REACH Field Officer at ACTED Nigeria

Location: Borno and other field locations (Adamawa, Yobe)
Contract duration: 6 months
Supervisor: Field Manager
Number of positions: 2
Start date: ASAP
Level: D2-1 (national contract)

Background

REACH was born in 2010 as a joint initiative of two INGOs (IMPACT Initiatives and ACTED) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) 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, supporting and working within the framework of the humanitarian reform process. 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.

Context / Country
Since May 2013, the Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria has destroyed infrastructure, provoked dramatic livelihoods erosion and triggered the displacement of over 2 million people, out of which 1.4 million people are in Borno State. The humanitarian situation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) is critical. Following years of conflict, the majority of the state’s rural areas are empty. Much of the population has fled to the relative safety of Maiduguri, capital of Borno State, or other Local Government Area (LGA) capitals. In the IDP camps of Maiduguri and other enclaved LGA capitals, large portions of the population are extremely vulnerable and in need of immediate humanitarian support. While some areas have recently experienced returns in proximity of main roads, the population from many LGAs is likely to remain displaced for the medium term, lacking security, shelter and livelihoods in their villages of origin. When returns are made possible, it will be essential to support returnees in rebuilding their homes, which are in many cases destroyed, and resuming their productive lives and livelihoods.

Since April 2017, IMPACT’s REACH Initiative has been deployed to Nigeria to help meet the information needs of humanitarian actors operating in the State and build a better understanding of the needs of conflict affected populations. Supported by EU humanitarian aid and in coordination with different humanitarian actors, REACH is carrying out the following activities:

• Assessing IDPs’ movement intentions: IMPACT’s REACH Initiative is assessing IDP intentions to return to their area of origin, move to a new location, or settle permanently in their current location in Borno State, while also looking into factors that are likely to influence IDPs’ decision to move, such as their current living conditions, separation from family members and access to information on their preferred future location. The assessment will help anticipate internal displacement flows and understand IDPs’ current needs, vulnerabilities, coping mechanisms, as well as future challenges.
• Camp infrastructure mapping: IMPACT’s REACH Initiative is collecting information on formal IDP camps in Borno State to support site planning and the effective distribution of humanitarian assistance.
• Rapid assessments of informal IDP camps: IMPACT’s REACH Initiative is profiling informal IDP camps in Maiduguri, Borno State, in order to better understand displacement dynamics of these IDP populations, while in parallel identifying common community services used by IDPs and barriers in accessing critical services.
• Cash Working Group support: IMPACT’s REACH Initiative has conducted research to support the implementation of cash programming across Borno State in close coordination with the CWG
• Multi-Sector Needs Assessment: IMPACT’s REACH Initiative has conducted comprehensive quantitative data collection over all crisis-affected areas in the 3 North-eastern States of Nigeria to provide evidence-based information and support all partners and especially OCHA and the sector-system with their Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) analysis.
• Humanitarian Situation Monitoring of Hard-to-Reach Areas: IMPACT’s REACH Initiative is collecting information from recent new arrivals from hard-to-reach to inform on the situation in those areas, should they suddenly become accessible.
• Considering the displacement in the north-eastern part of Nigeria, ACTED/REACH has an Office in Maiduguri to respond to the humanitarian needs. ACTED/REACH is therefore looking for a REACH Field Officer, Maiduguri to support its operations in the most affected states.

About the Job

• The REACH Field Officer will lead Field Assistants and enumeration teams of up to 10 or more individuals and be responsible to providing direction, logistical and technical support. They will also support the REACH Regional Representative/REACH (Senior) GIS/Assessment Officers/REACH (Senior) Field Officers/REACH Database Specialist as needed.

Functions
The AGORA Field Officer will be responsible for:

• Establishment and management of key informant network
• Contribution to secondary data review
• Support the development of research tools
• Facilitation of participatory mapping focus group discussions
• Supervising interviews conducted by enumerators
• Conducting key informant interviews
• Facilitating focus group discussions
• Hiring, training and leading enumeration teams
• Liaising with local partners and local leaders
• Assisting the assessment team in conducting data quality checks and follow up
• Logistics support
• Any other tasks need to ensure the success of the REACH mission in Nigeria

Establishment and management of key informant network:

• REACH Field Officer will work in collaboration with assessment staff to identify potential Key informants, build their informant profiles, and execute month recurring and systematic data collection.

Contributing to secondary data review:

• The REACH Field Officer will support the review of secondary data. He/she will contribute to identify relevant sources of secondary information and extract key data particularly in local languages.

Support the development of research tools:

• REACH Field Officer will support the development of research tools. This includes contributing to translating questionnaires into the respondents’ language.

Supervising interviews conducted by enumerators:

• The REACH Field Officer will supervise enumerators during the household or individual data collection in the field.
• The Field Officer will ensure that daily targets for minimum surveys have been met, organize enumerators and team leads in the field and coordinate overall data collection activities.

Conducting key informant interviews:

• The REACH Field Officer will conduct key informant interviews and supervise interviews conducted by enumerators. In addition, the Field officer will conduct Snowball sampling whenever required to get a network of key informant interviews in areas assigned to him/her.

Focus group discussion facilitation and analysis:

• The REACH Field Officer will facilitate focus group discussions as needed, conduct de-briefing sessions, and transform data from FGD transcripts into digital form. In collaboration with the field manager and Assessment officer, the Field officer will participate in participatory analysis of FGD data.

Hiring, training and leading enumeration teams:

• REACH Field officer under the supervision of Field Manager will be responsible for hiring enumeration teams, training them on the use of data collection tools (ODK) and methodology, and leading the teams in the field.
• He/she will be responsible for logistical and technical support to the enumerators; he/she will support the Assessment Officer and Field Manager as needed.

Logistics support:

• The REACH Field Officer will provide logistics support to the REACH country team by filling and tracking order forms and tracking existing and incoming REACH assets in Nigeria.

Other tasks

• The REACH Field Officer will participate in other, undefined tasks that are necessary to support the REACH mission in Nigeria.

About You

• All employees should master ACTED's core Principles: Independence, Neutrality, Non-discrimination, free and direct access to victims, Ethics, Professionalism, anti-Corruption, Transparency and Accountability

Qualifications and Experience
Moreover, we also expect the following:

• Minimum of 3 year of experience in humanitarian or development organizations, preferably in a field-based position
• Willingness and ability to work in a dynamic and fast-paced field environment for extended periods of the time required
• Bachelor’s degree in relevant discipline (social science, development) required
• Strong skills with the Microsoft Office Suite
• Positive attitude and a willingness to learn
• Excellent communication skill
• Excellent time management skills
• Ability to operate in a cross-cultural environment requiring flexibility
• Prior knowledge of the region is a must
• Knowledge of KOBO OR ODK is a must
• Fluency in English, Hausa and Kanuri is a must
• Previous experience in conducting surveys/assessment is a must