Do you want to help manage Africa’s largest fund for data journalism and digital experimentation?
Code for Africa (CfAfrica) is looking for an experienced Programme Manager to administer the $1-million innovateAFRICA fund and to help run the continent’s largest data journalism and civic technology skills programme, from Cape Town, South Africa. The ideal candidate will have some experience in journalistic and/or digital innovation, with a solid track record for organising and coordinating grant-based project management and event logistics, as well as office operations. The successful candidate will be comfortable providing executive support-related tasks and will be able to work with little supervision. They will enjoy working with multicultural teams across Africa, will thrive in leading creative problem-solving, and will be exceedingly well organized.
The position is a full-time position based in Cape Town, South Africa, where the successful candidate will report to the Chief Operating Officer, with support from a finance manager and programme assistants.
CfAfrica is registered as an NPO in South Africa and serves as coordinator for the continent’s largest federation of civic technology laboratories that help the media, civil society organisations, and governments digitise information and build tools to inform and empower citizens. CfAfrica currently has active projects in 24 African countries, with affiliate labs, of varying size, capacity and maturity in: Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. CfAfrica also runs Africa’s OpenGov Fellowships and embeds Innovation Fellows into newsrooms and social justice organisations to help liberate data of public interest, or to build tools that help empower citizens. In addition to fellowships and citizen labs, CfAfrica runs the $1 million per year #innovateAFRICA fund plus the $500,000/year #impactAFRICA fund and the $500,000/year Sandbox Fund, which all award seed grants to civic pioneers for experiments with everything from camera drones and environmental sensors, to data visualisation and mapping tools for improved visual storytelling, encryption for whistleblowers, and data-driven semantic analysis tools for investigative watchdogs. CfAfrica also curates continental resources such as the africanSPENDING portal of budget transparency resources, the openAFRICAdata portal, the sourceAFRICA document repository, and the connectedAFRICA transparency toolkit for tracking the often hidden social networks and economic interests in politics. CfAfrica is furthermore custodian of the continental 30,000+ strong Hacks/Hackers community, and incubates the continent’s largest investigative journalism initiative, the African Network of Centers for Investigating Reporting (which spearheaded the #PanamaPapers investigations on the continent). You can find more information at: https://codeforafrica.org/
CfAfrica is supported by donors that include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, HiVOS, Knight Foundation, Omidyar Networks, Open Society Foundations, and a host of smaller philanthropies.
Key Responsibilities
Programmes:
- Oversee all project activities and be the main contact point for the field staff
- Ensure project activities comply with the policies and regulations of the donor organization
- Coordinate the development and execution of project deliverables, budgeting and monitoring processes
- Ensure close collaboration and coordination with cooperating partners to guarantee smooth implementation of activities and achievement of results as specified in grant agreements.
- Trouble shoots project problems. Identifies and implements creative solutions.
- Allocate and adjust resources and set schedules to accomplish program objectives and meet changing and/or emerging program requirements with minimal impact to work quality or quantity
Office Administration:
- Maintain office services by organizing office operations and procedures; preparing payroll; controlling correspondence; designing and maintaining document depository; assigning and monitoring clerical functions
- Maintain office efficiency by planning and implementing office systems, layouts, and equipment procurement
- Keep management informed by summarizing information and reviewing various reports
- Contribute to team effort by accomplishing related results as needed
- Manage professional relationships with other employees, vendors, service providers, etc., ensuring that all items are invoiced and paid on time
- Other duties as assigned
Qualifications:
- Proven programme and office management experience
- Excellent time management skills, ability to multi-task and prioritize work
- Attention to detail and problem solving skills
- Strong organizational and planning skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to meet tight deadlines
- Ability to work independently as well as part of a Team
- Ability to work under pressure and learn new ways of doing things
- Pro-active and results oriented
- Working knowledge of IT tools/information systems
- Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to excel in a diverse, multinational environment
- Solid educational background – undergraduate degree required
Compensation
This is a full-time position and the opportunity to be a part of a growing, mission-oriented organization where you can make a difference. CFAfrica is prepared to offer a competitive compensation package, including a negotiable base salary, paid holidays, sick and vacation leave. CFAfrica does not compensate relocation costs.
To apply: Applicants should submit a CV, a cover letter, and salary history to join@codeforafrica.org