Aga Khan Foundation | Design and Innovation Advisor | Nairobi Kenya

Duration of Contract: Two Years

About the Aga Khan Foundation

The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a group of private, non-denominational development agencies that share a mission to improve the living conditions and opportunities of marginalized communities in target countries across Africa and Asia. AKF was established by His Highness the Aga Khan in Switzerland in 1967 and began working in East Africa in 1974. In Uganda, AKF operates a multi-sectoral portfolio that includes programming in Education, Economic Inclusion, Civil Society, Health, and Early Childhood Development predominantly in the Central and West Nile Regions. AKF is committed to ensuring that girls and boys, women and men, are equipped with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values to help them interact effectively with the world and be contributing members of a pluralistic society.

Position Overview

The Aga Khan Foundation is seeking a dynamic and experienced Innovation and Design Advisor to join our team in East Africa to lead AKF’s agenda in becoming a regional leader in social innovation and impact. The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in driving design thinking and innovative solutions across our portfolio, ensuring a user-centric approach to address complex challenges.

Responsibilities

1. Strategic Leadership of Design Thinking & Innovation

• Develop and implement a comprehensive innovation strategy/agenda aligned with AKF EA’s mission and goals as a regional leader in social innovation and impact
• Lead on the development and execution of the Foundation’s design studio, including finalizing and implementing the business model as a program and financial asset
• Elevate AKF EA’s role as a leader in social innovation and impact across the region and globally by elevating our work and best practices

2. Program Portfolio: Design Processes to Innovate

• Lead on the design and execution of timely, effective, and high quality design processes through our program portfolio
• Develop the fabric of support to enable innovation, such as coaches, materials/documentation, and advising
• Develop country-specific design leads to develop our in-house capacity to deliver on proposal development and design related activities (eg. innovate, incubate, scale)
• Design and implement financial processes to enable timely innovative design work at the school and community level

3. Programme Portfolio: Incubation for Scale

• Finalize the school and community incubation frameworks, testing them through our program portfolio
• Incubate a minimum of 60 ideas per year, scaling no less than 30 prototypes over that same period
• Deliver on time, on budget, and with quality incubation processes and outcomes

4. Business Development

• Integrate design thinking strategy into new business development opportunities and program inception processes
• Create resources for partnerships staff to understand why and how to integrate HCD into their work
• Identify and manage external HCD partners (eg. consultants and coaches) to ensure all processes are delivered on time and with quality, as well as, build on each other to demonstrate impact.
• Elevate AKF’s internal capacity to engage in and lead design processes through a learning agenda
• Build AKF’s network of design thinkers and partners
• Create linkages to AKF’s Global work (eg. Bezos, Accelerate Impact, Schools2030 Global Secretariat)
• Contribute to global thinking on HCD/design thinking, including writing stories, speaking, and collaborating with colleagues across the AKDN and externally
• Represent AKF in the design space/events/conferences

5. Representation & Broader Learning

• Elevate AKF’s internal capacity to engage in and lead design processes through a learning agenda
• Build AKF’s network of design thinkers and partners
• Create linkages to AKF’s Global work (eg. Bezos, Accelerate Impact, Schools2030 Global Secretariat)
• Contribute to global thinking on HCD/design thinking, including writing stories, speaking, and collaborating with colleagues across the AKDN and externally
• Represent AKF in the design space/events/conferences

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in a relevant field and recognised further education in design, design thinking, or like.
• Proven experience (minimum 5 years) in leading innovation initiatives and design projects, preferably in East Africa and in the social sector.
• Strong facilitation skills with the ability to lead workshops and engage diverse stakeholders. Experience in Northern Uganda and the Swahili coast is a strong asset.
• Experience working in East Africa or a similar context is required.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationships at all levels.
• Demonstrated understanding of community engagement and a commitment to participatory approaches.
• Knowledge of monitoring and evaluation frameworks for innovation projects.

The successful candidate will report to the Aga Khan Foundation’s East Africa ECD & Education Advisor