Baseline study specialist: disaster risk reduction

Background

The Norwegian Afghanistan Committee (NAC) has been implementing a Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) program in Badakhshan since January 2011. This is one of the most vulnerable provinces to many types of natural disaster in the region. Recently NAC has secured a 3 year funded DRR project with the following objectives;

To reduce human, social, economic and environmental losses due to natural disasters in 60 at-risk villages in Badakhshan, Afghanistan

The project has four main outcomes

• To increase the knowledge and strengthen the capacity of community members and schoolchildren in 60 high-risk communities and to enable them to better prepare for, mitigate, and respond to natural hazards and disasters
• To strengthen the capacity of local institutions, district and provincial authorities as well as national and international stakeholders in the area of coordinated disaster risk management
• To build and maintain the institutional capacity of disaster response teams to rapidly and effectively respond to disasters
• To reduce the impact of frequent summer drought events and increase the resilience of rural livelihood systems

A key initial requirement of the project is a detailed Baseline Study. Baseline information for assessing the achievement of project objectives as per the logframe is required before the project can begin. The information produced by the baseline study will be used for detailed project planning purposes, for ongoing internal M&E purposes, and for the mid- and end- term evaluation of the project.

Baseline study objectives

• To establish accurate current baseline information (indicators) for NAC and program partners to assess the outcomes of the Project.
• Based on the established baseline data, assist NAC to refine SMART performance indicators in the logframe.
• Give recommendations and suggest M&E methods, processes, tools and systems that can be employed internally to track the results of the project and to provide rapid feedback to the project team.

NAC would like to employ a Baseline Study Specialist for one month to lead our DRR Team in collecting, storing, analyzing and reporting on the above Baseline information. Ideally, the successful candidate would start on 1st August or shortly thereafter and complete the assignment around the end of August.

The expected deliverables are a follows

• Inception report for the baseline study entailing background information, clear methodology, analytical processes outcomes and work plan.
• Supervision, co-ordination and organization of NAC's DRR Teams in collecting and capturing Baseline information.
• Use of participatory and consultative methods to ensure maximum community co-operation.
• Develop statistical and interpretive methodologies for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of data using MS Excel/Access.
• The final Baseline report should be kept short and simple for everyone to read and understand. It should not exceed 30 pages (excluding annexes)
• Facilitation of a debriefing session to the NAC's DRR Team

Candidate qualifications

• Post-graduate qualification in Social Sciences with a strong background in community surveys and statistical analysis.
• At least 5 years experience in surveys and data analysis in developing countries, with an emphasis on completing baseline studies to donor requirements.
• Knowledge and expertise in community participatory methodologies.
• Sound experience of Project Management and Disaster Risk Reduction
• Excellent writing and data analytical skills
• Knowledge of Persian/Dari an added advantage.