Creative Associates Recruits 2017 Staffs

Creative Associates International is a dynamic, fast-growing global development firm that specializes in education, economic growth, democratic institutions and stabilization. Based in Washington, D.C., Creative has a field presence in more than 25 countries with a strong client portfolio that includes the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department, among others. Since its founding in 1977, Creative has earned a solid reputation among its clients and is well-regarded by competitors and partners alike.

Program Desciption: Creative Associates International (Creative Associates) is preparing for the implementation of USAID/West Africa’s program Partnerships for Peace (P4P). The five-year program will partner and consult with stakeholders at the regional, national, and sub-national level across several West African countries, to develop a shared foundational understanding of counter violent extremism (CVE) in the region. The findings will improve institutional capacity of organizations and governments to implement more effective and coordinated CVE approaches.

Job Description

Job Title: Grants and Database Officer

To lead and support the implementation of Partnerships for Peace, Creative Associates seeks to engage a highly qualified and motivated team. All positions are full time and require a willingness to travel. Creative Associates is especially interested in receiving submissions from women applicants. Only qualified candidates who follow the application instructions will be contacted.

Position Summary: The Grants & Database Officer is responsible for developing, leading, and coordinating the program’s communications and reporting activities. S/he will develop internal and external analysis, presentations, and reports, including blog, Facebook group, and Twitter posts, PowerPoint Presentations, text and radio messages, etc. on the program or issues relevant to the program. The Grants & Database Officer will be bilingual and fluent in English and French and have knowledge of local languages used in the region. S/he will be able to support the rapid translation of reports, documents, and other content of interest to the P4P team. The Grants & Database Officer will assist program team in developing their activities in the Small Grants Database. S/He will work under the direct supervision of the Chief of Party (COP), and work closely with USAID/WA staff and other short- and long-term P4P team members and third parties to generate creative and cutting edge ways of using new technology and social media to gather and disseminate information that is relevant and interesting for the program to analyze and communicate. This position will be based in the Accra office, with program activities expected to be carried out throughout the West Africa region. Travel throughout West Africa and the Lake Chad Basin may be required.

Reporting & Supervision: The position will report to Deputy Chief of Party.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Participate in regular P4P team meetings to discuss current country context issues, present and discuss activity ideas, and report on the progress of activity implementation.
• Ensures high-quality documentation of activity implementation, lessons learned, achievements, and failures assisting staff and/or drafting activities in monitoring and evaluation reports.
• Uploads interesting content and reports to IDMS.
• Synthesizes information found online, on the radio, in local and international media, in IDMS and from the P4P team to draft reports, prepare presentations, and to develop content for social media sites, radio, newspaper on and about the program or on areas of interest to the program.
• Develops relationships with local media outlets, think tanks, and other organizations developing cutting edge information products and using new technology and social media as tools for monitoring and evaluation.
• Reviews information in the Small Grants Database to ensure that analysis and reporting on the political and security transition can be accomplished by P4P and USAID/WA staff.
• Work with Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, Chief of Party and other team members to compile and disseminate information and presentations to external audiences.
• Reviews and provides quality control over activity final reports, both written by local partners and P4P staff, in coordination with Chief of Party and USAID/WA.
• Provides regular, targeted analysis of the context in the West Africa/Lake Chad region.
• Accompanies members of the program team and/or local partners during activity implementation to support the drafting of accurate activity monitoring reports, synopsis of lessons-learned, final evaluations and final reports.
• Attends frequent P4P team meetings to ensure weekly team meeting tracker and activity database is updated with notes on atmospherics, activity development, and activity implementation.
• Travels frequently to activity sites to prepare snapshots of activities. Snapshots may include brief illustrations of program impact or summary accounts of notable activities. These may be in different formats, such as Facebook posts or Success Stories formatted according to USAID guidelines.
• Gathers and circulates news and other information daily and weekly for the P4P program staff.
• Drafts, edits, and translates reports, presentations, and other content.
• Works with the program staff to draft two program accounts of notable activities or a cluster of activities, per month for review and discussion with the Chief of Party and USAID/WA.
• Responsible for ensuring quality control and the integrity of the data in the database and ensures that the data is always up-to-date.
• Support the Chief of Party and DCOP to ensure that grant master files are always up-to-date and ready for audit.
• Support the Chief of Party and DCOP to carry out frequent reviews of electronic activity files to ensure all files are up to date in IDMS.
• Provide support to the P4P team on the use of the Small Grants Database.
• Responsible for supporting the weekly updates to activity notes in the Small Grants Database and capturing observations and information from the field on the outputs, outcomes, and impact of activities.
• Play an active role in activity monitoring and evaluation and contribute to the feedback loop, which uses infromation gathered about ongoing activity implementation to inform development of new activities.
• Any ofther duties and tasks as needed and assigned.

Required Skills & Qualifications:

• Four-year university degree in journalism, communication, or a social science.
• Minimum of four (4) years of general work history is required
• Minimum of two (2) years specific experience working as a journalist or in communications and quickly producing a range of high quality written products, reports or articles.
• Experience with a USAID program with a large and high volume small grants component preferred.
• Ability to develop in-depth understanding of and willingness to comply with all Creative and USAID/WA procedures and manuals (e.g., Grants Manual, Field Procurement Guide. and Operational Communications, Emergency, Information, and Physical Security Plans).
• Willingness and ability to travel throughout West Africa.
• Good communication and interpersonal skills are required.
• Prior experience with USAID or US Government funded projects is highly desirable.
• Problem solving, stress management and time management skills are required.
• Proficient at using Microsoft office software: MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc. Prior experience using MS Access and web-based database applications preferred.
• Excellent record keeping and documentation skills are required.
• Experience of working in a conflict environment is a plus.
• Written and spoken fluency in English and French are required.
• Ability to translate both orally and in writing from English to French and French to English.
• Fluency in one or more of the local languages used in West Africa is preferred.
• Ability to work under pressure and efficiently handle multiple tasks.
• Ability to work both independently and as a part of a team.

Local and regional candidates strongly encouraged to apply.

Only finalists will be contacted. No phone calls, please.

• Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities.
• Please view Equal Employment Opportunity Posters provided by OFCCP here.
• The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.