Africa Housing Forum Manager at Habitat for Humanity International

About The Role

Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) is currently seeking a talented professional for the role of Africa Housing Forum Manager. The successful candidate will maintain and build relationships to support Habitat’s role as convener for its inaugural Africa Housing Forum, happening in April 2022. As the host of the first ever Africa Housing Forum, Habitat aims to further push the affordable housing agenda in Africa by bringing key partners and housing experts together. Moving forward, this will become a biennial event.

An adept project and event manager, this individual is the central liaison, both internally with the HFHI team (Internal Advisory Group), as well as with external stakeholders: vendors, partners and co-organizers of the Africa Housing Forum (Forum Steering Committee). The incumbent will also coordinate and liaise with peers from other regional housing forums (Latin America/Caribbean, Asia/Pacific, Europe) and within the Europe/Middle East/Africa internal team. They will plan the logistics of this hybrid event, aiming to host around 500 in-person and virtual attendees.

The successful candidate brings in-depth experience managing complex projects and events and has exceptional communication skills - both listening and speaking. They thrive on building relationships both internally and externally and are excited about convening an exceptionally meaningful Africa Housing Forum.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary liaison for NGOs, governments, and donor relationships in regard to the organization of the Africa Housing Forum 2022 events. Support with the mapping of key stakeholders to be included as Forum co-organizers.
• Serve as the point of contact for African countries, ensuring to keep the Area Vice President and other Area Leadership Team members consulted and updated.
• Contribute to development and implementation of Africa Housing Forum Event Strategy.
• Drive entire project life-cycles, from event vision and concept to timeline management, budgets, execution and reporting for the Africa Housing Forum.
• Coordinate the work of external Steering Group and the internal Advisory Committee.
• Attend key coordination and networking events for coordination, information gathering and/or networking.
• Monitor and support the programmatic design team regarding the general agenda of the Forum.
• Coordinate the selection and systematization of best practices and experiences (for exhibition and presentation) with the knowledge management group, manage deadlines for submission, selection and awarding and ensuring that awardees have adequate funding for their participation. Specifically analyze: (i) selection of experiences and documentation (selection criteria, development of templates, request and recruiting of exhibitors, review and evaluation of cases/exhibitors); (ii) coordinate exhibit/display of selected best practices and experiences; (iii) identify most representative experiences to be presented in the Forum program.
• Vendor Management: Identify and select the local operator/anchor of the Forum and coordinate with them all the logistic organization of the event in the host country. Negotiate (as needed) with the venue organizers and providers of all spaces, logistics, catering, translation, logistics support, etc.
• Develop and manage the marketing strategy for the Forum including coordinating image & communications design of the event, registration of participants and exhibits, merchandising, etc.
• Support the identification and management of virtual platforms for the housing forum as may be needed.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Minimum of 10 years’ overall related experience including partnership development, event organization and project management, preferably in international development contexts.
• Outstanding event management, organization and negotiation skills, including being highly creative and having a strong eye for event design and a love of detail.
• Sound business acumen, with the ability to work closely with multiple diverse internal and external partners and stakeholders to produce and manage a big event while also being able to work independently.
• Good understanding of African institutions and policy frameworks.
• Ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment, with mastery of logistics and workflows, capable of overseeing multiple work-streams and dependencies.
• Strategic thinker who enjoys working in a collaborative, solutions driven environment and is proactive.
• Excited by/comfortable with fast paced, dynamic, hands-on role, and ability to adapt to change.
• Flexibility working in multi-cultural environments.
• Budget and financial management skills.
• Good coordination and facilitation skills.
• Active support of HFHI values and commitments:
• Humility – We are part of something bigger than ourselves
• Courage – We do what’s right, even when it is difficult or unpopular
• Accountability – We take personal responsibility for Habitat’s mission
• Safeguarding - HFHI requires that all employees take seriously their ethical responsibilities to safeguarding our intended beneficiaries, their communities, and all those with whom we work. Managers at all levels have responsibilities to support and develop systems that create and maintain an environment that prevents harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse, safeguards the rights of beneficiaries and community members (especially children), and promotes the implementation of Habitat for Humanity’s code of conduct.

Preferred

• Master’s degree.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Deadline for applications is 24 September 2021