Position in: West Africa
Are you a project manager with a nose for news?
Code for Africa (CfA) has an immediate vacancy for a full-time Project Manager based in Francophone Africa to join our PesaCheck team.
Candidates must have demonstrable project management experience in the digital media and/or technology space. They must have the ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously. They should enjoy fast-paced creative problem-solving and systems building in a multicultural, transnational environment, as well as have a proactive approach.
The candidates’ primary languages are French and English, with additional proficiency in other languages spoken in Africa will be an advantage.
PesaCheck is the continent’s largest indigenous fact-checking initiative, by geographic coverage, with teams in 15 African countries. It researches and debunks misinformation published online and elsewhere in more traditional media, publishing over 2,000 fact-checks per year in partnership with major platforms ranging from Facebook and TikTok, to traditional media. PesaCheck also tracks promises by public officials and shines a light on public finances to ensure the public is not misled. PesaCheck forms part of Code for Africa (CfA), which is Africa’s largest non-profit digital/data journalism initiative.
The successful candidate will work as part of a multinational and multilingual team using digital collaboration tools to create content for a global audience and international media partners.
Required: minimum requirements include:
- 3+ years of experience as a project manager or a related position in digital media/technology environments
- Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, setting your own and wider team timelines and milestones, with clear systems/processes
- Ability to proactively problem-solve and make decisions in fast-paced impact-driven environments, where solutions involve balancing human/technology considerations
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with an ability to get across complex details in an understandable and accurate way in English and French
- Demonstrable ability to work independently, self-manage and prioritise,
- Empathetic communication and listening skills, plus a sensitivity to and ability to work with cross-cultural dynamics
- Digital-first workplace skill sets, including proficiency in collaborative work solutions such as Google Drive (Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, etc) and Slack (or equivalents such as Teams), as well as project management tools like Trello (or equivalents).
Preferred: candidates who are able to demonstrate the following will have an advantage:
- 5+ years of experience as a project manager or a related position.
- Bachelor’s degree or significant experience in project management and coordination in the tech, civic or media sectors.
- Experience building and managing relationships with media institutions, governments, international organisations, educational institutions, relevant technology players, and other private and not-for-profit relevant stakeholders in the civic technology and media ecosystem.
- Understanding of fact-checking, disinformation and misinformation, and digital tools for fact-checking.
- Experience working in a multi-cultural and/or multidisciplinary environment
Language and Location Requirements:
- Location: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Mali, Senegal, or any other Francophone West African country.
- Languages: Fluency in English and French.
- Preferred but not required: Other languages spoken in Africa will be an advantage.
About the Role:
The successful candidate will join PesaCheck’s transnational fact-checking team, which spans 15 African countries. The team is responsible for helping the public separate fact from fiction using a range of journalistic techniques and digital verification tools.
Your core duty is to manage the PesaCheck African FactChecking Alliance (AFCA) projects and PesaCheck’s suite of tools and special projects.
Check’s Africa Fact Checking Alliance (AFCA) network. The AFCA is a network of 349 newsroms in 27 countries, who are working together to combat mis- and disinformation on the African continent. The network provides member organisations with access to regular training and mentorship programmes as well grants and funding opportunities. You will be responsible for managing all network projects, ensuring that the broader team and participating network newsrooms meet all contractual deliverables within time and scope.
You will also be responsible for overseeing the training team, led by the lead trainer, and the editorial support desk, led by the assistant editor. You will ensure that they run their processes end-to-end, meeting both partner and participant expectations
You will also be responsible for managing the full lifecycle of PesaCheck’s tools, from inception to build & launch to maintenance. These tools in include PromiseTracker, which helps journalists and civil society watchdogs track campaign promises and other political/government pledges, DebunkBot, a Twitter bot that debunks claims shared on social media by replying with relevant fact-checks, PesaYetu, which helps journalists and citizens explore, visualise and interpret development data that impacts their own communities, and TaxClock, which help citizens better understand how governments put their taxes to use among other PesaCheck tools.
We operate in a fast-paced environment, so you will need to be agile in your management approach, quick to understand and learn new things, and creative in finding solutions to any problems that arise. You will also need obsessive attention to detail and be comfortable handling multiple tasks and deadlines.
Responsibilities: Your daily responsibilities will include:
- Manage and oversee the full lifecycle of PesaCheck tools, ensuring they are delivered per the requirements and within the agreed timelines.
- Manage all AFCA projects, working closely with the assistant editor and lead trainer, to ensure that work is delivered within timelines and scope
- Responsible for the creation and maintenance of project documentation, such as workplans and M&E trackers
- Responsible for ensuring that project reports are drafted and delivered on time
- Work alongside the PesaCheck editors to establish and sustain interactions with mainstream and community media outlets to support PesaCheck’s work as part of the overall programme outreach and engagement activities.
- Stay up to date with the latest trends and industry standards around project management and training, and use this information to assist the BizDev team to improve project management processes.
What We Offer:
- A competitive salary, subject to experience, with opportunities for performance-based growth, both in terms of career path and public stature.
- Medical insurance cover, underwritten by a remote-first provider to ensure cover wherever you are
- 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 10 April 2024. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
About Us:
Code for Africa (CfA) is the continent’s largest network of indigenous African civic technology and investigative data journalism laboratories, with over 100 full-time in-country staff in 21 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, 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 15 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 them, support them, and thrive on them 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.