Subject Matter Expert – Citizen Security Data Latin America and Caribbean Learning and Rapid Response (LACLEARN) Task Order: Alternatives to Survey Measurement for Activity and Context Monitoring

JOB DESCRIPTION - Subject Matter Expert - Citizen Security Data Latin America Caribbean Learning and Rapid Response (LACLEARN) Task Order: Alternatives to Survey Measurement for Activity and Context Monitoring

About NORC

NORC at the University of Chicago (NORC) has more than 75 years of experience carrying out analytical work, research, and high-quality surveys, and sets the standard in monitoring and evaluation of government programs and international development projects. Since its founding in 1941, NORC has been an industry leader with a distinguished record in the generation of unbiased, rigorous evidence to guide critical programmatic and policy decisions. NORC’s core competencies include designing and conducting rigorous program evaluations of development projects; conducting analytic research and sector assessments; designing and implementing large-scale surveys; transforming increasingly complex information into useful knowledge; and partnering with evidence users to ensure that evidence informs decision-making. In the past decade, NORC’s International Programs (INPRO) department has conducted over 250 research projects in 89 countries throughout the world and has emerged as a leader in generating and promoting the use evidence in the democracy, human rights, and governance and education sectors. INPRO implements several on-going research projects, including many in the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), infrastructure, and related sectors, and has developed close collaborative relationships with researchers, survey firms, and policy think tanks in numerous countries.

Introduction

The Latin America and Caribbean Learning and Rapid Response (LACLEARN) task order is a four-year USAID-funded activity (October 2020 – September 2024) that was awarded to a consortium including Development Professionals, Inc. (DPI), Making Cents International, Tetra Tech ARD, and NORC at the University of Chicago under the USAID Analytical Services IV IDIQ to contribute to improving USAID’s work in democracy, human rights, and governance (DRG) in the LAC region. Included among LACLEARN’s primary work streams are state-of-the-art, gender-informed analytical work, assessments, research and special studies; results management support; and training that contribute to sector learning in the region and build an evidence base for effective programing.

One of LACLEARN’s planned activities between June 2022 and October 2022 is the development of a practitioner handbook to improve the use of alternatives to survey data for monitoring citizen security, crime, and violence. The Alternatives to Survey Measurement Guide will present alternatives to survey measurement to monitor program performance and assess illicit, hard-to-observe, or underreported activities, based on desk review and case studies of exceptional examples in the region. Potential examples of survey data alternatives include administrative data, big data, complexity aware monitoring, crowd-sourced data, remote sensing, text mining, and trained observer ratings. The guide will identify up to five survey data alternatives. For each, the guide will develop a 1.5 to 2-page section describing the alternative and indicators it can measure, providing an example or use case of how the alternative can be used to support citizen security programming, identifying key parameters which should inform USAID’s procurement of relevant measurement services, and yielding considerations for CORs in the leadership of implementing or MEL partners who might be relied upon to operationalize these measurement alternatives. Given the complexity of these alternatives to survey measurement and the significant cost and specialized skills required to pursue some of them, the guidance will focus on developing awareness for situations where one of these alternatives may be helpful and outlining next steps for procuring relevant services. The guide will not provide step-by-step methodological guidance to implement these measurement approaches.

NORC envisions the workstream for this task will proceed as follows:

• Literature Review - Review the academic and grey literature to identify existing alternative measurement resources and refine the alternative measures to be included in the guide. Additionally, we will identify relevant LAC citizen security examples or case studies. We anticipate using only existing data sources.
• Brief USAID on layout - Prepare a presentation detailing the proposed alternatives to survey measurement to include in the guide, proposed citizen security use cases, and a template layout for each section of the guide incorporating results from the literature review.
• Prepare draft – Prepare and submit the Alternatives to Survey Measurement Guide.
• Finalize - After receiving feedback from USAID, revise and finalize the Alternatives to Survey Measurement Guide, engage the services of a graphic designer to prepare the guide for broader USAID consumption, and submit to USAID for approval.
• Dissemination - Once the final Alternatives to Survey Measurement Guide is approved, work with USAID to disseminate through relevant USAID channels (e.g., DRG Center, Learning Lab, etc.). Hold two virtual meetings to present the guide: one to DC-based USAID stakeholders, and another to MEL personnel in USAID missions throughout the region.

Role of the Citizen Security Data Subject Matter Expert (SME)

The Citizen Security Data SME will support the MEL Practitioner’s Guide team, as necessary, with quantitative and qualitative research expertise necessary to complete the MEL practitioner’s guide workstream.

Tasks

• Identify relevant grey and academic literature, and/or thought leaders whose scholarship should be incorporate in the literature review
• Review and provide feedback on the literature review
• Assist in selecting up to five proposed measurement alternatives for inclusion in the guide
• Provide technical input into the briefing PowerPoint presentation to USAID prior to preparing a first draft of the practitioner guide
• Provide technical input to the draft practitioner guide and address any comments from USAID on the draft for the final version.
• Provide technical input to the briefing PowerPoint presentations, and participate in dissemination activities and USAID consultations, as requested by USAID, DPI, and/or NORC

Required Qualifications

• Masters or doctoral degree in economics, criminology, sociology, public policy, political science, public health, measurement and evaluation, or related social science field
• Minimum of 8 years relevant experience in citizen security, ideally in the LAC region
• Familiarity with the academic literature on citizen security and violence prevention, and the dynamics of crime in the LAC region
• Experience implementing and/or studying one or two alternatives to survey measurement for monitoring citizen security indicators, including but not limited to: administrative data, big data, complexity aware monitoring, crowd-sourced data, remote sensing, text mining, and trained observer ratings.
• Demonstrated experience in results management or assessment of citizen security and violence prevention programming preferred
• Experience working on assessments, research, or program evaluations to inform USAID programming preferred
• Experience writing research or evaluation articles or reports
• English spoken and written fluency required
• Spanish spoken and written fluency additionally preferred

Proposed Level of Effort (LOE) and Timeline

This assignment will be a part-time commitment, requiring a total 15 days of effort from June – October 2022. Some months may have a higher or lower commitment required, depending on the volume of relevant work on the activity. All work will be conducted remotely.

Instructions for Application

To apply, please submit the following in an email to haugan-gregory@norc.org with the subject line “LACLEARN Subject Matter Expert – Citizen Security Data”:

• CV with list of publications with hyperlinks if published online
• Cover letter with proposed daily rate, and highlighting your specific experience relevant to the assignment. Please indicate which specific measurement alternatives you have used and the describe the settings in which they were applied in this letter.