Consultant – Resilience & Food Security Quantitative Analysis – Remote

Background:

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.

This consultancy is to support Mercy Corps’ Research and Learning team. The Research and Learning team is committed to generating and using evidence to understand and improve our impact, and to enhance the humanitarian and development community’s ability to address the world’s most complex challenges. The Research and Learning team enhances Mercy Corps’ ability to deliver high impact programming, learn from that programming, and influence major debates and decisions affecting our work by supporting the generation and use of high quality evidence. Mercy Corps has firmly established a reputation as an industry leader in the field of resilience, including resilience measurement and research.

Purpose / Project Description:

The purpose of this consultancy will be to provide support on quantitative research and impact evaluation design and quantitative data analysis. This support will contribute to the production of accurate and credible findings around key research and evaluation questions in the food security and resilience research portfolio.

Objectives:

• Impact evaluation design for study on strengthening social and psychosocial sources of resilience in South Sudan (STREAM)
• Analysis of panel survey data from Northern Uganda on livelihoods, governance, and resilience (SLRC)
• Research design and data analysis for impact evaluation of cash and nutrition assistance in Ethiopia (RiPA)
• Support analysis plan and data analysis for market systems resilience (MSR) analyses using data from the Rural Resilience Activity (RRA) in Northeast Nigeria and RiPA in Ethiopia
• Provide support to other quantitative research projects

Deliverables:

• STREAM research deliverables
  • Quantitative components of the research protocol including but not limited to:
    • Research questions
    • Key outcome(s) and covariates measured
    • Sampling strategy and power calculations
    • Draft analysis plan defining primary estimation models
    • Data management and quality assurance plan
  • Survey instruments
  • Enumerator training materials, field manual, data quality assurance process and mechanisms, etc.
  • others TBD w/ team
• SLRC research deliverables
  • Updated analysis plan based on review of existing analysis plan(s), review of annual survey instruments, MEL plan, and other relevant MEL/CLA documentation
  • Quantitative analysis results and associated narrative report
• RiPA research deliverables
  • Quantitative components of the research protocol including but not limited to:
    • Research questions
    • Key outcome(s) and covariates measured
    • Sampling strategy and power calculations
    • Draft analysis plan defining primary estimation models
    • Data management and quality assurance plan
  • Survey instruments
  • Enumerator training materials, field manual, data quality assurance process and mechanisms, etc.
  • Analysis plan
  • Quantitative analysis results and associated narrative report
  • Raw and clean data sets and associated documentation per USAID Development Data Library Guidance
• MSR research deliverables:
  • In collaboration with Senior Researcher for markets & resilience, finalize analysis plan to test relationships between MSR capacities and outcomes
  • Reviewing existing literature for relationship between nested systems and incorporate relevant approaches into analysis plan
  • Variable map including key outcomes, explanatory variables, and controls
  • Quantitative analysis results
  • Clean data sets and associated Stata .do files
• Support to other quantitative research projects
  • Inputting to research and evaluation designs, including reviewing data collection instruments
  • Doing power calculations to inform sampling sizes
  • Researching literature for existing quantitative measures for complex constructs
  • Preparing data for analysis, including cleaning, organizing, recoding data into consistent formats, and deriving new/composite variables
  • Conducting descriptive inferential statistical analyses to test and generate hypotheses
  • Producing narratives, tables, charts and other graphics to illustrate key findings

Required Experience & Skills

• 5-10 years of experience in relevant technical field (required)
• Degree in international development or other relevant social science
• Demonstrated skills in applied research and statistical analysis
• Proficiency using STATA or other statistical analysis package
• Demonstrated ability to explain research findings, both visually and in writing
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
• Good organizational skills and ability to work under time constraints
• Self-motivated and able to work without close supervision

Timeframe / Level of Effort:

• Up to 140 days over 19 September 2022 – 07 April 2023

The consultant will be managed by:

• Senior Researcher – Resilience & Market Systems

The consultant will work closely with:

• Sr. Director, Research & Learning
• Director, Research & Learning – Resilience
• Senior Researcher – Resilience
• Research & Learning Manager
• Program staff, Technical Support Unit staff, and others as needed

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our stakeholders and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.