Local Researcher in Ras Beirut - RELIEF Centre

Do you live or work in Ras Beirut? Are you interested in learning more about your community and facilitating work that looks into livelihoods in the neighborhood? Join our team as a Local Researcher in the Ras Beirut Leverhulme Team.

The RELIEF centre is looking for people who are interested in how Ras Beirut is coping with the Lebanese economic crisis, and would like you to become part of our project team as a Local Researcher. We are seeking people who represent the diversity of Ras Beirut to work on a research project about livelihoods in the neighborhood.

This project “Supporting Macroeconomic Stability and Prosperity in an Age of Mass Displacement” is a study of decision-making processes related to livelihood strategies and prosperity in the context of mass displacement and informal labour markets in Lebanon. Informal labour markets are growing around the world, even in contexts where GDP growth is strong (ILO, 2014).  Yet, there is a dearth of up to date data on such markets, how they function within broader livelihood strategies, and how their dynamics operate at individual, household, community and regional scales. This study focuses on an innovative interdisciplinary methodological and theoretical framework to improve our understanding of informal labour markets and their connections to livelihoods and sustainable prosperity under conditions of uncertainty and resource constraint. Alongside empirical evidence, the project will develop decision-support tools for vulnerable groups enabling efficient job search and matching, thus increasing employment chances. Empowering people to make better decisions about their livelihoods will have broader societal benefits as insecure, poorly paid jobs generate broad social and public health impacts.

This project contributes to research about understanding the contributions and the opportunity costs associated with informality in the context of real evidence about people’s location, migration, livelihood and employment preferences. It aims to develop a series of methods, models and concepts for understanding livelihood decision-making from the perspective of various actors/agents in Lebanon, across a range of factors such as age, gender, educational qualifications and legal status. To this end, this research will use an experimental method called ‘Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE)’ to illuminate preferences that form and affect livelihood strategies, rather than a narrow focus on job benefits (eg Holm et al, 2016). The DCE method allows to quantify choices, preferences and trade-offs in contexts of informality and uncertainty by building realistic scenarios around the choices people make to build livelihoods given the different means available to them.

Data gathering will take place from mid-April until early June in two cadastres in Ras Beirut: Ras Beirut and Ain eL-Mreisseh.  With this timeframe, the following questions will be addressed: Are the choices that people make in securing livelihoods in urban settings noticeably different? How are their livelihood choices constrained by the challenges of limited and congested infrastructure? How do these complex trade-offs complicate decision-making, especially in the context of profound uncertainties about the consequences of moving homes, work and livelihoods? What are the overall impacts on overall well-being and prosperity – in the long-term as well as the short-term?

The RELIEF centre is a transdisciplinary research collaboration that focuses on one of the world’s pressing challenges of the moment: how to build a prosperous and inclusive future for communities affected by mass displacement. To do so, the RELIEF centre co-designs a Prosperity Index with the community, which becomes a tool to help “The Prosperity Team” measure prosperity through a Household Survey. The data we collect aims to inspire local interventions based on real needs. www.relief-centre.org

Priority will be given to people with prior experience in data collection. The RELIEF Centre will provide training in data collection and you will have the support of an academic team when carrying out research in your town.  

Successful candidates will be paid for completed training and research activity tasks. You will be part of a diverse team, working with the RELIEF Centre in Ras Beirut/Mina. 

The main duties and responsibilities are:

• Conduct DCE worker and employer surveys with Ras Beirut residents and employers.
• Report back regularly on the progress of the work
• Abide by ethical principles of working as a Community Researcher

In General:

• Attend and actively participate in training sessions about research methods and ethics
• Attend and actively participate in team and community meetings
• Share data and research findings with the team
• Be present mainly in Ras Beirut
• Be part of a team with other community researchers 

The required person specification is the following: 

• At least 18 years old
• Knowledgeable about Ras Beirut, its different areas and communities / your community
• A confident communicator who is sensitive to different environments and the expectations of different groups involved in the research
• Able to work independently, to take initiative, and willing to be flexible
• Reliable and punctual
• Priority will be given to candidates with prior data collection experience.

We seek to recruit a diverse team. Therefore, we are particularly interested in hearing from applicants who reflect the diversity of Ras Beirut. We welcome applications from people from all sections of the community, irrespective of nationality, gender, age, disability, religion or belief. 

The application process timeline:

• The deadline for applications is 20:00 G.M.T. on Friday 2 April 2021. 
• Interviews will take place between 5 and 9 April 2021.  Local researchers will receive their induction and trainings on 14, 16 and 19 April 2021. 

You must be available:

• On the 14^th, 16^th and the 19^th of April 2021: 3 days of trainings/consultations in person or partially online; allocated time to conduct up to 100 surveys during the months of April, May and June 2021 (specific dates are subject to change depending on lockdown restrictions but the time commitment remains the same)

How to apply:

• Please send a completed application form by email to Diala Makki at [email protected] and Mayssa Jallad [email protected]
• or by WhatsApp at +961 81 42 37 10 (Please note that this number will only be used for Whatsapp). 
• Please include the subject title: Local Researcher Application_your full name.
• Please include in the email how did you find out about this project.  
• The application form can be found here:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MCbRP8oSfLv6t-HxxOptsKaKRgICx_NeqZm8ddknK_E/edit?usp=sharing

Please note that all dates are subject to change according to Lebanon’s Coronavirus Lockdown.

Places are limited, apply soon!