Senior Program Officer, 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 our 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 with academic partners.

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

The Senior Program Officer, Knowledge & Learning (SPO) is a key position in the Impact team, working to surface and elevate knowledge from around the organization and cross-fertilizing internal expertise to support development of guidance and methodologies which can be of benefit to wider Internews projects. The ideal candidate is passionate about learning, fastidious about organizing information, and incredibly collaborative. The SO is charged with ensuring the company intranet (the HIVE) serves as a sound, user-friendly platform for knowledge retention and running key knowledge management functions to ensure knowledge and expertise are shared throughout the organization.

LOGISTICS

This is a remote-based position.

All remote candidates will be considered. However, you must have work authorization in your location that does not require sponsorship from Internews. Additionally, there are locations in which Internews is not able to support fully remote work.

Wherever possible, we work to try to find solutions for international hiring that work for both the company and the candidate. This means that some of the particulars around the offer for a role will be dependent on several factors, and that the benefits and salary structure that apply to a position will ultimately be based upon the candidate’s location and where the role is hired.

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, sexual orientations and socioeconomic backgrounds. We are an EEO employer and encourage candidates of all races, genders, ages, orientations, ethnicities, and national origins to apply, and welcome those with alternative backgrounds and experiences.

DAY-TO-DAY TASKS will include:

Intranet & Information Architecture

• Serve as the lead of the HIVE, Internews’ intranet, including creation, oversight, support and display of a variety of content.
• Lead the technical and operational management and configuration of the HIVE by:
  • Coordinating a team of core HIVE admins and content administrators from across Internews offices and departments; and
  • Working closely with the Technology Solutions team, included dotted-line supervision of the HIVE Manager and Business Operations Librarian, as well as consultants, who provide the technical SharePoint support.
• Together with Director of Knowledge & Learning, ensure taxonomies and naming conventions are consistent and following HIVE guidelines.
• Conduct periodic reviews of the HIVE and other knowledge management systems’ use, employing human-centered design techniques to ensure the needs of our project staff are met by our systems.
• Manage the Knowledge Center on the HIVE including adding new expertise pages and methodologies, by proactively engaging with colleagues across the organization, and suggesting changes/updates to stay innovative.
• Oversee and reply to the knowledge desk ticket system, answering questions and finding resources for program teams.
• Maintain a high quality of visual design and usability for any tool or product intended to be used by Internews staff.
• Employ user-centered design strategies to accomplish the above and ensure that all solutions are designed for the end user.
• Hold regularly scheduled webinars to help staff navigate and contribute to the Knowledge Center on the HIVE.
• In all duties, demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to upholding Internews’ Core Values.

Knowledge Product Creation

• Guided by our “Pathway to Knowledge Product” process, provide guidance and support to program teams in the development of new learning products, such as methodologies, toolkits and curriculums, with the relevant technical experts within or outside Internews; lead on development of such tools as requested.
• Innovate and pilot new approaches to internal knowledge sharing and learning in collaboration with other TLU colleagues and Internews staff.
• Monitor the usage of knowledge products to determine when strategies should be adjusted for improved uptake.
• Conduct research on new thematic areas and ideas, including creating positioning papers, sourcing talent and driving both internal and external discussion and learning.
• Support proposal development on areas related to knowledge and learning.
• Create communications materials for projects as needed, such as two-pagers, presentation decks, positioning papers etc.

Knowledge Exchange

• Manage the Knowledge Series, a vibrant online webinar space featuring partners and thematic topics of interest to Internews and its mission, and iterate as needed and based on feedback.
• Organize the Internews Film Club (IFC) screenings and post-screening discussions in partnership with the Director of FilmAid.
• Provide facilitation for After-Action Reviews as requested and compile learnings from these review sessions.
• Provide technical support to field projects as able/requested and depending on sectoral expertise; cross-fertilize various internal expertise.
• Collaborate with colleagues across different departments on the ongoing refinement and further implementation of the Internews Learning Framework.
• Provide inputs to quarterly internal Knowledge & Learning newsletters.

QUALIFICATIONS WE’RE LOOKING FOR

Required

• Relevant University degree or equivalent experience required
• 3-5 years development project experience, including field experience
• Highly organized project manager with the ability to prioritize competing demands, meet deadlines, and manage and motivate team members to do the same
• Demonstrated excellence in professional written and verbal communication skills and understanding of how to tailor one’s message for different audiences; additional languages preferred
• Knowledge of the media development sector, and global information landscape/challenges
• Experience in supporting the development of learning products with Subject Matter Experts, such as methodologies, curriculums, webinars, toolkits etc.
• Experience organizing and facilitating learning events, such as webinars, surveys, internal focus groups etc.
• Hands on experience building out systems and processes designed to capture and disseminate knowledge
• SharePoint Administration experience preferred
• Experience building and maintaining taxonomies and file/data collection processes
• Superior analytical, organizational, editing and writing skills
• Proven ability to multi-task and prioritize with a shifting workload
• Proven ability to operate effectively in a multicultural environment

Preferred

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

• Experience in Web design; Skills in layout and design
• Experience with Adobe InDesign and other desktop publishing a plus
• Familiarity with Office 365 tools, including Outlook, Teams and Yammer
• Experience with proposal writing