Afghanistan Analysis Hub Senior Analyst ACAPS United Kingdom London

ACAPS, a project hosted by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), is looking for a Senior Analyst to join its Afghanistan Analysis Hub.

Priority will be given to applicants from Afghanistan or the Afghan diaspora with the right to live and work in the UK or any country with an NRC office

Afghanistan Analysis Hub

ACAPS is establishing an Afghanistan Analysis Hub to provide impartial, independent, timely, and high-quality analytical products, which strengthen the evidence base for decision making and response programming among humanitarian stakeholders related to the crisis in Afghanistan and how it affects communities both within Afghanistan and in neighbouring countries. To achieve this, ACAPS will put together a team of one Project Lead, two Senior Analysts, one Data Analyst, and three Information Analysts, with support from Expert Analysis Advisors and others within the organisation.

The Afghanistan Analysis Hub will: 

• Use available data to reach deeper levels of analysis to understand cross sector linkages and trends and to anticipate and understand future risks. 
• Support sectors and organisations in using existing data to identify information gaps and design quantitative and qualitative research assessments. 
• Design and share analysis, creating an evidence base on which a shared overview of the crisis can be established, and inter-sector coordination strengthened. 
• Facilitate joint analysis processes.

Responsibilities

Product management and technical oversight

• The Senior Analyst will act as Product Manager for Afghanistan Analysis Hub, jointly with the Project Lead.
  • In collaboration with the Project Lead establish realistic timelines for the products
  • In collaboration with the Project Lead ensure overall coordination of resources needed for the products (Hub analysts, ACAPS and external experts, editors etc).
  • Ensure internal administrative aspects around the products (top sheets in AirTable, correct use of Harvest by collaborators etc)
  • As Product Manager, provide feedback to the Product Lead(s) on content, structure, and quality of the analysis.
• Organise with partners to set up Key Informant Interviews (including identification of key informants, schedule interview and follow up).
• When acting as Product Manager, ensure timely delivery and high quality of the reports.
• When acting as Product Lead, responsible for development and production of analysis.

Analytical products

• Design and deliver (in consultation with key stakeholders) multi-sector and thematic analytical products
• Support the development and use of an analytical framework
• Undertake research and exploratory, descriptive, explanatory, and interpretive analysis to support the production of reports
• Convene and facilitate joint analysis sessions with other actors as appropriate

Partnerships and Networking

• In collaboration with the Project Lead and other analysts on the team develop and maintain a list/informal network of key interlocutors for information (including sector and agency level)
• Represent ACAPS at key cluster and working group meetings in order to provide input and promote ACAPS products.
• Liaise and coordinate joint analysis with key humanitarian stakeholders and other key IM colleagues. In collaboration with the Project Lead this will include analytical support to humanitarian actors for instance on scenario building exercises, working with OCHA on the HNO
• Support the Project Lead in fundraising efforts and donor engagement for the Afghanistan Analysis Hub , e.g. input to concept notes and presentations to donors

Secondary data analysis

• Review assessments, reports and information products on Afghanistan to understand the information landscape and current gaps
• Contribute to the establishment and maintenance of Analysis Hub information management systems and ensure that internal and external needs for information are processed in a structured and efficient manner
• Support the overall informational needs of the humanitarian response in Afghanistan through the compilation, synthesis and analysis of relevant qualitative and quantitative information
• Contribute to the creation of tools to facilitate the ongoing analysis and sharing of data and information that support evidence-based decision making
• Ensure maintenance and team adherence to data confidentiality protocols

Collaboration with other teams within ACAPS on products

• Focal point for coordination and collaboration with global Crisis Insight team members covering Afghanistan
  • Liaise regarding website updates, global access report, global risk report, and any other Afghanistan-related analyses produced by the global team

Any other tasks which may jointly be agreed on may be added to the job description, as per the project needs.

Required skills, knowledge and experience

• Education to postgraduate level in social sciences or international development.
• At least 5 years of professional experience in the humanitarian sector, including at least 1 in the field.
• Excellent knowledge of Afghanistan politics, economics and history
• Large professional networks in Afghanistan
• Training and proven understanding/application of quantitative and qualitative research and analysis methods (mixed and multi).
• Ability and confidence to make judgment calls when interpreting ambiguous data.
• Demonstrated analytical skills and written clarity, including ability to understand

complex concepts and problems and synthetize information.

• Demonstrated problem solving skills and results oriented approach. Ability to use logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Fluent written and oral communication skills in English
• Fluency in Pashto and Dari, both written and verbal, asset
• Proven cooperation and inter-personal skills, including proven capacity to work very efficiently in a team.
• Demonstrated ability to take initiative, manage own use of time and self-motivate.
• Familiarity with AirTable, R, Python, Tableau, PowerBi, or similar software desired
• Flexibility (including regarding working hours).

Behavioural Competencies

• Communicating with impact and respect
• Leading and supervising
• Social perceptiveness
• Active listening and collaboration
• Deciding and Initiating action
• Planning and delivering results
• Adapting and responding to change
• Adhering to principles and values

Operate in line with the ACAPS values

ACAPS is a dynamic and independent organisation. Our culture is enshrined in the ACAPS values (here). The post holder is expected to develop the position in line with these values. The ACAPS values live in the way we manage our teams, create our content and engage with stakeholders. 

Performance Management 

The employee will be accountable for the responsibilities and the competencies. The following documents will be used for performance reviews:  

• The Job Description  

• The Work and Development Plan  
• The Performance Review Template 

About ACAPS

ACAPS is dedicated to helping humanitarians make better decisions. We want to put evidence at the heart of decision-making. To achieve this, we collaborate with a variety of partners across the humanitarian sector and beyond. We strive to be an evolving platform providing:  

• Independent analysis to support evidence-based decision making for humanitarian operations. 
• Deployment of experts to support assessments and analysis in crisis.  
• Innovative approaches to collect more reliable and timely data and conduct rigorous analysis
• Capacity development of humanitarian actors to carry out better needs assessments and analysis.