Research Specialist

The Human Development Programme (HDP) aims to support human development through a multidisciplinary and research-based approach. Its initial focus is early childhood, a period of life that lays the foundation for all future learning, development and wellbeing. Applying an integrated approach to education, health, nutrition and stimulation in early years. HDP aims to provide the support needed to promote holistic child development by enhancing physical, cognitive, social and emotional abilities of children to help them become healthy competent individuals participating productively and effectively in their societies.

HDP is determined to promote better development of future generations and with its educational and community-based programmes. The Programme aims to build the capacity of professionals, parents and communities who have the responsibility of providing a strong foundation and learning opportunities for ensuring a good start in life to every child.

This is a short term grant-funded position.

Responsibilities

Reporting to the Project Principal Investigator, you will be mainly responsible for project management and research related activities of a project on maternal mental health and children's social-emotional development. Specific responsibilities include:

• organising the implementation of project activities as per the study protocols, SOPs expectations and timelines
• developing and implementing effective monitoring and audit for project activities
• organising and implementing trainings of project staff and community workers
• providing on-the-job coaching and supportive supervision of the project staff
• planning and supervising work plan regarding field activities
• planning and organising Focus Group Discussions and In-Depth Interviews with various stakeholders
• supervising collected data on regular basis, especially for missing values and any inaccuracies, ensuring complete and correct data collection
• supervising data collection and intervention activities in the field and supporting project staff for any day-to-day problems faced in the community
• data consolidation and maintaining records and backup of qualitative and quantitative data collected from the community.

Requirements

You should have:

• a Masters in Psychology with Post Graduate Diploma from a reputable institution
• at least 3 to 5 years of experience of supervising mental health research projects in a community setting
• experience in organising and implementing trainings for project staff and community workers in GB
• strong communication skills in English (both oral and written), excellent interpersonal, organisational coordination and report writing skills
• efficient work planning with timeliness, quality assurance and monitoring skills
• excellent problem solving skills, ability to anticipate problems and devising effective solutions with strong decision-making capabilities
• background and experience of conducting qualitative and quantitative research studies in community setting
• knowledge of data collection, data analysis and writing up results
• proficiency in local languages
• building and maintaining effective collaborations with communities and other project stakeholders
• proficiency in MS Office, SPSS and N-vivo.