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BBC Media Action is the independent international charity of the BBC which uses media to advance development worldwide. Our mission is to improve the quality of people’s lives in developing and transitional countries through innovative use of media. We do this through our focus on health, governance, livelihoods, climate change and humanitarian response. We work in partnerships that include governments, broadcasters, civil society institutions, donor agencies and international Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s).

Expanded Department

We are largely funded by external grants, mainly from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the European Union, UN agencies and charitable foundations. We work to raise awareness among mass and opinion-former audiences, affect behaviour change, influence policy and transfer skills and knowledge.

One of our key programmes of work is the Global Grant, which is a multi-million pound 5 year project funded by the Government’s Department of International Development (DFID), with the purpose of producing and broadcasting media programming aimed at improving areas of governance, health, and resilience in developing countries. Research plays a key role in both supporting the development of these programmes in providing evidence that the programmes are having an intended impact on audiences.

Role Responsibility

BBC Media Action is recruiting for a Senior Research Manager role to manage the regional portfolio of work in Africa. In the role you will oversee a programme of work in 8 countries in Africa, managing a team of Research Managers and Research Officers who are responsible for delivering the work in each country. You will be responsible for ensuring quality and rigour in the planning, resourcing, implementation, reporting and dissemination of the research across their regional programme. This will involve managing the delivery of research in overall region, as well as managing the analysis and interpretation of audience and research results to highlight insight and best examples of impact and lessons learned across the region, and best practice for BBC Media Action and wider community learning.

You will also be an ambassador for the Africa team, inspiring and motivating researchers to deliver insightful research to stakeholders, and ensuring that all donor research and information requirements are met. You will be responsible for advancing the research programme in the region, including developing innovative approaches, identifying key research collaborators, building the research capacity and raising the quality of our work in the region.

As part of the Research and Learning Group’s management team, you will also contribute to the development of the Group’s strategy, business development, resource management and recruitment.  You will take on specific cross-Group responsibilities, such as developing strategies for sharing our data and findings; business development, technical and non-technical training, and developing external collaboration. The position is based in London and will involve international travel.

The Ideal Candidate

This position will need you to have experience of working in international development research, ideally in an African context. With previous experience of managing fieldwork and adapting methods to challenging and constrained conditions, you’ll bring strong qualitative and quantitative research skills and know how to apply them to media and/or development projects. You will have excellent front-to-end multi-country project and programme research management skills, including planning, budget and resource management. You will be an effective people manager, and will be skilled at developing strong relationships at all levels from grassroots to senior levels. This role will expect you to have conducted research in cross-cultural circumstances or with diverse, multi-lingual audiences, coupled with the ability to generate excellent research insight, present clearly and communicate effectively at all levels.

Package Description

Permanent

Grade 9

About the Company

We don’t focus simply on what we do – we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are very important to us. Please make sure you’ve read about our values and behaviours in the document attached below. You’ll be asked questions relating to them as part of your application for this role.