Researcher for ECD Situational Assessment

1. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The Arab Network for Early Childhood (ANECD) was launched in 2014 as a Regional ECD network hosted by the Arab Resource Collective (ARC) in Lebanon. ANECD's mission and general goal are to Connect, empower, harmonize, advocate, produce and communicate regionally adapted ECD experiences and resources to Arab societies on the rights of young children to playful learning, health, nutrition, and protection from harm.

ANECD, hosted by ARC, periodically conducts strategic models consisting of activities that serve the objectives of one of its strategic interventional areas (Child's rights, ECD in crisis. EC workforce, EC and climate change, and digital empowerment and cybersecurity). It includes the three crosscutting ANECD working approaches: knowledge production, advocacy and communication, and influencing ECD policies.

During the summer of 2021, the situation in Lebanon has deteriorated dramatically, affecting Lebanese, refugees, and other vulnerable communities and children residing in Lebanon, where the governmental subsidiaries of basic needs were lifted, the fuel prices were increased. The country faced a multi-layered crisis of the already existing refugee influx, political, economic, COVID19 pandemic, post-pandemic recession, and got into a failure state condition.

Between June and July 2021, ANECD initiated the first strategic model within the "ECD in Crisis and Emergency Contexts" strategic area, with an online questionnaire on "Responsive nurturing of early childhood one year after the COVID 19 pandemic" in 8 Arab countries using a Google form questionnaire.

The questionnaire targeted parents and other family caregivers of children between birth and 8 years of age. It consisted of 36 close-ended questions covering the Nurturing care framework fields of early childhood health, nutrition, mental health, early learning, safety and security, playful parenting challenges and living conditions, and children with special needs. 3943 filled questionnaires were collected from different Arab countries, of which 486 were from Lebanon.

The purpose of this research is to build on the results of the previous one to assess the early childhood care and development situation of young children and their families during the multi-layered crisis in Lebanon using a more detailed and elaborated methodology.

2. RESEARCH QUESTIONS, OBJECTIVES, and USE

• Learn more about young children under eight care and development and the challenges facing their families during the multi-layered crisis in Lebanon
• Anticipate related trends and issues that may affect young children under 5 and their families during crisis
• Identify related Community wants, needs, and assets
• Set ECD priorities on the national level 
• Raise recommendations and policy briefs for policymakers in Lebanon
• Orient funders and ECD stakeholders in the country.

3. RESEARCH KEY AREAS of INVESTIGATION

• Demographics
• Early Childhood nutrition
• Early Childhood health follow-up
• Children's use of screens and screen time
• Children's mental health
• The situation of children with special needs
• The mental health of the parents
• Parenting Challenges
• Access to education services and distant learning
• The living conditions of families
• Prevention of COVID19 infection
• Family support

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Data collection:

• Primary data:

ANECD and the situational assessment team collected data: surveys, key informant interviews, or focus groups.

• Secondary data:

Data collected online, the outreach for parents will be through the Community based organizations linked to ANECD partner organizations and the ministries of Education, Health and Social Affairs, also through public kindergartens and schools functioning under the umbrella of the Ministry of social affairs. 

• Desk review of the existing documents and reports. 

Please read the following information respectively :

Type of data\ Source of data\ Methods of data collection\Focal Person(s):

 Reports\Published reports by national and international partners\Desktop Revie\ Lead Researcher.

Quantitative Data\Parents reached through partner organizations, ministries, and schools\Online Survey\Lead Researcher,ANECD Monitoring and Evaluation Officer,ECD Coordinators in partner organizations.

Quantitative Data\Parents reached through partner organizations, ministries, and schools\Face to Face survey\Lead Researcher,ANECD Monitoring and Evaluation Officer,ECD Coordinators in partner organizations,Data Collectors.

Qualitative Data\Parents reached through partner organizations, ministries and schools\Focus group discussion\Lead Researcher,ANECD Monitoring and Evaluation Officer,ECD Coordinators in partner organizations,Data Collectors.

Timeframe:

The consultancy will commence in January 2021.

The detailed plan will be presented to ANECD by the end of January 2022.

Desk review, FGD, and data collection will be conducted during February 2022

The first draft will be submitted to ANECD in mid-March 2022.

A revised final paper incorporating the feedback received through ANECD will be submitted by the end of March 2022.

Remuneration:

To be discussed.

Researcher's tasks and responsibilities:

• Assign items of the listed tasks, supervise and follow up of the research assistant

• Attend a regular meeting with ARC and ANECD's research team
• Work closely with the ANECD research committee
• Act as the Primary Investigator and lead the field research team
• Develop the methodology and research plan.
• Develop the tools for the Face-to-Face and online questionnaire, as well as the FGD.
• Develop the documentation process and method.

• Set the criteria of selection for data collectors and participate in recruitment.

• Train data collectors on the tools.
• Conduct a desk review on the situation in Lebanon.
• Supervise the online and Face-to-Face Data collection.
• Supervise the Focus Group Discussions.
• Communicate weekly with ARC and ANECD's team the progress of the situational assessment.
• Abide by all ethical guidelines for research.
• Develop the data entry plan.
• Data Analyses.
• The current list of all background materials and references used.
• Report design and development.
• Develop a policy brief and recommendations document.
• Write an article following the criteria for publishing in indexed scientific journals.

Researcher's qualifications:

• University Degree, Masters or PHD, in ECCD, Human Development, social sciences, psychology, statistics or relevant discipline.
• 5-7 years of experience in research in early Childhood Care and Development (ECCE/ECD).
• Have had multiple publications in this field.
• Familiar with the Lebanese context and stakeholders.
• Familiar with scientific publications guidelines and criteria.
• Have experience in situational assessment and analysis of relevant data.
• Have excellent English and Arabic language skills.
• Have leadership skills.