Climate Assessment Specialist NGO Job IMPACT Initiatives

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The Climate Specialist will serve as the primary IMPACT/REACH technical resource for any climate and loss and damage activities and will contribute to growing REACH’s climate and resilience portfolio across the Horn of Africa. Based in Nairobi, the position will involve regular travel in the region, particularly to Somalia, and close collaboration with Acted, relevant ministries, and community-level stakeholders.

The ideal candidate will combine strong technical skills in climate and humanitarian research with a deep understanding of loss and damage concepts – including both economic loss and damage (ELD) and non-economic loss and damage (NELD) – and a commitment to community-centred, locally led approaches. They will be equally comfortable leading rigorous quantitative data collection and engaging participatory, qualitative research methodologies.

Key Responsibilities

Research Planning and Design

• Serve as the lead researcher for all climate / loss and damage-related research cycles, ensuring that assessments are planned in line with project objectives, IMPACT research cycle guidelines, and donor requirements.
• Design and develop community-level L&D assessment frameworks (pre- and post-intervention), ensuring tools capture both quantitative and qualitative dimensions of loss and damage and reflect community-defined priorities.
• Design assessment(s) related to NELD dimensions such as cultural identity, traditional customs, dietary diversity, and livelihood disruption.
• Stay abreast of evolving global evidence on L&D methodologies, valuation approaches, and climate attribution, and integrate best practices into REACH’s assessment designs.
• Ensure all research designs are validated by IMPACT HQ before data collection begins.

Research Implementation

• Provide support to colleagues leading on data collection activities related to climate / loss and damage, including enumerator training, field supervision, and quality assurance.
• Lead or contribute to key informant interview (KII) processes with community leaders, local authorities, youth representatives, women’s groups, and other local stakeholders, ensuring inclusive and participatory data collection.
• Conduct or supervise remote sensing analysis and secondary data review to document and quantify L&D, including through analysis of satellite imagery, drought indices, and land degradation indicators.
• Ensure all data is collected, stored, and managed in line with IMPACT Data Management Guidelines and applicable data protection policies.
• Monitor data collection progress and promptly flag any challenges or methodological deviations to the relevant data collection lead and line manager.

Data Analysis and Product Drafting

• Lead analysis of household- and community-level L&D data, applying appropriate quantitative and qualitative methods to generate robust, evidence-based findings.
• Analyse how climate-affected households allocate cash compensation/recovery support, with particular emphasis on whether and how transfers support resilience-building, livelihood diversification, and adaptive strategies — rather than merely restorative, asset-replacement responses.
• Document community-level perceptions of L&D impacts and recovery priorities, synthesising findings on both ELD and NELD.
• Draft timely, high-quality research outputs including assessment reports, factsheets, briefs, and presentations in line with IMPACT guidelines and quality standards.
• Ensure all products are reviewed and validated by IMPACT HQ before external release.

Knowledge Generation and Adaptive Learning

• Document lessons learned and best practices from climate / L&D research
• Contribute to wider IMPACT and REACH knowledge products on climate and L&D methodologies, community-level data collection approaches, and climate-resilient recovery, ensuring findings are relevant to global learning processes.
• Support the dissemination of findings to key stakeholders in-country and the wider humanitarian and climate policy community, where relevant.
• Contribute to the development of replicable methodologies for household- and community-level climate and L&D data collection, attribution, and reporting, with a view to informing national L&D systems and global best practice.

External Engagement and Coordination

• Represent IMPACT in relevant coordination mechanisms, technical working groups, and stakeholder forums related to climate, loss and damage, food security, and humanitarian response.
• Engage proactively with relevant ministries to support the integration of household- and community-level L&D data into national monitoring systems and policy frameworks.
• Under the guidance of the Country Representative/Deputy Country Representative, maintain strong working relationships with NGOs, UN agencies, local and national government counterparts, civil society organisations, and community representatives.
• Present research findings to external partners to maximise uptake and impact.
• Ensure all partner engagement is clearly documented and communicated to the line manager and relevant colleagues.

Project Cycle Management

• Ensure compliance with project cycle management requirements at all phases, including planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting.
• Track deliverables and timelines across all climate/L&D research outputs and alert the line manager to any risks to delivery.
• Contribute to donor reporting by drafting narrative sections on research activities and findings.
• Participate in project kick-off, review, and completion meetings as required.
• Other tasks as requested by the line manager.

Data Confidentiality and Protection

• The Climate Specialist will maintain the strictest confidentiality on all data collected and related processes, ensuring full compliance with IMPACT’s data protection policy and standard operating procedures. He/she will actively take measures to prevent the unauthorised sharing of any information and data belonging to IMPACT and its partners, or collected during his/her assignment with IMPACT.

Qualifications

• Excellent academic qualifications, preferably including a Master’s degree in Climate Science, Environmental Studies/Policy, Disaster Risk Reduction, Development Studies, Social Science, or a relevant discipline.
• At least 3–5 years of relevant working experience in humanitarian, resilience, or climate-related research or programming. Experience in East Africa or the Horn of Africa strongly preferred.
• Demonstrable knowledge of climate change, drought, food security, and livelihoods dynamics in fragile or conflict-affected contexts. Knowledge of key climate and loss and damage policy frameworks required. Strong understanding of loss and damage concepts – including both ELD and NELD – is highly desirable.
• Proven experience designing and managing quantitative and qualitative research cycles, including household surveys, key informant interviews, and participatory community assessments. Experience with remote sensing or geospatial analysis is a strong asset.
• Excellent quantitative and qualitative analytical skills. Proficiency in Microsoft Excel required, and in statistical software (R, SPSS, Stata, or equivalent) desirable.
• Excellent written and spoken English. Demonstrated ability to produce high-quality research reports, briefs, and presentations for diverse audiences.
• Proven ability to work independently and manage complex, multi-stakeholder research projects, while also working effectively in a team environment.
• Ability to operate sensitively and effectively in a cross-cultural environment. Experience working with community-level stakeholders and local authorities.
• Experience designing data collection tools in KoboCollect, ODK, or similar, desired

How to Apply

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