Terms of Reference
Field Researcher/Field Facilitator for Market Development Interventions in NABAPALLAB Project

Onboarding Date 9 November 2025 (tentative)
Position Field Researcher/Field Facilitator to support field activities related to market development interventions
Project NABAPALLAB
Number of Vacancies 9 (for Hakaluki ECA)
Job Location Hakaluki Zone - Moulvibazar and Sylhet
Reporting Line Field Team Leader, NABAPALLAB (Administrative/Operation) and Technical support with MDOs for the field-level implementation & Data collocation

1. Organizational Background

iDE is an international NGO with over 40 years of experience designing and delivering market-based anti-poverty programs in 11 countries. We are a world leader in making markets work for the poor and the longest-established market development specialist NGO in Bangladesh. iDE believes that markets can be a powerful force for improving smallholder prosperity by creating income and livelihood opportunities for poor rural households. iDE Bangladesh has multiple projects in renewable energy (RE), agricultural markets, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), and access to finance, focusing on women’s economic empowerment and climate-smart technologies.

2. Project Background

“Nature Based Adaptation towards Prosperous and Adept Lives & Livelihoods in Bangladesh (NABAPALLAB/ নবপল্লব)” funded by UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The CARE Bangladesh-led consortium has been selected to implement the project in two Ecologically Critical Areas (ECA) – Sundarbans and Hakaluki Haor. The other consortium members are CNRS, CordAid, C3ER-BRAC University, Dushtha Shasthya Kendra (DSK), Friendship, Humanity & Inclusion (HI), iDE, and Practical Action. It is a key component of the Bangladesh-UK Accord on Climate Change and will deliver the adaptation outcome of the FCDO’s flagship Bangladesh Climate and Environment Programme (BCEP). The programme will make a significant contribution in Bangladesh to progress against the GoB’s policies and priorities, e.g., National Adaptation Plan (NAP), Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), commitments to biodiversity conservation, ongoing 8th Five-Year Plan, etc., and it will also contribute to the UK’s commitment to International Climate Finance (ICF).

3. Understanding of the Assignment

iDE is looking to hire skilled and experienced field researchers/field facilitators for the NABAPALLAB project. The project is being implemented in the Sunderban ecologically critical area (ECA) and Hakaluki ECA. The project team needs assistance from these researchers in executing a set of planned activities in the field related to market development for Renewable Energy (RE) technology interventions and other sector activities as per the project implementation strategy and planning. Along with this, they will be supporting in tracking and analyzing project-specific targets to assess the outcome of piloting various technologies in ECAs. They will also coordinate with both the sectoral expert and the field team for the implementation of the project activities and collect relevant data with the highest quality measures. Nine(9) of the selected field researchers/facilitators will be assigned to work on the NABAPALLAB project’s Hakaluki ECA, which is 5 Upazilas in Moulvibazar and Sylhet districts. They will be required to complete the assigned and planned task from the field before the contract ends. 

This is a five-month-long assignment that is expected to be renewed for additional months based on project requirements, budget availability, and staff performance. For Hakaluki ECA, the assignment will start within two weeks of the deadline mentioned in this circular and will be completed after five months from the date of appointment (maximum 90 working days within the contract period). iDE is committed to equal opportunities for all and does not discriminate on the grounds of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or any other status. Women and minority candidates are encouraged to apply.


Task Summary

The Field Researcher (FR) / Field Facilitator (FF) is responsible for mapping the needs of consortium partners' beneficiaries regarding Renewable Energy (RE), agriculture, Market Systems Development (MSD), and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) technologies and services in the designated working area. The FR/FF provides counsel and support to relevant market actors throughout the process of ensuring product and technology availability, managing the supply chain, and implementing technology pilots in collaboration with consortium partners' staff within their beneficiary groups.
 
In collaboration with Market Development Officers (MDOs), the FR/FF will connect with and support local service providers to deliver quality services to the consortium partners' beneficiaries.

Additionally, the FR/FF is responsible for collecting data on Local Service Provider (LSP) sales, visiting key sector stakeholders, and organizing or participating in major events and activities. They will also enter data into the relevant databases and assist other project staff with data entry as needed. The FR/FF will support market research, analysis & assessment, and other activities conducted by the project team.

Key Roles, Responsibilities, and Deliverables

Key Roles:

  • Explore and collect information related to RE technology, agriculture, MSD & WASH technologies, piloting, and linkage opportunities.
  • Identify decision makers, purchasers, and users of Renewable Energy, agriculture & WASH technologies from the field
  • Facilitate/organize IDIs, KIIs, and FGDs to
a) gather customer insights such as experiences, motivations, and barriers to adoption, and
b) develop buyer personas and a prioritised potential customer list
  • Develop an adequate understanding of the target customer/community/groups
  • Facilitate basic awareness generation through structured conversation/event
  • Build rapport and trust with sanitation-related entrepreneurs for effective communication and linkage development
  • Collaborate with sanitation and hygiene entrepreneurs to boost product demand, with support from Consortium Partners
  • Conduct scouting of local actors and entrepreneurs, visit different market actors/stakeholders for sales data collection 
  • Find interested technicians who will be trained later to strengthen the Renewable Energy, agriculture & WASH supply chain
  • Meet with enterprises/dealers/retailers to create opportunities for the RE, agriculture & WASH business
  • Support team in community and local market actor mobilization
  • Attend training conducted by the project team
  • Prepare a thorough work plan for executing the assignment
  • Support team in organizing training, workshops, and other events, ensuring participants' attendance, logistic arrangements, and record keeping
  • Visit assigned entrepreneur groups regularly, identify challenges/problems, and document those appropriately
  • Submit monthly reports as per project needs
  • Maintain effective communication with key staff to provide updates on the progress and challenges in the field and seek guidance on the way forward
  • Developed a field implementation plan with technical support on MDOs
  • Proofread the transcribed data and submit error-free data and documents
  • Report to the field team leader, NABAPALLAB on a weekly basis for operational issues and senior sectoral expert-RE/WASH/Aquaculture, NABAPALLAB, once every two weeks for technical backstopping
  • Any other assignments/tasks based on the project needs

Based on the field context, the field researcher/ Field facilitator is expected to deliver the following:

  • Work plan for the execution of the assignment
  • Monthly progress report
  • Timesheet and movement log
  • Event participant list, bill voucher (if any), and other record-keeping/compliance documents
  • Clear and well-written documents in English/Bengali (as needed) from the data collected in the field, as per the prescribed format

Education
  • Bachelor's/Diploma degree in three different categories as follows:
  • Business, Commerce, Marketing, Economics, or any other relevant field;
  • Sociology, Anthropology, Agriculture, or any other relevant field;
  • Electrical, Mechanical, Civil engineering, or any other relevant field;

Ideally, field researchers/ Field facilitators will be selected from each of the categories mentioned above and grouped into designated working areas

Work Experience
  • 1-2 years of experience in the development sector will get preference
  • Fresh Graduates are also encouraged to apply with appropriate motivation and skills

Required Skills

Technical Skills

  • Familiarity with the rural context, markets, and local requirements of Bangladesh;
  • Strong interpersonal skills;
  • Able to work independently, leveraging support from relevant team members;
  • Learning attitude and keen to understand requirements;
  • Good communication skills to deal with local entrepreneurs and the community. Respectful of local community settings and societal norms, they understand the need for seeking consent and understand the approach to conduct themselves in the local, rural communities.
  • Willing to travel as per the requirement to the field areas;
  • Dynamic and energetic individual;
  • Results-oriented and a team player;

Soft skills

  • A good user of the MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint);
  • Familiarity and usage of Email software and Windows OS

Coordination

Field Team Leader (admin/operation) and Senior Sectoral Expert-RE, Senior Sectoral Expert-WASH,  Senior Sectoral Expert- Private sector  & MERL Expert (technical ) for major issues. For day-to-day operations, engage with the Officer-Market Development (NABAPALLAB) assigned to the working area.

Financial Benefits and Conditions
  • S/he will get BDT 1,200/day as daily wage for his/her service. The contract will be for five months, and the maximum total number of working days can be 90 days within this time period, where, in any single month, the number of working days can not exceed 18.
  • This includes the fees of Field facilitators and researchers and any work-related expenses (including travel costs, phone allowance, accommodation, and food expenses, etc.).
  • The payment will be made in installments as follows: 100% payment upon completion and submission of acceptable deliverables, including an approved timesheet in each month, with consideration of the ‘No Work No Pay’ modality.
  • The following terms and conditions will apply:
  • The payment will be made through an account payee cheque/ wire transfer (account name, number, type, bank name, and branch name are required for wire transfer)
  • Government VAT and tax regulations will be applied, and iDE Bangladesh will deduct all relevant VAT and Tax at source as per the GoB rule
  • TIN certificate (if applicable) must be submitted during the agreement signing
  • In case of failure to deliver the final product in due time, iDE Bangladesh will deduct 0.05% of the total agreement amount for each day of delay in submitting the report beyond the closing date of the agreement
  • The selected researcher/consultant/firm will abide by the other terms and conditions of iDE Bangladesh
  • If a Field Facilitator (FF) is assigned to work in areas outside their designated upazila, they will be eligible to claim travel costs upon prior approval, as per iDE’s travel policy and procedures.

Terms & Conditions
  • Ready to undertake frequent and extensive field travel using local transport
  • Willing to follow iDE rules and regulations
  • Available for agreed-upon dates and assignments
  • Candidates from project areas (Hakaluki ECA-Moulvibazar and Sylhet) will get preference.
  • Candidates must have their smartphones to use in the project activity.
  • Candidates having their personal vehicle/own motorbike with a valid driving license and a personal laptop/desktop will get preference.

Other Information
  • The period for conducting the assignment might be affected if unfavorable or unavoidable conditions arise during the period of the assignment. Under such circumstances, the facilitator is expected to be able to accommodate these changes without additional cost. A final detailed work schedule will be determined during the orientation meeting.
  • The daily wage package, workdays, and deliverables may change based on negotiations with the iDE management.
  • iDE reserves the right to terminate this agreement at any time with the consultation of the Field facilitator/ researcher as per the institutional policy.
  • They will not be able to avail themselves of regular HR facilities due to the short-term nature of the contract

Major responsibilities of iDE

iDE will provide the Field facilitator/ researcher with the necessary support to undertake and implement the assignment, and to execute the objectives of this assignment. Such responsibilities include the following:

  1. iDE will take responsibility for the assignment of the contract and onboarding of the field researcher/facilitator
  2. Provide initial briefing and provide specialized, tailored training to accomplish the tasks 
  3. Provide relevant documents and technical support
  4. Guide the researcher/facilitator to enable him/her to understand the deliverables required
  5. The project field team will assist the field researcher/facilitator by providing information on project locations and respondents
  6. Disburse payment as per the agreed schedule in the contract

Interested candidates for the Field facilitator/ researcher position are asked to submit their CV (max. 04 pages) to iDE Bangladesh through email to:

Manager-Procurement and Asset & Procurement, iDE Bangladesh
Address: iDE,
Neo 1/B, Road 90, Gulshan 2, Dhaka 1216
Email: bangladesh.procurement@ideglobal.org

Please write ‘NABAPALLAB -Field Facilitator’ in the subject line. The applications should be submitted by 11:59 pm BST on October 28, 2025. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited for an interview.