Project Director Job in Dadaab, Kenya

Project Director

Dadaab Humanitarian Information Service (Dadaab, Kenya)

Description

Duration: Twelve (12) months, July 2012 – July 2013

Background:

Working in partnership with Star FM of Nairobi, Kenya, the Dadaab Humanitarian Information Service (HIS) project aims to address communication gaps between refugee populations and humanitarian organizations by providing essential life-saving information that informs, protects, empowers, facilitates dialogue and affects behavior change in the target audiences of camp residents.

The project will also assist the humanitarian sector to be more effective by enabling communities to better understand aid operations, access relief services and communicate with humanitarian agencies. 

The project will help to establish, train, and operate a community radio station run by Star FM and staffed by youth from the refugees and host communities that is being built in the camp to respond directly to the information and communication needs of those residing and working there.

Scope of Work:

The Project Director (PD) will play a vital role in leading and managing the implementation of this 12-month groundbreaking project in the Dadaab camps, overseeing project staff and representing the project to all stakeholders. 

Specifically, responsibilities will include:

• Providing general oversight of the Dadaab HIS project. This includes overall responsibility for the program management, strategic vision, fiscal integrity, quality and timing of deliverables, and coordination with partners; • Providing leadership and overall management of other project staff, including the Youth Radio Trainer (YRT), the Humanitarian Liaison Officer (HLO), and the Monitoring & Evaluation Manager;
• Support the YRT on the design, implementation and overseeing of all aspects of a regular training and mentoring program for local reporters and correspondents that will be part of the local radio station run by Star FM.
• Ensuring that all project deliverables are completed according to agreed timelines and budgets, including regular training and mentoring program for local reporters and correspondents, regular liaison with humanitarians, and robust monitoring and evaluation.
• Managing risk and security during the implementation of the program, including the development of contingency plans.
• Leading in liaison with donors and on all fundraising efforts on the ground, in coordination with HQ.
• Ensuring the program complies with all bureaucratic requirements, donor regulations, laws, and donor requirements, including local laws and requirements for local staff.
• Ensuring timely reporting of activities to HQ and effective collaboration with relevant Internews colleagues.
• Producing regular multimedia materials (i.e. blog posts, photos, podcast…) documenting the life of the project for external audiences, as required.
• Liaising with international/local media and promote Internews’ work, as required.
• Any other duties as required.

Qualifications:

• Fluency in spoken and written English; knowledge of Swahili or Somali an asset.
• Extensive project management experience with the ability to deliver results to agreed timetables and budgets.
• While this is a PD position, the successful candidate will have extensive track record in supervising, designing, managing, and implementing training programs, preferably in broadcast and journalism skills.
• Fluency in use of digital field recording equipment, basic studio equipment and software, such as Adobe Audition and/or CoolEdit Pro.
• Proven ability to develop and monitor work plans, training plans, and procurement plans.
• Excellent interpersonal and networking skills to liaise authoritatively with figures from the local media, local government, humanitarian community, etc.
• Team-building skills and the ability to manage a diverse staff in a challenging and a highly fluid environment.
• Proven experience in donor liaison and fundraising.
• Good knowledge of the mandates and modalities of the international humanitarian sector including the UN cluster system and capacity.
• Experience working in relief operations in challenging environments, preferably in Sub Saharan Africa.
• Sensitivity to cross-cultural dynamics in the work place.
• Ability to adjust to shifting political circumstances and create programming accordingly.
• An understanding of the vision/mission, core values and objectives of Internews.
• Understanding of and passion for the area of communications with disaster-affected communities.
• Excellent communication and reporting skills, both written and oral.
• Psychological resilience and a sense of humor.
• Relevant university degree.

More about Internews in Dadaab:

Over twenty years after the first Somali refugees fled the crisis that ousted President Siad Barre, more than 982,000 Somalis are now refugees in neighboring countries and some 1.5 million are internally displaced. 

Thousands continue to cross the border to North-Eastern Kenya into the largest refugee complex in the world, Dadaab. At their inception, Dadaab camps were intended to house 90,000 refugees; today that figure has surpassed the 522,000 mark, according to UNHCR.

In August 2011, Internews led a joint assessment of the communication and information needs of refugees in the Dadaab camps that found that serious communication gaps between the humanitarian sector and refugees are increasing refugee suffering and putting lives at risk. 

Results from the final report, Dadaab, Kenya - Humanitarian Communications and Information Needs Assessment Among Refugees in the Camps, show that large numbers of displaced Somalis did not have the information they required to access basic aid or voice their concerns or ask questions to aid providers or the government.

Internews is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to empower local media worldwide to give people the news and information they need, the ability to connect and the means to make their voices heard.

How to apply: 

Closing Date: 8th June 2012

Please visit Internews' website to apply:

https://sj.tbe.taleo.net/SJ11/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=INTERNEWS&cws=1&rid=121

or http://www.internews.org/jobs