Position in: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania or Uganda
Do you want to grow our network of drone pilots and sensor specialists in Africa?
Code for Africa (CfA) has an immediate vacancy for a full-time community coordinator anywhere in Africa to join our Knowledge team.
The ideal candidate must have demonstrable experience in project management, community building, and stakeholder engagement. Additionally, critical thinking skills and a growth mindset are essential, as our projects are transnational and fast-paced, requiring the ability to quickly switch context and learn new things. Candidates with knowledge of and a keen interest in civic technology applications utilising sensors, drones, and other Internet of Things (IoT) devices will have an advantage.
CfA’s Knowledge initiative spearheads training management and partnerships, data analysis, digital journalism, and storytelling initiatives for partner newsrooms, universities, and local community events across Africa. The initiative encompasses CfA communities such as the WanaData women data science/storytelling network, the africanDRONE civic drone community, and the sensors.AFRICA sensor journalism initiative, with a network of over 50+ newsrooms and university partners across the continent. The Knowledge team is also the custodian of other major CfA public infrastructure, including the largest open data portal on the continent, open.AFRICA, and Africa’s biggest census data portal, HURUMap.
The successful candidate will work alongside a dynamic, cross-border team of data analysts, community coordinators, digital designers, and editorial experts. They will receive support from CfA’s software engineering and forensic research teams located in 22 countries across Africa.
Required
The ideal candidate for this role should have the following:
- At least 3 years of experience in community management or a related field, including organising and coordinating offline, online, and hybrid local and international events/community outreach
- Excellent project management skills, with the ability to handle multiple priorities, meet deadlines and produce regular monitoring reports.
- Highly experienced in stakeholder engagement, with a proven ability to build relationships and engage with diverse audiences, including IoT practitioners, community members and donors/partners.
- Excellent communication skills, written and verbal, for large and small groups, in-person and via phone or email.
- A strong understanding and deep interest in civic tech applications, including sensors, drones, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
- A genuine passion for environmental sustainability, urban growth, international development, and social justice.
- Able to work creatively and accurately under pressure, with excellent attention to detail.
- Proficient in spoken and written English.
Preferred
Candidates who can demonstrate the following will have an advantage:
- Experience working in the technology, non-profit, and/or media environments will be advantageous.
- An understanding of database management and familiarity with spreadsheets.
- Experience working with a multinational and fully remote organisation.
- Bilingual in English and French (spoken and written).
- Hold relevant undergraduate degrees in related fields such as Development Studies or STEM disciplines.
- Familiar with growth and impact metrics, as well as web analytics.
Language and Location Requirements
- Location: CfA has labs located in Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. However the role can be performed remotely, and applicants across Africa will therefore be considered.
- Languages: English
- Preferred but not required: Arabic, French, Swahili, or other major African languages.
About this role
The successful candidate will join CfA’s Knowledge team as the continental champion for CfA’s africanDRONE and sensors.AFRICA networks pioneering the use of drones and sensors for climate change and deforestation monitoring, water and air quality detection, and pollution detection in African cities, as well as open data collection and mapping. africanDRONE is a community of African drone pilots who use drone imagery and maps for social justice and environmental security. sensors.AFRICA is a citizen science initiative that involves monitoring of environmental challenges such as air quality and noise pollution, and water quality to empower citizens in African cities
The responsibilities for this role will include daily oversight and coordination of the sensors.AFRICA and africanDRONE communities’ initiatives and activities, including organising online and offline events, managing numerous donor-funded projects, including fellowships, with various requirements and deadlines, assisting with partnership development, and managing stakeholders, facilitating training and mentorship while marshalling resources, among other things.
You will also collaborate with project teams to ensure that partnerships and project deliverables are met, and stakeholders are kept informed and engaged. In addition, you will manage a discretionary fund for the fellowship micro-grants for communities’ projects or initiatives. You will be responsible for ensuring that grantees meet their deliverables and deadlines.
Responsibilities
The ideal candidate will be responsible for the following:
- Manage and expand a geographically dispersed community of drone pilots and sensor practitioners across African countries, ensuring members are engaged and active.
- Coordinate the management of community events, projects, and communications.
- Identify gaps and needs within the africanDRONE and sensors.AFRICA networks and develop appropriate and effective programmes tailored to meet those needs.
- Ensure that projects and milestones are delivered on time, to the highest quality standards, and meet/exceed donor expectations.
- Monitor and evaluate programme effectiveness and community member feedback to improve programme outcomes.
- Report on all activities and manage community information while ensuring databases are up to date.
- Develop assets that can be leveraged to inform and energise CfA’s partners, stakeholders, and community members about CfA’s community events and programmes, including creating detailed-oriented presentations, briefings, memos, and other communications.
- Create weekly and monthly community engagement plans.
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 worldwide.
How to Apply:
Please complete this form by 22 March 2023
About Us:
Code for Africa (CfA) is the continent’s largest network of indigenous African civic technology and investigative data journalism laboratories, with over 90 staff in 22 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 the largest open-source civic software portal, commons.AFRICA, as well as the largest repository of investigative document-based evidence, source.AFRICA, and 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’ internal capacity by providing access to the world’s best whistleblower encryption, investigative semantic analysis technologies, skills development, and seed grants for cross-border collaboration.
At CfA, we don’t just accept differences – we celebrate them, support them, and thrive on them to benefit our employees, products, and community. CfA is proud to be an equal-opportunity workplace and affirmative-action employer. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.
To 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.