Technical Advisor Technology

Title: Technical Advisor, Technology
Reports to: Project Manager
Location: Ouagadougou , Burkina Faso
Application Deadline: 15 May 2015
Type of Contract: Fix term
Languages Required: English & French
Duration of Initial Contract: 1 year
Expected duration: 3 years
Background
Freedom from Hunger (www.freedomfromhunger.org) has a long history in West Africa, and has been working with partners in Burkina Faso since 1993 to promote financial inclusion, health protection, poverty reduction, food security and resilience for poor rural women and their families. Recently, Freedom from Hunger’s Burkina Country Office launched a three-year innovation in the program area of relief, recovery and development to increase the resilience of vulnerable communities in disaster-affected areas of Burkina Faso through a multisectoral integrated program called “Building Resilience of Vulnerable Communities in Burkina Faso”.
The program will use community-based women’s savings groups as a sustainable platform for improving livelihoods and nutrition knowledge, linkages to development services and access to finance in the northern and center part of the country. Targeting women and youth, the program will provide innovative services and products to strengthen livelihood, build assets and provide access to key services in financing and social services networks. Technology innovations such as digital devices will be used to leverage service delivery solutions to improve effectiveness of group-based microfinance, increase impact and decrease cost.
Position Summary
The Technical Advisor, Technology provides technical support and training in digital financial services delivery and capacity building. S/he supports the development of training and financial inclusion solutions adapted to the project and country context, leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to strengthen Freedom from Hunger’s position as a leader in the development of innovative pro poor scalable products and services. The Technical Advisor, Technology achieves these objectives by planning, designing, testing, evaluating, documenting, disseminating and implementing innovative technological solutions including mobile learning, elearning and links with Mobile Network Operators, Financial Services Providers and Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) to facilitate mobile financial inclusion. S/he also provides technical assistance to our partners, reports on progress and collaborates with Product Development Team, peer organizations, vendors, consultants and other important stakeholders.
Core Duties and Responsibilities
 Provide advisory services, technical support and training to our clients and partners in digital financial services delivery and capacity building;
 Collaborate with various stakeholders including members of the Product Development Team, subject matter experts, web developers, graphic designers, translators, copy editors, and implementing partners’ technical teams to develop breakthrough mobile solutions for building capacity of and equipping illiterate or low-literate facilitators;
 Innovate new approaches to nonformal adult education to train women living in poverty and to build capacity of diverse institutions;
 Develop market research tools and implement market research and needs assessments to inform the development of innovative educational products;
 Develop market research tools and conduct market research to understand needs and preferences of financial service consumers in order to develop appropriate digital financial inclusion solutions;
 Conceptualize digital education or learning products and services and related operational processes required for successful rollout;
 Conduct institutional assessments and business planning related to implementation of digital solutions;
 Train trainers on building capacity, managing large number of community agents and ensuring quality control;
 Design e- and m-Learning curricula using user-centered design techniques and state-of-the-art authoring tools;
 Test and evaluate technology-enhanced educational and financial products via internal testing, user experience testing, quality assurance testing and beta testing, and support ongoing monitoring and evaluation activities;
 Assist partners in adjusting Management Information System (MIS) according to product requirements;
 Stay abreast of innovations in M4D field (including mHealth, mAgri, mLearning, mMoney, mData Collection) and emerging trends in instructional design, educational technology and behavioral sciences to keep Freedom from Hunger ahead of the curve;
 Contribute to the development, test, refinement and documentation of ongoing operational and development processes for technology-enhanced products;
 Promote Freedom from Hunger’s core competences and technical capabilities through the conception and writing of papers, articles and blogs, and the representation of the organization at conferences and in webinars in the international development and technology sectors;
 Assist in the design and development of technology-enhanced communications collateral;
 Provide support to annual planning and budgeting process and strategic planning process.
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Prior Experience
 Master’s degree, preferably in educational technology, information technology, adult education, instructional design and technology or equivalent experience;
 Five years of professional experience in instructional design, adult education or related field, with progressive levels of responsibility and in-depth knowledge of instructional design theories and models;
 Minimum 3 years experience in designing face-to-face, blended and distance learning curricula that apply adult learning principles and practices;
 Experience designing education products using Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate or similar software;
 Demonstrated creativity, skills and experience in multimedia design, mobile app development, games design, and graphic design as well as video and/or audio editing a plus;
 Work experience in a developing country with demonstrated ability to operate effectively;
 Good knowledge of technology infrastructure limitations in developing countries;
 Excellent planning, organizational and documenting skills;
 Willingness to travel nationally and internationally up to 35 percent of the year;
 Fluency in French required; fluency in English is desired; working language besides French and English is a plus;
 Highly developed computer skills in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint;
 Strong field orientation and proven interpersonal skills;
 A high degree of self-drive, enthusiasm, flexibility and willingness to learn;
 Diligence and ability to work with minimal supervision;
 A strong professional demeanor.
Application Process:
Please send your cover letter and CV/resume no later than May 15 th 2015 to: [email protected].
We thank you for your interest in career opportunities with Freedom from Hunger. Due to high volume, only
those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.