RESEARCH ASSISTANT VACANCY
Particulars of Appointment
NIHR GLOBAL HEALTH RESEARCH ON EXPERIENCES OF THE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND INVOLVEMENT (CEI) MEMBERS AND RESEARCHERS WORKING TOGETHER ON STILLBIRTH PREVENTION AND BEREAVEMENT CARE: A GROUNDED THEORY STUDY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA AND SOUTH ASIA.
Applications are invited to suitable candidates to fill in the above post. Closing date for the advert is 21/2/2025 at 12 pm.
Salary: Research Assistant [USD and rate is bank dependent] per annum (inclusive of any additional costs)
Hours: Full-time
Duration: Fixed-term [01/03/2025 to 31/12/2025]
Location: Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Responsible to: Dr Unice Goshomi (Zimbabwe lead) and Dr Amie Wilson (UK lead) Dr Kushupika Dube (Post-Doctoral fellow)
Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting or interviews:
Dr Unice Goshomi and Dr Kushupika Dube
Womens’ University in Africa
The NIHR Global Health Unit on the Prevention and Management of Stillbirths and Neonatal Deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, led from the Centre for Childbirth, Women’s and Newborn Health at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine UK, is an established equitable multidisciplinary partnership between Africa, Asia and UK-based researchers. As an international centre of research excellence, our goal is to end preventable stillbirths and newborn deaths, ensure adequate support for parents and families whose baby dies and reduce associated stigma.
Using a whole systems approach, we work across high burden settings in India, Kenya, Malawi, Pakistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. We aim to gain better understanding of facilitators and barriers to effective community engagement through a grounded theory approach. We will work with CEI groups that have previously been involved in research to prevent and manage the death of babies before, during or after birth to approach potential participants, these include healthcare providers, women and families and members of the research team. We will seek informed consent from the participants once they fully understand the study; they will be given written information and enough time to think about being part of the study. Once they have provided informed consent, we will hold interviews with each participant (telephone or face to face). Telephone interviews will be recorded and transcribed. We will analyse data using codes after each telephone interview; collecting and analysing in a cycle as we go through these processes. We expect to conduct a maximum of thirty-two interviews.
Stillbirth happens when a baby dies before or during birth. It happens in about 14 out of every 1,000 births worldwide, with higher rates in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Preventing stillbirths and caring for families who experience them is a big issue, especially in lower-income countries. One way to improve this is by focusing on care that includes both women and their families. Stillbirth prevention and bereavement care following stillbirth remains a cause for concern, particularly in LMICs (UNICEF 2020). One approach to improvement is the prioritisation of women and family-centred care (Mockford 2012). However, to understand the challenges faced, it involves including the parents who have experienced stillbirths to be part of the research team: this is called community engagement and involvement (CEI) or patient and public engagement and involvement (PPIE). This is supported by International Stillbirth Alliance (Rice 2019). CEI is a process of inclusive participation in research that supports mutual respect, values, strategies, and actions for a partnership of people affiliated by geographical location (Holzer 2014). Furthermore, there is a shared interest to address issues affecting community wellbeing (Ahmed 2010). CEI has become an integral part of healthcare, with an emphasis on empowering individuals and communities in shaping health and social care services (Mockford 2012).
The NIHR created a strategy (2024) to encourage long-term partnerships to support shared ownership and mutual learning between researchers and communities. The objectives were to improve the relevance and quality of research by integrating public input, to enhance design, conduct, and dissemination of research through collaboration with patients and communities, and to ensure research reflects diverse perspectives and addresses health inequalities. Despite reports demonstrating the positive impact of UK-CEI (NIHR 2024), and effective involvement in stillbirth prevention research and bereavement care (Rice 2019), there is little understanding about CEI experiences in LMICs, especially in stillbirth prevention and bereavement care research. Our ongoing NIHR-funded, maternal and newborn health research formulated and integrated CEI groups in eight LMICs within stillbirth and bereavement research. The findings will provide researchers with understanding of CEI experience, its impact to practice, policy, research and evidence that can be used in developing and sustaining CEI groups in the longer-term.
Job Description
The Research Assistant will work on a project related to experiences of the CEI members and Researchers working together during Global Health Research. Over the last decade, increasing calls have been made for quality to be central to strategies aimed at improving maternal and newborn outcomes. Previously a neglected area, it is now generally acknowledged that quality of care in the intrapartum period is critical for maternal and newborn survival. Half of all stillbirths occur in the intrapartum period and the majority of these are avoidable. High-quality care ensures that women and newborns receive evidence-based intrapartum interventions aimed at reducing or managing complications; it also optimises the childbirth experience. The WHO proposes 6 dimensions of quality of care, stating that health care should be effective, efficient, accessible, acceptable/client-centred, equitable, and safe. These dimensions underpin the latest WHO Intrapartum guidelines for a positive childbirth experience, highlighting the importance of woman-centred care through a holistic, human rights-based approach. However, implementation of guidelines is acknowledged to be complex, and their effectiveness may be limited in the absence of a clear strategy. This research programme brings together leading researchers, with expertise in stillbirth prevention and bereavement care to work with colleagues who have long-standing experience and skills of working in maternity care in low- and middle-income countries. The team includes midwives, obstetricians, paediatricians and research methods experts.
The project objectives are to:
The focus of the Research Assistant’s work will be on ensuring that the project objectives are met. This will include a range of activities including gaining ethical approvals, recruitment and data collection, contributing to data analysis, data management, providing progress reports and liaising with stakeholders, Community Engagement and Involvement (CEI) groups and the wider team. Additional research activities may also be required, according to the needs of the project. Opportunities for training will be available throughout the programme.
Overall Purpose of the job
Key responsibilities, accountabilities or duties
Research
Team work
Planning
Communication
Person Specifications
Essential
Knowledge, skills and experience
Interpersonal skills
Project skills
Other
Desirable Qualifications
Knowledge, skills and experience
WOMEN’S UNIVERSITY IN AFRICA IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER AND WOMEN AND DIFFERENTLY ABLED CANDIDATES ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY.
Interested candidates should submit 6 sets of applications with detailed curriculum vitae, certified copies of academic and professional qualifications including transcripts by Wednesday 21 February 2025 at 12 pm to:
The Deputy Registrar, Human Resources and Administration
Women’s University in Africa
P.O Box GD 32 Greendale
Harare
Or
Hand deliver to
The Deputy Registrar, Human Resources and Administration
Women’s University in Africa
Number 549 Arcturus Road Greendale
Harare
Or
Hand deliver to
Women’s University in Africa
Bulawayo Campus
Number 5 and 6 Bradford Street
Belmont Bulawayo
Trustee & Co-Founder
She is the Founder and Founding Vice Chancellor of the Women’s University in Africa. She holds a PhD in Public administration with the University of Zimbabwe where her research was on “Critical Organisational problems of administering and Managing Social Development in a newly-independent Public Service”: the case of Zimbabwe. She also holds a Masters degree in Public Administration with the University of Missouri, Columbia and BSc Public Administration with the same university. She holds a Primary Teachers Diploma with Waddilove Teachers’ College, Marondera in Zimbabwe.
Professor Sadza’s employment record backdates to 1964 as school teacher. Post Independence she became registrar of Apprenticeship Authority in the Ministry of Manpower Planning and Development in Zimbabwe. She is one of the founding Directors of the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration & Management (ZIPAM).In 1987 to 1989 she was Commissioner of the Public Service Review Commission, Government of Zimbabwe. In 1988 to 1990 she was Zimbabwe Parastatals Commissioner. In 1990 to 2000 she was Public Service Commissioner in Zimbabwe.
Professor Sadza has done a lot of publications with emphasis on gender issues.
She has presented papers at national and international fora among which were:
Professor Sadza is a member of various Boards among them:
CURRENT
COMMITTEES/TRUSTS
She is also into consultancy mostly in the education field.
She has won several awards in recognition of her outstanding works of empowering women through education.
Awards:
Professor Sadza is married and has two children.
Chairperson & Co-Founder
Dr Fay Chung is co- founder and Chairperson Board of Trustees for Women’s University in Africa. A former Minister of Education Sports and Culture Dr Chung has been involved in a number of non-governmental organizations in Zimbabwe. An accomplished educationist and driver of women education, Dr Fay Chung has worked in the education system in a number of capacities. Dr Chung is a founder member of the Forum for African Women Educationalist and Association for Strengthening Higher Education for Women in Africa Dr Chung has been instrumental in the education of women in Africa. Dr Chung has worked in a number of international organizations which include UNESCO, UNICEF, OAU and AU. Dr Chung has several publications to her name which include the popular Re-Living the Second Chimurenga: Memories form Zimbabwe’s Liberation Struggle and The Nordic Africa Institute amongst others.
She was educated at the University of Zimbabwe, where she received her first degree (1962), her postgraduate Certificate in Education (1965) and her Doctorate (1999).
She also studied at Leeds University, where she obtained her M. Phil. In English Literature (1971) and has undertaken research at St Antony’s College, Oxford (1995). She diversified into economics and completed a distance-education degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London in 2002. Following retirement she enrolled in an honours degree program in Economic at the University of Zimbabwe.
Dr Chung’s career has been almost exclusively in education. As an undergraduate she was involved in organising students to teach house servants and workers in the vicinity of the campus. One of the tasks was to eradicate illiteracy. She has always had a vision to provide leadership in Africa through access to relevant quality tertiary education.
From 1963 to 1968 Dr Chung taught at high schools levels at Ascot and Harare High Schools in Zimbabwe. While studying for her M. Phil. Degree at Leeds University, she taught as a part-time lecturer at Leeds Polytechnic and at the Kitson College of Engineering from October 1968 to June 1970. She was a lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Zambia from 1971 to 1975. From 1975 to 1980 she worked fulltime for the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), in charge of teacher education and curriculum development for Zimbabwean refugees schools in Mozambique.
After Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, Dr Chung worked in various capacities in the Ministry of Education, including as the first acting director for the Zimbabwe Integrated National Teacher Education Course (ZINTEC), which was initiated at independence to train 9,000 primary teachers through a combination of face-to-face teaching and distance education; as head of educational planning in the ministry, with responsibility for planning the expansion for the primary, secondary and teacher training programs; as head of the curriculum development unit, tasked with transforming the curricula for primary and secondary schools; as deputy secretary in charge of school administration; and finally as minister of Education and Culture. She spent a total of 14 years in the government of Zimbabwe.
Dr Chung has been involved in a number of non-governmental organisations. She took part in the formation of the Zimbabwe Foundation for Education with Production (ZIMFEP), set up to provide education for war veterans and returning refugee children from Mozambique and Zambia. School leavers were assisted through placement in further training and in jobs, or through the establishment of cooperatives.
She has been a board member of the Zimbabwe Institute of Development Studies (ZIDS). She is a founder member of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAEW), a network of education ministers, women university vice-chancellors and other women educational leaders in Africa, focused on strengthening the education of girls and women in Africa. Dr Chung is the founder member of the Association for Strengthening Higher Education for Women in Africa (ASHEWA).
Dr Chung’s work has an international dimension. She was a member of the Delors Commission Education and worked as the chief of the education cluster at UNICEF, New York (1993-98), then as the first director of the UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA) in Addis Ababa (1998-2003). Between 1998 and 2003 she served as an honorary special advisor to the Organisation of African Union (OAU) and later to the African Union (AU).
Dr Chung is a member of the Zimbabwe National Education Advisory Board as of 18 March 2009.
Publications
Chung Fay, ‘Re-Living the Second Chimurenga: Memories from Zimbabwe’s Liberation Struggle,’ The Nordic Africa Institute, Weaver Press 2006
