Afghan Cosmos is recruiting qualified female and male enumerators for A Study on Community Priorities and Resource Trade-offs throughout Afghanistan.

The research will involve structured, face-to-face interviews with adults aged 18 and above in urban, rural and Kuchi communities. Field teams will be deployed to assigned locations according to the approved nationwide sampling plan. Selected respondents will also participate in follow-up interviews two to three weeks after their initial interviews.

Enumerators will collect accurate, complete and confidential information. The assignment requires careful household and respondent selection, respectful communication and strict adherence to the approved research protocol.

Main responsibilities

Training and field preparation

·         Attend all required training, practical exercises and pilot interviews.

·         Understand the questionnaire, consent procedures, sampling instructions and quality standards before starting fieldwork.

·         Review assigned maps, cluster boundaries, household routes and daily work plans.

·         Demonstrate readiness through practical assessments covering interviewing, respondent selection and data entry.

Household and respondent selection

·         Work only within assigned and approved locations.

·         Support household listing, numbering and route verification as instructed.

·         Follow the approved systematic household selection procedure without choosing households based on convenience.

·         Follow preassigned male, female and couple interview categories without making unauthorized substitutions.

·         Use the provided random selection grid to select an eligible adult when a household has more than one eligible person.

·         Record refusals, absences, ineligible households, unsafe situations and other unsuccessful contact outcomes accurately.

·         Refer access difficulties, household shortages and sampling problems to the supervisor.

Interviewing and participant protection

·         Explain the study clearly and obtain voluntary informed consent before each interview.

·         Read questions neutrally, follow the prescribed order and avoid suggesting answers or expressing personal opinions.

·         Respect respondents’ right to decline participation, skip permitted questions or stop an interview.

·         Obtain separate consent for audio recording and future contact.

·         Protect privacy and confidentiality throughout recruitment, interviewing and follow-up.

·         Conduct interviews with spouses separately when assigned couple households.

·         Female enumerators will conduct interviews with women in suitable, private household settings. Enumerators interviewing men will follow the approved household recruitment and interview-location arrangements.

·         Report situations where privacy, safety or voluntary participation cannot be maintained.

Data quality and follow-up

·         Use the designated digital data collection application accurately and protect assigned devices.

·         Check submissions for missing information, incorrect identifiers and inconsistent responses before submission.

·         Submit completed forms and required field records according to the supervisor’s instructions.

·         Cooperate with supervision, verification checks and requests to correct documented errors.

·         Conduct assigned follow-up interviews within 14–21 days of each respondent’s baseline interview.

·         Maintain accurate contact-attempt and follow-up records using approved procedures.

·         Keep research data secure and use approved channels for transferring files and recordings.

·         Completion of secondary education; a diploma or bachelor’s degree in social sciences, statistics, public health, economics, development studies or a related field is preferred.

·         Previous experience conducting household surveys, research interviews or comparable field data collection.

·         Strong spoken Dari and/or Pashto, with the ability to interview accurately in the language required for the assigned community.

·         Ability to read questionnaires, follow detailed written instructions and complete field records accurately.

·         Practical experience using smartphones or tablets for data collection. Familiarity with KoboToolbox, ODK, SurveyCTO or similar applications is an advantage.

·         Familiarity with the geography, languages and community context of the province or districts where the applicant wishes to work.

·         Willingness and ability to travel to assigned field locations.

·         Availability for training, piloting, assigned fieldwork and follow-up interviews.

·         Professional conduct, reliability and the ability to work under field supervision.

Knowledge and skills required for this study

Applicants should understand, or be able to demonstrate through practical exercises:

·         The difference between a cluster, household and individual respondent.

·         Why enumerators must follow a defined sample instead of selecting convenient households or available people.

·         Systematic household selection and random selection of an adult within a household.

·         The importance of meeting assigned sample requirements, including female participation and couple interviews, without pressuring respondents.

·         Neutral interviewing on community priorities and choices involving limited resources.

·         Informed consent, confidentiality, separate audio-recording consent and appropriate handling of personal contact details.

·         Accurate recording of nonresponse, repeat visits and follow-up interview dates.

Preferred experience

·         Research involving women, rural households or Kuchi communities.

·         Work with cluster maps, household lists or geographic boundaries.

·         Conducting separate interviews with members of the same household.

·         Longitudinal studies or surveys requiring respondents to be contacted again.

·         Ability to communicate in both Dari and Pashto or other languages relevant to the assigned communities.

Working conditions and professional standards

Field assignments may involve walking between households, travel within assigned provinces or districts and interviews scheduled around respondents’ availability. Working arrangements and deployment locations will be communicated before fieldwork.

Enumerators must follow approved safety and access procedures. Data fabrication, unauthorized household substitution, coercion, disclosure of confidential information and unauthorized recording are prohibited.

Qualified women and men from all provinces of Afghanistan are encouraged to apply. Female enumerators are essential to conducting private interviews with women under the study protocol.