Research Officer

THE COMPANY:

ARK Group is a stabilisation and development company committed to empowering local communities and beneficiaries in conflict, post-conflict, and fragile areas through the provision of evidence-based programmatic interventions, policy recommendations, research and capacity-building. Working with and through local communities, we seek to understand and then mitigate the negative effects of conflict and instability, enhancing social social cohesion and resilience whist promoting human security, development and economic opportunity with a focus on the following UN Sustainable Development Goals – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, Reduced Inequalities, Gender Equality and Partnerships for the Goals.

ARK’s approach combines mixed-methods research with strong, consistent engagement with local communities and stakeholders to bridge the gap between the aspirations of local communities and the priorities of governmental and multilateral actors, thus informing the design and implementation of relevant interventions. Utilising innovative quantitative and qualitative methodologies to generate data, we deliver, monitor, evaluate and learn from our programming.

ARK believes in enabling local communities to realise their aspirations and potential through the participatory design of projects and programmes that address the drivers and causes of conflict and instability. We are responsive and accountable to the communities we work in because so many of our staff and partners are from those communities.

We value inclusive, academically-rigorous, ethically-driven research and participatory design. We are innovators and incubators, finding and nurturing solutions in cooperation with our partners, whilst seeking to bridge the gap between our donors and the communities they wish to support. To the traditional project management disciplines of Economy, Effectiveness Efficiency and Equity, we add Empathy.

With over twenty nationalities in the company, we embrace diversity, nurture opportunity and leverage the youthful enthusiasm of our staff, whilst drawing on the experience and expertise of our more senior staff. We believe in hard work, delivering results that everyone can be proud of, and caring for each other. Our staff are our biggest asset and their welfare is our first priority.

PURPOSE OF POSITION:

ARK is looking for a Research Officer to be based in our Beirut office. ARK’s Research Department conducts mixed-methods multi-disciplinary research and analysis. The department’s staff has a diverse range of thematic, geographic and methodological expertise and are supported by research consultants and data collection networks in multiple countries in the MENA region. The department’s staff – a highly dynamic, capable, multinational team – are empowered to work collaboratively with other members of the department, project and MEAL teams, to cross-pollinate skills, approaches and findings. The key purpose of the Beirut-based Research Officer role is to conduct mixed-methods research and lead or assist other members of the research team, depending on the specific requirements, in the production of research outputs and deliverables, under the supervision of the Head of Research and/or ARK’s Beirut-based Senior Research Consultant.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Contribute to the design of research project plans, deliverables and data collection tools, such as Focus Group Discussions, Key Informant Interviews, questionnaires, field surveys and other participatory research methods;
• Proactively engage in discussions and brainstorming sessions about potential research outputs and inform implementation activities;
• Participate in the training of enumerators and assist with supervision of data collectors and field researchers and associated protocols and quality control mechanisms;
• Clean and analyse primary and secondary data and draft thematic and analytical reports;
• Tabulate descriptive statistics and prepare charts and tables;
• Assist in sampling for survey research, often with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools;
• Edit and review research outputs and deliverables produced by other members of the team;
• Review and synthesize relevant scholarly and specialist material from academic journals, policy institutes/think tanks and international organisations;
• Maintain situational awareness by keeping abreast of relevant socio-political, economic and security developments in Lebanon, or other countries in the MENA region as required, which may directly or indirectly impact research, data collection and project implementation activities;

• Contribute to the preparation of project-related presentations and attend meetings and calls with research clients and/or other relevant stakeholders.

• Support the Head of Research in the development of relevant methodologies, guides, training materials and other documents for the Research Department;

• Develop a public profile as an expert and strengthen those credentials by publishing research and analysis in relevant peer reviewed journals and/or other specialized platforms, e.g. leading think tanks;

• Contribute to ARK’s business development strategy, including through meetings with potential clients, attending conferences, and engaging with relevant stakeholders, in close coordination with ARK’s Business Development Department and the Head of Research.

REQUIREMENTS:

Essential

• Right to work in Lebanon.
• Masters degree in the Social Sciences (Political Science, International Relations, Economics, Sociology, Social Work, Development, Conflict, Anthropology, Area Studies, or a related discipline);
• Minimum 3 years of experience utilising quantitative and qualitative methods;
• Strong interest and knowledge of Lebanon and the MENA region more broadly, with regards to themes such as community resilience, social cohesion, refugees and IDPs, armed conflict, governance, development, social unrest/protests, among others;
• Professional written English and spoken and written Arabic;
• Experience writing reports for a variety of target audiences and collating and visualising data
  • Strong analytical skills with the ability to collect, organize, analyse, and disseminate significant amounts of information with attention to detail and accuracy.
  • Advanced computer literacy/skills and familiarity with relevant software such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and data visualisation tools.
  • Intermediate-to-advanced capability with statistics software such as SPSS.
  • Commitment to the conduct of ethical research with human subjects.

Desirable

• Previous experience with/advanced knowledge of other MENA countries such as Jordan or Syria.
• Interest in and knowledge of data management processes and relevant software.

ARK Group places human dignity at the centre of its development and stabilisation work and is thus committed to the protection from sexual exploitation and abuse of children and adults. All ARK employees and related-personnel are expected to share this commitment, and only those who also uphold these values will be recruited as part of our team. This vacancy is therefore subject to a range of due diligence checks.