Senior Policy Manager, West Africa - French Speaker at GSM Association (GSMA)

Job description

Department: Government and Regulatory Affairs
Location: Nairobi, Kenya (Office Based) or West Africa (Homebased)
Position type: On-going Contract
Reporting to: Public Policy Director, Sub-Saharan Africa

About the Team

The GSMA has a strong and growing presence in the Middle East and Africa region, with a multi-disciplinary team of more than 25 staff spread across the region, in Nairobi, Dubai, Johannesburg and Lagos, as well as in London. Please visit https://www.gsma.com/mea/ for a wealth of further information.

About the Role

Broadly, this role entails engaging with relevant stakeholders in the Sub Sahara African region, with a particular focus on francophone West Africa also supporting when and where needed in other English speaking and francophone African countries.
More specifically, this role entails undertaking the co-ordination, analysis and reporting required to:

• identify areas where member operators require policy and regulatory support;
• manage/drive delivery of support to member operators that require policy and regulatory support;
• manage/drive delivery of GSMA Advocacy programmes (with a particular focus on Policy programs including but not limited to Spectrum, Regulatory Modernisation, Privacy,
• Taxation, Connectivity, KYC, etc.) in [West] Africa and support throughout the region on one area where a particular expertise has been recognized.
• engage with the all GSMA’s programmes including but not limited to M4D, Strategy and Technology centrally and in the region to ensure that the GSMA’s action remain
• coordinated and coherent at all times and delivers as much of an impact as possible West Africa and in the region;
• convey GSMA’s public policy and key messages within the region;
• assess the impact of its public policy activities to ensure that they sufficiently address the requirements of member operators;

You will also be required to

• Monitor mobile industry developments & key regulatory decisions within the region and provide appropriate analysis on the same;
• Conduct primary and secondary research, structure and summarize information to feed and communicate the organization messages;
• Prepare official correspondence, research papers, presentation materials, information bulletins, speech notes, reports and other ad hoc briefing materials, as required;
• Lead drafting and reviewing consultation responses for regulatory and/or policy proposals in key markets under the guidance of the Policy Director for Sub-Sahara Africa;
• Attend and speak every time it is relevant and possible at meetings of regional inter-governmental organisations relevant for the sub-region and region (e.g. ECOWAS,
• WATRA, WAEMU, Coftel, etc. Attendance under the guidance of the Policy Director for SSA, at relevant meetings of Smart Africa, AU, ATU, AU, ITU, etc.,
• Actively liaise and work with GSMA staff experts and/or program officers to ensure that appropriate assistance and resources are provided to members within the region, as and when required;
• Assist to facilitate the implementation of GSMA’s broad stakeholder engagement plans and/or programs for the region;
• Actively engage with relevant member operators and stakeholders at the national and regional levels with the aim of ensuring that GSMA key messages are conveyed and playing a positive role in shaping regulatory and industry developments within the region.
• Take part in ad-hoc activities to support the GSMA SSA and Government & Regulatory Affairs teams, as required.

About You

You will have

• At least 8 years of working experience and industry knowledge of the mobile industry would be required;
• At least 5 years of working experience within the public affairs sector;
• A strong network and experience in working/engaging with regional organisations, ministries and telecom regulatory authorities in West Africa and in the region;
• Good knowledge of regulatory issues in the mobile sector and practices in Africa (including but not limited to infrastructure and connectivity, spectrum, taxation, internet, KYC, etc.);
• Excellent writing skills, be able to write reports and contribute to policy papers relevant to the region. Past experience in producing deliverables such as briefings, speeches, online, printed collateral, presentations, web content is an advantage;
• Strong project management skills; ability to juggle multiple projects simultaneously and manage time effectively, sometimes working to tight deadlines.
• Ability to adapt to different cultures and to work with cross-functional and multi-disciplinary teams is important.

You will be

• Smart, analytical, collaborative and outcome focused.
• An excellent communicator, able to express complex technical, regulatory issues in plain language, without losing the important points;
• A team player highly motivated to engage with all relevant stakeholders and be able to efficiently work with a wide group of internal GSMA interests and resources, to ensure that the GSMA public policy priorities are effectively implemented in the region.
• Fluent in English and French both oral and written.