BBC MEDIA ACTION – SIERRA LEONE

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title: Freelance Research Officer 

Department/Business Unit: Research and Learning

Reports To: Senior Research Officer

Date of Issue: July 2023

Contract: 2-month contract on local terms and conditions

About us

BBC Media Action is the BBC’s international development organisation. We use media and communications to reduce poverty and promote human rights in developing countries. We partner with civil society, local media, and others to produce creative programmes in multi-media formats which inform and engage audiences around key development issues; and strengthen the media sector through capacity building. Our work is built on insights from our research and engagement with communities and is focused on three key themes: governance and rights, health, and resilience.   We have been in Sierra Leone since 2007 supporting media development, and creative content production across media houses in the country on issues around governance, accountability, health, education, empowerment, etc.

Our current and planned projects address a range of themes, including media governance, health, and education. In addition to our capacity support to local media, we produce creative programmes in multiple formats – such as radio, and social media, based on robust research – that inform and engage audiences around key development issues and seek to strengthen the media sector through capacity-building partnerships, with ongoing partnerships with over 60 radio stations across the country, as broadcast and/or capacity strengthening partners.

Job Context:

BBC Media Action is recruiting a Freelance Research Officer to support the research activities under our Women and Girls’ empowerment project titled ‘Women Arise and Shine’ (WAS). We are looking for a talented and committed researcher to work on all stages of research on this project and provide support on other assignments.  The Freelance Research Officer will be line managed by the Senior Research Officer and will work with BBC Media Action’s Research & Learning Group in London.

The Freelancer Research Officer will be working with groups of Adult Women and Girls. 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 will form part of the recruitment process. BBC Media Action operates a zero-tolerance policy concerning all forms of abuse and exploitation of vulnerable people.

Purpose of Job:

As part of a team based in Freetown, with some up-country travel, the Freelance Research Officer will be responsible for implementing research activities – from research design and planning to fieldwork, data analysis, and report writing.

MAIN DUTIES:

The main duties of the Research Officer will include but not be limited to: 

• Planning Research: To plan research activities in consultation with the Senior Research Officer and to work with the Projects team and Production team to ensure planned research meets project requirements. This may include updating and tracking research activity work plans. Working with other team members on planning and managing the logistics of field research and recruiting research participants.

• Designing Research: To develop research designs and draft research instruments for a range of qualitative and/or quantitative activities supported by the Senior Research Officer and with technical advice from a London-based research team.

• Conducting fieldwork: Lead in moderating focus group discussions and conducting in-depth interviews, as well as piloting and administering quantitative surveys where necessary.

• Support and Training: Providing and/or supporting the training of research agencies or freelancers, mentoring and supervision for freelance researchers, such as transcribers and facilitators, and supporting them to conduct qualitative fieldwork, to ensure work is delivered to BBC Media Action and donor standards.

• Analysis: To analyse qualitative and/or quantitative data, with support from the Senior Research Officer and the London-based research team.

• Reporting: To structure and write clear and compelling reports, summarising research findings, in a format appropriate for the internal and/or external audience, such as donors, INGOs, and government agencies, and present the findings to donors and all key project stakeholders.

• Communicating effectively: To provide verbal briefings on research findings for the Projects and Production departments to ensure that research findings feed into ongoing project design and production and to ensure effective communication at all stages of research with the Senior Research Manager and Projects department in Sierra Leone.

• Perform any other duties or tasks that may be assigned.

Safeguarding Responsibilities:

• Understand and comply with the BBC Media Action 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.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND EXPERIENCE:

Required:

• Good working knowledge of research techniques, ideally both quantitative (surveys) and qualitative (focus groups, interviews, etc.) research techniques.
• Ability to plan and design research with support.
• Ability to communicate clearly and appropriately both to colleagues and interviewees from a wide range of backgrounds and a good understanding of how to build a rapport with participants.
• Ability to establish good working relationships with colleagues and work as a member of a team, demonstrating good interpersonal skills.
• Good attention to detail and the ability to work speedily and accurately under pressure.
• Good organizational and administrative skills: responding flexibly to rapidly changing priorities, planning and prioritizing activities, and tailoring outputs effectively.
• Ability to select relevant data, identify key trends, issues, and solutions, and present key information in easily understandable formats.
• Ability to think logically, take an analytical approach, critically evaluate ideas and interpret information from different sources.
• Good IT skills, including use of internet search engines, MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Good presentation skills with the ability to develop electronic and paper-based presentations, communicate effectively with audiences, and respond to questions.
• University degree in a subject that is relevant to the application of research and learning theory and practice.
• Fluent in spoken Krio and in spoken and written English, with the ability to write high-quality reports in English.
• Good understanding of how safeguarding issues related to research ethics and practice, with specific reference to working with vulnerable groups of people.
• Willingness to learn new skills and take on new responsibilities.

Desirable(requirements):

• In-depth working knowledge of the education sector and ideally of behaviour change communication.
• An understanding of, or enthusiasm to learn about, communication strategies, media formats, and journalism.
• Experience working closely with a production team in applying research findings to media formats and outputs.
• Working knowledge of SPSS or similar statistical tools.
• Fluent in at least one other local language.

NOTE: Familiarity with the BBC’s Values and Editorial Policy is highly regarded.

How to apply

Please Send an updated CV, cover letter and certificates with your most recent transcripts to recruitment@sl.bbcmediaaction.org before 14th July 2023. No hard-copy applications will be considered.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.