CARTA Project Coordinator at African Population and Health Research Center

APHRC’s flagship program, The Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) is
an Africa-based, Africa-led initiative, which seeks to rebuild and strengthen the capacity of African
universities to produce well-trained and skilled researchers and scholars in Africa by Africans. The
program addresses an important challenge facing the African academy i.e. the scarcity of a robust
research and training infrastructure capable of offering the type of vibrant and sustained doctoral
training necessary to attract, train and retain the continent's brightest minds.  
 
CARTA has been engaging in discussions around strengthening the capacity of institutional-based
facilitators to independently carry out the CARTA interventions in their respective institutions. In
this respect, CARTA applied and received an award for the NORHED project iCARTA -
Institutionalization  of  Advanced  Research  Training  in  Africa  2021-2026.  iCARTA  prioritized
Training  of  Trainers  (ToT)  workshops  for  the  Joint  Advanced  Seminars  (JASes),  Supervisors
Workshops  (SW),  and  the  Faculty  and  Administrative  Staff  (FAS)  Seminars.  This  project  will  be
implemented by three CARTA partner institutions (University of Rwanda, University of Malawi and
Makerere  University,  respectively),  on  behalf  of  the  entire  CARTA  network.  In  addition,  CARTA
received  a  one-year  mitigation  grant  by  Sida  to,  among  other  activities,  strengthen  institutional
facilitation  capacities  as  we  adapt  to  the  new  normal  resulting  from  COVID-19.  CARTA  also
engaged  a  virtual  learning  expert  to  facilitate  ongoing  transition  of  CARTA  to  blended  learning
space.  
 
CARTA therefore seeks to recruit a Project Coordinator to coordinate course review, transition
to blended and ToT development activities. S/he will also coordinate the CARTA activities in the
Virtual Learning Academy and in the partner institutions that will be implementing the ToT course.
 
Responsibilities:

1. Provide  administrative  support  to  the  process  of  review  of  courses  and  development  of  ToT courses through:
   1. Coordination of meetings, including town halls and team meetings;  
   2. Ensure  documentation  of  resolutions  made  at  meetings,  taking  charge  personally  or ensuring there is appropriate representation when the meetings conflict;  
   3. Liaison  with  the  team  coordinators  and  administrative  officer  on  administrative  and logistics matters of the process;
   4. Carrying  out  follow-ups  with  team  members  on  the  review  and  ToT  development processes;     
   5. Liaison with external experts who will be supporting the project; and
   6. Compilation of outputs of the course review and ToT development processes.
2. Coordinate  the  ToT  and  local  training  activities  at  the  partner  implementing  institutions according to the NORHED plan, in collaboration with the institutional-based coordinators:
   1. Monitor implementation of ToT and local training activities at partner institutions and coordinate  the  Monitoring  and  Evaluation  activities  related  to  the  NORHED  activities, liaising with the M&E officer to ensure collection of complete data about the required indicators;
   2. Be the liaison person between the implementing institutions and the CARTA Secretariat; and
   3. Report on ToT and local training activities to the Program Managers.
3. Coordinate the Virtual Learning Academy activities that relate to CARTA including:
   1. Coordinate  participation  of  CARTA  representatives  in  the  Phase  I  of  the  transition  to blended to inform the framework of competencies;
   2. Coordinate the participation of CARTA facilitators in the needs assessment of Phase I of the transition to blended;
   3. Coordinate participation of CARTA facilitators in  Staff Academy capacity building activities;
   4. Compile the outputs of the course development;
   5. Liaise  with  consultant  and  IT  support  to  load  the  generated  courses  in  the  APHRC Training Academy;
   6. Liaise  with  consultant  and  IT  support  to  coordinate  the  establishment  of  the  CARTA Community of Practice; and
   7. Manage the CARTA Community of Practice.
4. Support further institutionalization of CARTA interventions at partner institutions:
   1. Support fundraising to facilitate institutionalization activities at CARTA partner institutions; and
   2. Liaise with CARTA focal persons and university representatives to promote and support institutionalization activities at CARTA partner institutions.
   3. Research  on  impact  of  CARTA  training  interventions  and  institutionalization  activities  of  the CARTA program.

Qualifications and Experience:

1. Doctorate degree in Education related fields.  
2. Experience and strong interest in research, research capacity strengthening and
3. instructional/curriculum design.
4. Demonstrated prior experience in curriculum development, training, and implementation.
5. Hands-on experience coordinating different short course training workshops.  
6. Experience  with  various  training  methods  (including  virtual,  in-person  training,  and blended offering) and up-to-date with new training methods and techniques.
7. Strong writing skills and good record of publications (at least 3 lead author publications in  peer-reviewed  journals  and  over  5  conference  presentations  in  defined  area  of interest).
8. Computer literacy in Microsoft packages (e.g. MS Word, MS PowerPoint, & MS Excel).  

Desired  

1. Familiarity with postgraduate training in health and/or social science related fields.
2. Strong research quantitative skills and quantitative skills.
3. Experience with e-learning platforms.
4. Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills and ability to work in a culturally diverse team