COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE FACILITATOR (BASED IN ANY MSF OCBA HUB/ PARIS, AMSTERDAM OR BRUSSELS)

GENERAL CONTEXT

Médecins Sans Frontières is an international independent medical-humanitarian organization, which provides assistance to populations in distress, to victims of natural or man-made disasters and to victims of armed conflict, without discrimination and irrespective of race, religion, creed or political affiliation.

MSF is a civil society initiative that brings together individuals committed to the assistance of other human beings in crisis. As such MSF is by choice an association. Each individual working with MSF does it out of conviction and is ready to uphold the values and principles of MSF.

The MSF movement is built around six operational directorates. MSF OCBA is one of those directorates. The operations are implemented by field teams and the mission coordination teams; together with the organizational units based in Barcelona and decentralized in Nairobi, Dakar and Amman. The field operations are guided and supported by 5 Operational Cells, the Emergency Unit and other departments supporting operations.

TEMBO PROGRAM AND THE COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE COMPONENT

Several change programs are currently planned or under way across MSF, with the ambition to change the way staff work, interact and learn from each other. Tembo (elephant in Swahili) is one of such programs. Its aim is to make available to MSF staff a personal learning and development environment (PLDE) – a learning approach and system that helps learners take control and manage their own learning and, therefore, their own development.

Communities of Practice are part of the Tembo learning and support ecosystem. In these Communities, MSF staff can share ideas, experiences, or tackle issues together in a safe discussion space. MSF staff share their practical knowledge, learn from others, and create solutions together to solve common challenges.

Within the Community of Practice space, users can search and connect with other colleagues that may have been in a similar situation or context, look for different experiences and practices from MSF projects that may offer alternatives and inspiration to help solve practical problems, as well as contribute to the personal learning and experience of individual staff members.

Although still in an initial development stage, Communities of Practice within Tembo plan to expand the number of communities and MSF staff participating in this dynamic aspect of “social learning.” The overall Tembo program is currently in its second phase, finalizing deployment and adoption in MSF OCBA and scaling up to all MSF Operational Centers.

GENERAL OBJECTIVE OF THE POST AND CONTEXT

To implement Communities of Practice and ensure the target population(s) actively participates in and contributes to these communities through the TEMBO platform.

• Communities of practice in MSF will allow staff in dispersed locations to connect, share, collaborate and build knowledge together. This is done through the virtual platform in Tembo (online) and facilitated activities such as webinars, informal knowledge exchanges (some face-to-face if possible) and others. Opportunities for these types of exchanges and learning are limited due to MSF staff distance from each other and limited opportunities to meet face-to-face (F2F) as a community.
• By encouraging communities of practice (CoP), MSF can promote greater horizontal and vertical collaboration and learning among MSF staff which will contribute both to individual growth and development (knowledge and competencies) as well as increased organizational effectiveness (impact) and quality of interventions.
• Through this process, MSF will contribute to the creation of two important dynamics. First, there are staff active in the field and HQ with personal experience and knowledge that the organization needs to document in a more explicit manner and be able to articulate and share with others. Secondly, MSF needs to create dynamics in the organization so those staff that absorb this new knowledge and learn about these experiences and lessons learned, internalize and utilize them in their own practice.
• The overall objective of the communities of practice initiative is to facilitate the articulation, documentation and internalization of knowledge and experiences in MSF in a dynamic and participatory manner.

The Community of Practice Facilitator is hierarchically accountable to the Community of Practice Manager.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND MAIN TASKS

The main objective for the Community of Practice Facilitator is to implement and support dynamic and participative communities of practice among targeted MSF staff to promote connections, sharing, collaboration and building of knowledge. The work will be carried out under the overall guidance of the CoP Manager and the Tembo Knowledge Sharing Project Manager. The Tembo CoP team all work with a collaborative approach both for internal team tasks as well as working with external partners on individual projects.

A) Main Responsibilities:

• Accompany in the design and implementation of communities of practice within MSF, utilizing a participatory and collaborative approach to understand learning and support needs of potential community audiences.
• Promote broad participation in MSF communities of practice by encouraging various contributions, perspectives and opinions on issues or problems of importance within the community.
• Build trust within the communities of practice by inviting risk taking, encouraging learning from mistakes, and fostering mutual trust. Support trust building by acknowledging members’ challenges to participate and their own learning experiences, upholding norms of interaction within the group, and work collaboratively with Community owners and stakeholders to build a safe space in the Community.
• Ensure inclusivity in the communities of practice to support varied learning needs and perspectives and develop strong collective understandings and commitments. Encourage opportunities for all members to generate ideas or to consider complex issues as well as raise questions and alternative perspectives.
• In collaboration with the CoP Manager, Content Experts in MSF departments and Learning Referents, the Community of Practice Facilitator will promote, support and exchange on several “core” topics that address specific aspects of certain field positions’ responsibilities while also addressing challenges or problematic topics that they confront in their daily work.

B) Main Tasks:

1. Accompanying the process of creating a CoP

• Assess together with stakeholders the need to create a new Community.
• Design, together with stakeholder the CoP launch plan, contents, and roles and responsibilities.
• Liaise between stakeholder and technical team to set up a community space.
• Coordinate details of the formal community launch and immediate post-launch actions.

2. Community-building activities

• In collaboration with content experts and learning referents, identify “core” issues to be addressed timely within the CoP and develop appropriate activities / discussions linked with these issues.
• Stimulate the formation of a group of active participants.
• Plan and facilitate CoP activities and communication (convening, drafting, and identifying explicit knowledge in results).
• Report community of practice activities (through metrics and evaluations).
• Connect informally with members of CoP, crossing organizational boundaries (missions, departments, etc.).
• Manage the boundary between the CoP and the formal organization (departments, teams) to avoid friction.
• Collect technical questions/feedback to be shared with content experts, request their input to CoP and support periodic “health checks” (reporting) of the community over time with CoP stakeholders.
• Build explicit practice, including background knowledge, lessons learned and best practices.
• Ensure that the CoP initiative does not lose momentum and remains active for participants.

3. Advisoryactivities

• Provide inputs and advise Community owners to help them nurture and grow active communities.
• Provide information and advise stakeholders interested in creating a new Community for them to properly assess and frame needs and expectations.
• Advice stakeholders on strategies and methodologies to integrate social learning and communities in their learning and support ecosystems.

4. Internal contribution to Tembo CoP Team

• Capture best practices and lessons learned.
• Create documentation and guidelines when needed.
• Support, design or facilitate internal Tembo meetings or workshops.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Education and experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Pedagogy, Communications, Social Sciences or related fields with a strong component on learning and audience engagement.
• Experience in implementing and supporting communities of practice or similar environments (online and offline).
• Experience in organizing and facilitating knowledge sharing and participatory activities.
• Prior experience in working in complex, multi-layer, multi-stakeholder projects.
• Fluent written and spoken English, and also proficient in at least one of the following languages: Spanish, French or Arabic.
• Experience in digital learning environments is an asset.

Competencies

• Commitment to MSF’s Principles
• Cross-cultural Awareness
• Behavioural Flexibility
• Innovation
• Co-creation / co-design / collaboration skills
• Analytical Thinking
• Strategic Vision
• Results and Quality Orientation
• Service Orientation
• Initiative and pro-activity
• Teamwork and Cooperation

Others

• Lateral thinker capable to express and communicate new ideas.
• Previous experience in humanitarian or aid organizations is an asset.
• Flexibility to work outside normal business hours.

CONDITIONS

• Based in any MSF-OCBA Hub (Barcelona, MSF-Spain office delegations, Amman, Dakar or Nairobi) or other MSF Operational Centers (Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels). Final location will be subject to the feasibility of employment of the preselected candidate (residency, work permit, contract, etc.).
• Full-time job.
• Temporary contract: until December 2022 with possibility of extension into 2023.
• Annual gross salary HQ-2C (divided in 12 monthly payments) based on MSF-OCBA Reward Policy. Subjected to local conditions.
• Starting date: as soon as possible.