Research Assistant X 2

About Oxfam

Oxfam is a global community who believe poverty isn’t inevitable. It’s an injustice that can be overcome. We are shop volunteers, women’s right activists, marathon runners, aid workers, coffee farmers, street fundraisers, goat herders, policy experts, campaigners, water engineers and more. And we won’t stop until everyone can live life without poverty for good.

Oxfam GB is a member of the international confederation Oxfam.

Our Team

The Oxfam team in Lebanon implements integrated humanitarian, development and policy interventions in line with Oxfam’s country strategy for Lebanon as relevant to the Bekaa and north Lebanon areas, including protection & governance; cash safety net/social protection and economic development/livelihoods; WASH/water governance, with a focus on partnerships with local actors.

The humanitarian pillar of our work ensures that marginalised women and men, particularly refugees from Syria, are able to have safe access to WASH, attain their rights to life, security, protection and assistance, and that they are enabled to support their own basic needs, develop their livelihoods, all in a manner that respects and maintains their dignity.

The Research Assistant will be part of humanitarian team and will be based in Zahle. He/she will work closely with WaSH, Protection, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) teams, and the Community Perception Tracker (CPT) team to meet the objectives of the research project.

Job Purpose

The Research Assistant position is part of the Covid-19 CPT research project. The Research Assistant will play a pivotal role in in the CPT research team. They will conduct phone-based structured surveys with community members involved in Oxfam’s COVID-19 response programmes. They will also conduct unstructured interviews with Oxfam’s CPT staff on the experience of using the CPT. They will also play a role in transcribing qualitative interview data.

The Research Assistant will be part of the Oxfam team in Zahle. He/She will work closely with other teams (WaSH-protection and MEAL) in order to achieve the objectives of the project. The successful candidate will receive additional training and support on conducting data collection for interviews, to develop his/her skills and experience as applying these skills will contribute to the larger and longer term research capacity within Oxfam in Lebanon.

The aim of the CPT project research is to understand how community perceptions towards COVID-19 and response programmes change over the course of the Covid-19 outbreak. The findings are intended to improve the quality of Community Engagement and Behaviour Change Communication programmes so as to strengthen communities’ trust and acceptability of these processes. This research will explore three objectives:

1. Understand how community perceptions change over the course of the COVID-19 outbreak;
2. Understand whether the CPT enables staff within humanitarian organisations to make more informed decisions and adjust programming accordingly;     
3. Understand whether adjustments made to COVID-19 response programmes are seen to be more acceptable to communities and result in perceivable behavioural change.

Core Details

Location: Based in Bekaa Governorate

Internal Grade: E1

Division: International Division, Humanitarian Department

Job Family: Programme

Contract type: Fixed term

This role reports to: Senior Public Health Promotion Officer

Staff reporting to this post: No direct reports

Annual budget for the post: None

Key relationships/interactions: MEAL team, Senior Public Health Promotion Officer, CPT Data Analyst and the other Research Assistant.

Screening checks:

All successful candidates will be screened through Refinitiv World-Check One to comply with counter terrorism and financial sanctions regulations.

Key Responsibilities

Technical

The post holder will be responsible for:

• Conducting remote Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) with community members who have been part of Oxfam’s COVID-19 activities.
• Visit the informal settlement in north Bekaa to conduct interviews with families and collect data (field visits depend on the Covid situation in informal settlements and are subject to prior approval).
• Conducting interviews, following a topic guide, with Oxfam’s CPT staff.
• Translating and transcribing qualitative data from interview recordings of both of the above methods. 
• Actively participate in trainings on data collection methods and processes and apply this learning to their work.

Leadership

• Contributing to the coordination of actions between other members of the Oxfam research team and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) research staff (this is to be done with support from the Oxfam Knowledge Coordinator)
• Providing constructive feedback to other members of the research team to improve data quality.

Your commitment to Oxfam

• Required to adhere to Oxfam’s principles and values as well as the promotion of gender justice and women's rights
• Understanding of and commitment to adhere to equity, diversity, gender, child safety and staff health and wellbeing principles

Person Specification                                                                                                       

Note to candidates: Shortlisted candidates will be assessed on our organisational values and attributes at the interview stage. The successful candidate(s) will be expected to adhere to our code of conduct. We encourage candidates to read and understand our code of conduct here.

Key Organisational Attributes                                                                                                 

• Ability to demonstrate sensitivity to cultural differences and gender issues, as well as the commitment to equal opportunities.
• Ability to demonstrate an openness and willingness to learn about the application of gender/gender mainstreaming, women’s rights, and diversity for all aspects of development work.
• Commitment to undertake Oxfam’s safeguarding training and adherence of relevant policies to ensure all people who come into contact with Oxfam are as safe as possible

Organisational Values                                                                                                      

• Accountability – Our purpose-driven, results-focused approach means we take responsibility for our actions and hold ourselves accountable. We believe that others should also be held accountable for their actions
• Empowerment – Our approach means that everyone involved with Oxfam, from our staff and supporters to people living in poverty, should feel they can make change happen
• Inclusiveness – We are open to everyone and embrace diversity. We believe everyone has a contribution to make, regardless of visible and invisible differences

Oxfam Leadership Competencies

• Aware of their personal strengths and weaknesses as a member of a team
• Demonstrated ability to develop rapport with team members
• Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly and effectively when providing support to others or providing constructive feedback

Essential - Experience, Knowledge, Qualifications & Competencies

• Prior experience with conducting interviews or surveys in support of research work
• A friendly and respectful communication style when working or communicating with community members
• Prior experience transcribing interviews in Arabic and in English or doing work which requires a high level of attention to detail.
• Fluency in English and in Arabic   
• A willingness to learn about new data collection processes and methods of analysis
• A willingness to receive feedback, including constructive criticism, about their performance in order to improve.

Desirable

Familiarity with WASH projects, health outbreak response and/or community engagement          

Oxfam is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct; and committed to promoting the welfare of children, young people, adults and beneficiaries with whom Oxfam GB engages. Oxfam expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our code of conduct. We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us.

The post holder will undertake the appropriate level of training and is responsible for ensuring that they understand and work within the safeguarding policies of the organisation.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks. Oxfam GB also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme.  In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of these recruitment procedures.

We are committed to ensuring diversity and gender equality within our organisation and encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply.