Democratic Republic of the Congo: Project Officer

Introduction

Forcier is a dynamic research consultancy firm operating across Africa and the Middle East since 2011. Our core services include monitoring and evaluation (M&E) research, capacity-building, training, and reporting for UN Agencies, NGOs, governments, and private sector clients operating in post-conflict contexts and challenging environments. Forcier currently has field offices in South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Egypt. These offices are supported by a remote technical unit in Washington, D.C., and our headquarters in Tampa, Florida, USA.

Job Description

**The Project Officer will report to the DRC office’s Research Manager and will be responsible for managing research assistants, communicating with clients, and implementing several research projects. The position is based in Kinshasa, DRC with periodic travel to the field. Any and all locations may be high-risk and hardship postings.

In Particular, the responsibilities of the Project Officer, include:

• Implementing research projects from A to Z, including timelines, budgets, logistics, quality control, data cleaning, data analysis, and report-writing

• Actively tracking all ongoing and incoming/nascent projects, and appropriately matching people/teams and their toolkits with projects with the help of the Research Manager

• Delegating roles within projects to research assistants with the help of the Research Manager

• Overseeing Enumerators and Coordinators in the field in the implementation of research projects;

• Tracking available logistical and financial resources in collaboration with the finance and operations department, and matching them appropriately with teams to enable the seamless execution of projects;

• Monitoring and approving budgeted project expenditures;

• Managing all project funds according to established accounting policies and procedures;

• Developing relationships with clients and partners including government bodies, donors, UN agencies, NCOs, private sector enterprises and civil society associations and identifying potential new projects;

• Attending meetings with current and potential clients, major planning meetings and other cluster government meetings;

• Introducing innovation and best practices to enhance research programs and operational performance;

• Contributing to internal discussions on strategy, policy and organizational issues including attending strategy review meetings;

• Setting up files to ensure that all project information is appropriately documented and secured;

• Performing other tasks as agreed with the Head of Office and Research Manager.

Qualifications

• M.A. degree (or equivalent) in political science, international relations, international development, or a related field with 2+ years of work experience, OR B.A. degree (or equivalent) with 5+ years of work experience;

• At least 1 year of experience (professional or academic) conducting quantitative and qualitative data analysis, in the research, monitoring and evaluation sector;

• Prior experience in project management, including overseeing budgets and project timelines

• Working knowledge of statistical packages such as Stata, SPSS, or R;

• Excellent knowledge of Office package, including good skills in Excel;

• Willingness to conduct enumerator trainings

• Eagerness to learn and be pushed into new areas, and ability to learn from mistakes;

• Ability to work independently in a stressful environment with minimal supervision;

• Ability to produce high-quality work under tight deadlines;

• Creativity and an ability to think outside the box to conceptualize projects and implementation strategies;

• Prior experience living and working abroad, preferably in a developing country; working experience in Central Africa will be considered an asset

• Cultural sensitivity, curiosity, sense of humor and a ‘can do’ attitude;

• Experience collaborating with diverse, multi-cultural teams preferred;

• Fluency in written and spoken French and English; excellent writing skills in English and French required;

• Knowledge of Lingala, Tshiluba and/or Swahili will be considered an asset.

What we offer

• Salary based on relevant experience and educational background in line with standard Forcier compensation guidelines;

• Accommodation in Kinshasa provided;

• In-country living stipend;

• Return flight from home base;

• Medical coverage.

If you are interested in this position, please send a CV, cover letter explaining your background and qualifications, and a list of three references. These materials can be sent in English or in French. Please also include 2 writing samples (one in English and one in French). Application materials can be sent to rdcongo@forcierconsulting.com

Please title your email: Full Name-Project Officer DRC (for example: Jean Bope-Project Officer DRC)

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.**