Communication Officer in charge of Start-ups Ecosystems at Smart Africa Secretariat: (Deadline 6 November 2022)

Communication Officer in charge of Start-ups Ecosystems at Smart Africa Secretariat: (Deadline 6 November 2022)

Terms of Reference

Recruitment

Communication Officer in charge of Start-ups Ecosystems

• Position: Communication Officer in charge of Start-ups Ecosystems 

• Duration: One (1) year, renewable

• Location: Kigali, Rwanda

• Deadline: November 6th, 2022 at 5:00 PM Kigali time (GMT+2) 

About Smart Africa

SMART Africa is a bold and innovative commitment from African Heads of State and Government and a wide range of stakeholders including the private sector, international non-government organisations, and academia to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development on the continent, ushering Africa into a knowledge economy through affordable access to Broadband and usage of Information and Communications Technologies.

The Smart Africa agenda is led by visionary Heads of State who believe in ICT’s power for the advancement and betterment of the African continent. This agenda will lead Africa to the 04th industrial revolution, using the transformative power of ICTs through a successful implementation and deployment of major ICT infrastructure, applications, services, and creating local relevant content for Africa while developing a vibrant ICT industry and creating jobs.

Smart Africa aims to put ICT at the Center of the National Socio-economic development agenda of member countries, improve access to ICT, especially Broadband, improve accountability, efficiency and openness through ICT. It promotes the introduction of advanced technologies in telecommunication while putting the Private Sector first and leveraging ICT to promote sustainable development.

The Africa’s Blueprint for ICT Start-ups and Innovation ecosystems

Tech Startups and innovation ecosystems development was identified in 2019 by the Smart Africa Alliance Member States as the top priority flagship project to be implemented. To meet this priority, Smart Africa has activated the “ICT Start-ups and Innovation ecosystems for Africa” flagship project championed by Tunisia.

In close cooperation with a range of key public and private sector stakeholders and partners, the Republic of Tunisia, supported by the Smart Africa Secretariat, developed the “Africa’s Blueprint for ICT start-ups and Innovation ecosystems” aiming to support African countries by giving concrete policy and strategic recommendations and creating the best ecosystems for the birth, growth and success for African tech-startups.

Based on the outputs of the blueprint and its recommendations, Smart Africa identified three (3) main areas of focus:

1. Policy frameworks: support African countries with the development of policy and legal frameworks (Startup Acts) that are aiming to initiate and/or boost and accelerate the development of their startups and innovation ecosystems.
2. Investment and funding: facilitate the access to sufficient, suitable, affordable investment and funding for the African startups (Bloc Smart Africa Fund as the first building bloc).
3. Ecosystem support: assist with the development of the broader ecosystem including the startup support organizations (innovation hubs, incubators, accelerators, startup studios for example).

Innovation Dialogues Europe Africa IDEA D4D Hub project 

The Innovation Dialogues Europe-Africa (IDEA) D4D Hub project aims is to strengthen cooperation and strategic partnerships to support existing digital innovation ecosystems and facilitate collaboration between the two continents in research and innovation in regard to the digital society while promoting sustainable development. The IDEA D4D Hub project supports digital transformation processes in Africa with the aim of ensuring that this digital transformation is based on the values, needs and expectations of society and ensuring that the main challenges hindering a human-centered digital transformation are addressed through joint multi-stakeholder research and innovation.

To achieve this, the project follows a multi-stakeholder approach engaging civil society, academia and others with a particular emphasis on building the capacity of civil society and academia in Africa.

The project is implemented by a consortium of 5 partners: GIZ, Expertise France, BetterPlace Lab, Enabel  and Smart Africa with GIZ as coordinator.  The project is to last 22 months starting from December 2021 to reach the following general and three specific objectives:

General Objectives: To boost inter-African and African-European multi-stakeholder dialogue and collaboration in the digital economy and society by:

• Supporting and strengthening the role of ICT/digitalization stakeholders, precisely civil society and academia, to engage and contribute actively to multi-stakeholder dialogues for human-centered digital transformation
• Supporting the development of joint digital innovations as a response to societal challenges that hinder an inclusive digital society

Specific Objectives: 

• The capacities of civil society and academia are strengthened to support a human-centric digital transformation in the partner countries (Lead: GIZ)
• Key challenges for human-centric digital transformation in the partner countries have been identified and innovative solutions have been co-created (Lead: Enabel)
• Results are disseminated to maximize and sustain the impact of the project (Lead: SAS)

Out of the three specific objectives, the Smart Africa Secretariat oversees the implementation of the activities linked to the communication and dissemination with the objective of maximizing the impact of the project by disseminating the results, promoting ICT and digital economy related initiatives, and promoting different cooperation and financing opportunities.

Duties and Responsibilities 

The Smart Africa Secretariat would like to recruit a Project Officer to support the IDEA D4D Hub project implementation and African Startups Ecosystems on the Communication and Dissemination activities.

Responsibilities include:

• Develop, support and promote IDEA D4D Hub and the broader Smart Africa Startups initiatives goals, including message development, social media content creation, and media outreach.
• Manage and maintain the branding identity for IDEA D4D Hub.
• Develop and disseminate public relations materials that increase IDEA D4D Hub and Smart Africa’s visibility among stakeholders, partners and its broader network.
• Build and maintain relationships with journalists, bloggers, investors and customer audiences that will help advance IDEA D4D Hub and Smart Africa’s work.
• Identify target audiences and create strategies to engage through effective communications.
• Ensure digital marketing content aligns with our brand’s identity and message, and assist with marketing campaigns as needed
• Work closely with leaders and executives to develop and strengthen employee engagement activities
• Using appropriate techniques and tools to create a wide range of graphics, videos, and layouts for IDEA D4D Hub’s activities, logos, websites, banners, flyers, social media posts, Certificates, emails communications (HTML), and related;
• Work closely with the communication teams of the consortium partners and the EU D4D Hub on the project’s communication and dissemination activities.
• Project support activities including input into project planning and documentation; assistance with implementation resources, monitoring, and reporting on project progress

Other responsibilities will include:

• Any other assignments or projects, which will be assigned from time to time by the leadership of Smart Africa.

Key qualifications 

Education: 

• A Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, or related field

Professional experience: 

• A minimum of five (5) years of experience in communications strategy development and implementation
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in both French and English
• Knowledge of digital marketing tactics, such as SEO and email marketing
• Good knowledge of African Tech Startups Ecosystem dynamics, actors, and challenges
• Excellent critical thinking skills and the ability to exercise sound judgment and solve problems quickly and effectively
• Experience working in customer relations preferred
• Strong competence in the use of standard software productivity tools (such as Microsoft Office Suite or others).

General attributes and skills: 

• Good interpersonal skills with experience in networking with partners at all levels
• Creativity and problem-solving abilities
• Ability to work in a team
• Strong communication skills

Languages: 

• Excellent Knowledge and Fluency in French and English.
• A good working knowledge in another language (Portuguese) will be an added advantage.

Duration of the assignment

The appointment will be for one (1) year renewable subject to availability of fund and performance review.

Reporting requirements 

The Project Officer will report directly to the Unit Manager in charge of Technology-driven Entrepreneurship in the Directorate of Digital Transformation and Services.

Application Instructions and Deadline

Candidates should send the following documents to the following email address: hr@smartafrica.org, with mention of “Communication Officer in charge of Start-ups Ecosystems” in the subject line:

• A detailed CV with 3 contacts of professional referees.

• A one-page cover letter with a motivation statement in relation to the responsibilities and requirements for this position.
• Copies of academic degree, professional certificates, and other relevant training certificates

The deadline for submitting applications is November 6th,2022 at 5:00 PM Kigali (GMT+2) time.

Only selected candidates for interview will be contacted.

Any late application will be automatically rejected.