Research and Documentation Officer

Job Title: Research and Documentation Officer 

Duration of contract: 7 months (extension will based on the funding availability)

Report to: Country Coordinator 

Child Labour: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA)

CLARISSA is a newly established programme, delivered by a consortium of organisations and led by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), to generate a strong evidence base on, and innovative solutions to, the worst forms of child labour (WFCL) in Bangladesh and Nepal. The programme is designed to build on the strengths of all consortium partners to work towards a decrease in the number of children in the WFCL in the programme countries. Its focus is on surfacing key drivers of the worst forms of child labour and developing interventions to counteract them. The primary beneficiaries of the programme are children in the worst forms of child labour and those who are vulnerable to being drawn into it. The families of these children will benefit from greater resilience to shocks, better options for their children’s safe and healthy future and less intra-family stress and conflict. 

Integrated country teams has been formed in Nepal and Bangladesh. 

PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH including CHILDREN’S ACTION RESEARCH GROUPS will form a core programme approach. The action research process will generate evidence based activities and innovations and pilots aimed at changing the realities and agency of child labourers and the development and scale up of child focused strategies. Once interventions have been tested, we will identify ways to scale up what has been learned and to benefit more children. 

A child centred programme:  

Children’s agency will be placed at the centre of this programme: The programme will support children to collect child-focused evidence and will generate child-focused and child-identified solutions. It will undertake a Child Rights approach with a strong emphasis on safeguarding. All programme actions will take into account and respect the right of the child, as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.  

Action Research:

The core driver of innovation in this programme will be Participatory and Systemic Action Research.  

Action research is a programming modality which combines evidence gathering and learning from action. It is designed to enable diverse groups to meet over a period of time to consider evidence and generate theories of change about interventions; plan and programme innovative solutions; test the solutions in real time, and then evaluate them. In this way action research groups act as engines of new innovation. These cycles of action and reflection continue until a robust model of action is developed, trialled and can be scaled. The programme will link multiple and parallel action research groups to form a sophisticated architecture for adaptive learning and management (systemic action research) and will ensure that children are central to this process. Activities of action research groups will typically be oriented towards self-help and mutual aid activities, but will also contribute to the development of local institutional solutions (including those of local NGO’s/ employers etc). 

It is necessary to understand and follow the action research group and its process: 

• Contextual research to identify the drivers of child labour and putting the children at the centre of participatory development process.
• A series of trust building meetings (which can be accompanied by visits to households, street sites and or work sites);  
• Local evidence gathering around the specific issues being explored;  
• Generation of Theories of Change and Actions, and potential indicators of success; 
• Implementation of actions and monitoring and assessment of intervention outcomes; 
• Refining actions and developing new actions based on the assessment of the early phase actions; 

Overall purpose of the role:

The Research and Documentation Officer is responsible for facilitating Action Research Groups and other participatory processes in Nepal and other participatory processes that form a critical part of the implementation of the CLARISSA programme in Nepal. This role includes the coordination and quality control over the documentation of the participatory research such that it meets programmatic needs.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Process design and facilitation of Action Research groups and other participatory processes
• Defining documentation protocols and ensuring quality in relation to documentation of all participatory meetings
• Liaise with IDS Leading while  preparing the PAR process documentation, learning and evidence generating papers 
• Designing participatory methods for different stakeholder groups within the broadly defined Action Research process of this programme - in consultation with the country coordinator 
• Working with the safeguarding officer to assess risks and local mitigation (e.g. referral resources) relating to participatory processes
• Assess support needs (language, support for disabled people etc.) in relation to participatory processes) -with the country coordinator 
• Prepare and deliver timely reports on action research and participatory process results
• Regular reporting on the action research and participatory processes in line with the programme’s MEL framework – in collaboration with the MEL focal point.

Competencies required:

Essential requirements:

• 4 years’ experience of research, staff management and supervision
• Ability to learn new methods quickly 
• Experience of developing programme Implementation plans
• Establish relationships with consortium partners , capacity-building of partners and stakeholders 
• Instrumental in programme planning, identify opportunities for program development , effective in mobilising programme resources and reporting 

Interested candidates are requested to send their latest CV, cover letter including motivation to the GPO Box 8975, EPC 1936, Kathmandu or email  at vacancy@voiceofchildren.org.np  no later than 15th Feb 2023.