ADVISOR AND LIAISON OFFICER JOB POSITION. dEADLINE 04 MAY 2022

Vacancy for an Advisor and Liaison Officer on Digital Development in with the Smart Africa Secretariat - Kigali

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).

GIZ Rwanda is looking for an experienced professional to facilitate collaboration and project implementation between Global Programme Digital Development and Smart Africa Secretariat as regional platform fostering digital transformation in Africa. In particular, this role will consist of connecting patners and supporting the coordination of the two projects (1) AU EU D4D Hub as well as (2) Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) with the aim of developing large-scale and effective partnerships in digital transformation between multiple stakeholders in Africa and Europe.

Both projects focus on fully harnessing the potentials of digital transformation for the African economy and society, while minimising risks such as reinforcing the digital divide. To do this, they collaborate with like-minded partners in Africa and Europe with the aim of joining forces to take up digital challenges and exploit untapped digital opportunities. The AU EU D4D Hub project has a focus on facilitating AU EU digital cooperation and partnerships by building on existing technical capacities, best practices and policy exchanges, while the Smart Africa Digital Academy has a focus on providing training and opportunities for peer exchange to policymakers, business leaders and future professionals on policies and regulations in the area of digital transformation.

The role will be closely associated to the Digital Transformation Center.

Location: Kigali

Fixed Term: 12 months (renewable upon review)

Position: One (1)

The Advisor and Liaison Officer performs the following tasks:

A. Responsabilities and Tasks

• Advise on / support the identification of joint thematic areas of interest that African partner countries would potentially like to discuss or learn from each other on regional, pan-African and AU EU level
• Through working in partnerships, support scaling up of good practices and proven concepts for digital transformation on regional, pan-African and global level
• Inform and advise Smart Africa and their network on the services, expertise and activities facilitated by the AU EU D4D Hub and on opportunities for scaling and linking SADA activities through new digital partnerships
• Report regularly to project team colleagues and Smart Africa counterparts on any relevant new activities, trends and developments arising on each side and potentially from key partner countries (new strategies, regional/pan-African projects, relevant activities of ongoing initiatives and events, etc.) with the aim of detecting synergies and supporting potential alignment of activities for enhanced impact.
• Support the projects’ communication and visibility initiatives, as well as monitoring, learning and evaluation activities by contributing to website and social media feeds, reports, factsheets, presentations, annual progress reports, etc.

with a special focus on AU EU D4D Hub:

• Support the project teams of the AU-EU D4D Hub project in organising regional, pan-African and transcontinental dialogues by contributing to the drafting of terms of reference, the design of events, the consultations with relevant stakeholders, the drafting of agendas, the identification of participants, the involvement of relevant actors from Smart Africa.
• Support the engagement of diverse African stakeholders from the public and private sector, civil society organisations, academia in the AU EU D4D Hub project activities. This concerns mainly the identification of relevant African counterparts for the diverse project activities and support the relation management with those stakeholders and their potential involvement in the D4D Hub Africa Advisory Groups.
• Advising of fostering politicial dialogue between European and African decision-makers on digital transformation as well as including stakeholders, such as private sector and civil society

with a special focus on SADA project:

• Support Smart Africa Secretariat to further develop and implement SADA in cooperation with partners from the digital ecosystem, such as digital ministries and regulatory authorities but als development partners (such as Worldbank, BMZ, ITU and GSMA) but also private sector and civil society.
• Provide stimuli for SADA’s strategy and operation through knowledge of initiatives of other key stakeholders, also by aligning with their implementation strategies.
• Foster synergies for cooperation with SADA on digital transformation facilitated through the D4D Hub project and its “Team Europe” partners, raise awareness and connect with key stakeholders to promote the work and the impact of SADA

B. Required qualifications, competences and experience

Qualifications and Professional experience

• University degree or professional qualification (Master level equivalent) on digital development (other related fields such as social or political sciences, economics, social work, education, media, ICT, engineering or similar)
• More than three years professional experience in the area of digital transformation, on a policy and/or strategic area, and familiarity with digital development topics in the context of Africa
• Proven track-record of advisory services to senior African stakeholders and policy makers in the field of digital transformation
• Understanding of the foundations and ambitions of the AU EU digital transformation partnership and keen interest in bringing it forward
• Interest in cooperation management and process design such as stakeholder management, conceptualisation of dialogue formats, etc.
• At least three years of international experience in Africa, ideally on pan-African levels and experience in working in intercultural contexts
• Teamwork and networking skills combined with the talent to think conceptually and analytically paired with ability to utilize agile methods for implementation
• Structured work style with a high degree of self-organisation, flexibility and creativity
• High proficiency in English and French

Interested candidates should submit their application (motivation letter, updated CV, certificates and references) until 04 May 2022 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 consider, 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

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