Global Research Assistant

Location: Remote, Juba or Maputo

Position: Global Research Assistant

Contract Duration: Flexible, renewable, with a trial period

Vacancy closure: Open until filled

Summary

Forcier is seeking an experienced and motivated Global Research Assistant to join our team. This role, available as both full-time and part-time and fully remote, offers an exciting opportunity to delve into diverse research areas including health, migration, development, refugee protection, peacebuilding, sexual and reproductive health and rights, children’s rights, education, and business-human rights intersections.

As a Global Research Assistant you will play a key role in guiding our research projects to success. In this position, you will oversee project management aspects, coordinate international teams’ efforts, and effectively lead communications ensuring project execution and building strong, professional relationships. Your role will be crucial in bringing research designs to life, leading teams with confidence and clarity. This role is more than just entry-level project management and perfunctory analysis; it’s about leading with excellence and making a significant impact in humanitarian and development research.

Company Overview

Forcier is a dynamic, woman-owned research and monitoring firm, rooted in the Global South and actively operating across Africa since 2011.

Our mission is to empower global human development and create social impact through rigorous research, aiding our clients in making informed, data-driven decisions. We believe in research that amplifies the voices of the people and communities we serve, and we’re dedicated to fostering local research talent, building their capacity to collect and analyse data to the highest standards.

Currently, our presence spans South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mozambique, demonstrating our commitment to these regions. With over a decade in the development sector, we’ve honed our ability to conduct both quantitative and qualitative research in challenging environments, and our research systems have been refined through consistent real-world application and continuous improvement.

With in-depth contextual understanding, combined with an extensive network of multidisciplinary professionals across our operating countries, we are uniquely positioned to provide a diverse array of services, catering specifically to organizations engaged in humanitarian, development, and stabilization work. Our core services include program evaluations, third-party monitoring, and formative research, all of them tailored in partnership with our clients to capture the unique challenges and intricacies inherent in post-conflict and other complex settings.

Role Description

The work of Forcier’s national offices is supported by the Global Research Team (GRT) as a specialized remote research unit primarily focused on providing surge capacity and ad-hoc support. The GRT is adept at scaling its resources and expertise to meet varying demands, often stepping in to assist with increased workloads or specific expertise requirements across different projects, departments, and geographic locations. Whether it’s managing increased workloads, offering specific expertise across various projects and locations, or providing data analysis, methodological advice, and technical guidance, the GRT is best positioned to step in. While the GRT’s primary role is to provide support and capacity, they also occasionally take on research projects, as needed. This could involve leading specific research initiatives from inception to reporting, matching team members’ specialized skills, expertise, or timelines closely with the project’s requirements to alleviate the workload of other teams.

What sets Forcier apart from our competition is that, in essence, we are a team of research nerds, data enthusiasts, problem-solvers, and systems builders who are committed to deeply understanding the contexts and communities comprising our research areas. This commitment to contextual knowledge ensures the quality of our work. By combining our remote technical expertise with the local knowledge of our on-ground staff, we gain a distinctive edge in designing, implementing, and analyzing research projects.

At Forcier, we approach our work with humility, always eager to learn and grow. We place equal emphasis on nurturing relationships and achieving research excellence and impact. We value humanity, humor, and camaraderie as much as professional excellence. Above all, we put people first: our colleagues, respondents, and the communities we serve are at the core of everything we do.

We seek to hire Global Research Assistants who are eager to learn, grow, and carve their niche within our dynamic team. At Forcier, you’ll be part of a fast-paced, demanding, yet invigorating environment that encourages professional growth. We believe in nurturing our talent, not leaving you to ‘sink or swim’, so you can expect personalized support and supervision from your line managers and peers.

Whether you’re seeking a full-time, part-time, or a limited contract-based role, we welcome your application. We are especially interested in candidates aspiring to advance into Research Manager and Research Officer roles over the next year. These positions are primarily remote, but travel for up to two months annually may be required for certain projects requiring hands-on training and fieldwork. If the prospect of living and working in South Sudan or Mozambique excites you, please highlight this in your cover letter.

Position Requirements, Skills and Experience

To advance our purpose of improving livelihoods in crisis contexts through practice-oriented research, Forcier seeks to attract and support a diversity of backgrounds, experience, talent and thought. While we are looking for candidates who bring a well-honed set of quantitative and analytical skills, we are prepared to support the GRAs with training in the areas of survey/tool development, project management, report writing and proposal writing.

Responsibilities may include any of the below and more:

Objective 1: Research Preparation

• Conduct literature reviews and gather relevant background information as necessary.
• Design quantitative and qualitative data collection tools, including survey instruments and questionnaires, and other outputs as requested by the Research Manager.
• Co-design data collection plans and fieldwork budgets in consultation with the Fieldwork Manager.
• Manage, train, and delegate tasks to fieldwork managers and team supervisors

Objective 2: Fieldwork Management and Oversight

• Assist the training of fieldwork teams in person or remotely
• Remotely oversee enumerators and team supervisors in the field during the implementation of mixed methods research projects in multiple countries.
• Conduct quality control and provide feedback to teams on the ground throughout fieldwork.

Objective 3: Team Management, Communication and Coordination

• Enact the project’s timeline and execute its vision, as agreed with the Director of Research
• Lead all research and internal communication processes on the project
• Manage day-to-day communications with the client
• Prepare and lead presentations for internal and external stakeholders

Objective 4: Data Analysis and Reporting

• Clean, code and analyze qualitative and quantitative data.
• Produce key project documents, such as inception reports, data collection reports, weekly reports, and final reports alone or in collaboration with other team members

Objective 5: Financial Management and Budgeting

• Create and monitor budgets.
• Timely and accurate submission of deliverables and invoices.

Objective 6: Project Development and Proposal Contribution

• Contribute to proposal development, as needed.

Role Requirements

We encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply. This includes candidates who have previously encountered challenges in being considered for other positions based on their qualifications, disabilities, personal background or life events. If you would like to apply for the position but see a barrier to joining us, please apply, and we will work with you to find a solution if you’re the right fit.

The following are critical to success in this role:

Required Skills:

• M.A. degree in political science, anthropology, international development, statistics, public health, or a related field.
• A minimum of 3 years of relevant research experience.
• Practical experience with data collection fieldwork in developing countries.
• Demonstrable experience in writing research papers, reports, and monitoring and evaluation assignments.
• Proven experience in project management and leading teams.
• Strong theoretical background and training in quantitative and qualitative research design and analysis, as well as in survey methodology.
• Advanced knowledge of quantitative data analysis and tools (STATA).
• Demonstrated ability to clean and interpret real-world data, generating publishable insights.
• Familiarity with key institutional frameworks and stakeholders.
• Fluency in English.
• Strong presentation and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Keen attention to detail.
• Patience, cooperation and teamwork.

** Irrespective of degree field, graduate level training in research methods and statistics is required.

Desirable Skills:

• Prior work or living experience in post-conflict settings, particularly in East-, Central- and South of Africa.
• Experience in managing teams and human resources, ensuring successful project completion and achieving objectives.
• Graduate-level coursework in econometrics and inferential statistics, ideally including applied regression analysis, survey data analysis, data visualization, and power analysis.
• Experience in teaching and/or leadership positions.
• Familiarity with Open Data Kit (ODK), SurveyCTO, or KoboToolbox.
• French, Portuguese and or/additional languages and dialects.

We strongly encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet all the skills and characteristics listed below. We will be happy to receive applications from candidates who already have some of these qualities and are committed to grow in others.