Positions in: Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, or anywhere else in Africa
Do you want to help turbo-boost a generation of African women data journalists?
Code for Africa (CfA) has two immediate vacancy for an English and Kiswahili-language Copy Editor with extensive newsroom experience and excellent mentoring skills to join our StoryLab team.
The candidate may be based at any of our hubs in Kenya, Nigeria or South Africa. We’re also open to exceptional applicants from elsewhere in Africa.
The StoryLab is part of CfA’s Data Academy, which helps a network of 50+ newsroom partners produce international award-winning digital journalism on social justice issues, using innovative technologies ranging from camera drones, satellite imagery and interactive infographics to investigative data analysis. The StoryLab supports journalists to transform this information into compelling storytelling.
The Copy Editor will work with CfA Fellows and their host newsrooms, as well as our WanaData women data science/storytelling network, to polish copy for factual accuracy/coherence, grammatical/syntax consistency and readability, as well as adherence to CfA’s editorial style guides.
The successful candidate will work with the support of CfA’s wider Data Academy team of editorial experts, data analysts and digital designers in 18 African countries.
Required: minimum requirements include
- Minimum of 3 years copyediting (sub-editing) experience in a fast-paced top-notch newsroom or in the digital journalism space.
- Demonstrable track-record for factual accuracy/coherence, grammatical/syntax consistency and readability,
- Excellent explanatory writing and editing skills, with a strong command of English and Kiswahili.
- Rigorous research skills, an obsessive commitment to accuracy and attention to detail in order to verify information on diverse topics.
- The ability to work fast, creatively and accurately under pressure to deliver content that is credible, consistent and always factually correct.
- Excellent knowledge of current affairs, and critical-thinking skills.
- Strong organisational and decision-making skills.
- Strong command of different styles of writing for a wide range of audiences.
Preferred: characteristics that will give you a competitive advantage
- A keen understanding of how to integrate data into compelling storytelling.
- Experience at transforming traditional journalism into visual storytelling, including how to most effectively integrate social video and/or infographics.
- Experience in using digital collaboration tools, including Slack, Google Drive, and Trello to manage editorial workflows.
- The ability to communicate and work effectively with multicultural writers, editors, and project team members who work remotely and in different time zones.
Language and Location Requirements:
- Location: Nigeria and Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania or Uganda
- Languages: English, Kiswahili
- Preferred but not required: French and Arabic
About the Role
The successful candidate will join CfA’s Data Academy and will work closely with the editorial team on the StoryLab, under the supervision of the Senior Editor, in support of CfA’s digital labs and newsroom partners across 18 African countries.
The candidate will also work closely with CfA’s fast-growing pan-African network of women data scientists/storytellers who are using data to change the way that women and gender issues are portrayed in the media.
The Data Academy is the largest training initiative for data-driven journalism in Africa, offering a combination of self-directed MOOC courses, along with webinars delivered by topic experts and in-person training at partner institutions that include blue-chip universities and journalism schools. The Data Academy also supports a network of specialist desks in over 50 partner newsrooms across the continent, that pioneer investigative fact-checking or human rights reporting. The resulting content is published locally, as well as syndicated into international media. CfA supported journalism regularly wins major awards.
You will be working to uphold CfA’s writing and journalistic standards, and to ensure that all written content published by CfA is technically accurate, adheres to our style/voice, and meets the needs of our team and partners across the development and civic technology sectors, and is accessible to our key audiences.
You should have solid news judgement and a thorough understanding of the different styles of writing and subject matter relevant to a leading civic technology organisation.
You will report to the StoryLab’s Senior Editor, and will work alongside a number of other editorial experts including copywriters, researchers, writers, data analysts, designers, and social media strategists.
Responsibilities: Your daily responsibilities will include:
- Sub-edit, revise edit and proofread copy produced by researchers and writers
- Sub-edit infographics and other visual graphics created by the design and data team
- Verify dates and statistics using standard references sources
- Ensure publication standards and goals and expectations are met
- Adhere to and maintain CfA’s style guide
What We Offer:
- A competitive salary, subject to experience, with opportunities for performance-based growth, both in terms of career path and public stature.
- A dynamic workplace, with a transnational team, occasional international travel, and generous vacation benefits.
- Ongoing opportunities to learn new cutting-edge skills and techniques/technologies to future-proof yourself in a rapidly evolving industry.
- A chance to shine on a global stage, writing for international audiences and interacting with colleagues around the world.
How to apply:
Please fill in this form: by no later than 28 February 2020
About Us:
Code for Africa (CfA) is the continent’s largest network of indigenous African civic technology and investigative data journalism laboratories, with over 70 staff in 19 countries, who build digital democracy solutions that are intended to give citizens unfettered access to actionable information that empowers them to make informed decisions and that strengthen civic engagement for improved public governance and accountability.
This includes building infrastructure such as the continent’s largest open data portal, open.AFRICA, and largest open source civic software portal, commons.AFRICA, as well as the largest repository of investigative document-based evidence, source.AFRICA, as well as incubating initiatives as diverse as the africanDRONE network that gives citizens their own ‘eyes in the sky’, the PesaCheck fact-checking initiative in 12 African countries, and the sensors.AFRICA remote-sensing citizen science initiative to combat air/water pollution.CfA also incubates the African Network of Centres for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR), as an association of the continent’s best investigative newsrooms, ranging from large traditional mainstream media to smaller specialist units. ANCIR member newsrooms investigate crooked politicians, organised crime and big business. The iLAB is ANCIR’s in-house digital forensic unit, with teams in east, south and west Africa. ANCIR uses its resources to strengthen newsrooms’ own internal capacity, by providing access to the world’s best whistleblower encryption and investigative semantic analysis technologies, as well as skills development, and seed grants for cross-border collaboration.
At CfA, we don’t just accept differences – we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, our products and our community. CfA is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.
To all recruitment agencies: CfA does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our employment application line, CfA employees or any other CfA contact. CfA is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes