Senior Research Officer for Mozambique, Based in Pemba Full Time

BACKGROUND ON IMPACT AND REACH

IMPACT Initiatives is a humanitarian NGO, based in Geneva, Switzerland. The organisation manages several initiatives, including the REACH Initiative. The IMPACT team comprises specialists in data collection, management and analysis, GIS and remote sensing. IMPACT was launched at the initiative of ACTED, an international NGO with headquarters based in Paris and presence in thirty countries. The two organizations have a strong complementarity formalized in a global partnership, which allows IMPACT to benefit from ACTED’s operational support in its fields of intervention.

We are currently looking for a Senior Research Officer to support our team in Pemba Mozambique.

Position: Senior Research Officer

Contract duration: 6 months

Starting Date: 01 September 2026

Location: Pemba

COUNTRY PROFILE

In Mozambique, recurring climatic shocks, including cyclones, floods, droughts, and disease outbreaks, combined with protracted displacement and vulnerability in parts of the country, continue to generate significant humanitarian needs. Humanitarian actors require robust, timely, and impartial evidence to understand evolving needs, identify vulnerable populations, and support strategic planning and prioritisation processes.

REACH Mozambique contributes to these efforts through the implementation of assessments, monitoring systems, and analytical products across multiple sectors. Working closely with national and international stakeholders, REACH supports humanitarian coordination mechanisms, response planning processes, and evidence-based decision-making through the generation and dissemination of high-quality data and analysis.

Within this context, REACH Mozambique is seeking a Senior Research Officer to support the design, implementation, and analysis of multi-sector needs assessments and other research initiatives that inform humanitarian planning, prioritisation, and operational decision-making. Reporting to the IMPACT Country Representative, the Senior Research Officer will play a key role in ensuring the quality, relevance, and strategic use of assessment data and analytical outputs.

POSITION PROFILE

The Senior Research Officer (SRO) will support the management and delivery of REACH’s multi-sector assessment portfolio in Mozambique, with a particular focus on generating evidence to inform humanitarian planning, response prioritisation, and strategic decision-making. The SRO will contribute to all stages of the research cycle, including assessment design, methodology development, data collection oversight, data analysis, reporting, and dissemination of findings.

Working under the supervision of the IMPACT Country Representative, the SRO will coordinate closely with humanitarian partners, cluster and working group coordinators, government counterparts, and field teams to ensure that REACH’s analytical products respond to key information needs. The role requires strong analytical and project management skills, experience with quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, and the ability to translate complex data into actionable insights for humanitarian stakeholders.

The Senior Research Officer will also contribute to strategic engagement with partners, quality assurance of research outputs, staff mentoring, and the continued development of REACH’s evidence generation and analysis capacities in Mozambique.

BACKGROUND ON MULTI-SECTOR NEEDS ASSESSMENTS

IMPACT HQ in Geneva supports the work of Multi-Sector Needs Assessments (MSNAs) in more than 20 countries. As a result of the World Humanitarian Summit and the Grand Bargain, a commitment was made to “impartial, unbiased, comprehensive, context sensitive, timely and up-to date” joint needs assessments that can serve as “a sound evidence base for humanitarian response plans.” These exercises have been informing consolidated humanitarian appeals since 2016. Since 2016, the number of MSNAs supported by REACH has more than quadrupled; MSNA data continues to influence flagship humanitarian response processes such as Humanitarian Needs Overviews and Humanitarian Response Plans (HNOs/HRPs). This indicates that evidence-based decision making is increasingly becoming a cornerstone of effective humanitarian action.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Senior Research Officer’s responsibilities include:

RESEARCH CYCLE MANAGEMENT

• Understanding key research cycles and how this research contributes to strategic response objectives.
• Managing relevant research cycle, including oversight of research design, data collection, or analysis.

CONTEXTUAL UNDERSTANDING

• Keeping up to date with the shifting Mozambique context.

RESEARCH AND TECHNICAL SKILLS

• Overseeing development and implementation of analytical workstreams, including use of existing REACH data in thematic briefs, reports, presentations, etc.
• Leading the research cycle including research design, tool development, and data collection.

STAFF MANAGEMENT AND TRAINING

• Promoting capacity building across the IMPACT Mozambique mission related to deepening analytical capacities using existing research (capacity building portfolio will depend on level of experience).
• Providing day-to-day direct and indirect management of the research team within their unit/workstream.

COORDINATION

Internal Coordination

• Interacting autonomously with HQ departments and may serve as mission focal point for particular themes or technical areas;
• Coordinating with research units and teams to move forward or improve aspects of the research cycle;
• Supporting senior management with designing, planning, and implementing strategies, and objectives.

External Coordination

• Leading on external engagement related to analytical research findings as necessary.
• The Senior Research Officer will maintain the strictest confidentiality on all data collected and related processes. They will actively take measures to prevent the unauthorized sharing of any information and data belonging to IMPACT and its partners, or collected during his/her assignment with IMPACT.

REQUIREMENTS

• Years of work experience 3 years of relevant working experience in a humanitarian setting, such as assessments, monitoring and evaluation, research design and analysis, etc.;
• Research skills Excellent quantitative and qualitative research data analysis experience required;
• Familiarity with aid system Good understanding of the aid system and the research community. Prior experience with humanitarian coordination forums preferred;
• Thematic experience Prior experience with multisectoral assessment is an asset;
• Communication/reporting skills Excellent verbal and written communication and drafting skills for effective reporting required;
• Academic qualifications Excellent academic qualifications, including a master’s degree or equivalent in a relevant discipline (e.g. international studies, development, humanitarian response, data science, political science, etc.);
• Software skills Proven knowledge of the Microsoft Office Suite, to include Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Familiarity with R, SPSS and/or STATA or other statistical analysis software an asset
• Security environment Ability to operate in a complex and challenging security environment.
• Experience in geographical region Past experience in the region is desirable;
• Language skills Fluency in English required, competency in Portuguese is an asset.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

• For this position, salary between 2’580 CHF and 2’640 CHF monthly (before income tax), etc as well as a monthly living allowance of 300 USD NB – IMPACT salaries are strictly determined by our salary grid depending on the grade of the position and the level of education of staff. A location-dependent security and/or isolation adjustment is then applied as a recognition that some staff are required to work in difficult places where living and working conditions are much more difficult than elsewhere.
• Accommodation and food provided in the guesthouse.
• Enrolment in Swiss private pension fund (Swisslife – approx. 9.975% of staff gross salary), health insurance, life insurance and repatriation assistance.
• Flight tickets every 6 months & visa fees covered (in-country travel costs and professional expenses are fully covered).
• Contribution to the luggage transportation: between 20 and 100 kgs, depending on the length of the contract (+ luggage and personal property insurance)
• Annual leave of 36 days per year. Public holidays of the country of assignment. Family/compassionate leave when applicable.
• Predeparture induction – 3 days at IMPACT Initiatives’s HQ in Geneva + one week pre-departure training in ACTED HQ in Paris, including a 4-days in situ security training;
• IMPACT prioritizes the psychological safety of its staff and the health insurance provided covers, among others, up to 1000 € per year of psychosocial counselling fees.

Tagged as: Impact Initiatives, Mozambique