partnership, which allows IMPACT to benefit from ACTED’s operational support on its countries of intervention.

PANDA is IMPACT’s operational programme which aims to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and efficacy of humanitarian and development interventions, by informing partners’ entire program cycle, including design, assessments, monitoring and evaluation. Through PANDA, IMPACT directly engages with stakeholders of all kinds to provide consultative services aimed at improving and understanding the outcomes of clients’ actions. These bilateral relationships, supported by our extensive global network of technical, contextual and thematic humanitarian experts, are typically constructed as an extension of our established presence in existing countries of operations. Most PANDA activities are operationalised through existing networks of staff, partners and support structures in-country, and result in outputs that are the intellectual property of our clients.

PANDA works closely with partners to provide consulting services to drive programme and portfolio understanding and strategy development at the country, regional and global levels. Since 2011, IMPACT has implemented more than 90 PANDA projects in more than 20 countries for more than 30 major donors.

We are currently looking for a PANDA Assessment Officer to support our team in DRC.

Position: PANDA Assessment Officer

Contract duration: 6 months

Location: Goma, DRC

Start Date: ASAP

COUNTRY PROFILE

Since 2016, REACH – currently present in Kinshasa, Goma, Bukavu and Kalemie – has been providing assessment, information management and mapping services to inform humanitarian planning in the DRC. IMPACT, through its REACH Initiative, has considerably scaled up its multi-sectorial assessment portfolio in recent months, notably through the set-up of Humanitarian Situation Monitoring (HSM) activities in Tanganyika and South Kivu province since mid-2020, providing response actors with regular monitoring of the evolution of the humanitarian situation in a highly fluid context. Ensuring data is available for displaced populations living in host community settings and those in camps alike, IMPACT has also rolled out multi-sectorial camp profiling in Ituri and other provinces. Linked with HSM activities, IMPACT also maintains a rapid assessment capacity allowing on the ground verification assessment of alerts by partners or those flagged by HSM with results feeding into the rapid response mechanism (RRM).

IMPACT, through REACH, has supported the RRM through the re-design of the new multi-sectorial rapid assessment toolbox, designed and validated in close collaboration with the inter-cluster at national level and OCHA. Under its sectorial portfolio, the DRC mission is supporting the cluster system with information management activities through the secondment of two information management officers to the Food Security and Livelihoods (FSL) and Shelter/NFI Clusters and provides stand-by analytical support to OCHA. Given the importance of cash as a response modality in the rapid response system in DRC, REACH and partners, and closely coordinated with the CWG, have also provided joint market analysis products in recent months. All publicly available information products produced by the DRC mission can be accessed on the REACH Resource Centre.

The DRC continues to face an acute and complex humanitarian crisis. Recurrent conflicts in provinces in the eastern part of the country, health shocks and natural disasters, as well as chronic poverty suffered by a large part of the population are all reasons for the sustained high level of humanitarian needs. According to the Humanitarian Needs Overview 2020, 15.6 million people (including 5.01 million displaced persons) in DRC are in need of humanitarian assistance.

In light of this fluid context, in particular in provinces in eastern DRC, where new shocks regularly lead to shifting needs and population movement, emergency programming including through rapid response mechanisms remain a much-needed response modality to save lives and protect livelihoods. Reflective of this, addressing the escalating humanitarian crisis has remained amongst aid actors’ top priorities. As found in an ODI publication, in recent years cash and voucher programmes as response modalities have increased in popularity in the DRC humanitarian response. However, donors face numerous challenges in obtaining accurate, reliable and unbiased information related to their investments in DRC due to the scale of the response, the differences across population groups, and local dynamics. More broadly, there is a lack of independent verification of large-scale humanitarian interventions to ensure quality, appropriate design, and impact on affected communities. Moreover, humanitarian assistance delivered to vulnerable populations in DRC, including through rapid response mechanisms and cash modalities, suffered from various aid integrity risks, as found in the Humanitarian Country Team and Joint Anti‐Fraud Taskforce-commissioned Operational Review, published in July 2020. According to the review as well as exposed fraud within the rapid response mechanism in 2019, issues surrounding aid integrity were found to be well-established in the DRC humanitarian response.

Third Party Monitoring (TPM) is referenced as one of the potential avenues mitigating the challenges of monitoring and evaluating programme implementation in high-risk contexts. As found in the 2020 Operational Review, little TPM capacity exists to date in DRC which, in light of the scale of aid integrity issues revealed in DRC, would help provide a critical independent oversight of programmes. With particularly high risks associated with cash-based intervention modalities and rapid response mechanisms, TPM of cash and emergency assistance appears to be of particular importance in the DRC to provide an objective, external verification of aid delivery and ensure clear accountability and analysis of good practices.

POSITION PROFILE

IMPACT’s PANDA programme is in the process of being contracted by a major international donor to establish a year-long pilot of Third-Party Monitoring activities focused on emergency food, cash and voucher assistance delivered by a number of international NGOs and UN Agencies. To provide accurate, timely and light-touch verification of these partners’ emergency programs, PANDA will implement a series of independent verification activities through a three-fold approach entailing secondary data review, field verification visits and flash reporting. Drawing on mixed-methods data collection, this approach will allow verification of partners’ achievements against agreed upon outputs and outcomes, as well as appraisal of programme implementation, centred around accountability to beneficiaries and programmatic improvements.

IMPACT is seeking an experienced candidate, who has previously designed and implemented mixed-methods assessments – ideally in a humanitarian setting. The candidate should be capable of synthesizing qualitative, quantitative, and geospatial information to write clear, engaging reports conveying the results of the monitoring assessments. The candidate should also be comfortable representing IMPACT in meetings and able to coordinate and liaise with external partners on technical issues. The ideal candidate will be familiar with emergency food, cash and voucher distribution operations in a humanitarian setting, and preferably have some operational experience with UN Agencies or large NGOs.

FUNCTIONS

Under the supervision of the IMPACT Research Manager & Country Coordinator in DRC and of IMPACT’s HQ in Geneva, this IMPACT Assessment Officer will be responsible for the management and implementation of TPM e evaluations, verifications and assessments. S/he will be responsible for ongoing data analysis and coordination with IMPACT/DRC’s field teams, database officers, and GIS officers to produce to support with the production of outputs.

RESPONSIBILITIES

o Assessment Preparation and Planning:

• Ensuring that all of the assessment activities are planned in line with relevant project and program objectives and are in line with IMPACT’s research cycle and other relevant guidelines;
• Keep track of progress and delays of all assigned assessment throughout the research cycle. Ensure that delays or identified challenges for specific assessments are reported in a timely manner;
• Ensure relevant stakeholders and partners are engaged in assessment design and planning.

o Data collection and analysis

• Ensuring correct implementation of all stages of relevant data collection exercises in line with agreed TORs, including tool design, coordination of data collection with partners and field team, data cleaning and data analysis.
• Ensure logistics, financial, administration, and HR processes directly related to data collection activities have been appropriately implemented and coordinated with the relevant ACTED departments;
• Ensure regular situation updates on data collection have been produced and circulated to the IMPACT Research Manager. Provide support and follow up on identified challenges during the data collection process. Ensure that delays or identified challenges for specific assessments are reported in writing and orally in a timely manner.
• Ensure that products accurately reflect the information collected and that information is conveyed in a way that maximizes their impact in line with their intended use;
• Liaise with relevant GIS colleagues to ensure effective spatial representation of research findings in maps or interactive web-portals, as relevant;
• Follow the designated timeline of reports to be submitted to project partners and donors. Ensure that delays or identified challenges for specific assessments are reported in writing and orally in a timely manner;

o Product dissemination and evaluation

• Ensure that all datasets, analysis and written products are validated by IMPACT HQ before external release.
• Ensure that lessons learned are gathered and documented throughout the life of the research cycle

o External relations

• In coordination with the IMPACT Research Manager and the IMPACT Country Coordinator in DRC, ensure that relevant partners are consulted and involved at all stages of research cycle: assessment preparation; data collection; data analysis; review of research products; product dissemination; and lessons learnt;
• After validation by the line manager, represent IMPACT in relevant meetings;
• After validation by line manager, present research findings to relevant third parties in order to enhance their use and impact;
• Ensure that all partner engagement and all external relations are clearly documented and communicated with the line manager and relevant colleagues.

CONFIDENTIALITY

The AO will maintain the strictest confidentiality on all data collected and related processes. He/she will actively take measures to prevent the unauthorized sharing of any information and data belonging to or collected during his/her assignment.

REQUIREMENTS

• Excellent academic qualifications, including a Master degree in international development, development economics, or another relevant discipline;
• At least 1.5 years of relevant working experience in humanitarian, development or related settings such as research, evaluation, assessments and programmes;
• Familiarity third party monitoring highly desirable;
• Experience coordinating interagency assessments or monitoring activities, including survey tool design and implementation
• Excellent analytical skills;
• Excellent communication and drafting skills for effective reporting and coordination;
• Ability to operate in a cross-cultural environment requiring flexibility and ability to work remotely with colleagues and partners;
• Past experience in the region is desirable;
• Fluency in French required; English desirable;
• Ability to operate with Microsoft Word, Excel and Project Management Software, as well as Adobe Creative Suite Products such as Adobe InDesign and Illustrator;
• Skills in SPSS and/or R, STATA or other statistical analysis software an advantage;
• Ability to take ownership over assigned tasks, work independently and be a dynamic team player.

CONDITIONS

• Salary defined by the IMPACT salary grid; educational level, expertise, hardship, security, and performance are considered for pay bonus
• Additional monthly living allowance provided in country by IMPACT’s partner ACTED
• Food and lodging provided at the organization’s guesthouse/or housing allowance (depending on contract length and country of assignment)
• Transportation costs covered, including additional return ticket + luggage allowance
• Provision of medical, life and repatriation insurance + retirement package