REACH Cash Assessment Officer in Nigeria

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.

We are currently looking for an Assessment Officer to support our REACH team in Nigeria on our Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI) within our Sectoral Team.

Department: REACH

Position: Assessment Officer

Contract duration: 6 months

Location: Maiduguri, Nigeria, with field travel, security permitting, as appropriate/desired

Starting Date: ASAP

COUNTRY PROFILE

In North East Nigeria (NEN), the ongoing crisis continues to have a profound impact on the population, leading to displacement both within and out of the region and high rates of unmet needs among internally displaced persons. The conflict additionally exacerbates prior unmet needs among non-displaced and host communities. While the primary driver of the conflict remains violent conflict, including ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province), JAS (Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad) and associated armed opposition groups (AOGs), other underlying factors, such as climate change, poverty, and disease outbreaks, exacerbate need and further complicate aid delivery.

Against the backdrop of this protracted crisis, the humanitarian situation in Northeast Nigeria remains one of the world’s most severe. Out of the Northeast’s Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe (BAY) state’s total population of 13 million people, an estimated 7.9 million are in need of humanitarian assistance.1 Borno state remains the epicentre of the crisis, containing over 80% of the region’s over 2 million internally displaced persons.2 Major incidents throughout 2019 have led to continued mass displacements and severely affected the provision of humanitarian assistance in the region.

The sudden influx of arrivals added strain to the existing infrastructure of the humanitarian community, resulting in high rates of unmet needs, overcrowding in camps, and exposure to protection risks for vulnerable groups. The congestion status of the camps has resulted in over 60% of IDPs residing outside of camps within host communities, further complicating service delivery.3 The intensity of needs within Maiduguri and the instability of the security situation in more remote regions has resulted in increased focus on populations in accessible areas; however, populations in the less accessible areas are presumed to have even greater needs.

These hard-to-reach areas are estimated to contain around 971,000 persons.4 Very little is known about the specific conditions and needs of the populations living in these areas, but they are presumed to have little mobility, limited essential services, and little or no access to humanitarian aid. The same threats that severely limit the ability of humanitarian actors to conduct thorough assessments also immediately affect the population living in the region. REACH’s Humanitarian Situation Monitoring (HSM) assessments in the Hard-to-Reach areas of Borno state have found that people in these inaccessible areas lack of access to basic services including health facilities, access to livelihoods and have decreased access to foods, access to improved water sources and access to humanitarian services.

As such, the needs for evidenced-based Humanitarian Aid and information on populations in both accessible and inaccessible areas is paramount to a coordinated response. REACH has been present in Nigeria since 2017, providing a growing evidence base for humanitarian response planning through sectoral, multi-sectoral and area-based assessments as well as information management services. In 2019, REACH is looking to continue to provide the humanitarian community with relevant and reliable information to strengthen strategic programming and needs-based targeting in Northeast Nigeria.

As an initiative deployed in many vulnerable and crisis-affected countries, REACH is deeply concerned by the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic may have on the millions of affected people we seek to serve. REACH is currently scaling up its programming in response to this pandemic, with the goal of identifying practical ways to inform humanitarian responses in the 20+ countries where we operate, including Nigeria.

POSITION PROFILE

IMPACT is seeking an experienced candidate, who has previously designed and implemented quantitative and qualitative assessments, to support REACH’s Cash and Markets portfolio on a Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI). The Assessment Officer will be responsible for directly liaising with the Cash Working Group (CWG) and stakeholders on matters related to the assessments, monitoring and general IM. Tasks will include supporting the full research cycle including consolidation of secondary data, selection of indicators, tool development, design of trainings, coordination of data collection, data analysis, and output production.

FUNCTIONS

The REACH Assessment Officer will fulfill the following functions: Under the supervision of the REACH Sectoral Senior Assessment Officer and Deputy Country Coordinator in Nigeria and of IMPACT’s HQ in Geneva, the REACH Assessment Officer is responsible for the research design and implementation of REACH-specific assessments, including their preparation, implementation and follow-up. S/he is also responsible for related logistics, partner coordination, reporting, and finance requirements and will be required to provide input to the strategic development of REACH in-country.

In his/her mission, the REACH Assessment Officer will be hosted by ACTED and will fall under the responsibility of ACTED’s Country Director and his/her delegates. S/he and will fully abide to ACTED’s Security, HR, Administration and Logistics rules and regulations.

Responsibilities

The REACH Assessment Officer’s responsibilities include:

• In coordination with the REACH Sectoral Senior Assessment Officer and Deputy Country Coordinator, designing and implementing REACH assessment strategy and research cycle;
• For each assessment, create ToRs, ensure that they are approved by management (including Geneva HQ);
• Facilitate engagement and feedback on research design with external partners, including clusters, IM focal points and agency representatives;
• Coordinate external partners and internal teams during data collection;
• Support in organizing and facilitating joint analysis workshops, as applicable; Ensure the writing of timely and accurate assessment reports andfactsheets, which comply with REACH’s guidelines;
• Supporting the development/revision of assessment / programme strategies, reports or new proposals;
• Development of assessment staff training matrices, and overseeing development of capacity in capital and field assessment staff;
• In coordination with REACH Sectoral Senior Assessment Officer and Deputy Country Coordinator, external representation of REACH with Donors, Partners and the wider Aid Community through clusters and sectoral working groups;
• Other tasks falling within REACH’s functions as requested by supervisors.

1. REACH Assessment Management and Coordination
Objective 1.1: Management of assessments process

The REACH Assessment Officer is responsible for designing the methodology and tools associated with each assessment, according to REACH requirements and principles. He/she will manage the planning, implementation, and follow-up of all REACH and projects specific assessment activities conducted in country. In operations in which REACH is a project component of a wider ACTED intervention, the REACH Assessment Officer is required to contribute to the preparation and follow up of the Project Management Framework and ensure that activities are properly coordinated and implemented as per the Project Cycle Management.

The REACH Assessment Officer shall manage logistics, financial, administration and HR processes directly related to REACH and liaise accordingly with the relevant ACTED counterpart. He/she is directly responsible for the implementation of proper ACTED FLAT procedures in all REACH interventions.

Objective 1.2: Implementation

The REACH Assessment Officer is responsible for contributing to the implementation of assessment projects, providing support to the development of assessment and database and GIS tools with the REACH team. This will specifically include, with the GIS/DB team, designing of data collection tools (household surveys, focus groups, and more) as well as the development, analysis and review of databases.

Objective 1.3: Grants Management

The REACH Assessment Officer shall provide technical support to the relevant ACTED department in terms of the preparation of new project proposals, development of programme strategies, implementation of project activities, and any other required REACH input to ACTED projects for added-value. The REACH Assessment Officer is responsible for the timely and accurate preparation of narrative and financial reports related to REACH activities in country through close liaison with the Project Development and Finance departments. The REACH Assessment Officer shall liaise with other REACH Officers in the region and throughout IMPACT Initiatives’ and ACTED’s networks to provide and receive support in the expansion of REACH globally.

2. REACH Reporting
Objective 2.1: Assessment Reporting

The REACH Assessment Officer is responsible for consolidating all analyses and conclusions from each assessment into REACH products such as factsheets, reports and briefs using standard formats. He/she will liaise with Geneva and in-country GIS/DB Officers in order to represent data in interactive web map or static map format, as relevant.

The REACH Assessment Officer is responsible for following the designated timeline of reports to be submitted to project partners and donors. He/she must ensure the writing of timely and accurate assessment reports and factsheets, ensuring the quality and accuracy of technical information provided as well as the confidentiality and protection of collected information. He/she will ensure that assessment reports contribute to aid coordination and planning and add to the general base of field knowledge in the country for all organisations working in the areas.

Objective 2.2: Programmatic Reporting

He/she will also manage the drafting of narrative reports and contribute to the development of financial reports through regular budgetary follow-up, in coordination with the REACH Sectoral Senior Assessment Officer and Deputy Country Coordinator. The REACH Assessment Officer will also store, organize and disseminate assessments, project documents and best practices among ACTED and IPs. He/she will coordinate timely and accurate reporting to IMPACT Headquarter

3. Team Coordination

Objective 3.1: Staff Coordination

The REACH Assessment Officer will liaise on day-to-day management of project and field staff both directly and remotely. He/she is expected to guide and direct REACH staff and prepare and follow up workplans related to the assessment. The REACH Assessment Officer will ensure that all field teams are comprehensively briefed on the objective, expected outputs and that the overall implementation strategy of any given activity is clearly understood. He/she will ensure that project/field staff are given training and complete all the necessary documentation in line with program requirements set by REACH.

Objective 3.2: Internal Capacity Development

The REACH Assessment Officer is responsible, in coordination with the REACH Sectoral Senior Assessment Officer and Deputy Country Coordinator, for the development and implementation of capacity training plans for REACH assessment and field team members and interested external stakeholders. He/ she is responsible for setting clear and personalized development goals, and designing training and mentorship plans to assist team members in professional development.

4. External Engagement

Representation of ACTED/REACH in cluster and multi-sector meetings/ technical working groups in country and follow up on technical issues identified in cluster meetings in other parts of the country. This specifically will include liaising with external partners to identify potential for data sets to be integrated into existing databases and mapped to support the coordination of the broader humanitarian community. The REACH Assessment Officer will further represent ACTED/REACH vis-a-vis current and potential donors and communicate relevant information to the ACTED Project Development Manager and Country Director.

He/she will participate in inter-NGO meetings and those of UN agencies and any other relevant intergovernmental institutions at the national or provincial level. More generally, the REACH Assessment Officer is expected to contribute to the creation of a positive image and overall credibility of the organisation, notably through the application of REACH mandate, ethics, values and stand-point with regard to other actors.

CONFIDENTIALITY

The REACH Assessment Officer 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 IMPACT and its partners, or collected during his/her assignment with IMPACT.

ACCOUNTABILITY TO COMMUNITIES AND BENEFICIARIES

The staff member is responsible for ensuring that all relations with the communities we work are conducted in a respectful and consultative manner. Due attention must be paid to ensuring that communities are adequately consulted and informed about REACH programme objectives, activities, beneficiary selection criteria, and methodologies. This is the responsibility of every REACH staff member.

REQUIREMENTS

• Excellent academic qualifications, including a Master degree in relevant discipline;
• Excellent quantitative and qualitative analytical skills;
• At least 2 years of relevant working experience in humanitarian settings;
• Excellent communication and drafting skills for reporting and external coordination;
• Ability to operate in a cross-cultural environment requiring flexibility;
• Ability to operate in a complex and challenging security environment;
• Fluency in English required;
• Advanced skills in Excel as well as SPSS, R or related statistical programming;
• Proven knowledge of the Microsoft Office Suite, to include Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Ability to work independently.

DESIRABLE

• Previous work on Cash & Markets;
• Knowledge of the humanitarian coordination structure.