8 Positions at Smart Africa Secretariat: (Deadline 11 January 2021)

8 Positions at Smart Africa Secretariat: (Deadline 11 January 2021)

Project Support Assistant in charge of Marketing and Communications at Smart Africa Secretariat: (Deadline 11 January 2021)

Introduction

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 organizations, 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 04^th industrial revolution, using the transformative power of ICTs through successful implementation and deployment of major ICT infrastructure, applications, services, and creating locally 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 socioeconomic 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.

About the Smart Africa Digital Academy

Over the past decade, Africa has made great strides in enrolling children in school, with some countries providing free primary education for the first nine years. Despite this achievement, the average Human Capital Index (HCI) falls below the average, with one of the highest being 52 on a scale of 100, education being a major determinant factor.

With a population estimated to approximately 1.3bn people who are majorly youthful, ensuring quality jobs to leverage on the continent’s demographic opportunity is set to be one of Africa’s game-changer. An estimated 15 to 20 million increasingly well-educated young people will join the African workforce every year for the next three decades.

The Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) is the delivery vehicle of the Smart Africa capacity building and skills development activities across the various digital skills spectrum. It is a pan-African dynamic learning ecosystem in which African citizens of all ages and social classes can gain or improve their digital skills, gain qualifications, meet the emerging talent needs of employers, industry or be self-reliant.

The birth of SADA was driven by the need to meet a genuine need for sustainable jobs driven by the fact that 15% of the world’s working-age population are expected to be from Africa by 20303. The governments of the Smart Africa Member States recognize the urgency to drive inclusion and economic growth through the development and adoption of strategies for education and skills development to build this required future workforce.

Digital skills development at all levels – from basic to competency-based – is required to allow the uptake of new technologies in the economy, increase productivity, support growth while avoiding unnecessary disruptions in the labor market and society.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Smart Africa Secretariat would like to recruit a Project Support Assistant to support the Smart Africa Digital Academy implementation in a marketing and communications professional’s capacity.

Responsibilities include:

• Develop, support, and promote SADA’s goals, including message development, social media content creation, and media outreach.
• Develop a corporate identity for SADA under Smart Africa.
• Develop and disseminate public relations materials that increase SADA and Smart Africa’s visibility among stakeholders and lawmakers.
• Build and maintain relationships with journalists, bloggers, investors, and customer audiences that will help advance SADA 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 SADA’s activities, logos, websites, banners, flyers, social media posts, Certificates, emails communications (HTML), and related;
• Work closely with the solution architect for SADA to ensure brand alignment.
• 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 and Professional experience:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, or related field
• A minimum of three (3) years of experience in communications strategy development
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Knowledge of digital marketing tactics, such as SEO and email marketing
• Excellent critical thinking skills and the ability to exercise sound judgment and solve problems quickly and effectively
• Experience working in customer relations preferred
• French and English would be an advantage
• Ability to understand training cycles (needs assessments, planning, development, coordination, and monitoring and evaluation);
• Proficiency in MS Office;

General experience 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 or English.
• Good working knowledge in another language 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 assessment.

Reporting requirements

The Project support assistant will report directly to the assigned supervisor under the Marketing and Communications department.

Location 

Kigali, Rwanda

Application Instructions

• A one-page cover letter with a motivation statement in relation to the ToR;
• A CV wi
• th 2 contact information of referees;

Please send your Curriculum Vitae, cover letter, either French or English to the following email address:hr@smartafrica.org not later than 11^th January 2021 5:00 pm Kigali time.

  

Project Officer for the Smart Africa Digital Academy at Smart Africa Secretariat: (Deadline 11 January 2021)

Introduction

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 organizations, 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 04^th industrial revolution, using the transformative power of ICTs through successful implementation and deployment of major ICT infrastructure, applications, services, and creating locally 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 socioeconomic 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.

About the Smart Africa Digital Academy

Over the past decade, Africa has made great strides in enrolling children in school, with some countries providing free primary education for the first nine years. Despite this achievement, the average Human Capital Index (HCI) falls below the average, with one of the highest being 52 on a scale of 100, education is a major determinant factor.

With a population estimated to approximately 1.3bn people who are majorly youthful, ensuring quality jobs to leverage on the continent’s demographic opportunity is set to be one of Africa’s game-changer. An estimated 15 to 20 million increasingly well-educated young people will join the African workforce every year for the next three decades.

The Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) is the delivery vehicle of the Smart Africa capacity building and skills development activities across the various digital skills spectrum. It is a pan-African dynamic learning ecosystem in which African citizens of all ages and social classes can gain or improve their digital skills, gain qualifications, meet the emerging talent needs of employers, industry or be self-reliant.

The birth of SADA was driven by the need to meet a genuine need for sustainable jobs driven by the fact that 15% of the world’s working-age population are expected to be from Africa by 2030. The governments of the Smart Africa Member States recognize the urgency to drive inclusion and economic growth through the development and adoption of strategies for education and skills development to build this required future workforce.

 Digital skills development at all levels – from basic to competency-based – is required to allow the uptake of new technologies in the economy, increase productivity, support growth while avoiding unnecessary disruptions in the labor market and society.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Smart Africa Secretariat would like to recruit a Project Officer (PO) for the SADA to manage, coordinate and implement activities relating to the Smart Africa digital Academy in selected Smart Africa Member Countries while ensuring effective linkages to the Smart Africa core objectives and activities.

Responsibilities include:

• Identify capacity-building needs for governments, businesses, and digital citizens;
• Oversee In-Country Implementation of SADA and provide technical inputs to address identified gaps and bottlenecks;
• Support the development of training plans and implementation of training within the context of SADA;
• Provide technical support in reviewing and designing training plans and schedules;
• Providing input in the development of training modules based on the identified training needs;
• Develop and manage the trainers and trainee’s database for monitoring and on-demand queries;
• Implement and Coordinate a system to monitor and support the recruitment and nomination of trainees for the various training programmes across all member states to ensure adequate representation and coverage;
• Organize Training workshops and Training of Trainers as required by SADA’s implementation;
• Oversee the training undertaken by contracted consulting firms across the continent;
• Establishing close collaboration and partnerships with Governments, the Private sector, Non-Government organizations, Academia, and other professional associations, to ensure good coordination, collaboration, and timely conduct of SADA’s implementation activities;
• Facilitate the monthly review of SADA’s implementation activities;
• Document routine progress, success, and the implementation process;
• Provide analytical learnings from the implementation to ease scale-up of activities;
• Providing periodical reports on the progress of project activities and issues arising;
• Participating in regional project meetings and workshops and other activities as required;

 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 ICT, Information Management, Engineering, Information Technology, Business Administration, or a related field with recognized experience of at least 2 years; or
• A Masters’ Degree in Information Management, Engineering, Information Technology, Business Administration, or other related fields.

General experience and skills:

• A minimum of five years of experience in ICT capacity development area at a national or regional level;
• Familiarity with digital strategy approaches, national ICT strategies, and training development standards;
• Proven experience in project management practices with the ability to provide inputs in a team build-up, work plans development, budgets, and expenditures;
• Good interpersonal skills with experience in networking with partners at all levels;
• Experience in results-based management, project monitoring, reporting, and evaluation;
• Demonstrated written, analytical, presentation, reporting, and computing skills and familiarity with modern communication systems (internet, the world wide web, email, and related);
• Ability to work in a team;
• Strong competence in using standard software productivity tools (such as Microsoft Office Suite or others).

Languages:

• Excellent Knowledge and Fluency in French and English.
• Good working knowledge of another language will be an added advantage.

Duration of the assignment

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

Reporting requirements

The Project Officer will report to the PM in Charge of ICT Skills Development and Capacity-building under the Digital Infrastructure division.

Location 

Kigali, Rwanda

Application Instructions

• A one-page cover letter with a motivation statement in relation to the ToR;
• A CV with 2 contact information of referees;

Please send your Curriculum Vitae, cover letter, either French or English to the following email address:hr@smartafrica.org not later than 11^th January 2021 5:00 pm Kigali time.

Project Officer for the Smart Africa Digital Academy and Scholarship Fund at Smart Africa Secretariat: (Deadline 11 January 2021)

Introduction

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 organizations, 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 04^th industrial revolution, using the transformative power of ICTs through successful implementation and deployment of major ICT infrastructure, applications, services, and creating locally 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 socioeconomic 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.

About the Smart Africa Digital Academy

Over the past decade, Africa has made great strides in enrolling children in school, with some countries providing free primary education for the first nine years. Despite this achievement, the average Human Capital Index (HCI) falls below the average, with one of the highest being 52 on a scale of 100, education being a major determinant factor.

With a population estimated to approximately 1.3bn people who are majorly youthful, ensuring quality jobs to leverage on the continent’s demographic opportunity is set to be one of Africa’s game-changer. An estimated 15 to 20 million increasingly well-educated young people will join the African workforce every year for the next three decades.

The Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) is the delivery vehicle of the Smart Africa capacity building and skills development activities across the various digital skills spectrum. It is a pan-African dynamic learning ecosystem in which African citizens of all ages and social classes can gain or improve their digital skills, gain qualifications, meet the emerging talent needs of employers, industry or be self-reliant.

The birth of SADA was driven by the need to meet a genuine need for sustainable jobs driven by the fact that 15% of the world’s working-age population are expected to be from Africa by 2030. The governments of the Smart Africa Member States recognize the urgency to drive inclusion and economic growth through the development and adoption of strategies for education and skills development to build this required future workforce. Digital skills development at all levels – from basic to competency-based – is required to allow the uptake of new technologies in the economy, increase productivity, support growth while avoiding unnecessary disruptions in the labor market and society.

One of the SADA’s initiatives to contributing to the knowledge sharing and nation-building initiatives that will enhance the competitiveness of the African continent is “The Smart Africa Scholarship fund”. Established in 2015, to empower talented students from the Member States with the required critical skills in the ICT sector – the fund has raised one million six hundred thousand dollars (USD 1.6mn) from partners and Member States such as: (ITU), South Sudan, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Mali, Gabon, Kenya, and Côte d’Ivoire. Eighty-two (82) talented African students have been trained in top universities and centers of excellence across Africa. The training addressed the shortage of advanced critical skills such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Machine Learning, Blockchain, Data privacy, and security at the level of Master degrees.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Smart Africa Secretariat would like to recruit a Project Officer (PO) for the SADA to manage and implement activities relating to the Smart Africa digital Academy in Rwanda and the Smart Africa Scholarship Fund 2021 in the continent.

Responsibilities include:

• Support the development of training plans and implementation of trainings within the context of SADA.
• Provide technical support in reviewing and designing training schedules for centrally held trainings.
• Coordinate the implementation of the Smart Africa Scholarship Fund project;
• Support the setup of robust governance to oversee its successful implementation;
• Define the selection criteria and recruitment of Smart Africa Centers of Excellence;
• Coordination with identified partners (Smart Africa Centers of Excellence) to ensure the timely delivery of expected outputs and reports;
• Supporting the mobilization of funds required by the Smart Africa Scholarship program;
• Coordinating required logistics from the selection process through assignments in the different institutions.
• Document routine progress, success, and the implementation process of SADA.
• Provide analytical learnings from the implementation to ease scale-up of activities
• Providing periodical reports on the progress of project activities and issues arising;

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 ICT, Information Management, Engineering, Information Technology, Business Administration, or a related field with recognized experience of at least 2 years; or
• A Masters’ Degree in Information Management, Engineering, Information Technology, Business Administration, or other related fields

General experience and skills:

• A minimum of five years of experience in ICT capacity development area at a national or regional level;
• Familiarity with digital strategy approaches, national ICT strategies, and training development standards;
• Good experience in fundraising and creative writing;
• Proven experience in project management practices with the ability to provide inputs in a team build-up, work plans development, budgets, and expenditures;
• Good interpersonal skills with experience in networking with partners at all levels;
• Experience in results-based management, project monitoring, reporting, and evaluation;
• Demonstrated written, analytical, presentation, reporting, and computing skills and familiarity with modern communication systems (internet, the world wide web, email, and related);
• Ability to work in a team;
• Strong competence in the use of standard software productivity tools (such as Microsoft Office Suite or others).

Languages:

• Excellent Knowledge and Fluency in French and English.
• Good working knowledge of another language will be an added advantage.

Duration of the assignment

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

Reporting requirements

The Project Officer will report to the PM in Charge of ICT Skills Development and Capacity-building under the Digital Infrastructure department.

Location 

Kigali, Rwanda

Application Instructions

• A one-page cover letter with a motivation statement in relation to the ToR;
• A CV with 2 contact information of referees;

Please send your Curriculum Vitae, cover letter, either French or English to the following email address:hr@smartafrica.org not later than 11^th January 2021 5:00 pm Kigali time.

 

Project Support Assistant in charge of Marketing and Communications at Smart Africa Secretariat: (Deadline 11 January 2021)

Introduction

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 organizations, 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 04^th industrial revolution, using the transformative power of ICTs through successful implementation and deployment of major ICT infrastructure, applications, services, and creating locally 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 socioeconomic 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.

About the Smart Africa Digital Academy

Over the past decade, Africa has made great strides in enrolling children in school, with some countries providing free primary education for the first nine years. Despite this achievement, the average Human Capital Index (HCI) falls below the average, with one of the highest being 52 on a scale of 100, education being a major determinant factor.

With a population estimated to approximately 1.3bn people who are majorly youthful, ensuring quality jobs to leverage on the continent’s demographic opportunity is set to be one of Africa’s game-changer. An estimated 15 to 20 million increasingly well-educated young people will join the African workforce every year for the next three decades.

The Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) is the delivery vehicle of the Smart Africa capacity building and skills development activities across the various digital skills spectrum. It is a pan-African dynamic learning ecosystem in which African citizens of all ages and social classes can gain or improve their digital skills, gain qualifications, meet the emerging talent needs of employers, industry or be self-reliant.

The birth of SADA was driven by the need to meet a genuine need for sustainable jobs driven by the fact that 15% of the world’s working-age population are expected to be from Africa by 20303. The governments of the Smart Africa Member States recognize the urgency to drive inclusion and economic growth through the development and adoption of strategies for education and skills development to build this required future workforce.

Digital skills development at all levels – from basic to competency-based – is required to allow the uptake of new technologies in the economy, increase productivity, support growth while avoiding unnecessary disruptions in the labor market and society.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Smart Africa Secretariat would like to recruit a Project Support Assistant to support the Smart Africa Digital Academy implementation in a marketing and communications professional’s capacity.

Responsibilities include:

• Develop, support, and promote SADA’s goals, including message development, social media content creation, and media outreach.
• Develop a corporate identity for SADA under Smart Africa.
• Develop and disseminate public relations materials that increase SADA and Smart Africa’s visibility among stakeholders and lawmakers.
• Build and maintain relationships with journalists, bloggers, investors, and customer audiences that will help advance SADA 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 SADA’s activities, logos, websites, banners, flyers, social media posts, Certificates, emails communications (HTML), and related;
• Work closely with the solution architect for SADA to ensure brand alignment.
• 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 and Professional experience:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, or related field
• A minimum of three (3) years of experience in communications strategy development
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Knowledge of digital marketing tactics, such as SEO and email marketing
• Excellent critical thinking skills and the ability to exercise sound judgment and solve problems quickly and effectively
• Experience working in customer relations preferred
• French and English would be an advantage
• Ability to understand training cycles (needs assessments, planning, development, coordination, and monitoring and evaluation);
• Proficiency in MS Office;

General experience 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 or English.
• Good working knowledge in another language 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 assessment.

Reporting requirements

The Project support assistant will report directly to the assigned supervisor under the Marketing and Communications department.

Location 

Kigali, Rwanda

Application Instructions

• A one-page cover letter with a motivation statement in relation to the ToR;
• A CV with 2 contact information of referees;

Please send your Curriculum Vitae, cover letter, either French or English to the following email address:hr@smartafrica.org not later than 11^th January 2021 5:00 pm Kigali time.

  

 

Project Manager, One Africa Network Engagement & Implementation at Smart Africa Secretariat: (Deadline 11 January 2021)

About Smart Africa

Smart Africa is a bold and innovative commitment from African Heads of State and Government 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 Transform Africa Summit held in Kigali, Rwanda on 28th-31st October 2013 culminated in the adoption of the Smart Africa Manifesto document by seven (7) African Heads of States (Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Mali, Gabon, Burkina Faso) in which they committed to providing leadership in accelerating socio-economic development through ICT’s.

On 30th-31st January 2014, The Smart Africa Manifesto was endorsed by all Heads of State and Government of the African Union at the 22nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa. This development places the Manifesto at the heart of the ICT agenda in Africa beyond just the 7 original signatories at the Summit to all the 54 African countries.

The Smart Africa Alliance has since grown to include 30 African countries that represent 750+ million people. The Smart Africa Manifesto aims to put ICT at the Center of the National Socio-economic development agenda of member countries; improve access to ICT especially Broadband; to improve accountability, efficiency, and openness through ICT promoting the introduction of advanced technologies in telecommunication; to put the Private Sector first, and to leverage ICT to promote sustainable development.

Background of the One Africa Network

Since the adoption of the Smart Africa Manifesto by seven African Heads of State in 2013, a growing number of countries have expressed an interest in the vision of accelerating socio-economic development through technology, growing the membership to 30 member states with about 750 million population.

The “One Africa Network (OAN) initiative” was created in line with the vision to facilitate and increase exchanges of voice traffic and value-added services between participating African countries. This initiative is expected to boost economic growth, as it will make it easier to exchange services across borders within the Smart Africa space.

The objectives of the initiative are as follows:

• To make international voice and data communications affordable between the countries of the Smart Africa Alliance.
• To maintain African voice and data flows on the African continent by establishing intra-African cross-border links/connections.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the various players in the industry (Regulators, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), International Call Carriers (ICCs) and Reconciliation Clearing Houses (RCCs)) have been identified as key players and will be working closely with the secretariat on the creation of One Africa Network project in order to guarantee the use of existing infrastructures while keeping African traffic in Africa in ensuring the use of existing infrastructures and in a spirit of harmonization to accelerate the interconnection of member countries of the Smart Africa Alliance.

As a key pillar  to achieving digital Inclusion and Regional Integration, it is envisaged that we will achieve the following  at the end of the project:

• Improved quality of communications
• Reduced roaming and international communications costs
• Digital interconnection between these countries
• Reduced plastic roaming and introduced roaming like at home across Africa without using Over the Top (OTT) applications and service.
• The sovereignty of African countries over their voices, SMS, and data.

In light of the above, the secretariat has identified key stakeholders in the value chain namely; Telecom Regulators, Mobile Network Operators (MNO), International Call Carriers (ICC), and reconciliation clearing houses (RCC)) to support the delivery of this historic project.

Position Description

The Smart Africa Secretariat would like to recruit a Project Manager (hereinafter referred to as the “PM”) to assist the Smart Africa Secretariat with responsibility for the management of various strategic projects in relation to the One Africa Network, in close consultation with stakeholders, partners, and the Member States.

The PM will provide required technical and administrative support to coordinate and implement project activities across Smart Africa Member States while ensuring effective linkages to the Smart Africa core objectives and activities.

The PM will support activities between Smart Africa, countries, and relevant partners with three main objectives:

• Under the Head of the Digital Infrastructure Division, lead/support in the development and implementation of One Africa Network (OAN).
• Implement the decisions of the Smart Africa Board in coordination with the Member States.
• Maintain contact and strengthen relationships with Telecommunication Regulatory Authorities and private Sector working on implementing Projects and Programmes.
• Support and enhance Smart Africa Secretariat operations.
• Follow up of One Area Network (Free Africa Roaming Zone) with Regulators, Operators, and Stakeholders.
• Assume support for all aspects of the Operation and Implementation in view of Transfer of Technology.
• Establishing and formulate recommendations on implementation policies.

Other responsibilities will include:

• Prepare the terms of reference of consultants/institutions that will undertake assignments in accordance with the approved annual Work Plan.
• Monitor and supervise the work of consultants, institutions, government staff, and other partners, facilitate meetings, and, as far as possible, ensure the timely and responsive delivery of outputs and reports.
• Provide to institutions/consultants visiting or engaged in assignments, including preparing itineraries, appointments, and assisting with travel and other logistical arrangements.
• Any other assignments or projects, which will be assigned from time to time by the leadership of Smart Africa.

Position Requirements

Our ideal candidate is a creative and strategic thinker with deep experience in the telecoms industry.  Our top candidate will understand the key issues related to roaming and international communications.  Our successful candidate will be able to demonstrate in-depth knowledge in engineering, maintenance, operation of networks of mobile telecommunications operators in order to achieve digital Inclusion and Regional Integration to support the development objectives of the One African Network. Our top candidate will be passionate about public service and serving people, especially the most vulnerable. Most importantly, this role requires someone who thrives on collaboration and is an excellent communicator.

Key Qualifications

• A minimum of graduate qualifications (Master’s degree) in a relevant discipline (e.g. in ICT/Telecoms, Engineering in Networking or Programming),
• Familiarity with different telecoms aspects,
• Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills,
• Excellent project management and team management skills,
• Professional work experience in Engineering, Maintenance, Operation with Mobile Telecom Operators
• In-depth knowledge of technical issues on Roaming
• Ability to review, analyze and recommend involvement in project management from a variety of industries
• Good knowledge of the ICT sector, in particular the technical set up of Systems and Networks.
• A willingness to travel, domestically and internationally,
• Excellent Knowledge and Fluency in both French and English (reading and writing).
• Good working knowledge of another language such as Portuguese or Arabic will be an advantage.

General Experience and Skills

• At least 7-15 years of relevant experience particularly working with country governments in developing ICT policy and/or implementing ICT strategies,
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively with all partners in order to act as an effective catalyst,
• Ability to developing proposals, concept notes, business plans and for the attention of development partners and investors
• Problem-solving skills, including the ability to draw meaning and trends from data and recommend actions to address issues,
• Strong technical skills in standard software programs (such as MS Office), web-based applications (such as Google suite and Microsoft Teams),
• Ability to interact with people from diverse, multi-cultural backgrounds,

 Duration of the Assignment

The appointment will be for 1 year, subject to probationary period and performance, and extendable (renewable) as necessary to reflect the ultimate completion date of the project and subject to availability of funds.

Reporting

The Project Manager will report to the Head of Digital Infrastructure of the Smart Africa Secretariat.

Location

Kigali, Rwanda.

Application Instructions

• A one-page cover letter with a motivation statement in relation to the ToR;
• A CV with 2 contact information of referees.

You will send your Curriculum Vitae, and cover letter in either French or English.

All the above should be sent to the following email address: to hr@smartafrica.org not later than 11^th January 2021, 5:00 pm Kigali time.

 

Project Support Assistant in charge of Trainings and Events at Smart Africa Secretariat: (Deadline 11 January 2021)

Introduction

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 organizations, 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 04^th industrial revolution, using the transformative power of ICTs through 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 socioeconomic 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.

About the Smart Africa Digital Academy

Over the past decade, Africa has made great strides in enrolling children in school, with some countries providing free primary education for the first nine years. Despite this achievement, the average Human Capital Index (HCI) falls below the average, with one of the highest being 52 on a scale of 100, education being a major determinant factor.

With a population estimated to approximately 1.3bn people who are majorly youthful, ensuring quality jobs to leverage on the continent’s demographic opportunity is set to be one of Africa’s game-

The Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) is the delivery vehicle of the Smart Africa capacity building and skills development activities across the various digital skills spectrum. It is a pan-African dynamic learning ecosystem in which African citizens of all ages and social classes can gain or improve their digital skills, gain qualifications, meet the emerging talent needs of employers, industry or be self-reliant.

The birth of SADA was driven by the need to meet a genuine need for sustainable jobs driven by the fact that 15% of the world’s working-age population are expected to be from Africa by 2030³. The governments of the Smart Africa Member States recognize the urgency to drive inclusion and economic growth through the development and adoption of strategies for education and skills development to build this required future workforce.

Digital skills development at all levels – from basic to competency-based – is required to allow the uptake of new technologies in the economy, increase productivity, support growth while avoiding unnecessary disruptions in the labor market and society.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Smart Africa Secretariat would like to recruit two (2) Project Support Assistants to support the Smart Africa Digital Academy implementation in a training and event support assistant’s capacity.

Responsibilities include:

• End to end support on training management including event or sessions setup, communication support;
• Project support activities including input into project planning and documentation, assistance with implementation resources, monitoring and reporting on project progress to assigned supervisor.
• Develop and update the SADA training schedule and its implementation.
• Provide administrative support during planning and designing of training schedules
• Logistical support on the SADA training and workshops implementation;
• Liaise with the communications teams with inputs on SADA events.
• Understanding project requirements and ideas by studying relevant information and materials;
• Develop the reporting structure, agenda, minutes of the meeting, and support during training and workshops.
• Ability to stay up-to-date and advise on new training methods and techniques;
• Gather feedback from trainers and trainees after each training session or workshop;

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 and Professional experience:

• A Bachelor’s degree in ICT, engineering, Education, Human Ressources, or related fields;
• Experience in training facilitation, coordination, or related is an advantage;
• Familiarity with learning management systems and web delivery tools;
• Familiarity with eLearning platforms
• Experience in coordinating multiple training events in a corporate environment;
• Ability to understand training cycles (needs assessments, planning, development, coordination, and monitoring and evaluation);
• Strong communication skills
• Proficiency in MS Office;

General experience 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 or English.
• Good working knowledge in another language 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 assessment.

Reporting requirements

The Project support Assistant will report directly to the assigned supervisor under the digital Infrastructure department.

Location

Kigali, Rwanda

Application Instructions

• A one-page cover letter with a motivation statement in relation to the ToR;
• A CV with 2 contact information of referees;

Please send your Curriculum Vitae, cover letter, either French or English to the following email address:hr@smartafrica.org not later than 11^th January 2021 5:00 pm Kigali time.

 

Project manager in charge of Cybersecurity, and Data Privacy at Smart Africa Secretariat: (Deadline 11 January 2021)

About Smart Africa

Smart Africa is a bold and innovative commitment from African Heads of State and Government 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 Transform Africa Summit held in Kigali, Rwanda on 28th-31st October 2013 culminated in the adoption of the Smart Africa Manifesto document by seven (7) African Heads of States (Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Mali, Gabon, Burkina Faso) in which they committed to providing leadership in accelerating socio-economic development through ICT’s.

On 30th-31st January 2014, The Smart Africa Manifesto was endorsed by all Heads of State and Government of the African Union at the 22nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa. This development places the Manifesto at the heart of the ICT agenda in Africa beyond just the 7 original signatories at the Summit to all the 54 African countries.

The Smart Africa Alliance has since grown to include 30 African countries that represent 750+ million people. The Smart Africa Manifesto aims to put ICT at the Centre of National Socio-economic development agenda of member countries; improve access to ICT especially Broadband; to improve accountability, efficiency, and openness through ICT promoting the introduction of advanced technologies in telecommunication; to put the Private Sector first, and to leverage ICT to promote sustainable development.

 About Cybersecurity and Data Privacy

Africa comprises 54 countries with 1.3 billion people, generating over $4 trillion annually in combined consumer and business spending and the world’s youngest population.

Digitalization offers new opportunities to increase intra-African trade and boost the economy (through e-commerce), reduction of red tape and trade costs (through e-government and the digitalization of public services), and enabling Africa to leapfrog and participate in the 4th industrial revolution.

The growth potential has been well documented and can add between 2% and 4% to the GDP of countries that embrace digital trade. Digital information flows—which were practically non-existent just 15 years ago—now exert a larger impact on GDP growth than the centuries-old trade in physical goods, according to a McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report, Digital globalization: The new era of global flows.

Despite these opportunities, there are several limitations that African countries continue to face, some of which relate to the lack of cybersecurity infrastructure, lack of data protection legislation and regulation, and low levels of cross border data flow.

Following the formation of SMART Africa and the roadmap articulated in the ‘Smart Africa Manifesto’, recognizing information and communication technology (ICT) as a crucial enabler of growth across all economic sectors, significant achievements have been made over the past six years in enabling ICT, in particular addressing mobile infrastructure and access to the internet.

Internet widespread adoption and integration into our lives over the last 20 years and our increased use of mobile devices in the previous ten years has led to personal data being created and captured than ever before, globally, and across Africa. Higher instances of and transactions with Personal Data have also meant higher risk levels to individuals and their privacy.

However, there remains a need for policies harmonization across the continent to take advantage of the rapid changes in technology that are becoming increasingly affordable for all Africans. Cybersecurity, Personal Data Protection, and Privacy laws, when harmonized, will enhance trust and security in cyberspace and will enable safer intra- and cross border information and data flows, commerce, thereby integrating Africa and moving towards the Single Digital Market.

Position Description

The Smart Africa Secretariat would like to recruit a Project Manager (PM) in charge of Cybersecurity and Data Privacy initiatives responsible for the management of various strategic projects, in close consultation with stakeholders and partners.

The PM will lead, coordinate, and implement the defined activities across Smart Africa Member States while ensuring effective linkages to the Smart Africa core objectives and activities.

More precisely, the PM will define and execute global strategies and initiatives on various projects. This includes working on harmonization of policies and regulations to promote business in Africa, data protection and governance, development of a cybersecurity blueprint for Africa, Content development, and funding for pilot projects through collaboration with relevant stakeholders. The PM will also be assigned other Smart Africa projects as required.

The PM will provide technical and administrative support to coordinate and implement project activities across Smart Africa Member States while ensuring effective linkages to the Smart Africa core objectives and activities.

The primary duties of the Project Manager will include:

• Preparing an annual national Work Plan for submission to the Head of division.
• Working to develop the blueprint for Cyber Security and Data Privacy for Africa
• Planning, supervising, implementing Smart Africa projects/initiatives activities, providing proposals and plans (including work plans, procurement, consultancies, recruitment, logistics, budgeting, and disbursements).
• Establishing close collaboration, working arrangements, partnerships with Governments, the Private sector, Non-Government organizations, Academia, and other professional associations, to ensure good coordination, collaboration, and timely conduct of Smart Africa activities.
• Liaising with government and other key stakeholders to promote enabling ICT policy and regulatory environments that facilitate initiatives under his/her supervision.
• Following through mobilization of funds /resources from development partners and institutions to complete the Smart Africa projects’ financing, especially those under his/her supervision.
• Providing periodical reports on the progress of project activities and issues arising.
• Participating in regional project meetings and workshops, and other activities as required.

Other responsibilities will include:

• Prepare the terms of reference of consultants/institutions that will undertake assignments under the approved annual Work Plan.
• Monitor and supervise the work of consultants, institutions, government staff, and other partners, facilitate meetings, and, as far as possible, ensure the timely and responsive delivery of outputs and reports.
• Provide to institutions/consultants visiting or engaged in assignments, including preparing itineraries, appointments, and assisting with travel, and other logistical arrangements.
• Conduct any other assignments or projects assigned from time to time by the leadership of Smart Africa.

Key qualifications

Education:

• A Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Science, Data Protection or Information Law or a related field with recognized experience of at least five years of technical expertise.
• A Masters’ Degree in an Information Security, Privacy, or Information Governance related field and certification in Cyber Security, Data Protection or Information Rights will be an added advantage.
• A Project Management Certification from a recognized International Project Management Certification Body such as the Project Management Institute (PMI).
• Excellent Knowledge and Fluency in both French and English (reading and writing).
• Good working knowledge of another language such as Portuguese or Arabic will be an advantage.

General experience and skills:

• Relevant experience in the field of Policy in areas related to cybersecurity, data protection, data privacy, and data governance, etc.
• Strong management skills including the ability to provide strategic guidance, technical oversight, build strong teams, mentor staff, develop work plans, and manage budgets and project expenditures.
• Good interpersonal skills with experience in networking with partners at all levels (Ministry, development partners, private sector, NGOs, and Academia);
• Experience working within project coordination.
• Demonstrated written, analytical, presentation, reporting, and computing skills and familiarity with modern communication systems (internet, worldwide web, email, etc);
• Demonstrated experience with projects of the same nature would constitute an added advantage.
• Good knowledge of matters related to international Data Protection policy, regulation, and implementation.
• Experience in creative writing.
• Ability to work in a team.

Strong competence in the use of standard software productivity tools (such as Microsoft Office Suite or others).

Duration of the assignment

The appointment will be for one year, subject to probationary period and performance, and extendable (renewable) as necessary to reflect the project’s ultimate completion date and subject to availability of funds.

Reporting

The Project Manager will report to the Head of Digital Infrastructure of the Smart Africa Secretariat.

Location

Kigali, Rwanda.

Application Instructions

• A one-page cover letter with a motivation statement in relation to the ToR;
• A CV with 2 contact information of referees.

You will send your Curriculum Vitae, and cover letter in either French or English.

All the above should be sent to the following email address: to hr@smartafrica.org not later than 11^th January 2021, 5:00 pm Kigali time.

 

Associate Project Manager (APM) in charge of Smart Africa Digital Academy at Smart Africa Secretariat: (Deadline 11 January 2021)

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 organizations, 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 04^th industrial revolution, using the transformative power of ICTs through successful implementation and deployment of major ICT infrastructure, applications, services, and creating locally 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 socioeconomic 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.

About the Smart Africa Digital Academy

Over the past decade, Africa has made great strides in enrolling children in school, with some countries providing free primary education for the first nine years. Despite this achievement, the average Human Capital Index (HCI) falls below the average, with one of the highest being 52 on a scale of 100, education being a major determinant factor.

With a population estimated to approximately 1.3bn people who are majorly youthful, ensuring quality jobs to leverage on the continent’s demographic opportunity is set to be one of Africa’s game-changer. An estimated 15 to 20 million increasingly well-educated young people will join the African workforce every year for the next three decades.

The Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) is the delivery vehicle of the Smart Africa capacity building and skills development activities across the various digital skills spectrum. It is a pan-African dynamic learning ecosystem in which African citizens of all ages and social classes can gain or improve their digital skills, gain qualifications, meet the emerging talent needs of employers, industry or be self-reliant.

SADA’s birth was driven by the need to meet a genuine need for sustainable jobs driven by the fact that 15% of the world’s working-age population are expected to be from Africa by 2030. The Smart Africa Member States governments recognize the urgency to drive inclusion and economic growth through the development and adoption of strategies for education and skills development to build this required future workforce.

Digital skills development at all levels – from basic to competency-based – is required to allow the uptake of new technologies in the economy, increase productivity, support growth while avoiding unnecessary disruptions in the labor market and society.

Position Description

The Smart Africa Secretariat would like to recruit an Associate Project manager (APM) in charge of SADA to lead, coordinate and implement the defined activities across Smart Africa Member States while ensuring effective linkages to the Smart Africa core objectives and activities.

More precisely, the APM will define and execute the digital capacity-building strategies and initiatives that provide digital skills capacity building. The initiatives will empower Children, Youth, the General public, and Policymakers with the required skills and knowledge to develop harmonized policies for a successful digital transformation of the continent. These will ensure that citizens remain digitally-skilled and digitally-engaged, and therefore, take a leading role in providing digital skills and digital citizenship development.

The primary duties of the Associate Project Manager will include:

• Preparing an annual national Work Plan for submission to the Head of division.
• Provide Strategic insights and drive the efficient implementation of SADA
• Facilitate the development and implementation of the Digital competency, Digital Skills Assessment, and Digital Content Frameworks for all SADA concept levels.
• Facilitate the development of the SADA platform.
• Support the In-Country Implementation of SADA
• Coordinate the research and mapping of digital skills across the African member states.
• Coordinate the development of training content and annual program for the capacity building activities under SADA.
• Establish and coordinate the communities of practice to share knowledge on policy-related issues related to Digital Transformation initiatives.
• Supervise and implement Smart Africa projects/initiatives activities, providing proposals and plans (including work plans, procurement, consultancies, recruitment, logistics, budgeting, and disbursements).
• Establishing close collaboration, working arrangements, partnerships with Governments, the Private sector, Non-Government organizations, Academia, and other professional associations, to ensure good coordination, collaboration, and timely conduct of Smart Africa activities.
• Liaising with government and other key stakeholders to promote enabling ICT policy and regulatory environment that would facilitate the implementation of initiatives under his/her supervision;
• Following through mobilization of funds /resources from development partners and institutions to complete the financing of the Smart Africa projects, especially those under his/her supervision;
• Providing periodical reports on the progress of project activities and issues arising;
• Participating in regional project meetings and workshops and other activities as required;

Other responsibilities will include:

• Prepare the terms of reference of consultants/institutions that will undertake assignments following the approved annual Work Plan;
• Monitor and supervise the work of consultants, institutions, government staff, and other partners, facilitate meetings and, as far as possible, ensure the timely and responsive delivery of outputs and reports;
• 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 Education, Humanities, Information Technology, or a related field with recognized experience of at least 5 years of technical expertise; or
• A Masters’ Degree in Humanities or Education or Human Capital Development
• A Project Management Certification from a recognized International Project Management Certification Body such as the Project Management Institute (PMI) is an added advantage.
• Excellent Knowledge and Fluency in French or English.
• Good working knowledge of another language will be an advantage.

General experience and skills:

• Strong management skills including the ability to provide strategic guidance, technical oversight, build strong teams, mentor staff, develop work plans, and manage budgets and project expenditures;
• Relevant experience in the field of Education and capacity building, fundraising will be an added advantage.
• Good interpersonal skills with experience in networking with partners at all levels (Ministry, development partners, private sector, NGOs, and Academia);
• Experience working in project coordination;
• Demonstrated written, analytical, presentation, reporting, and computing skills and familiarity with modern communication systems (internet, the world wide web, email, etc);
• Demonstrated experience with projects of the same nature would constitute an added advantage;
• Good knowledge of matters related to adult learning frameworks;
• Ability to work in a team;
• Strong competence in the use of standard software productivity tools (such as Microsoft Office Suite or others).

Duration of the assignment

The appointment will be for 12 months subject to a probationary period and performance and extendable (renewable) as necessary to reflect the ultimate completion date of the project as well as the availability of funds.

Reporting

The Associate Project Manager will report to the assigned supervisor in the  Digital Infrastructure Department of the Smart Africa Secretariat.

Location

Kigali, Rwanda

Application Instructions

• A one-page cover letter with a motivation statement in relation to the ToR;
• A CV with 2 contact information of referees;

You will send your Curriculum Vitae, and cover letter in either French or English.

All the above should be sent to the following email address: to hr@smartafrica.org not later than 11th January 2021 5:00 pm Kigali time.