South Sudan: Secure Access Monitor – South Sudan

Humanitarian Outcomes is recruiting a consultant researcher for Juba, South Sudan for the research programme "Secure Access in Volatile Environments" (SAVE).

SAVE is a three-year programme of primary and applied research on maintaining humanitarian access in the world’s most challenging operational contexts. The overall goal is to contribute to solutions for providing effective and accountable humanitarian action amid high levels of insecurity.

Please find attached the Terms of Reference for the position.

Secure Access Monitor – South Sudan

Terms of reference for a six-month consultancy assignment

based in Juba, South Sudan

Background

Humanitarian Outcomes and partners are undertaking a three-year programme of primary and applied research that seeks to contribute to practical solutions for maintaining effective humanitarian response amid high levels of insecurity. The research programme, funded by UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), consists of three phased components:

1) Access- to produce empirical evidence on how insecurity affects the presence and provision of humanitarian assistance to affected populations;

2) Effectiveness - to comparatively assess the practical modalities by which humanitarian actors seek to safely maintain and increase their ability to effectively serve these populations, while adhering to humanitarian principles; and

3) Monitoring - to design a workable framework for monitoring and evaluation of aid programming in insecure environments to help optimise the quality, quantity, and accountability of aid delivery, with minimal negative externalities.

The four case study countries will be Afghanistan, South Central Somalia, South Sudan and Syria.

This Terms of Reference outlines the primary tasks and requirements of the researcher who will work under Component 1 in the role of Secure Access Monitor for South Sudan.

Position Objectives

The goal of Component 1 is to establish a solid evidence base on humanitarian presence and coverage in insecure environments, and identify patterns of reductions or reconfigurations of aid in response to increasing insecurity. The Secure Access Monitors will provide eyes on the ground to collect, verify, and monitor real time information on the humanitarian operational presence and its reach to the affected population. As such, the Secure Access Monitor will serve as an important component in the triangulation of information to determine who is actually “doing what, where,” down to a local level.

The Component 1 Research Coordinator and other members of the SAVE research team will undertake field visits and work with the Secure Access Monitor on a quarterly basis, including to initiate the work.

Scope of Work

Specific tasks will include:

• · Working with operational agencies through relevant forums and channels to establish trust and agree protocols for information sharing, including protection and anonymisation of data as necessary.
• · Scoping, collecting and compiling existing data of “3Ws” information from the broad range of relief actors in South Sudan, including UN (OCHA, the cluster leads, and the CHF), the South Sudan NGO Forum, ICRC and South Sudan Red Cross, and individual NGOs as necessary, as well as other sources.
• · Cross-checking and updating/expanding this information through key informant interviews and participant observation (e.g. in coordination meetings). Existing data and methodologies will be built upon so as to avoid duplication.
• · Working with operational agencies through relevant forums (such as the Access Working Group Access Working Group, Policy Working Group, South Sudan NGO forum security briefings, Protection Cluster).
• · Tracking instances of program contraction, relocation, withdrawal, or expansion, depending on security changes or other external access factors.
• · Gathering beneficiary information and perspectives on the aid presence and coverage through in person interviews, focus groups and telephone surveying
• · Travel throughout South Sudan for short, information gathering visits, as possible.

Outputs/deliverables

• · A working dataset (in an Excel spreadsheet) quantifying and locating the organisations, projects, personnel (national and international), and commodities comprising the humanitarian response. The database will show changes month by month on a 24-month scale, beginning 6months before the start of the crisis.
• · Written notes from interviews, focus groups and other meetings conducted or attended during the course of the assignment
• · Brief weekly update memos, showing progress against tasks
• · Regular remote consultations with the Component 1 Research Coordinator, and programming of one field visit for the Component 1 Research Coordinator to undertake jointly with the Secure Access Monitor
• · Final report (max. 20 pages) on trends and issues in humanitarian access among the humanitarian responders

Initial outputs (first two weeks)

• · Workplan and indicative travel schedule, with target dates against tasks
• · Finalized information-sharing protocol, based in input from relevant stakeholders
• · Dataset matrix template

Timeframe

The work is expected to take place over six months, beginning July 2014.

Requirements

• · One year or more spent working in South Sudan
• · Knowledge of the major humanitarian actors working in South Sudan.
• · Fluent written and spoken English
• · Proficiency in Microsoft Excel
• · Strong /demonstrated information management skills
• · Ability to engage interlocutors from a diverse range of actors, and to build trust and assurance that sensitive data will be carefully protected and anonymized in any public form

Compensation

In addition to a competitive salary Humanitarian Outcomes will provide a full package of medical and security insurance, as well as an accommodation allowance, for the period of the assignment.

Humanitarian Outcomes is currently soliciting interest for this position.Interested applicants should send a CV and cover letter to kate.toth@humanitarianoutcomes.org and abby.stoddard@humanitarianoutcomes.org.The email subject line should reference: ‘Secure Access Monitor – South Sudan’.

All applications should be received by June 30 2014. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.