Regional Assessment Specialist

BACKGROUND ON IMPACT AND REACH

REACH was born in 2010 as a joint initiative of two International NGOs (IMPACT Initiatives and ACTED) and the United Nations Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). REACH’s purpose is to promote and facilitate the development of information products that enhance the humanitarian community’s decision making and planning capacity for emergency, reconstruction and development contexts. REACH facilitates information management for aid actors through three complementary services: (a) need and situation assessments facilitated by REACH teams; (b) situation analysis using satellite imagery; (c) provision of related database and (web)-mapping facilities and expertise.

IMPACT Initiatives is a humanitarian NGO, based in Geneva, Switzerland. The organisation manages several initiatives, including the REACH Initiative. The IMPACT team comprises specialists in data collection, management and analysis and GIS. IMPACT was launched at the initiative of ACTED, an international NGO whose headquarter is based in Paris and is present in thirty countries. The two organizations have a strong complementarity formalized in a global partnership, enabling IMPACT to benefit from ACTED’s operational support on its fields of intervention.

We are currently looking for a Regional Assessment Specialist with experience, knowledge, and technical expertise in humanitarian research and needs assessments.

Title: Regional Assessment Specialist

Location: Panama, with regional travel

Contract duration: 12 months

Start date: As soon as possible

REGION PROFILE

IMPACT Initiatives (IMPACT), through its initiative REACH, has been present in Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) since 2019, with country teams in Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and Haiti leading multi-sectoral assessments and humanitarian research programmes across 13 countries in the region. More broadly, IMPACT has an extensive field presence in 28 countries globally, and have supported OCHA in 16 countries across Africa, Middle-East and North Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America, particularly in support of the annual HNO/HRP process within these countries.

IMPACT is scaling up its presence in the region - specifically providing technical support capacity to OCHA Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (ROLAC) based in Panama. OCHA ROLAC covers Barbados, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela, and aims to strengthen humanitarian coordination and response preparedness in the region. Additionally, through its base in Panama, OCHA ROLAAC is able to deploy specialized personnel in evaluation and coordination to any crisis in LAC within 12 to 48 hours, thus arranging a first line of support to governments and humanitarian partners during the initial phase of a response.

POSITION PROFILE

REACH is seeking an Assessment Specialist (AS) to be based in Panama, to provide dedicated technical support and capacity to OCHA ROLAC office, as well as OCHA country offices through the region. Additionally, the RAS may support the HNO/HRP processes through dedicated support with methodologies, People in Need (PiN) calculations or Multi Sectoral Need Assessments (MSNAs) where needed. Additionally, the role would provide capacity for standby support for responding to sudden onset or natural disasters, and for supporting preparedness measures.

The AS will work closely with OCHA ROLAC, the regional team in Colombia, as well as IMPACT’s global research and programmes teams based in Geneva HQ. Past experience conducting humanitarian research, especially humanitarian needs assessments, is essential. Fluency in Spanish and English is required, along with quantitative analysis skills, and effective coordination and communication skills.
Functions

Under the supervision of the Country Coordinator based in Colombia, the REACH Regional Assessment Specialist will perform the following functions (as required) in support of OCHA ROLAC:
Support OCHA ROLAC and OCHA Country Teams with technical capacity and training, as well as the development of assessments, methodologies and IM, where needed.
Support OCHA ROLAC in a technical capacity within regional coordination mechanisms and fora where necessary (i.e. REDLAC, coordination with R4V platform, etc.).
Dedicated technical support for HNO/HRPs across region, scoping and identify ongoing or worsening crises within the ROLAC where MSNAs could be conducted to fill critical information gaps and support inter-sectoral humanitarian needs analysis for the HNO/HRPs. Support Country Officers with standardised methodologies where MSNAs are not currently being run.
Respond to sudden onset emergencies/natural disasters with sufficient assessment and analysis capacity in the immediate aftermath of such events.
Participate in the training on multisector rapid needs assessment teams through Preparedness missions to make partners ready to respond to