Reports To: Senior Project Manager

Based: Kathmandu, Nepal (with frequent travel within Nepal)

Duration: Fixed Term, 12 months (subject to extension)

Grade: Grade 7

Start Date: ASAP

Summary of the Role:

BBC Media Action is recruiting a Senior Research Officers (SRO) to support overall research activities in the Nepal office. The role will be based in the BBC Media Action office in Kathmandu with frequent travel throughout Nepal for research fieldwork. The SRO will be responsible for designing and implementing the research activities to inform and evaluate the Nepal office’s current projects. These roles may also include line management of Research Officers, providing support for personal development, motivation and technical support. The successful candidates will also be responsible for research project management in Nepal including budgeting and resource management. As such, the SRO is expected to have substantial experience in research methods and research project management.

Job Purpose

In this project, the Sr.Research Officer, will lead the research and design of an innovative mobile solution that can best support Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) in their work to improve outcomes for women and their children, from conception through to a child’s 2nd birthday. This is a DFID funded project where we will be working within the Nepal Health Sector Support Programme (NHSSP) under the leadership of the Ministry of Health (MoH) and aiming to design a tool for future role out by the Government of Nepal (GoN). The design of the mobile solution will have three core phases: Initial research and scoping; Prototyping and user-testing; final iterations and assessment. 

The Senior Research Officer (SRO) will work with the Research Manager, and supported by the London office, to ensure the research is technically well designed, resourced, implemented, reported and disseminated to a range of audiences. The role may include line management of one or more Research Officers, including building their capacity to manage elements of research, such as research instrument design and piloting, and qualitative/quantitative fieldwork, analysis and interpretation. The SRO will be responsible for the quality of analysis and interpretation, ensuring that the research is useful and used by BBC Media Action production and creative teams. The SRO will report to the Research Manager and will be coached and mentored by the Research Manager, who will provide technical support on research activities where appropriate and professional development opportunities.

Main Duties

• Lead on the development of research plans, including research instruments and sampling design,commissioning of agencies for research, analysis and interpretation, reporting and dissemination of research findings on time, to budget and to high quality
  
• Plan and monitor resource needs, including creation and input into research planning documents, project and programme plans and input into budget design for research elements of projects
  
• Line manage, support and develop Research Officers, including coaching, mentoring and/or training to develop their research and project management skills
  
• Undertake, and support others to design and undertake data collection, analysis and reporting, ensuring that the interpretation supports development of media products
  
• Collect data/ fieldwork/ moderating focus group discussion, monitor and control the quality of fieldwork/data collected, analyse and present them into standard format for further decision making
  
• To analyse and synthesize audience research results, applications and innovations with a view to identify lessons learned and define best practices
  
• Analyse SPSS dataset and qualitative data as required and requested to support project planning and development.
  
• Engage proactively and collaboratively with London based research staff, finance, admin and production staff, to ensure research supports wider organisational/programme objectives and is properly resourced and reported
  
• Lead on organising and implementing a research review process for key research deliverables (proposals, reports) with project stakeholders
  
• Prepare and present research presentations that inform the production process and monitor and evaluate project effectiveness for internal and external audiences including producers and project managers, research firms, academic institutions, donors and NGOs
  

Essential Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Significant experience of conducting research and evaluation for development projects;social/market research; or media & communication research
  
• Highly competent in qualitative and/or quantitative data analysis and reporting
  
•  Ability to plan and design qualitative and/or quantitative research and design and manage mixedmethod researches
  
• Strong field work experience, especially in rural and geographically challenging areas. Ability toundertake or manage fieldwork and adapt methods to challenging and resource-constrained conditions
  
• Experience of research project management in Nepal including budgeting and resource management
  
• Experience in commissioning and managing research to agencies/third parties through bidding and short listing; and ensuring quality and timely delivery
  
• Strong written and spoken Nepali and English
  
• Strong report writing and presentation skills, including the ability to communicate complex technical ideas using non-technical language to a wide range of audiences from journalists, production staff and development practitioners
  
• Ability to plan and conduct work with minimal supervision
  
• Good time management skills, with a track record of delivering research findings to deadline
  
• Demonstrable understanding of cultural diversity and cross-cultural research within Nepal
  
• Excellent interpersonal and diplomatic skills: ability to communicate and conduct business at all levels from grassroots to the highest levels of governments and media
  

Desirable Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Previous research experience in health
  
• Previous experience in international development or media research.
  
• Previous research experience working with NGOs
  

Applying Procedure:

If you are interested in applying for this position, please send a CV and covering letter outlining your interest in the role, and demonstrating how you fulfil the essential skills and experience, by July 29, 2018 to [email protected] (with job title in the subject line).

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