AI Skills and Ecosystem Advisor at GIZ Rwanda: (Deadline 9 December 2021)

AI Skills and Ecosystem Advisor at GIZ Rwanda: (Deadline 9 December 2021)

Internal Vacancy Announcement

AI Skills and Ecosystem Advisor

for

The FAIR Forward – Artificial Intelligence for all Program

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a federally owned international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations. GIZ has worked in Rwanda for over 30 years. The primary objectives between the Government of Rwanda and the Federal Republic of Germany are poverty reduction and promotion of sustainable development. To achieve these objectives, GIZ Rwanda is active in the sectors of Decentralization and Good Governance, Economic Development and Employment Promotion, Energy, and ICT (Information and Communications Technology). 

“FAIR Forward – Artificial Intelligence for All” is a global initiative of German Development Cooperation. It strives for a more open, inclusive, and sustainable approach to AI on the international level. Its principal objective is to assist selected partner countries in developing their AI ecosystems for the development of local AI solutions. These local AI solutions can then help to foster sustainable human and economic development. To achieve this, the initiative is working together with six partner countries: Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, and India. To lay the foundations for developing local AI, the initiative pursues the following three goals:

• Strengthen Local Skills and Knowledge in AI – Capacity Building;
• Remove Barriers of Entry to Developing AI – Access to Training Data and AI Technologies for Local Innovation and development of AI use cases;
• Develop AI Policy Frameworks – Ethical AI, Data Protection and Privacy

In Rwanda, FAIR Forward is hosted under the umbrella of the GIZ Digital Transformation Center under its focus area “artificial intelligence”. The activities in Rwanda focus, among others, on the implementation of trainings and fellowship programmes on AI, the creation of local AI training data sets (voice data and earth observation data) and the development of AI use cases, and the development of policy instruments for AI.

GIZ Rwanda is searching candidates for the position of AI Skills and Ecosystem Advisor for the FAIR Forward – Artificial Intelligence for all programme.

Location: Kigali

Fixed: one (1) year

Position: (1) one

A. Responsibilities 

The AI Advisor is responsible for:

• Planning and implementing selected FAIR Forward activities in Rwanda under the guidance of the global FAIR Forward team
• Advising partners from government, academia, and private sector in Rwanda and globally on how to best leverage AI approaches, including building and maintaining relationships with programme stakeholders
• Contributing actively to effective project management, including planning and budgeting, steering of contractors, communication, and reporting, and monitoring and evaluation
• Identifying and actively pursuing synergies with other GIZ projects in Rwanda and beyond

B. Tasks 

The AI Advisor performs the following tasks:

1. Technical: 

• Coordinate the design and implementation of FAIR Forward activities in Rwanda, including AI skills programmes and trainings, as well as policy-related activities
• Together with the global FAIR Forward team, work on establishing global networks and alliances around open AI
• Advise partners from government, academia, and the private sector on how to best leverage AI for sustainable development in Rwanda
• Contribute to the scaling of best practices from Rwanda to other countries in Africa
• Organize events such AI community meetups and workshops

2. Project management and communication: 

• Preparation of contracts, including Terms of Reference and other project documents
• Management of subcontractors and supervision consultancies and studies
• Ensure effective monitoring and evaluation of activities
• Manage meetings, workshops, and events with stakeholders and service providers (preparation, implementation, follow-up)
• Support in the field of communication, public relations, preparation of fact sheets, including social media and newsletters
• Facilitate administrative and logistical procedures for activities in coordination with the GIZ administration team
• Ensure knowledge transfer within the global implementing team of FAIR Forward
• Support and execution of any other tasks assigned to by the management

C. Required qualifications, competencies, and experience

1. Qualifications

• Bachelors’ in computer engineering, business administration, public policy, international relations, or related field

2. Professional experience

• At least 3 years’ professional experience in a comparable position
• Strong understanding of AI and emerging technologies more broadly, including its opportunities and challenges in the context of sustainable development
• Experience with ecosystem and community building around emerging technologies
• Experience in project management, ideally in the area of digital transformation and/or international cooperation
• Experience in organization and implementation of events and workshops
• Experience in developing and implementing training programmes for emerging technologies
• Applied knowledge in a relevant technical field such as programming, machine learning, statistics or similar is considered a plus, but not a requirement

3. Other knowledge, additional competences

• Finely tuned organizational skills and ability to work on one’s own initiative
• Ability to build and manage internal and external relationships and build strategic partnerships and networks
• Proactive in the development and implementation of ideas and proposals
• Willingness to and experience in working in a multi-national remote team
• Able to work under little supervision but at the same time being a real team player
• Good knowledge of English and Kinyarwanda. French or German would be an asset
• Willingness to upskill as required by the tasks to be performed

 Interested candidates should submit their application (motivation letter, updated CV, certificates, and references) until 9^th December 2021, at 4:00 PM, by e-mail to recruitment-rw@giz.de The email attachment (max. size 2 MB) should be a PDF file. Please quote the job title in the subject

GIZ is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified candidates. This includes the provision of reasonable accommodation, if needed, in order to participate in the job application and interview process and to perform essential job functions. Please, let us know if you have any particular requirements should you be invited for assessment/interview or that you wish us to take into account when considering your application. Women and persons with disabilities are particularly encouraged to apply.

 Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for test and interview.

 GIZ Office Rwanda

KN 41 St. / Nr.17, Kiyovu

P.O. Box 59, Kigali,Rwanda

GIZ Office Rwanda reserves all rights!!