Overview

In close coordination with the US Embassy and USAID, the goal of the USAID/OTI-funded Littorals Regional Initiative (LRI) is to support US foreign policy priorities to shore up stability and prevent violent extremism in the Littoral region, including Ghana.

Initial objectives include:

1. Rapidly delivering effective and relevant programming on the ground through targeted interventions that may be scaled up.
2. Informing and improving USG programming by piloting approaches and sharing reporting.
3. Providing rapid response capacity, from hiring STTAs to quick response activities, in the event of a crisis or opportunity.

Position Summary:
The Security & Conflict Analyst collects, analyzes, and reports on complex information related to the social, political and security context prevailing in five West Africa coastal countries: Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, and Togo. The Security Analyst will product periodic reports (weekly or bi-weekly) based on open-source data collection as well as primary data collected with partners operating at the community, regional and national level. The Security & Conflict Analyst must demonstrate superior written and oral communication skills in English and French, be highly motivated and capable of rapidly producing relevant analyses.

Reporting & Supervision

The Security & Conflict Analyst reports to the MEL Manager and works in close collaboration with all members of the Senior Management Team, as well as the Security Manager. The Security & Conflict Analyst should expect significant direct interactions and requests for information directly from USAID and other US Government staff. The position is based in Accra, with travel expected across Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, and Togo, including the northern border areas of these countries.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Collect and analyze opensource data available in media, security sources as well as program activities (activity notes, final evaluation reports, background sections of grant write-ups).
• Communicate daily with the program’s network of partners operating at the community, regional and national level to obtain primary data on security incidents, local context, and reactions by major stakeholders.
• Maintain a database of security incidents and other significant developments related to border security, chieftaincy conflicts, banditry, violent extremist groups, and other issues of interest.
• Produce periodic reports (weekly or bi-weekly), as well as ad hoc reports detailing the social, political and security situation in the program’s area of intervention.
• Provide support to activity management teams to guide activity design and implementation processes.
• Collaborate with the Analysis, Learning and Reporting team members on drafting of periodic, semi-annual and ad-hoc reports as it relates to analytical, research pieces.
• Monitor the geographic footprint of the program’s activities to ensure that it stays relevant.
• Participate in weekly implementation meetings to determine priority tasks and provide support as necessary.
• Represent the program in meetings with USAID, Host Country Governments, civil society organizations and other stakeholders.
• In collaboration with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager, develop and supervise the implementation of innovative data collection techniques and tools, including working with external service providers to develop research and learning activities.
• At the request of USAID/OTI and the senior management team, conduct desk reviews or lead field research encompassing large, difficult and diverse problem sets.
• Contribute to cluster-level or program-level evaluations.
• Any other task at the request of the senior management team.
• Qualifications
• Advanced university degree in social sciences, economics, journalism, security studies or related field is required.
• Five years of general work experience and three years specific work experience required.
• Superior written and oral communication skills in English and French.
• Proficiency at using Microsoft office software: MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc. is required.
• Qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis skills and experience are required.
• Attention to detail and ability to follow up on tasks to completion is required.
• Ability to work autonomously and take initiative to generate valuable findings and communicate them in a timely manner.
• Ability to efficiently create and send reports during critical times or deadlines.
• Prior work experience with USAID or US Government funded projects is desirable.
• Prior work experience with West African security forces is desirable.
• Experience working in a conflict environment is a plus.
• Must be a citizen of an ECOWAS member state.

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