USAID West Africa ASSESS Program
JOB DESCRIPTION:
A. Position Title: Communication and Knowledge Management Specialist, West Africa ASSESS
B. Supervision: The position is directly supervised by the Chief of Party, West Africa ASSESS Program in partnership with KNUST/BIRD. The incumbent for this position is an ASSESS Project employee of KNUST.
C. Location: Main Program Office, Accra, Ghana
D. Introduction and Background:
The five-year USAID Analytical Support Services and Evaluations for Sustainable Systems (ASSESS) project is a flexible inter-agency mechanism for Evaluations, M&E Capacity Building, and Knowledge and Learning, and other analytical support services serving the USAID West Africa Regional Mission. ASSESS is responsible for program evaluations in the Regional Economic Growth Office (REGO) portfolio of the United States Government’s foreign assistance programs to the West Africa region. This portfolio includes programs in agriculture, trade, environment, and energy in 21 countries.
The broad objective of ASSESS is to improve evidence-based decision making to build self-reliance and ensure sustainable development outcomes in West Africa. The project focuses on building and facilitating continuity of expertise and knowledge management toward achievement of this objective.
The ASSESS project has, but is not limited to, three components:
- Monitoring and Evaluation for improved programmatic interventions. This includes:
• Monitoring support to regional institutions, REGO, or REGO’s implementing partners;
• Evaluation and studies.
- Technical Assistance and organizational capacity building of local and regional organizations. This includes:
• Other support services that require ASSESS to recruit experts for regional institutions and REGO;
• All other activities involving supporting REGO or Implementing Partners (IPs).
- Learning agenda to promote experimentation, innovation and measured risk-taking. This involves:
• Knowledge and information management activities; and
• Learning events.
Through partnership with USDA and university partners including the University of Rhode Island (URI), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and other partner Universities and institutions in the West Africa region, the project accesses technical expertise from a wide array of fields both internationally and within the region to deliver high quality and timely analytical services to USAID West Africa.
The Communication and Knowledge Management Specialist is a local hire recruitment (i.e., recruited in Ghana and based in Ghana). Any nationality is eligible to apply under these conditions if the candidate has, or can obtain, legal status to work in Ghana. ASSESS project is an equal opportunity employer committed to the principles of affirmative action.
E. Major Roles and Responsibilities:
Basic Functions
The ASSESS West Africa Program Communications and Knowledge Management Specialist is responsible for responding to USAID/WA REGO communication needs requiring ASSESS support. The Communications and
Knowledge Management Specialist is expected work closely with the USAID/WA REGO’S Development Outreach and Communications (DOC) team to develop and implement communication, outreach, and information product management strategies, and to provide technical support on communications for ASSESS activities.
Duties and Responsibilities
● In consultation with the relevant USAID support and technical offices, draft briefing/publicity materials including West Africa Regional Institution profile, program/project fact sheets, “success story” one-pagers, and sector summaries.
● Provide day-to-day backstopping support for USAID/WA DOC specialists and other USAID offices within the region (as needed), in identifying opportunities to showcase USAID’s work in newsletters, on websites, on social media platforms, and in USAID/WA’s primary publications.
● Support USAID/WA DOC team to shoot and edit videos of USAID programs.
● Responsible for the conduct of needs assessment and preparation of a communication strategy for ASSESS and may assist USAID/WA REGO Partner Institutions to prepare their communication strategies.
● Support USAID REGO communication strategy implementation in collaboration with the ASSESS management team and project partners.
● Responsible for preparing, formatting (for aesthetics and for compliance with USAID branding, formatting, 508 and other requirements), editing, printing, production, and distribution of ASSESS documents including reports, newsletters, brochures and leaflets using professional document design software.
● Responsible for the preparation and implementation of the ASSESS Project annual work-plan Knowledge and Information Dissemination component in collaboration with partners.
● Responsible for identifying competent communications service providers to implement specific assignments and overseeing these service providers, for timeliness and quality of their services
● Responsible for monitoring and supporting ASSESS compliance with Section 889 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
● Support USAID/WA DOC team in managing media relations before, during and after functions where the media is invited to participate.
● Establish, monitor and maintain adequate communication quality and accessibility to control systems for printed and electronic documents using USAID compliance guidelines.
● Responsible for setting up and maintaining project files in manual and electronic format as directed in preparation, translation, presentation, publication, and distribution of project products and reports.
● Prepare progress reports on the ASSESS Knowledge and Information Dissemination component and provide information on progress and communications impacts for performance monitoring reports.
Supervision/Oversight over others:
Supervision of others as assigned by the COP.
F. Qualifications:
Education: Minimum Master’s Degree in Communications, Public Relations or related areas is required.
Prior Work Experience: Minimum of five years of relevant, progressively responsible work experience in communications for development organizations. Previous employment in a communications position on a USAID-funded Activity is preferred. Experience working in multiple countries in the region is a plus.
Languages: Proficiency in spoken and written English. French is a plus.
Competencies: The incumbent must successfully demonstrate the following competencies:
Knowledge:
● Demonstrated knowledge of communications and outreach for international development programs.
● Strong knowledge of development and implementation of media campaigns and production of communication and information materials for broad use.
● Interest in and some familiarity with USAID projects in the Agriculture, Environment, Trade and Energy
sectors strongly preferred.
● Understanding of how to work effectively with a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including those from other West African countries and international development actors.
● Familiarity with USAID policies and business processes for branding, 508 compliance, media relations, etc. is strongly preferred.
Skills and Abilities:
● A responsive, service provider attitude and approach.
● Strong written and oral communication skills.
● Demonstrated high level of capacity in writing and editing technical reports, communication products and other program documents for distribution in English.
● Excellent interpersonal and team building skills. An effective team player.
● Proven ability to work effectively in a multi-cultural and team environment
● Demonstrated ability to plan, develop, budget and manage multiple complex activities simultaneously and meet deadlines. Highly organized.
● Demonstrated experience working with print, television, radio and electronic media.
● Highly computer, internet, and social media platform literate.
G. How to Apply:
Interested candidates should submit a Cover Letter and Curriculum Vitae in English, describing how their skills and experience match the requirements of the position, by e-mail with “Communication and Knowledge Management Specialist” in the subject line to Meimuna Diakite (mdiakite@assess-wa.org), with copy to applications@crcuri.org, no later than Friday August 27, 2021.