Field Researcher at Mercy Corps

Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Position Status:Full-time, Regular
Reports to: NCAT Team Lead
Work Closely with: NCAT Analyst/Field Coordinator; Program Teams; Field Managers; Security Team

Program / Department Summary

• Mercy Corps’ Crisis Analytics teams aggregate and analyze data to improve decision making and access in complex crises. The teams support our programming in Nigeria, Syria, Libya, Democratic Republic of Congo and other locations. The teams directly contribute to data-driven decision making by layering information from primary sources, open sources and responders’ programmatic data, where it is analysed by subject matter experts and data scientists. This analysis is grounded in Mercy Corps’ status as an operational NGO, keeping products constructive and relevant.
• Typical products and services range from informal briefings to weekly products, contributions to risk assessments, in-depth assessment of the political economy of defined geography, deep-dives on specific thematics, etc., ranging in themes from conflict to market systems to governance, in line with programmatic needs.
• Nigeria Crisis Analytics (NCAT) works with programmatic teams, the wider humanitarian community, and other stakeholders to provide actionable research and analysis to inform the ongoing response. The goal of NCAT is to bring a nuanced understanding of the context to relevant actors and help shape thinking on everything from localized security and programming to larger-scale program design and policymaking.

Position Objectives

• Under the supervision of the NCAT Team Lead and Field Coordinator, the community Field Researcher will be responsible for:
  • The day-to-day situation monitoring in their location and reporting on access, displacement, humanitarian needs, market prices, response efforts, relevant conflict incidents, infrastructure, historical economic drivers, social relationships, perceptions, informal dispute resolution mechanisms, local authorities, power dynamics, and laws/regulations,
  • The verification or monitoring (if possible) of partners’ projects activities at activities sites, including beneficiary verification, monitoring of delivery and distribution of commodities and submission of routine reports to the M&E focal point, and conducting field visits to carry out qualitative and quantitative data collection along with field observations and consultations with key stakeholders and Mercy Corps staff.
• The Field Researcher will receive training on identifying relevant information, and collecting it in a responsible, accurate and sustainable manner. Relevant information would typically include economic activity and prices of goods; the structure of local communities; relative happiness or otherwise of people within the community; people moving out of or into the local area; etc.
• The Field Researcher will receive weekly updates on the priorities for information collection. They will occasionally be asked to confirm whether an incident reported in rumours or the media was accurate.

Essential Job Responsibilities
The Field Researcher will:

• Conduct interviews with key informants
• Respond to requests for information
• Proactively identify relevant information
• Support triangulation and confirmation of events
• Attend all required team meetings
• Support in the design and planning of data collection work
• Draft thorough qualitative notes and field journals following any data collection activity
• Support in writing NCAT products

Regular Field Researcher Outputs:

• Draft sections of Monthly Reports.
• Draft sections for Situational Reports.
• Collaborate on Thematic Reports.
• Incorporate and overlay humanitarian access, security, and humanitarian needs data.
• Gather, validate, and organize data from several different data streams.
• Qualitative notes and field journal entries.

Timeframe / Schedule:

• This is a full-time 3-month engagement with the possibility of extension contingent on performance and funding.
• The Field Researcher will report to: NCAT Team Lead
• Field Researcher will work closely with: NCAT Analyst/Field Coordinator; Program Teams; Field Managers; Security Team

Required Experience & Skills

• Possess a Bachelor's Degree in relevant fields.
• At least two years’ experience in the aid and development sector, with a level of experience in a conflict-affected environment;
• Functional knowledge of Excel and data collection software (ONA, ODK, etc.)
• Extensive experience living / working in northeast Nigeria
• Knowledge of local languages, including Hausa and Kanuri; knowledge of other languages is a plus.
• Data analysis experience a plus
• Experience organizing and maintaining databases, cleaning data
• Competency in Internet and Microsoft Office systems including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; knowledge of ArcGIS, Tableau, and PowerBI is a plus.
• Fluency in English, both written and spoken is required; previous experience writing reports is a plus.