Project Background
The UK government funds over £1 billion in programming per year through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF). Operating in over 70 countries, CSSF is central to the UK government’s work overseas. CSSF has contracted Integrity Research and Consultancy, and our partner LTS-Niras, to deliver the Global Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (GMEL) contract. Through this contract, we aim to help the CSSF cultivate world-class monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) that meets the demands of programming in fragile and conflict affected contexts and generates and synthesises evidence for policy and decision making.
To achieve this ambition we:
- Support CSSF to develop and use tools and approaches that are appropriate for the complex environments in which the fund operates.
- Equip the CSSF network with the confidence and skills to make long-lasting transformational changes that allow evidence-based decision making.
- Create opportunities for CSSF stakeholders to engage and connect to enable learning and shared understanding.
- Collaborate with Senior Leadership to build confidence in the value added by good MEL practices.
We are a multidisciplinary team working collaboratively with the Joint Funds Unit (JFU) and CSSF to deliver transformational support. Our team bring together an exciting blend of MEL experts, organisational development specialists, skilled facilitators and thematic specialists. Together, we deliver technical capability, capacity and surge support in an adaptive and highly responsive way.
Our team is structured across three practice areas; MEL systems, Collaboration, and Data, Information and Knowledge Management (DIKM). Each practice area has a lead (PAL), who reports into the GMEL Team Leader. We are currently looking for a DIKM Practice Area Deputy Lead.
DIKM Practice Area
DIKM works in close partnership with CSSF and other GMEL practice areas on identifying, co-designing and developing enablers of better data, information and knowledge management for monitoring, evaluation and learning at fund, portfolio, and programme-level. In line with agile project management principles, DIKM follows a user-driven and iterative approach. We co-design and develop prototypes, minimum viable products and DIKM approaches for MEL, and pilot and support the roll-out of DIKM practices and IT-based tools from the MS Office 365 ecosystem (and beyond where possible).
We are looking to bring in more data analytics and data science expertise into our core team. We are currently working with the CSSF to test how we can apply data analytics solutions to enable better evidence-based decision making. We have already started working with experts on a short-term basis to deliver on specific interventions. We will continue to do this, but we are also looking to bring in a senior consultant to work across our interventions, to collaborate closely with the client to identify new opportunities, to manage short-term inputs from consultants, and to help deliver innovative technical solutions through testing what works in the CSSF programming context.
Scope of Work
The DIKM Deputy will support the DIKM Lead to promote technical quality, standards and consistency across the interventions which sit within the practice area. He/she will lead regular practice area meetings, and oversee interventions within the practice area. A sample of some of our current interventions include:
- Supporting the Joint Funds Unit with Management Information System (MIS) development, specifically identifying ways to surface and combine quantitative and qualitative progress data information through joined up dashboards and visual insight reports.
- Develop a case study database to enable access to qualitative evidence in relation to the CSSF’s value, results, learning and adaptation.
- Delivering a series of pilot projects in separate CSSF regions to test different approaches to using data analytics to inform key decision-making processes. This includes testing the use of APIs, web scraping, Extract Transform Load (ETL) pipelines, statistical models and – where relevant – machine learning.
- Supporting the Joint Funds Unit to capture, manage, analyse and visualise programme and portfolio-level data to better enable evidence and experience-based decision making on funding allocations.
The DIKM Deputy will report to the DIKM Lead. He/she will oversee interventions comprised of small multidisciplinary teams. These teams will be set up for specific interventions and will vary in size. He/she will bring a new discipline and expertise to the GMEL team, and will need to work with people who don’t necessarily have the same technical background in data science and statistics. We expect this multidisciplinary approach will lend itself to creative, innovative and user-focused solutions.
Specific responsibilities may include:
- Client engagement, presentations and communication, particularly to senior CSSF and JFU stakeholders
- Manage and be accountable for a portfolio of interventions (see examples above)
- Leading/supporting fortnightly practice area meetings.
- Quality assuring the accuracy, efficiency, ethics and relevance of analytics approaches used within the practice area
- Leading and supporting co-creation of new interventions with CSSF stakeholders at Fund and portfolio level. Engages with colleagues across interventions on questions and requirements in relation to data governance and management.
- Advise on new and innovative methods in business intelligence/data analytics and data science that can be applicable to CSSF MEL initiatives.
- Advise on developing new and relevant approaches to data synthesis and forecasting trends for a range of data types (text, geospatial, numeric).
Your Experience and Expertise
We are looking for a range of experience, in particular:
- Minimum 8 years’ experience in a data-related fields such as research, data analytics, business intelligence or other relevant fields.
- Established management and leadership experience.
- Excellent communication skills and confidence to engage with senior level stakeholders
- Curiosity and drive to understand the diverse data needs and opportunities of different stakeholders, and the ability to develop effective solutions for a geographically dispersed stakeholder community.
- Proven understanding of data visualisation best practice and communicating data insights for non-technical stakeholders.
- Demonstrated experience and skills in scraping, wrangling and visualising Big Data for non-technical audiences.
- Proficiency in data-science focused packages and libraries within R or Python essential
- Ability to produce reactive data visualisations using relevant R or Python packages and/or visualisation software such as tableau or Power BI.
- Willingness to support teams in cleaning and wrangling untidy datasets, and navigate IT security challenges with Government stakeholder systems.
- Experience of working in fast-paced environments with the ability to adapt to new information, constantly reprioritise and work closely with non-technical audiences.
- Experience in agile work methodologies and influencing the work of both colleagues and external stakeholders.
- Strong familiarity with Office 365 tools and SharePoint.
Desirable experience includes:
- Good understanding of the monitoring, evaluation and learning discourse and principles in international development.
- Experience of working on donor government programmes in two or more of the following thematic areas: conflict prevention and peacebuilding, security sector reform, governance and public sector reform, stabilisation, migration, serious and organised crime, gender equality.
- Experience operating in fragile and conflict affected states and familiarity with the CSSF network.
- Familiarity with Natural Language Processing techniques, sentiment analysis and predictive statistics.
Languages:
- Written and oral fluency in English, with the ability to write clear and compelling narrative.
Security Clearance:
This role will require DV-level security clearance. Due to security clearance requirements, candidates must have UK citizenship. They must also have at least 5 years residency in the UK in the past 10 years, 2 years of which must be consecutive.
How to apply:
Our offer/Further details
Ideally, this position will be full-time. However, we are also interested in receiving applications from candidates available at 80% time commitment or more. Ideally the candidate will have easy access to London. The successful candidate will be contracted either as a consultant, fixed term, or permanent staff. We are open to exploring different options with the right candidate.
How to Apply
If you are interested in applying for this position, please complete the application form at www.integrityglobal.com/apply/ and attach a CV and Cover Letter at the bottom of your application.
The closing date for applications is 1 March 2021. However, we will review candidates on a rolling basis and the vacancy may be filled before this deadline. We encourage early applications. Please be advised that only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.
Candidates must have the right to work in the UK.
Integrity is an equal opportunities employer. And positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity. We will respect your confidentiality and abide by UK data protection laws.