Voices Programme Lead

Our client is looking to recruit a Voices Programme Lead who will be responsible for managing and executing all aspects of the Voices Programme. This includes developing programme strategies, overseeing day-to-day operations, and creating opportunities for the Institute’s Fellows and alumni to increase their public visibility, media presence, and policy influence. The Programme Lead will also work closely with the Strategic Partnerships Lead to form and maintain partnerships with academic, industry, public sector, and media stakeholders to support the programme’s goals.
As the Institute’s Voices Programme Lead, you will be instrumental in amplifying African women’s voices in public discourse and policy, driving lasting change across the continent and beyond. Your leadership will help create a network of empowered thought leaders shaping Africa’s future.
The ideal candidate will be self-motivated and proactive, and genuinely believe that the ideas and voices of African women are critical in shaping a sustainable and holistic future for the continent.

Key Responsibilities

This position will lead on all the Institute’s Voices Programme activities. They will report to the Director of Programmes (DoP). This position includes but is not limited to the following duties:

Programme Leadership and Strategy:

• Lead and manage the Institute’s Voices Programme, ensuring its successful implementation in alignment with the Institute’s strategic goals.
• Lead on developing and steering the Programme’s strategy in partnership with the DoP, using thoughtfulness, creativity and out-of-the-box thinking to identify ways to improve the programme to better serve the women in our network.
• Ensure that all the programme’s activities and partnerships are genuinely inclusive, informed by and representative of the diverse voices of African women researchers from different regions disciplines and sectors.

Public and Policy Engagement:

• Design, plan and execute all the Institute’s Ideas outputs (Podcast, Nights, Exchanges, CoLabs, Digest) that provide visibility, networking and learning opportunities for the women we serve.
  Provide support to our Communications Team to create influencing opportunities through the public visibility of the women we support via traditional and digital media (blogs, articles, TV appearances, op-eds).
• Utilise the above approaches (the Institute’s Ideas outputs, traditional and digital media) and develop new ones for the Institute’s to influence the broader research ecosystem.
• Provide support to the MEL Lead with evaluating the effectiveness of the programme’s engagement strategies and making data-driven decisions to improve them.

Strategic Partnerships:

• Provide support to our Strategic Partnerships Lead to identify opportunities for meaningful and impactful connection creation between the women in our network and our partners creating influential research translation pipelines and pathways (e.g., connecting them to policy makers, commercialisation actors, and development organisations)

Research:

• Lead on the execution of our internal research activities including the development and dissemination of our Status of African Women in Research and our Emerging Research Trends for Africa reports.
• In partnership with our Communications Team, ensure that our research findings inform the content creation of all our public outputs (The Institute’s Ideas outputs, blogs, Op-Eds, external media engagements).

Alumni Network:

• Develop a sustainable model for alumni engagement and provide direction on the overall management of our growing alumni network, the Institute’s Connects Network, including identifying best practices for keeping the network engaged and ensuring we are able to continue to provide meaningful support and opportunities for engagements as the network grows.
• Lead on the disbursement and management of the Connects Fund, a funding facility that provides funding support to our alumni.
  Providing support to the Tech Lead and the Voices Team in managing the Connects Network platform.

Operational Support:

Contribute to the strengthening of the Institute’s work culture and optimisation of how we deliver our programming by identifying areas requiring improvement and providing clear and timely feedback to the Senior

Leadership.

Provide support to our Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Lead to develop and implement metrics for evaluating the success of the programme and its impact on public discourse and policy in Africa.

Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a relevant field such as Communications, Journalism, Public Policy, International Relations, Development Studies, or Social / Physical Sciences.
• At least 5 years post-graduation experience in a similar role, preferably in public engagement, science communication, research, or programme management at a non-profit/NGO, research institution, institution of higher learning, development agency, consultancy, or think tank.
• Intermediate or strong proficiency in Excel and other Microsoft Office applications.
• Demonstrated ability to write research reports, assess and edit analytical reports, policy recommendations, and commentaries.
• Research skills, including familiarity with research repositories and databases (e.g. Google Scholar, ERIC, etc.) and reference management tools (such as Zotero, EndNote, etc.).
• Excellent writing and verbal communication skills in English. Proficiency in French or Portuguese would be an added advantage.
• Must possess a self-starting, entrepreneurial mind-set and be able to work well independently and in teams.

Desired Qualities

• Show adaptibility and resilience, particularly with navigating the public policy and media landscape.
• Candidates should possess sound judgement and impeccable integrity, positive attitude and creative outlook, as well as attention to detail and strong organisational, analytical, and critical thinking skills.
• Curious individual with ability to work both independently and collaboratively, and to seek assistance with projects as required.
• An interest in continual learning and professional growth.
• The ability to thrive in a role with a great deal of autonomy in an environment that is highly collaborative, communicative, and team-oriented.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work in a diverse and inclusive setting.
• Experience working in multicultural environments.
• Ability to self-reflect and has a strong awareness of self.
• Lead with kindness; open, warm, inclusive, transparent; low ego drive with humility and willingness to learn and adapt.
• Ability to positively influence organisational culture and values in an impact-driven, highly collaborative environment.
• Ability to listen and incorporate diverse perspectives to shape programmatic strategy and the organisation at large.
• Encourages others to share the spotlight and visibly celebrates and supports the success of the team.
• Creates a sense of purpose/meaning for the team that generates followership beyond their own personality and engages others to the greater purpose for the organisation as a whole.
• Commitment to the Institute’s mission and values.

Terms of Offer

• Compensation and benefits for the Voices Programme Lead position include:
• Competitive salary
• 21 days of paid leave
• 10 days of paid sick / family leave/mental health
• 3 months paid parental leave, in the event of the birth or adoption of a child by the employee or employee’s partner
• Health insurance and pension
• Operating on a four-day work week
• Flexi-hours and hybrid working
• Access to a wellness fund
• Access to a professional development fund
• Quarterly data bundles
• Option to join the Institute’s Employee Welfare Programme

Interested candidates should be looking to commit to the role for a minimum period of 2 years.
The Institute is an equal opportunity employer , and does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, or other protected status.

Qualified and interested applicants who meet the specifications are requested to send their CVS to [email protected] by 14th October 2024. Please indicate the position applied for on the subject line. Applications will only be considered if they are submitted with the duly completed form highlighted below; https://forms.gle/MdCMTJ7smGpADY4v6

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.