Research Assistant (2 Posts) at Right To Play Tanzani

The EQIE project is a five-year quality education initiative to be implemented by Right To Play and partners in Tanzania from 2025 to 2029. Working with Ministries of Education and PO-RLAG and other education stakeholders, the project aims to use the power of play and creative pedagogies to:

• Improve learning outcomes (in reading and socioemotional skills) among lower primary grade 1-4 school children.
• Increase enrolment and retention of out-of-school children with disabilities (CwDs).

The implementation strategy of the project is to work with school-level actors and education managers at the district level to improve the adoption of play-based pedagogy for enhanced quality of literacy instruction and positive learner-centred experience at school; and to support schools’ learning environment to enrol and retain children with disabilities.

Both strategies would engage children (girls, boys, CwDs), teachers, school leaders, school inclusion committees, district and sub-national level education officials, teacher trainers/coaches/mentors, and national level agencies under the Ministry of Education.

Baseline Objective

Before the intervention starts, the project is planning to conduct a baseline evaluation in order to:

• Assess the program’s starting point within each of the programming contexts.
• Inform programme design and strategy.
• Establish baseline measurements against which improvement and impact will be measured during midline and endline evaluations.

Objective of Assignment

The objective of this assignment is to work in deep collaboration with an individual who will carry out baseline data collection (quantitative and qualitative) for the study. The individual should be able and willing to work with the RTP project team to the end of data collection. The person has also to ensure qualitative data are transcribed and translated.

Job Summary

The person will report directly to the MEL specialist and will be responsible for ensuring qualitative information is gathered, transcribed, and translated (Kiswahili to English) while ensuring quality delivery and effectiveness. She/He will work in the field under the technical guidance and supervision of the Right To Play MEL specialist.

Primary Responsibilities

• Translate the data collection tools (Kiswahili to English).
• Lead the qualitative data collection.
• Ensure data transcribing is done in an effective manner.
• Qualitative data translated from Kiswahili to English.
• Submit the complete translated information in a given template to MELS.

Requirements and Qualifications

• University degree and or above.
• Education background and experience.
• Understanding of cultural context of the place.
• Experience in qualitative data collection works.
• Strong experience in translation work both in Kiswahili and English language.
• Knowledge of ethical considerations on research from marginalized and sensitive groups.
• Ability to deliver on time and work under pressure.
• Demonstrated experience in transcribing work.
• Strong capacity and experience in planning and organizing KIIs and FGDs logistics.
• Strong experience in Microsoft Word and Excel.
• Strong verbal and written communications skills in both English and Swahili languages.