South Sudan: RESEARCHERS FOR WAU, KUAJOK AND BOR

Country: South Sudan

Department: ATJP

Research Locations: Jubek with extensive travel

Position Type: Short term Consultancy

Reports to: Research Manager for State Level Political Economy and Conflict Analyses

Duration: 5 months

Background

The British Council has been implementing a European Union funded Access to Justice Project (ATJP) since March 2015. As part of this project, the British Council wishes to recruit suitable candidates to support an exciting and challenging research initiative that will provide a rich understanding of local attitudes to justice, rights, law and punishment in Wau, Twic, Gogrial and Jonglei states.

Suitable candidates will guided by an experienced research manager and be required to work collaboratively with other team members in specific project locations. The assignment is planned for April-August 2016.

Purpose

The purpose of the pilot research is to provide detailed, locally-specific and responsive qualitative social research, within a research team led by the ATJP research manager. Researchers will work in selected sites to provide regional and local analysis and onward routes for the roll-out of the EU ATJP.

Responsibilities

Successful candidates are expected to provide a detailed longitudinal analysis of the local justice systems in one or more focal sites.

With locally recruited research assistants and/or interpreters, the researcher will conduct in-depth research on the social structures, processes, conceptual frameworks and challenges of local justice systems, and how people seek rights, restitution and justice in the current context.

Researchers are expected to engage with a cross-section of society, in rural, peri-urban and urban areas, focusing as much on people falling outside of these systems, and on wider local debates around rights and justice. The methodology and core research questions will be drafted by the research manager with the research team, and will be inductive, shaped over the course of research and rooted in local primary concerns and approaches.

Researchers are expected to provide a detailed site-specific report on local justice systems, authorities, processes for resolution and restitution, key challenges and issues of concern. Reporting will support ATJP roll-out in project locations.

Profile

Required

· Significant experience of qualitative social, anthropological and/or historical research in South Sudan;

· Experience in research design, qualitative data collection, interview techniques, and analysis;

· Experience in drafting longform socio-political reports.

Preferable

· Knowledge of justice systems and how they function;

· Language skills specific to one or more of the research sites;

· Experience working in one or more of the research sites;

· Experience managing research assistants in a field research team.

Deliverables

· Full research report, according to a structure agreed with the socio-legal research manager and the ATJP advisors, reflective of the research findings;

· List of stakeholders and interviewees, anonymised where necessary, with contact details where appropriate;

· Diagrams or other mapping of local justice systems where appropriate;

· Where agreed with the socio-legal research manager and the ATJP advisors, assistance in drafting thematic reports across sites with the socio-legal research team.

Timeline

Research fieldwork and outputs will run from April to September 2016.

Interested candidates should submit an updated CV and cover letter outlining their suitability for the assignment to info.atjp@britishcouncil.org Applications should be received by March 18, 2016.