Instructions to Applicants: Click on the "Apply now" button. Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. Please ensure that CV or P11 and the Cover letter are combined in one file.

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.

A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.

Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other materials.

Office/Unit/Project Description 

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 46 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers ‘last mile’ finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.

The team working under the Inclusive Digital Economies (IDE) practice area at UNCDF comprises technical experts in digital finance and services and communication and knowledge managers. The latter supports the technical experts in building a community of practice in the inclusive digital economy space. The communication and knowledge managers support the technical team in documenting, packaging and disseminating learnings generated by projects carried out with public and private sector (government representatives, MNOs, Fintechs, Banks etc.).

The regional hub for the East and Southern Africa region supports and supervises teams in six countries: Uganda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia.

The region is focusing on a growing expansion of the programming looking at key focal sectors for implementation, i.e. agtech, fintech, GreenTech, edtech, health tech, expanding the development finance tools we use to support ecosystems (i.e. grants, technical assistance, concessional loans, guarantees) and expanding to segments of importance (low skilled, women, MSMEs, technology start-ups, forcibly displaced people).

Institutional Arrangement

The Communication and Knowledge Management Specialist, IPSA, will join the Regional Digital Hub for Eastern Africa based in Kampala, Uganda. However, the work can be home-based and will contribute to the practice's effective delivery of the activities, reporting to the  Regional Digital Hub Manager in East Africa.

This position will be initially home-based and with the possibility to be reassigned to the Kampala office or in a country under one of the IDE programmes as the needs arise.

Scope of Work

The Communication and Knowledge Management Specialist IPSA for East and Southern Africa will be responsible for the knowledge management, and communication of the activities carried out by the Inclusive Digital Economies practice in East Africa.

The candidate will work under the supervision of the Digital Regional Hub for East and Southern Africa and in close collaboration with the other IDE colleagues at country level in ESA region . The  candidate is expected to support in the following areas of intervention:

Summary of essential functions:

1. Devise and implement multimedia communication strategy and plans for IDE in East and Southern Africa
2. Manage the writing and production of learning pieces
3. Oversee the learning agenda and the documentation of learnings
4. Contribute to the development of the IDE community of practice
5. Support the organisation of conferences, events and information sharing workshops.
6. Strengthen the capacities of the Communications and Knowledge Management Officers in the ESA region

1) Devise and implement multimedia communication strategy and plans for IDE in East and Southern Africa

1. Develop guidelines for a regional brand/voice and accepted processes that ensure strategic communications and uphold a high standard of quality.
2. Devise the strategy and design the annual communication plans for learning products and implement them through the main channels used by the IDE practice (newsletter and social media channels, third party websites, etc.).
3. Develop the annual and monthly publishing plan for the IDE practice area in ESA Region.
4. Produce an annual calendar of content related to the learning agenda and activities
5. Identify regional narratives that connect efforts in multiple countries around which we can build thought leadership.
6. Develop communications campaigns around selected “ESA Signature Initiative” to build our thought leadership position around them and attract partners, donors and ideas.

2) Manage the writing and production of learning pieces

1. Draft with the technical team and project partners publications in a variety of formats that match the needs of the target audience (public and private stakeholders active in the digital economy space)
2. Contribute to the production of reports for funders and partners.
3. Identify new channels and tools for communications, including blogs, press releases, social media, videos, animations, and podcasts content that support the visibility of learning products.
4. Liaise with the press/media to disseminate learnings and communicate about the activities in countries.

3) Oversee the learning agenda and the documentation of learnings

1. Define the learning questions to be addressed by the projects and the activities in coordination with the technical team and the results & measurement (RM) team
2. Monitor the documentation of learnings and lead the production for specific aspects such as video interviews and photography
3. Support the team in compiling and analysing data in the monitoring and evaluation system for the IDE activities.

4) Contribute to the development of the IDE community of practice

1. Based on the learning agenda, devise a strategy to manage the community practice and encourage a learning community
2. Supervise and monitor the implementation of the community of practice strategy at the regional and national level
3. Liaise with the other regions to create a global community of practice

5) Support for the organisation of conferences, events and information sharing workshops

1. Support the organisation of events by drafting event concept notes and agenda, including a visibility plan
2.  Supervise the logistics of the event (for online and physical events), including the procurement of facilities and set up of venue
3. Contribute to the production of all communication assets for events: invitations, agenda, presentations, etc.
4. Monitor event indicators (registrations, participation, post-event survey etc.).

6) Strengthen the capacities of the Communications and Knowledge Management Officers in the ESA region

1. Coordinate a skills mapping exercise for the ESA regional Communications and Knowledge Management team
2. Support opportunities for technical skills enhancement of the ESA regional Communications and Knowledge Management team.
3. Create a training and skills development programme for individual KM team members.