Call for Applications: Knowledge Management Officer (Consultant)

Deadline for submissions is February 19, 2021 at midnight (12:00 am) GMT to the following address: adea-applications@afdb.org. The subject of the e-mail should be “Knowledge Management Officer”.

The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) is a forum for policy dialogue on education and it is hosted by the African Development Bank in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.  Its vision is to create “high-quality African education and training geared towards the promotion of critical skills for accelerated and sustainable development in Africa”. ADEA’s mission therefore is to “serve as an open and flexible pan-African organization that informs and facilitates the transformation of education and training to drive Africa’s accelerated and sustainable development”. It acts as a catalyst in promoting innovative policies and practices through the pooling of ideas, experiences, learning and knowledge. ADEA’s overall goal is to contribute to empowering African countries to develop education and training systems that respond to their emergent needs and drive Africa’s sustainable social and economic transformation.

ADEA’s main organs are its Steering Committee (SC), Executive Committee (EC), the Secretariat, Inter-Country Quality Nodes (ICQNs) and Task Force on Education Management and Policy Support (TFEMPS). The Secretariat is the administrative arm that implements the decisions and resolutions of ADEA’s governance entities and oversees the implementation of ADEA’s work program and budget on a day-to-day basis. It also organizes high-level policy dialogues and statutory meetings; manages communications and knowledge; and coordinates the work of ICQNs and TFEMPS.

The anticipated impact of the ADEA Strategic Plan 2018-2022 is African countries that are empowered to develop education and training systems that respond to their emergent needs and drive Africa’s sustainable socioeconomic transformation. Two pillars guide the implementation of the strategic plan: the Continental Education Platform and the country-based Advisory and Execution Support Services. Both pillars are aligned to the African Union’s Continental Education Strategy for Africa 2016-2025 (CESA 16-25) and the Sustainable Development Goal No. 4 on Education (SDG4).

Since ADEA’s inception in 1988, the quest for knowledge has been at the heart of its actions in facilitating the transformation of the African education and training systems. Knowledge is crucial to policy dialogue, policy reforms and decision making. The Knowledge Management Officer position will, therefore, provide leadership in developing and implementing a Knowledge Management (KM) Strategy under the supervision of the Senior Programs Officer and in close collaboration with the coordinators of the ICQNs and TFEMPS.

The duties and responsibilities of the Knowledge Management Officer will therefore be to:

• Develop an implementable plan, based on the knowledge management strategy, on how to manage knowledge in ADEA;
• Position knowledge management at the centre of implementing ADEA’s vision and strategic plans by shifting focus from information to knowledge and making knowledge resources available to stakeholders;
• Coordinate the implementation of ADEA’s Knowledge Management (KM) strategy and plan with a view to disseminating as widely as possible the knowledge produced and results accumulated through policy dialogue, analytical research and exchange of knowledge, inter-learning and capacity building;
• Develop and manage innovative and cost effective on-line and off-line KM tools and systems to consolidate, compile and disseminate information and knowledge generated from ADEA’s high-level policy dialogue events including triennales, ministerial conferences, seminars, workshops, ICQNs and TFEMPS meetings; 
• More specifically, lead the management of the newly established ADEA Learning and Knowledge Management Hub (LKMH) in close collaboration with the Senior Communication Officer and the IT Officer and under the supervision of the Senior Programs Officer;
• Oversee the development and management of the KIX Observatory on COVID-19 responses in Africa’s educational systems, in close collaboration with the Observatory Manager, the Senior Communication Officer and the IT Officer;
• Develop and manage databases and information systems on African education specialists, African education NGOs, African Ministries of Education ‘Needs and Requests’, ADEA publications, and international individual/institutional contact addresses and profiles;
• Improve the authority and visibility of knowledge contents through the management of ADEA integrated web portal;
• Supervise the development of a user-friendly Intranet that will facilitate the work and sharing of information among ADEA’s governance and implementing bodies as well as its members and staff;
• Encourage and promote knowledge creation, sharing and utilization in African Ministries of Education, universities, and other institutions for policy reforms; and periodically assess the effectiveness of ADEA’s KM projects and activities;
• Serve as ADEA’s key focal point for managing data and information requests and assist by providing knowledge products in the form desired by clients;
• Keep abreast of development in the tools, trends, practices and methods in use for knowledge management and seek to establish best practice in knowledge management for the Association;
• Work closely with the African DB by creating networks and communities of practice for knowledge sharing and management.

• The job requires extensive experience and technical expertise in developing and successfully implementing a KM strategy and corresponding work plans and activities. 
• A good knowledge of development issues, trends and approaches in education is essential, considering the fact that ADEA has a continental coverage of education development that comprises early childhood development (ECD); basic and higher education; technical and vocational skills development (TVSD); non-formal education; teaching, learning and assessment; and information and communication technology (ICT), among others.
• The job involves not only being the ADEA focal point for requests for knowledge produced but also the ability to apply information technology to effectively disseminate such knowledge products to stakeholders.

The Knowledge Management Officer will be employed for a period of one year, with a further renewal of one year depending on satisfactory performance and results.

The Officer is expected to possess the following competencies and qualifications:

• Demonstrated depth of substantive knowledge and capacity to provide strategic direction in Knowledge Management to the organization;
• Proven capacity to promote knowledge sharing and knowledge products which are being created through analytical work, research, outcomes of conferences and lessons from project management;
• Solid ability to identify, collect, analyze and synthesize knowledge from a variety of sources and disseminate it in a form desired for easy utilization by staff and stakeholders;
• Demonstrated capacity to build effective professional working relationships with colleagues, ICQNs, TFEMPS and government officials in defining and meeting their need for access to knowledge products; 
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, and ability to collaborate across functions with the African Development Bank, ADEA networks and Ministries of Education; 
• Dynamic, analytical, self-motivated, and with ability to work independently and respond quickly to technological changes and clients’ expectations; 
• A minimum of a Master’s degree in information management, education, international development, development studies or related field, and relevant training and experience in knowledge management; 
• A minimum of 4 years of relevant professional work experience in the development/management and use of databases, websites, electronic archiving and servers; and solid familiarity with current KM technologies, including social media-based systems;
• Experience in research and electronic knowledge network in a multicultural and web-based environment;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in either English or French and a working knowledge of the other plus competence in standard Microsoft applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other office applications.

Applications must be sent to adea-applications@afdb.org no later than February 19, 2021 at midnight (12:00 am) GMT. The subject of the e-mail should be “Knowledge Management Officer”.

Due to the high volume of applications, only selected candidates will be contacted through a formal correspondence via e-mail. Please do not contact ADEA or staff members to enquire about the status of your application.

The Consultant will be employed for a period of one year, with a further renewal of one year depending on satisfactory performance and results.

Duty Station: Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire