Senior Research Specialist 224 views2 applications

About the Global Women’s Institute (GWI)

The Global Women’s Institute at the George Washington University (GWU) is a university-wide initiative dedicated to improving gender equality and supporting the rights of women and girls worldwide. The Institute’s action-oriented research spans from prevalence studies that generate rigorous evidence on the magnitude of gender-based violence (GBV) to evaluations that measure the effectiveness of interventions preventing and responding to this violence. With a particular expertise in conducting research on GBV during conflict and post conflict periods, GWI documents experiences of women and girls during times of crises and generate evidence on what works to reduce the violence they experience. By strengthening the global knowledge base on gender issues and being a catalyst for change, GWI aims to make a difference in the lives of women in the US and around the world.

About the International Rescue Committee (IRC)

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) manages projects in over 40 countries with an annual revenue of over $700 million. The IRC supports communities in transition to help people whose lives and livelihoods are destroyed by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. The IRC works in five different critical outcome areas, including economic wellbeing, education, health, power and safety, with each outcome maintaining a strong gender component. Each outcome area promotes high-impact and cost-effective solutions to help people affected by crisis. The IRC began implementing programs in northern Uganda in 1998 in response to mass displacement and devastation wrought by the rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army. In 2002, the IRC expanded to the remote, conflict-affected region of Karamoja with programs focused on improving outcomes in health, nutrition, and livelihoods. In 2011, began working with refugees in Kampala and Kiryandongo settlement and scaled up its response to refugees arriving in the West Nile region in 2016. The IRC currently operates in four newly established refugee settlements as an implementing partner for UNHCR. The IRC currently works in 7 districts in Uganda, including Kitgum, Lamwo, Moroto, Yumbe, Arua, Amudat and Kampala. The IRC Uganda team implements programs in the sectors of economic recovery and development, nutrition and health, youth protection and development, governance and peace building, and women’s protection and empowerment.

GWI and IRC collaboration

As part of the What Works to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls program, funded by the UK Department for International Development, GWI partnered with International Rescue Committee (IRC) and CARE UK to collect population-based prevalence data on violence against women and girls in a conflict setting. The findings from this groundbreaking study are being used to inform response on the ground, as well as international policy and priorities.

About Empowered Aid: Transforming gender and power dynamics in the delivery of humanitarian aid

In 2001, a UNHCR/Save the Children assessment first exposed the magnitude of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) perpetrated by members of the international humanitarian aid community among refugee populations. This report detailed pervasive sexual exploitation of female refugees in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone by international and national aid workers from the UN and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), as well as UN Peacekeepers, in all three contexts.[1] Since this moment, SEA gained a new prominence within the humanitarian field – with donor agencies leading efforts to ensure all humanitarian agencies have internal mechanisms to prevent and respond to SEA. An Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Task Team on Accountability to Affected Populations and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and

Abuse (AAP/PSEA) was set up and led to the adoption of six standards of behavior that apply to all UN staff, partners and contractors. In addition, a Statement of Commitment on Eliminating Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN and Non-UN Personnel (2006) was endorsed by 42 UN and 36 non-UN entities.[2] Despite much policy change and commitments to action, few active measures have been effectively implemented to mitigate risk and prevent abuse and exploitation from occurring. There has been little examination of the mechanisms through which humanitarian aid itself is delivered and how these processes might increase the risks of SEA within the affected populations. At best, efforts to improve aid delivery models to reduce rates of SEA in humanitarian contexts have been limited and conducted in ways that do not allow for meaningful, long-term engagement with affected women and girls. More consideration is needed to create aid delivery models that actively work to reduce power disparities and give women and girls a sustained voice in how aid is delivered.

This project aims to document the lived experiences of women and girls and their interactions with the humanitarian aid system in order to understand the power dynamics that exist between those delivering aid and those receiving it. Calls for combatting power abuses in humanitarian aid have emphasized the need for “independent and rigorous analysis, reporting and monitoring on corruption risks across responses” including “More systematic surveying and in-depth qualitative work with disaster affected populations” and “Action research and shared evidence on new and innovative targeting approaches to minimize risks”.[3] One particularly relevant research method that proactively acknowledges and addresses power imbalances between the affected population and researchers/humanitarians is participatory action research (PAR). PAR is under-utilized in humanitarian contexts, such that research prioritizing the voices of those most vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation – women and girls – is lacking. The IRC and GWI will utilize women and adolescent girl led participatory action research in Uganda to understand, identify, and act upon the elements of aid distribution that put women and girls at risk. Just as participation lies at the center of survivor-focused models for humanitarian response, it is a critical element for research that seeks to shift power imbalances such that refugee women and girls take an active role in asking and answering questions about their own lives.

Senior Research Specialist Roles and Responsibilities

The Senior Research Specialist will be based in Kampala with frequent travel to the field to support participatory action research activities. The position will support GWI’s Empowered Aid project in refugee-hosting areas of Uganda. This links to GWI’s existing work, “Building GBV Research Capacity in Refugee Settings”, also in Uganda as well as IRC’s “Listen Up!” project on preventing sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA).

The Senior Research Specialist will be the face of the project within Uganda, and oversee the day-to-day activities of conducting participatory action research with refugee women and older adolescent girls (Year 1) to better understand the ways in which distribution of material resources in emergencies may create or reinforce opportunities for sexual exploitation and abuse of women and girls. Preference will be given to candidates who have experience with program monitoring and evaluation, as the second year will focus on testing ways to make distributions safer. S/he will be responsible for developing and maintaining good working relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders, including government, civil society, I/NGOs, UN, academia, and others. Primary responsibilities will include the following:

Education & training

Master’s degree in Social Sciences, Social Work, Gender/Women Studies, Public Health or related field with women-led participatory action research and program evaluation experience in women & girls’ protection and empowerment programming within emergencies.

Job Requirements:

• Experience with women-led qualitative or participatory methods (such as focus groups, key informant interviews, community/body mapping, safety audits, and/or ethnographic research techniques) related to GBV or gender issues and preferably in humanitarian settings;
• Demonstrated ability to work well with collaborative, participatory and creative processes, where ideas and plans may change, while ensuring timeline, budget & reporting requirements are met;
• Oriented toward learning, open to independent study to improve skills necessary for successful completion of project;
• Experience working with refugee communities, preferably in Uganda within the last 5 years;
• Proven experience in design and developing materials such as GBV research protocols and tools, service referral materials, ethical guidelines and training of staff, research briefs, curricula, guidance documents, and project reports;
• Experience designing and implementing evaluations and/or M&E systems related to GBV in humanitarian settings;
• Experience directly providing GBV response services or managing women and girls protection and empowerment programs in Uganda is a plus;
• Existing professional networks among humanitarian stakeholders and GBV networks in Uganda is a plus.

IT / Software / Skills:

Familiarity with MS Office software, including Excel. Knowledge of data collecting and analysis tools such as Open Code is a plus.

Language Skills:

Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English

Detailed Responsibilities & Tasks

1. Act as the Project Lead for Empowered Aid in Uganda and ensure project activities move forward with the agreed timeline and principles.
2. Provide technical assistance to IRC WPE program team and coordinate with local stakeholders, including UNHCR and other humanitarian actors, throughout the life of the contract.
3. Design and develop materials for the “Empowered Aid” study, often through collaborative processes, including but not limited to research protocols and tools, referral materials, research briefs, meeting notes, guidance documents, and project reports. Proactively troubleshoot issues as they arrive, in close communication with Project Lead.
4. Organize and co-facilitate a participatory action research training for WPE team members supporting Empowered Aid implementation, with support from GWI Research Scientists and IRC WPE Technical Advisors.
5. Organize and co-facilitate 2 participatory action research workshops (1 in Bidibidi and 1 in Imvepi) with the women and older adolescent girls who will implement the research activities.
6. During 3 months of data collection, be on-site (i.e. in the settlements where the study is being undertaken) at least 50% of the time to oversee WPE team research activities.
7. Monitor the implementation of the project by setting up a system to collect relevant data and contribute to project reporting requirements.
8. Organize and co-facilitate in-person meeting of the Uganda Technical Advisory Group (TAG) every 6 months.
9. Strengthen relationships with various stakeholders important to the project, including agencies engaged in distribution of material assistance, the Empowered Aid Technical Advisory Group members, government and UN stakeholders at Kampala and District/settlement levels, humanitarian actors, other researchers, etc.
10. Ensure proper documentation, tracking and filing of all project activities in line with research objectives, GWI and donor requirements, and implementation strategy;
11. Deliver on all narrative and quantitative reports as per IRC internal requirement, GWI and donor requirements;
12. Ensure ethical internal communication and data sharing of the project with relevant departments specifically MEAL, grants, communications, and advocacy;
13. Work closely with admin, logistics, procurement, and HR units to ensure the success of the project by initiating relevant planning tools (such as procurement plans) and regular coordination meetings.

Expected outputs/Deliverables

December -January

• Compile and share with GWI experts and IRC WPE Technical Advisors the Research TOR
• Selection of research locations – co-locate with Listen Up! and/or Girl Shine and EMAP locations
• co-develop curriculum for participatory action research workshops (PAR), including identification of & invitation to relevant co-facilitators
• Co-develop research tools and ensure adequate ethical review

February – March

• Selection of women and girl research teams: introduce project to women and girls and recruit the research team; participatory selection may align with existing programming like EMAP, SASA!, & Girl Shine
• Organize invites and logistics for PAR workshops
• Organize half-day TAG meeting in Kampala for same week as PAR workshop and send ‘Save the Date’ to prospective participants
• Co-facilitate PAR workshops with Research team (staff, women and girls) involving members of TAG as relevant co-facilitators. This includes training on data collection and tools development (adaptation).

April

• Adapt tools and protocol as needed following PAR workshop and any IRB feedback
• Establish system for data collection and project M&E (i.e. research management system for fieldwork)

May-July

• Undertake field-based data collection (ethnographic fieldwork) with refugee women and girl research teams
• Ongoing data synthesis and analysis

August

• Data analysis and synthesis in preparation for Action Analysis
• complete a final report on the review, findings and recommendations
• Adapt Scope of Work (SoW) and prepare contract documents ( if extending into Year 2 ) The IRC and IRC workers, including consultants, must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.