Senior Research Consultant - Leadership and transformational change

1. Background

The need for effective humanitarian leadership is increasingly recognised. The ALNAP State of the Humanitarian System report (Harvey et al., 2009) quantified what anecdotal sectoral wisdom has long since affirmed: a lack of effective leadership is one of the greatest challenges in humanitarian action, according to many in the system. As such, the last decade has seen investing in formal leadership development training become increasingly mainstream within humanitarian aid, and non-government organisations at the local and international level. Less well established, however, is the evidence base demonstrating how leadership development programs can systemically and consistently contribute to improved knowledge, attitudes, and practices for a better humanitarian response, which is the research we will be taking forward in the coming months.

The research is funded as part of the Tandem Executive Leadership Programme, being delivered by ODI. The leadership programme aims to provide an innovative and cutting-edge learning programme with a blended learning curriculum creating space for meaningful and lasting connection and collaboration for global humanitarian and development leaders. This research has been added as an additional, complementary, component to assess the how, and in what ways, Executive Leadership Programmes have a positive impact on the wider sector, and aims to conduct and disseminate research on leadership programmes in the sector to try and ascertain their impact.

The project is based on the need to step to the challenge of shifting learning approaches and cultures in ways that better recognise and respond to the evolving complexity of humanitarian crises, the urgency of need, and the nature of learning itself. And critically, to show that this can lead to meaningful change. As the nature of crises evolves and humanitarians are challenged to work differently, our sector’s ability to learn and change must be equally adaptive and dynamic. Most importantly, the system change that the sector is asking of itself cannot be achieved by any one agency alone, which makes collective approaches to learning and change more important than ever, including being ready and able to grapple with the challenges that emerge.

The need and demand to advance knowledge, learning and action to strengthen humanitarian delivery could not be greater. Intersecting risks, escalating needs, and ever-widening gaps in resourcing, combined with slow progress on performance in humanitarian action, demand system-wide initiatives and coordinated action to strengthen learning and inform policy and practice so as to drive change across the humanitarian eco-system.

2. About the assignment

ALNAP is looking to contract a senior researcher to design and deliver research seeking to establish how and when leadership development programmes can lead to systems changes with the potential for better humanitarian action, and what critical elements need to be in place and addressed to provide the most fertile environment for this to happen.

The Senior Research Consultant will provide senior level expertise to lead the development and design of the research, as well as conducting it. They will work closely with ALNAP staff as well as CHL and the core Tandem team. They will develop a detailed implementation plan and methodology and then coordinate the data collection, analysis and execution of the research.

The research will be conducted in partnership with the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership, and delivered as part of ODI’s Tandem Executive Leadership Programme. This project sits within a suite of projects that ALNAP is involved in to better understand and evidence the true complexities of how and when learning can lead to change in the humanitarian sector.

CHL and ALNAP are taking a collaborative approach to the research design and activities undertaken as part of this proposal. Our two respective research approaches have been developed in reference to one another. This approach is intended to allow us to undertake distinct yet complementary methods and analytic framing to the research.

ALNAP and CHL will work collaboratively at the research design and conceptualisation stage, to devise an overall approach to research question one which covers both the supply and demand sides of leadership development for improved humanitarian outcomes. While these research approaches have been conceptualised holistically, each organisation will primarily conduct their respective research processes—e.g. instrument development, and data collection, analysis—independently. At the analysis stage, however, CHL and ALNAP will again come together to share key findings,

3. Target audience

The primary audience for this paper is organisations involved in funding, designing and delivering executive leadership programmes with the objective of strengthening the humanitarian system. The secondary audience is humanitarian leaders and reflectors/commentators interested in systems change, and the role of collective leadership in transformation.

4. Research questions

The main research question is as follows:

How do the multiple and complementary aspects of the Tandem leadership development programme impact humanitarian leadership writ large?

The following sub-questions have been identified:

1. How do the multiple aspects of the Tandem programme complement each other in service of the six programme outcomes? This sub-question will be led by CHL.
2. How does the Tandem programme enable participants to collaborate during and after the course to affect significant positive change in their organisation and the humanitarian system? This sub-question will be led by ALNAP.

Under sub-question 2, the research will seek to explore the extent to which participants approaches to, or understanding of, collaborative leadership has changed as a result of the Executive Leadership Programme and the factors that influenced the change. It will also seek to identify examples of how participants have practiced collaborative leadership to affect positive change within their organisation as well as beyond the context of their organisation, including the factors that enabled these changes. The research may seek to identify examples from across a range of Executive Leadership Programmes, as well as other shared leadership experiences that can help to analyse and understand the contributary factors that can enable collective change.

ALNAP and CHL fully recognise the challenges and limitations of demonstrating the impact of collective leadership experiences at the system-level, and are committed to supporting improved collaborative leadership for the benefit of improved humanitarian performance. To support in the design and delivery of this research, ALNAP and CHL will convene a small advisory group of experts on leadership and research from across the sector. This group will be invited to comment on and contribute to the detailed research design, as well as to review and recommend adjustments in approach throughout the life of the research. Finally, they will be invited to review and comment on findings. This group will help to ensure that we are applying the best possible research approach to this challenging and exciting piece of work.

ALNAP and CHL’s approach to this research design is informed by the principles of quality, contextual relevance, and practicability. The research design is therefore intended to derive evidence-based and actionable insights into the programme design, delivery, and impact. Through the research process, ALNAP aims to be cognizant of the power dynamics in the research process, for instance cultural, gendered, political, and other systemic imbalances and unequal relationships within the international humanitarian system.

5. Timeline

The contract will span between September 2024 and September 2025. Please note that the timeline is preliminary and subject to change but, due to funding constraints, there is no flexibility on the September 2025 end date.

The total number of work days for this assignment is approximately 65-70 days to be distributed across the course of the year. There is budget to recruit a second researcher once the senior research consultant is in place.

The contract will start in September 2024, with the option to join a startup/inception workshop with CHL in Bangkok week commencing 16th September if the consultants availability allows.

Draft final report is due for submission to ODI Tandem programme June 2025 with the option to present at the final Tandem summit in September 2025. All outputs of the project must be concluded by September 2025.

6. Qualifications

Required

• Experience conducting research in humanitarian contexts.
• Demonstrated track record in research on learning, leadership and/or system change.
• Demonstrated track record in timely delivery of high-quality analysis and writing, verifiable through referees.
• Successful experience working as a remote team.
• Proven track record of delivering complex projects to deadline.
• Proven track record of conducting research collaboratively.
• Able to write, in English, in a clear and consistent style, adhering to the agreed document length.

Desired

• Prior experience using MaxQDA or similar software to code transcripts/documents as part of a research project.