Information Officer
Summary
Food
for the Hungry Kenya, (a Christian relief and development agency) is seeking an
Information Officer for a multi-donor funded 5-year WASH & Livestock
program in Kenya. In day to day operation the Information Officer will take the
specific responsibility of coordinating all Information/ICT related activities.
S/he
will work closely with the County Lead Partner (CLP) based in the county and
with other technical leads/officers in the program. The Information Officer
will be located in Marsabit.
Background
The
Kenya Resilient Arid Lands Partnership for Integrated Development (KENYA RAPID)
is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) program, in which multiple partners
cooperate. It aims to support sustainable and resilient livelihoods in Kenya’s
Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL’s), by improving water availability and water service
delivery to people and livestock, and improve rangelands. KENYA RAPID mobilizes
financial and technical resources from development partners, national
government, county government and the private sector.
Over
the next five years (2015-2020) the KENYA RAPID program focuses on five Kenyan
counties with high poverty rates, chronic food and water insecurity and low
access to basic services: Marsabit, Garissa, Isiolo, Wajir, and Turkana. The
Kenya RAPID program will facilitate a process that supports the growth and
capacity strengthening of public, civil society, community and private sector
institutions to increase access to water for people and livestock and rebuild a
healthy rangeland management ecosystem. The program is designed to create a
successful intervention model that, with local adaptation, can be replicated by
other counties and thus substantially contribute to the Government of Kenya’s
goal of universal coverage of WASH services in Kenya by 2030.
There
are three strategic objectives:
●
A
responsive and accountable governance framework is in place and operational at
county government level that ensures sustainable provision of water and
pasture;
●
Replicable
and scalable business models for sustainable WASH and livestock service
delivery are developed and operationalized; and
●
Communities
have increased access to sustainable WASH services and improved rangeland
management
Reliable
and regular information on key metrics is required to deliver and sustain
services over time. However, reliable data
on issues such as water point functionality status, revenue generation, asset
condition, life cycle costs, and tariff structures for people vs. livestock and
commercial vs. domestic uses, simply do not exist on any level in any of the
five counties where the program will operate.
KENYA
RAPID will focus on supporting established county government
agencies/authorities to access data, information, and communication and
technology tools for improved investment, efficiency, and managerial
decision-making in the WASH and livestock sectors.
One
of the program results will be the development and roll out of a Water Management as a Service Platform
(WaMasP). IBM Research Africa and SweetSense Inc. (www.sweetsensors.com)
will play a crucial role to develop this, supporting a systematic approach
towards collecting and managing information, managing communication flows and supporting informed decision making processes in order to
enable full adoption of (new) solutions. Existing data available in Kenya such
as water point mapping studies and migration routes will be combined with new
data generated and integrated in the WaMasP. The WaMasP system will be owned
and managed by the county government; however, the vision is that key data
contained within it will be available in the public domain. The Information
Officer is expected to support and facilitate the development of the WaMasP and
ensure uptake among end users.
Position of the Information
Officer
On
a day to day operational level, the KENYA RAPID program will be coordinated by
a County Coordination Unit (CCU), led by a County Lead Partner (CLP) and
located within the Marsabit County administrative offices. The Information
Officer will be part of this CCU and work closely together with the CLP, the
developers of the WaMasP and with county employees assigned to work with the
CCU from relevant ministries (e.g., water, agriculture, livestock, health,
planning) to implement the approved work plan for the county.
Activities and responsibilities
In
close collaboration with the CLP and the developers of the MaWasP, the main
responsibilities of the Information Officer will be to:
●
Support
IBM Research, Sweetsense and other development partners in the development of
the Water Management as a Service Platform (MaWasP);
●
Support
in the development of ICT tools to improve access to Integrated Water Resource
Management information for CCU and county extension staff;
●
Lead
the role out process of the MaWaSP and other ICT tools;
●
Provide
hand on technical assistance to the CCU and County extension staff on use of
the MaWaSP and other ICT tools;
●
Train
trainers on use of ICT tools and (mobile) data collection;
●
Strengthen
capacity of ICT department at county level;
●
Diagnosing
hardware and software problems;
●
Liaise
with the CLP and development partners to troubleshoot, provide technical
support and give feedback on any weaknesses and issues with the WaMasP and
other ICT tools;
●
Install/configure
new computers/android phones with WaMasP and other ICT applications;
●
Repair/upgrade
PC hardware, software and android phones;
●
Ensure
tracking and documentation of project progress, beneficiaries and report back
to MWA;
●
Collaborate
with selected Counties to identify their project needs and feedback into
management decisions;
●
Collaborate
with selected Counties in mentoring assessing the performance of the extension
staff;
●
Advance
the use of WaMasP and other ICT tools within KENYA RAPID;
●
Organize
meetings/workshops with the respective Counties for critical thinking and
learning to guide decision making and action;
●
Work
with the CLP and ICT development partners to develop a framework to monitor and
evaluate the progress and impact of the MaWasP and other ICT tools;
●
Ensure
the identification, documentation, sharing and adoption of best practices and
lessons learned;
●
Facilitate
dissemination and learning platforms to discuss findings from surveys,
evaluations and special studies and to generate and document lessons;
●
Identify
and escalate situations that require urgent attention;
●
Stay
current with system information, changes and updates;
●
Support
the CLP with quarterly reports for submission to the donor
Qualifications
●
Bachelor
degree in a field related to ICT and project management, a master’s degree will
be an added advantage;
●
IT
Certification, Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate or equivalent;
●
At
least 5 years work experience in progressive responsibility in relief and
development programs, including some significant time in Monitoring, Evaluation
and Learning (MEL);
Competencies
●
Vibrant
personal relationship with Jesus Christ
●
Knowledge
of backup and disaster recovery solutions;
●
Overall
knowledge of software and hardware firewalls;
●
Basic
network troubleshooting skills;
● Demonstrated ability to
transfer knowledge to diverse audiences through training, mentoring and other
formal and non-formal methods;
● Familiarity with adult learning
principles/techniques;
● Excellent interpersonal, organizational
and written/verbal communication skills;
● Ability to work effectively
under pressure and to organize and prioritize competing activities;
● Good Communication skills using
speech and writing;
●
Experience
with working with county governments, civil society, donors and local
communities;
●
Strong
conceptual and analytical skills
●
Demonstrate
high levels of initiative
●
Flexibility
in tasks undertaken
●
Extensive
knowledge of participatory approaches
●
Understanding
of development/relief issues
●
Experience
in ASAL counties, proven sensitivity to the setting and its challenges
Job location
Marsabit
town with travel to the entire Marsabit County
Application
procedure
Interested
and qualified candidates should send their applications (clearly indicating
their current or expected salary), updated CV with three referees, day
telephone contacts to the Human Resources Manager: email address
hr-fhkenya@fh.org latest by 25th
August 2015.
NB: Only shortlisted applicants
will be contacted.
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