MMC Specialist (Re-advertisement) at Danish Refugee Council

Overall purpose of the role:

The overall purpose of the role is to take a leading role in the Mixed Migration Centre – Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) team with the publication of relevant research to inform policy and programmatic response by expanding the evidence base on mixed migration processes in the region. Furthermore, the post holder plays a key role in engagement activities to establish the MMC as a leading voice in migration research in the region, and identify and represent MMC at meetings with policy actors and key policy events.

Under the supervision of the MMC Regional Manager in Nairobi, the successful candidate will be responsible for taking ownership of and supervising qualitative data analysis of emerging mixed migration trends; managing, supervising and contributing to research projects and products; and delivering research analysis and grant reporting trainings, among other responsibilities.

Key responsibilities

Research, Data and Publication Management

• Lead on conceiving new research projects and developing research ideas with DRC and partners according to programmatic and policy needs, feeding into the coordination of the MMC ESA research agenda;
• Engage actively in the region with key policy and programmatic partners to keep abreast on latest mixed migration trends and information needs;
• Take ownership of and coordinate workflows of MMC research projects, overseeing research methodology and tool creation processes, data collection and analysis, including coding and labelling qualitative data analysis;
• Coordinate, supervise and contribute to the drafting and roll-out of MMC briefing and research papers, articles, policy briefs, information requests and other research outputs;
• Develop a qualitative data management system.

Policy and Programming Engagement

• Coordinate and contribute to the planning and convening of research dissemination events and other activities to engage policy and programmatic audiences;
• Scan for and participate in key policy events and meetings to strengthen MMC’s visibility and impact on policy actors;
• Extend and strengthen the network of MMC’s relationships with policy actors;
• Support MMC engagement with programming actors in the region.

Grants Management & Proposal Writing

• Lead on identifying and tracking new grant opportunities for MMC (independently or in coordination with DRC country offices and in the region);
• Coordinate and contribute to the development of grant proposal narratives and other grant documentation in grant application stages;
• Take ownership of and coordinate the development of research ideas and concepts into project proposals, serving as a focal point for relevant partners;
• Coordinate relevant grants and reporting throughout research project cycles, taking leadership in team workflows.

Capacity Building & Training

• Supervise and train staff on MMC reporting of its research activities and administration (including assets) on a quarterly or as-needed basis;
• Train staff on MMC editorial guidelines through peer-review processes and serve as a research on migration theory;
• Provide support to country missions in projects involving migration data, mainly through assistance in the organization and facilitation of migration data collection and analysis;
• Provide training to DRC and MMC staff on research methods and related software applications (such as NVivo).

Qualifications and Experience

• Master’s degree in development economics, migration or refugee studies, other social sciences.
• At least five years’ experience working in a research, academic and/or policy context;
• Demonstrated experience in managing and supervising data and research project flows and qualitative analysis techniques including the use of relevant software applications (such as NVivo);
• Demonstrated experience in working with and analyzing qualitative data;
• Demonstrated experience in coordinating and producing relevant research products, preferably on migration and/or humanitarian issues;
• Demonstrated understanding of migration policy actor needs, and experience in policy engagement;
• Demonstrated understanding of current mixed migration debates and dynamics in the region is an asset;
• Demonstrated experience in grant management and donor engagement is an asset;
• Full professional proficiency in English and French
• Previous experience working with international NGOs or humanitarian agencies.

Closing: 3rd August 2022