Hivos East Africa seeks qualified candidates for the position of:

Vacancy Name: 

Country Engagement Developer, Open Contracting

Number of hours: 

40

Region: 

East Africa

Office: 

Nairobi, Kenya

About Hivos

Hivos is an international organisation that seeks new solutions to persistent global issues. With smart projects in the right places, we oppose discrimination, inequality, abuse of power and the unsustainable use of our planet’s resources. Counterbalance alone, however, is not enough. Our primary focus is achieving structural change. This is why we cooperate with innovative businesses, citizens and their organisations. We share a dream with them of sustainable economies and inclusive societies.

Hivos is  an important actor within the emerging Transparency & Accountability field.

The momentum for more transparency around public contracts has been growing rapidly. Increasingly, there is availability of contracting information, however, it will only lead to meaningful change if citizens know about disclosures and can make effective use of that information to hold their governments to account.

Hivos and Article 19 have launched an international programme titled “Open Contracting Data Programme”. The programme aims to build capacities of civil society organizations to advocate for more disclosure and transparency in public contracting and increased demand for accountability based on that information. The programme consists of global advocacy as well as national capacity building and advocacy in 6 countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa. Please find more information about the programme here: https://hivos.org/focal-area/open-contracting

Job context

Hivos is seeking a qualified candidate for the position of Country Engagement Developer (CED) for our Open Contracting Data programme. The CED will be based in Nairobi with frequent travels within Kenya and Tanzania with 20 hours per week focused on each country.

In this position, the CED will work as a member of the East Africa Regional Team and liaise closely with the international teams working in the Netherlands, Southeast Asia and Latin America. The CED will play a part in devising the strategy of the programme and contribute to Hivos’ overall future development within the area of Transparency & Accountability. Each Region has a dedicated Regional Project Manager who will drive the regional Lobbying and Advocacy agenda in close collaboration with the Country Engagement Developers. The CED reports to the Regional Project Manager.

The CED should have a strong track record of building effective relationships with a variety of actors in relevant institutions (state, private sector, civil society, tech, academia & media) and an active network of relevant contacts in the Kenya & Tanzania that can supplement the programme’s lobbying and advocacy activities.

The CED will report to the Regional Project Manager, Open Contracting.

Your responsibilities

• Responsible for the delivery of a coherent programme of activities in Kenya and Tanzania, in line with the specific country plans and overall objectives.
• Establish a strong portfolio of partners nationally, identifying champions, change agents in government and strong partners to act as infomediaries to help translate public contracting data and document into actionable information
• Coordinate and, where possible, conduct, capacity development activities, advocacy, big data analysis and visualization and data journalism.
• Coordinate and participate in national advocacy & brokering relationships
• Coordinate with national civil society coalitions within the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and other relevant initiatives such the Extractive Sector Transparency Initiative (EITI), Freedom of Information Network and Construction Sector Transparency (CoST) among others.
• Encourage learning, sharing new ideas and the scaling-up of successful initiatives
• Organize the participatory elaboration of joint strategic plans for each country & for relevant sectors, which will also feed into a broader regional agenda
• Elaborate risk analysis together with our partners to ensure that both they and the consortium understand the personal safety and risks of engaging in specific advocacy activities and elaborate mitigation strategies
• Contribute to programme monitoring & evaluation using the outcome harvesting

Knowledge and Experience

• A Masters Degree or equivalent in Social Sciences
• At least five (5) years experience delivering advocacy programmes in Tanzania and Kenya
• Strong communication, networking and facilitation skills
• Experienced in establishing and managing  multi-stakeholder initiatives
• A firm grasp and knowledge of the current context, transparency & accountability trends and open government issues in East Africa.
• Extensive contacts in governance institutions and knowledge of governance issues  in Tanzania is highly desired
• Affinity with and experience with civic technology and media
• Excellent in written and oral English and Swahili languages
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation of projects focusing in outcomes as well as donor reporting
• Flexibility, and the ability to work under pressure, prioritize and deliver in time

What we offer

Hivos offers a competitive package based on the candidate’s qualifications.

Deadline; 31^st August 2016