Director, Knowledge & Learning

ABOUT THE IMPACT DEPARTMENT

The Impact Department at Internews sits within the Technical Leadership Unit (TLU) and comprises three interdependent teams – Knowledge & Learning, Research, and Monitoring & Evaluation. Together they support Internews to achieve its goal of being the most effective and impactful organization in the media support sector.

They do this by developing robust theories of change at program, portfolio, and global level; gathering, analyzing, and reporting performance data; producing research and insight about the fast-moving information ecosystems in which we work; elevating the needs of the partners we support to aid program design, support thought leadership and influence policy; running evaluations which measure the effectiveness and impact of work; and creating processes, products and platforms to support internal learning and drive engagement amongst staff, partners, and external stakeholders. We work across the spectrum, placing a high value on day-to-day experiential learning as well as robust research produced with academic partners.

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

This role of Director, Knowledge & Learning leads the Knowledge & Learning team and will collaborate across the department to enable the production and exchange of learning across Internews teams.

Under the supervision of the Global Director of Impact, the Director of Knowledge & Learning is a dynamic and exciting senior role driving Internews to be the most effective and impactful organization in our sector.

This role collaborates and connects across the entire organization to lead, drive, encourage, support, and elevate learning throughout our projects and teams, helping to create a culture in which people discuss and learn from failure as well as our many successes. The ideal candidates is a dynamic team player and networker, with excellent communication and facilitation skills, able to lead cross-departmental initiatives to drive knowledge-building practices and processes, data management, and learning across Internews. This position works closely with stakeholders from multiple teams to ensure that Internews meets its strategic goals with the technical infrastructure and operational practices needed for advancing its mission as a learning organization.

Guided by a Learning Framework, the Director of Knowledge & Learning will use technical skills, strategic practices and active listening approaches to guide our teams to design, develop, implement, and continually enhance the systems and processes for surfacing, managing and sharing knowledge – both to improve Internews’ operations as well as enhance our program effectiveness around the world. The ideal candidate will be part knowledge champion, learning specialist, research designer, data manager, and change agent, bringing to the role both innovation and a practical, can-do approach.

The Director oversees all of Internews’ knowledge platforms, including the HIVE, the Source (our M&E database), and the Studio (our Learning Management System – LMS), and will be responsible for ensuring high levels of engagement with these platforms, and supervising staff responsible for leading knowledge and learning platforms, products, databases, approaches and processes.

LOGISTICS

Internews has US Offices in Arcata, CA and Washington, DC which support a hybrid workforce with staff working remotely, fully in-office, or partially remote. Ultimately this position may work remotely from the US, partially remote from our Washington, DC office, or fully in-office for candidates based in the DC area.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so interested candidates are encouraged to apply soon.

The preference is to fill this position as an internal hire within Internews.

OUR COMMITMENT TO FOSTERING A CULTURE OF BELONGING

We are an organization of dynamic, mission-driven individuals who are passionate about our core values and about supporting positive change in the world. We pride ourselves on our commitment to innovation and flexibility. We believe that diverse teams are strong teams and work to support an ethic of belonging, dignity, and justice for all people. Our current team includes a mix of genders, parents and non-parents, and people of multiple races, nationalities, ages, orientations, ethnicities, and national origins to apply, and welcome those with alternative backgrounds and experiences.

DAY-TO-DAY TASKS will include:

Overall Strategy, Coordination and Collaboration

• Guided by our Learning Framework, serve as Internews strategic lead in how the organization learns, including leading co-design of agile learning processes which meet stakeholder needs; supporting and amplifying existing learning initiatives, providing guidance/oversight in new processes/procedures; and convening parties from across Internews departments to track and support the ways each team is contributing to and benefiting from the framework.
• Instill learning practices across the organization, from project and administrative teams to our senior leaders, expanding the organization’s ability to rapidly reflect on and synthesize day-to-day experience and wide aperture horizon scanning to changing contexts, evolving operational approaches and programmatic strategy as necessary.
• Ensure that learning and knowledge management work within Internews is properly resourced and that the processes, initiatives, platforms and products developed under the team’s auspices are sustainable.
• Serve as the connector for elevating knowledge and learning from colleagues in the Impact Department, surfacing projects, products and processes that can be developed and iterated for wider sharing.
• Engage deeply and enthusiastically across the organization with an eye to stitching together connections seen across different teams and identifying great initiatives that should be amplified or scaled up.
• Connect consistently and proactively with External Affairs and the communications team to broaden the reach of our organizational learning and products to external audiences.
• Work closely with the Global Director of Impact on Internews’ Research Agenda, including supporting research design, partnerships, and dissemination of findings.
• In all duties, demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to upholding Internews’ Core Values.

Knowledge Management & Learning

• Coordinate organization-wide knowledge management efforts and help cultivate a culture of sharing content and contributing actively to our knowledge bases.
• Lead the creation of core Internews methodologies by determining priority areas, assigning resources and personnel to develop them, tracking progress, and providing quality control.
• Oversee the strategic direction of the Hive, Internews’ intranet, ensuring that it meets the needs of Internews teams.
• Supervise the Knowledge Officer, who is responsible for the Hive and key knowledge and learning functions.
• Assess internal practices of knowledge management and establish best practices based on external knowledge; participate in wider KM community of practice, and stay abreast of new developments, including any recommendations for incorporating change, adaptation, and innovation.
• Lead the implementation of the Studio, Internews’ Learning Management System (LMS), to build Internews’ global capacity to implement the highest standards in virtual learning and training, and supervise the Online Learning Consultant, who is responsible for administering and driving the use of the Studio.
• Lead on the After-Action Review methodology by conducting after-action reviews, maintaining and iterating existing methodology, training others to facilitate them, reviewing conclusions from existing reports, and socializing lessons learnt as applicable.
• Provide strategic guidance to organizational learning initiatives, such as webinar series, strategy workshops, and Global Internews Gathering (annual conference).
• Serve as the project manager for knowledge & learning-related grants by contributing to proposals, pitching knowledge & learning products, establishing and maintaining budgets, and ensuring quality product creation. Manage knowledge & learning product development under global award mechanisms.

Data Management

• Oversee the strategic use and development of ProgramSource database to support standardized indicators, partner information, and other programmatic data to grow the organization’s ability to track and manage progress against the strategic framework.
• In collaboration with the Director of M&E, provide guidance and capacity building for the Data officer who is responsible for the Program Source database, including rollout, engagement, implementation, data input and analysis, and serving as central administrator.
• Collaborate with data initiatives across Internews including on data ethics policies and data security to develop guidance and share best practices on data storage.
• Create standard operating procedures for collection and storage of all types of programmatic data, information, and knowledge.
• Support training of the larger Internews community on data literacy and drive use and analysis of organizational metrics.

QUALIFICATIONS WE’RE LOOKING FOR

Required

• Demonstrated experience building and advocating for effective knowledge-sharing systems and practices
• Relevant University degree or equivalent experience required
• 8+ years of relevant work experience, preferably in the non-profit development sector
• Impeccable professional written and verbal communication skills and understanding of how to tailor one’s message for different audiences; keen attention to detail
• Highly organized project manager with the ability to prioritize competing demands, meet deadlines, and manage and motivate team members to do the same
• Experience managing staff and developing teams and workplans/goals
• Outstanding interpersonal skills, high emotional intelligence, and ability to build strong relationships and deliver top quality customer service
• Experience communicating deeply technical concepts to technical and non-technical audiences – passion for effectively communicating data heavy material via user-friendly and usable design
• Experience working in an international, decentralized environment. Flexible and adaptive.
• Capacity to give, receive, and apply constructive feedback
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office, particularly Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook

Preferred

Note: Candidates who do not have these preferred qualifications, but are interested and willing to learn, are encouraged to apply.

• Experience in research design, preferably in the development sector
• Hands on experience building out IT and other systems and processes designed to capture and disseminate knowledge
• Experience building and maintaining taxonomies and file/data collection processes
• Demonstrated understanding of statistics and statistical analysis
• Patient and effective communicator across all levels of an organization
• Experience with Microsoft SharePoint
• Experience with Cloud based file share systems
• Familiarity with at least one scripting program such as Python, Ruby or R
• Familiarity with application program interface (API) preferred
• Experience with additional database tools or programming languages a plus

This position is being offered and hired by Internews Network. Benefits will be consistent with Internews Network’s offerings and will be reviewed during the hiring process. Additional information can be found on our About Working for Internews page.

Internews Network is an EEO/AAP/OFCCP employer. Every qualified applicant will be considered for employment. Internews does not discriminate based on race, gender, gender identity or orientation, genetic information, age, national origin, marital status, disability status, political ideology, military or protected veteran status, or any other characteristics protected by applicable law.