Field Researchers “Observatory of The Post-Beirut Blast Recovery”

Assignment

ACTED is looking to hire six researchers to conduct fieldwork monitoring the post-blast recovery and the shelter and urban levels in six districts of Beirut where ongoing recovery work is unfolding through the support of UNHCR. The field researchers will work closely with coordinators and researchers from the Beirut Urban Lab at the American University of Beirut in the Observatory of the post-Beirut blast recovery. They will help investigate urban trends and monitor recovery efforts at the scale of shelter, buildings, and communal spaces.

The six neighborhoods are: Karantina, Mar Mikhael, Geitawi, Badawi, Bechoura, and Karm ez-Zaytoun. Work in the neighborhoods is funded by UNHCR and conducted by ACTED and three other INGOs

1. Background

About ACTED

ACTED is an NGO registered in France with global operations in Central and South Asia, Europe, Middle-East and Africa. ACTED has been active in Lebanon since 2006 operating mainly in the North and Beirut and Mount Lebanon governorates of Lebanon. Since 2013, ACTED has been implementing household and community-level programming in Beirut, Mount Lebanon and the North supporting public service delivery, support to civil society and social cohesion. ACTED has been on the ground responding to the Beirut Explosion since August 5th and is currently implementing large scale response programs in affected areas in terms of shelter rehabilitations, cash support, protection programming, support to damaged businesses, and support to restore public services.

About BUL

The Beirut Urban Lab is a collaborative and interdisciplinary research space. The Lab produces scholarship on urbanization by documenting and analysing ongoing transformation processes in Lebanon and its region's natural and built environments. It intervenes as an interlocutor and contributor to academic debates about historical and contemporary urbanization from its position in the Global South.

1. Functions

Responsibilities

• Gather and record information about neighbourhoods according to a provided template and a defined methodology, through field visits and observations, in coordination with the four INGOs;
• Complete and report the collected data through desk research;
• Attend, participate to and report on regular community meetings, team meetings and discussions.
• Help identify potential urban interventions in neighborhoods according to guidelines developed with the four INGOs and BUL
• Report field progress regularly to the field coordinator, and discuss findings with them;
• Help draft and comment on a field report produced weekly and a final report at the end of the work. The report template will be provided by BUL.

1. Knowledge, skills

• Fluent in Arabic, with excellent written and verbal English skills and the ability to work in an international context
• Excellent interpersonal skills and external relations;
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail;
• Strong written expression and basic computer skills;
• Independent, adaptable, flexible and hard working.

1. Qualifications and Experience

• Master in Urban Planning, Urban Design, or Urban Studies degree
• Proven experience in architecture or surveying;
• Prior fieldwork experience is a plus.