Anthropologist

Caption Pierre Tribovic, an MSF anthropologist in Monrovia, Liberia © Caitlin Ryan/MSF

Recruitment for anthropologists is currently on hold.

 The role of a Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) anthropologist is diverse.

The focus of the anthropologist's role is to design, manage and ensure the quality of often complex and multi-pronged investigations into health and social issues in the sites where MSF is working.

Activities

Depending on the nature of the programme and context, their activities might include: 

Working with community members to understand pathways and barriers to accessing healthcare  Developing deep understandings of peoples’ perceptions of complex or sensitive health topics, such as adolescent sex, addictions, mental trauma or death and dying Leading field research studies  Training and managing research teams  Working in tandem with epidemiologists to map disease transmission and contact tracing  Doing emergency assessments and planning project strategies  Monitoring and evaluating existing projects  Helping to develop locally-appropriate best practice guidelines and protocols  Sensitising MSF teams to how they are perceived in the community

Responsibilities

The postholder’s main responsibility is to design, manage and ensure the quality of often complex and multi-pronged investigations into health and social issues in the sites where MSF is working.

This most often entails qualitative engagement with local people to better understand their constraints, priorities and agency, but may also include engagement with government ministries, academics and others, as well as audit or evaluation of MSF’s own work.

Duties include:

Developing study tools to address specific questions or topics of interest to the MSF teams Doing literature reviews for topics of interest Recruiting, training and managing study teams Network building in the local community and country to leverage knowledge and expertise Leading data gathering exercises Leading data analysis and developing findings Drafting reports or other forms of output to communicate findings Presenting findings to MSF teams at field and headquarters