Job title: Research manager
Location: Tanzania
Reports to: Country director
Duration: 12 months (with possible extension)
Special requirements:
The right to live and work in Tanzania. Fluent in English and Swahili
with ability to write reports and scripts in these languages.
BBC Media Action:
BBC
Media Action is the BBC’s international development organisation, and
we believe in the power of media and communication for good. We work in
more than 20 countries around the world, supporting the independent
media essential to democracy and development. Last year, our projects
and programmes reach 130 million people facing poverty, inequality and
insecurity with information they can trust, helping to improve health,
bridge divides, challenge prejudice, and save and change lives. We
follow the editorial standards and values of the BBC, but we rely on
funding from donors and partners to carry out our work.
Job purpose:
We
are looking for a talented and experienced research manager to lead
innovative media and development research to support BBC Media Action’s
work in Tanzania.
The research manager will be an experienced
quantitative and qualitative researcher with strong design and
analytical skills. He/she will manage all aspects of audience research
activities conducted to inform the strategy, content, and quality and to
evaluate the impact of BBC Media Action’s media and communication
development projects in Tanzania.
Main duties and responsibilities:
Research management
- Management: Manage the research and learning team in Tanzania and oversee all research activities in Tanzania.
- Embed
research into project delivery: Work closely with the project team to
ensure research is closely linked and in line with project activities
and findings are incorporated into project design and delivery. - Research
budget: Manage the project research budget with oversight from the
country director and input from the research coordinator. - Represent:
Research and learning group and BBC Media Action in interactions with
external and internal stakeholders, including producers and project
managers, project partners, research firms, academic institutions,
donors, media, INGOs and NGOs and government counterparts. - Disseminate:
BBC Media Action’s research findings and investigate new funding
opportunities with external and internal stakeholders. - Engage:
Proactively and collaboratively with non-research staff in the Dar
office including the Country Director, the creative, production and
finance teams, to support the development and use of research in the
production of BBC Media Action’s creative outputs. - Work collaboratively and engage with the London research team.
Research delivery
- Designing
research methodology: Design research projects, determining appropriate
strategy, methodologies, and analysis protocols. Drafting and reviewing
research instruments prepared externally and internally. - Research
strategy: Work with the London team and in consultation with the
Country Director to develop research strategies for the Tanzania country
office overall and individual projects within the country portfolio. - Research
to inform country strategy: Undertake background research and
literature reviews including overseeing the analysis of country data to
inform BBC Media Action Tanzania’s strategy development on key thematic
issues including humanitarian resilience. - Commissioning
research: Oversee the commissioning of all audience research in
coordination with production and broadcast schedules, negotiating and
liaising with research agencies and key users of the research to ensure
the results are suitable to meet project needs. This includes preparing
and circulating RFPs/research briefs (where appropriate), evaluating
proposals, finalising and commissioning the research. - Overseeing
implementation of research: Briefing the field team and supervising the
pre-testing, piloting and use of the research instruments, as needed.
Monitoring and controlling the quality of fieldwork/data collection,
project timeliness and budgets for the research projects being handled. - Quality
control of research activities: Overseeing quantitative and qualitative
fieldwork. Continually looking at ways to improve data collection both
feeding into research design, moderation and analysis of data. - Analysis
and reporting: Lead the research team in analysis of
qualitative/quantitative data, prepare reports and present key findings. - Communicating
research insights: Share findings and strategic recommendations with
end users of research (internal/external) in innovative and appropriate
formats. - Training: The research manager is responsible for
planning, managing and overseeing training with support from research
officers. This includes writing workplans, creating training materials,
providing training and mentoring, and assessing interviews conducted by
trainees. - Travel throughout Tanzania when necessary.
- Research in business and strategy development
Business development:
Supporting the country director in business development activities e.g.
developing research design and budgets for proposals and meeting and
pitching proposals to donors.
Networking and partnership:
Developing relationships with other organisations’ research teams in
Tanzania to share information, inform our database and compile overview
reports of current trends, activities and data related to our project
activities in country.
Research insights: Review the latest
trends and developments in research methodologies related to behaviour
change, impact assessment and communications research, and evaluating
the same for adoption in BBC Media Action’s research and learning work.
Professional development
- Technical training:
Participate in research and learning workshops and represent BBC Media
Action in other knowledge sharing workshops related to our project
activities and project partners. Train and build the technical capacity
of the research team in Tanzania.
Safeguarding responsibilities
- Understand and comply with the Safeguarding policy and the staff Code of Conduct.
- Participate in relevant mandatory training on Safeguarding and Respect at Work.
- Report any Safeguarding concerns immediately, either to the Country Director, or using the Whistleblowing Policy.
Essential knowledge skills and experience:
- Degree in research, statistics, development studies, or other relevant field.
- Strong qualitative and quantitative research knowledge, skills, and experience.
- Experience
of managing fieldwork and appropriately adapting methods in challenging
and resource-constrained conditions, while ensuring quality. - Experience of designing and managing mixed methods research and evaluations in support of practical outcomes.
- Strong
quantitative data analysis using SPSS or similar software, including
multivariate and segmentation or clustering techniques. - Experience
or demonstrated ability to develop innovative research and evaluation
designs (i.e. beyond impact surveys, FGDs, & IDIs). - Experience of planning and coordinating research and analysis with multi-disciplinary teams.
- Project management skills, including planning, budget and resource management.
- Experience communicating and coordinating with technical support from a remote headquarters.
- Ability to manage staff with respect to technical research oversight, personal development and performance management.
- Ability to deliver research training and build research capacity both in person and remotely.
- Strong
presentation skills and experience of adapting oral and written
research outputs to present in non-technical language to diverse
audiences from grassroots to senior levels, including NGO staff,
non-researchers, academics and donors. - Excellent interpersonal
skills and the ability to engage appropriately with audiences,
journalists, local researchers, contractors, senior project staff and
donors. - Excellent written and fluent spoken English.
Desirable skills, knowledge and experience:
- Understanding of issues related to gender equality, youth,
governance and/or climate change, and experience conducting research on
these topics. - Experience commissioning or conducting research; and working with and managing contracted quantitative research firms.
- Experience using qualitative analysis software packages such as NVivo.
- Experience
working with national and international organisations (NGOs, United
Nations, media) in applying research findings to production of behaviour
change outputs and strategies. - Experience working with
development organisations to apply research findings to develop health,
governance, humanitarian response or resilience interventions. - Previous experience in audience research.
Closing date: 30 January 2022
Interested
qualified candidates should submit their CV with cover letter (in
English, PDF or Microsoft Word format) which outlines their experience
and suitability for the role by email to: [email protected] – please include the title of the position applied for in the subject line and send by 5pm 30 January 2022.
Only
applicants with separate cover letter will be considered. Please do not
send certificates or other attachments. Only shortlisted candidates
will be notified.
The role may involve working with groups of
vulnerable children and adults. For the successful candidate, mandatory
training will be provided on BBC Media Action’s safeguarding policy and
staff code of conduct. A police background check may form part of the
recruitment process. BBC Media Action operates a zero-tolerance policy
concerning all forms of abuse and exploitation of vulnerable people.
BBC Media Action has zero tolerance for fraud and exploitation. If you have any concerns, please share with us through [email protected].
