Career Opportunities at Code for Africa (CfA)

Code for Africa (CfA) has an immediate vacancy for a full-time Research Manager to join our CivicSignal team. The position is based at one of our regional hubs in Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal or South Africa. We’re also open to exceptional applicants from elsewhere in Africa.

The successful candidate will join CfA’s transnational CivicSignal research team, which drives analysis of the continent’s media ecosystem and emerging civic technology sector. You will be part of a multinational and multilingual team that uses natural language processing (NLP) and machine intelligence tools and digital surveys/analysis to create research reports and datasets for a global audience and international institutional partners. 

Candidates must have demonstrable experience in managing research teams, in planning and coordinating the execution of data-driven digital research projects, and transforming the research insights into publishable formats.

The ideal applicant is fluent in English. Additional proficiency in international languages such as French and/or Arabic would be an advantage.

About the Role:

The successful candidates will join CfA’s CivicSignal Research team, managing, conducting and publishing research projects focussed on African media ecosystems. Previous research partners included the Global Disinformation Index Media Market Analysis for South Africa and Kenya, as well as several Reuters Institute Digital News Reports.

Fundamentally, CivicSignal addresses issues and topics that impact democracies and civil society, seeking to provide the data and analysis necessary for government and citizens to make informed decisions. The projects range across a broad spectrum, including internal and external mis/disinformation, media sustainability, monitoring of hate speech and xenophobia, and general media ecosystem mapping.

Required

• Evidence of managing a substantive research project, or research team.
• Experience in building design approaches and methodologies for research teams, and a familiarity with taxonomies and schema that inform research projects. 
• Strong analytical and logical skills, with a demonstrable track record translating data into actionable insights.
• An understanding of media ecosystems and economies and/or digital advocacy and/or digital civic engagement.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to write for publication, present research insights and shape research proposals.
• Meticulous eye for detail to ensure data integrity and analytical precision.
• The ability to collaborate with a diverse set of multidisciplinary project stakeholders.
• Experience in working with remote, distributed teams with agile methodologies.
• Previous experience of contributing to reports and research publications
• Proactive, solutions-oriented approach to problem solving
• Ability to work under tight deadlines with good prioritisation and time management skills
• Ability to work with minimal instruction in a teamwork environment
• Strong organisational, analytical and interpersonal skills
• High professional standards and ethics

Preferred: 

• Competence in open source intelligence (OSINT) research techniques, including data scraping, data mining and other intelligence gathering techniques.
• Competence in computational linguistics, natural language processing (NLP), and specifically the  methodologies and tools offered by the MediaCloud.org platform.
• Multiple languages, such as French, Arabic and other languages spoken in Africa.

Language and Location Requirements:

• Location: Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal or South Africa. Exceptional candidates from elsewhere in Africa will be considered.
• International Languages: English
• Preferred but not required: Arabic, French, KiSwahili or any other major language spoken in Africa.

go to method of application »

The candidate will join our pan-African Knowledge team in one of our primary hubs in Kenya, Nigeria or South Africa. While applicants from these countries will be prioritised, CfA has full-time staff in 21 African countries and is open to exceptional applicants from elsewhere on the continent.

StoryLab is the virtual newsroom for CfA’s Knowledge initiative, which spearheads digital storytelling initiatives and data journalism training partnerships. These partnerships include a network of more than 50 partner newsrooms and 30 partner universities across Africa, as well as CfA communities such as the WanaData women data science/storytelling network, the africanDRONE civic drone community and the sensors.AFRICA sensor journalism initiative. The Knowledge team is also the custodian of other major CfA public infrastructure, such as the continent’s largest open data portal, openAFRICA, and Africa’s largest census data portal, HURUmap.

The Chief Copy Editor will build and supervise the StoryLab’s multilingual copydesk, managing a transnational team that sub-edits and polishes all editorial content prior to publication. Your duties will include recruiting and nurturing a pan-African team of copy editors, and developing a robust CfA style guide to set standards and processes for producing world-class digital storytelling. You will also be responsible for the day-to-day copyflow that detects defects in content and ensures factual accuracy/coherence and grammar/syntax consistency, while meeting deadlines and quality standards.  

The successful candidate will work under the supervision of the StoryLab’s Managing Editor, and will liaise closely with CfA’s WanaData network and partner newsrooms, supported by CfA’s wider Knowledge team of editorial experts, data analysts and digital designers in 21 African countries.

About the Role:

The successful candidate will join CfA’s Knowledge team as part of its StoryLab editorial hub, which seeks to produce storytelling that pushes the envelope both in terms of topics and techniques. StoryLab is led by a Managing Editor and functions as a distributed/virtual newsroom with core staff spread across Africa.

The Chief Copy Editor will manage a small, agile copydesk and specialist translators who sub-edit all CfA digital storytelling, including content produced by WanaData and other ‘fellows’ who are staff journalists at over 50 partner newsrooms across 21 African countries. The ‘fellows’ receive grants or technical support to research and write stories as part of CfA initiatives, such as the Outbreak project that tracks public health emergencies, or Dominion that tracks environmental and land related issues.

The reportage will include pioneering digital techniques, ranging from OSINT (open source intelligence) -driven investigative journalism, to data-driven journalism and multimedia reportage that uses drone/satellite imagery, or evidence from scientific labs or other non-traditional information sources. Stories will be designed as interactive digital packages that can be published in different formats across a range of platforms, from traditional print/broadcast media, to innovative social media (including bots, social video, episodic narratives, etc) and other digital channels.

The copydesk will apply a three-step copy editing process to all content to ensure factual accuracy/coherence, legal compliance/fairness, context, grammar/syntax consistency and adherence to CfA’s editorial style/standard guidelines. The Chief Copy Editor will be responsible for ensuring that copyflow management sticks to agreed deadlines and quality standards, that journalists respond promptly to requests for clarity or corrections on draft content, and that multimedia materials (such as infographics) are commissioned timeously. The Chief Copy Editor will also ensure that feedback to journalists and/or designers is framed as constructive guidance, to help ensure that teams progressively improve the standard of raw content produced by partner newsrooms. This will include custodianship of a CfA style guide, and convening regular ‘brownbag’ skills webinars to improve and standardise editorial quality.

Because of the transnational nature of CfA’s networks, the copydesk will also oversee translation of content from English to other major partner languages, including Arabic and French, as well as large African languages such as Amharic and Kiswahili.

The copydesk will be expected to proactively amplify women’s voices in reportage, spotlighting gender perspectives, quoting women experts and changing perspectives.  The copydesk will receive support from CfA’s in-house data/design teams, as well as technical support programmes.

Required: 

• Excellent journalistic copy-editing and proofreading skills to ensure factual accuracy/coherence and grammar/syntax consistency.
• Experience of managing a copydesk and team in a mainstream multimedia environment, where content is packaged for publication in a wide variety of formats.
• Demonstrable understanding of technical editorial production systems and CMS tools, involving multi-stage copy-editing processes.
• A track record for copy flow management that sticks to editorial deadlines and quality standards.
• Experience at coordinating digital multimedia content (such as infographics or social media collateral) as an element of copy-edited reportage.
• Experience at creating or refining editorial guidelines, style guides and playbooks that set the tone, voice and standards for storytelling. 
• Passion for mentoring young talent and growing new voices. 
• Strong organisational and decision-making skills, with the ability to coordinate multiple tasks and projects simultaneously, while meeting deadlines and maintaining standards.

Preferred:

• At least 3 years experience in a managerial/leadership role on a fast-paced multilingual and transnational copy desk in mainstream digital media, such as international news agencies/wire services or digital first media platforms.
• Experience at working with cross-platform data-driven journalism or other multimedia storytelling.
• A keen eye for data visual storytelling techniques, including experience at integrating social video and interactive infographics into story packages.
• An understanding of social media storytelling techniques, and editing guidelines, with insights into the strengths/differences of different platforms, including ‘dark social’ channels.
• A track-record for using copy-editing to actively and formally mentor/train award-winning digital storytellers.
• Experience in using digital collaboration tools, including Slack, Google Workplace, and Trello to manage editorial workflows, alongside more traditional editorial CMS platforms.
• Proven ability at working effectively in virtual or distributed newsrooms, coordinating multicultural and multilingual writers, editors, and other project teams across different time zones.

Language and Location Requirements:

• Location: Kenya, Nigeria or South Africa.
• Languages: English. 
• Preferred, but not required:  Arabic and French, plus major African languages such as Amharic, Fulani, Kiswahili, isiZulu, Yoruba, etc

Responsibilities: 

• Recruiting and managing a core team of highly skilled copyeditors, that transforms raw journalism into award-winning multimedia storytelling.
• Managing a centralised news diary/schedule, in consultation with the Managing Editor, that governs copyflow with clear production milestones and that delivers content for publication on deadline.
• Implementing a rigorous proofreading/quality control editing system, that ensures factual accuracy/coherence, legal compliance/fairness, context, grammar/syntax consistency and adherence to CfA’s editorial style/standard guidelines.
• Designing and curating CfA’s editorial style/standard guidelines, including tipsheets or learning resources for journalists and other content producers to incrementally improve the quality of their raw reportage.
• Providing regular constructive feedback, guidance, and mentoring for both copy-editors and journalists, to nurture and grow new talent. 

go to method of application »

As News Editor, you will be responsible for a team of multilingual researchers/fact-checkers across 13 African countries who debunk misinformation on social and traditional media platforms for an international audience. The team works in a fast-paced virtual newsroom, applying global editorial verification/fact-checking standards to hard-hitting issues ranging from complex conflict situations in countries as diverse as Ethiopia and Mali, to conspiracist anti-vaxx or health claims, and extremist hate speech or election related political claims.

Candidates must have demonstrable experience managing a mainstream newsdesk, with proven success working on editorial initiatives that consistently produce high-quality and impactful content on tight deadlines. The News Editor’s primary international language will be English, with additional proficiency in Amharic, Arabic, French and/or kiSwahili being an advantage.

PesaCheck is the continent’s largest indigenous fact-checking initiative, by geographic coverage, with teams in 13 African countries. It researches and debunks misinformation published both online and elsewhere in more traditional media, publishing over 2,000 fact-checks per year, in partnership with major platforms ranging from Facebook and TikTok, to traditional media. PesaCheck also tracks promises by public officials and shines a light on public finances to ensure the public is not misled. PesaCheck forms part of Code for Africa (CfA), which is Africa’s largest non-profit digital/data journalism initiative. 

The successful candidate will be responsible for PesaCheck’s main newsdesk, supported by a Deputy News Editor and two Newsdesk Assistants, who collectively manage a team of ~25 multilingual journalists. The News Editor reports to PesaCheck’s Managing Editor.

About the Role:

The successful candidate will join Africa’s largest fact-checking initiative: PesaCheck.

PesaCheck currently works across 13 African countries, publishing in two international languages (English and French) and a range of major regional indigeonous languages (including Amharic, Afaan-Oromo, Tigrinya and Kiswahili). Its debunks are syndicated by a range of traditional media across the continent, and is also used by major social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc, to combat misinformation. Facebook alone labels over six million posts a year as harmful/misleading based on PesaCheck debunks.

PesaCheck’s newsroom is structured with a central multilingual newsdesk, managed by the News Editor, that finds and researches misinformation to produce public debunk reports. The newsdesk is supported by a copydesk, managed by the Chief Copyeditor, which reviews and revises all content from the newsdesk to ensure that it meets our factual, language and ethical standards. A special projects team works alongside the newsdesk, under supervision of a Special Projects Editor, to drive election monitoring, newsroom partnerships and a large training initiative. PesaCheck is overseen by a Managing Editor, who answers to CfA’s Editor-in-Chief who also manages the organisation’s other investigative and data journalism newsrooms.

The PesaCheck newsroom is staffed by editorial staff including journalists/researchers, data analysts, translators, editors and multimedia producers. 

The News Editor will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the newsdesk, managing the frontline journalists/researchers across multiple time-zones, with key duties including setting editorial targets and production schedules (strictly enforcing publication deadlines where necessary), helping journalists identify appropriate leads/issues for research, and ensuring that journalists get the data analysis or multimedia support needed to produce impactful content.

A major mechanism for achieving this will be the News Editor’s management of an editorial diary, or editorial calendar, that allows for seamless synchronisation of editorial production with the copydesk and other support teams.

Required: 

• Demonstrable newsdesk editorial management skills, honed during at least five years managing teams of journalists in a mainstream media or equivalent digital publishing environment.
• Demonstrable understanding of the step-by-step production process for creating well researched and substantiated news reports, including familiarity with editorial diaries/schedules, editorial workflow, and content assignment/deadline management.
• Meticulous attention to detail, with the ability to work with congeniality in a fast-paced deadline-driven environment. This includes being an organisational whiz who is able to prioritise multiple simultaneous tasks, while at the same time having the people skills needed to engage diplomatically and collaborate effectively with colleagues under tight deadlines.
• Robust critical thinking, and strong research and investigative skills, with good general knowledge and interest in current affairs.
• Proven track-record for creative problem solving in fast-paced impact-driven environments, where solutions involve balancing human and production considerations.
• Demonstrable ability to self-manage, creating your own as well as wider team timelines and milestones with clear systems/processes.
• Proficiency in collaborative work solutions such as Google Workplace (Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, etc.), Slack (or equivalents such as Teams), and project management tools like Trello (or equivalents).

Preferred: 

• Previous experience in a fact-checking or editorial verification newsroom.
• In-depth knowledge about ‘information disorder’ and the differences between misinformation and disinformation and mal-information, as well as conspiracist content and hate speech.
• Working knowledge of French, and/or Arabic, in addition to the African languages within PesaCheck’s 13-country focus area.

Language and Location Requirements:

• Location: East Africa, or anywhere else in Africa.
• Languages: English required (French, Arabic, Kiswahili, Amharic helpful)

Responsibilities: 

• You will manage and nurture PesaCheck’s in-country journalists, overseeing their day-to-day research, helping develop their skills and knowledge, and keeping them on-schedule to meet agreed deadlines and other deliverables.
• You will select and prioritise editorial leads for your journalists from PesaCheck’s various editorial tip-lines or algorithmic ‘listening’ or media monitoring tools to help ensure we focus our attention on the most harmful misinformation/conspiracies
• You will facilitate daily editorial planning meetings at which editorial leads/assignments are brainstormed and allocated to in-country journalists/researchers, with clear editorial briefs and submission deadlines. 
• You will, with the support of your Newsdesk Assistants, ensure that journalists meet agreed editorial targets and production schedules, while adhering to PesaCheck’s ethical and editorial policies and standards.
• You will ensure the accuracy, clarity, fairness and appropriateness of all draft content, and will ensure that journalists respond promptly to any queries or requests by the copydesk or other support teams.
• You will, in consultation with other editors, make suggestions on explanatory infographics or other multimedia/visual elements for the graphic or data teams to produce to accompany fact-checks.
• You will, with the support of Newsdesk Assistants and CfA’s technology team, manage PesaCheck’s various databases and digital tools for tracking, matching and analysing misinformation.
• You will, in consultation with other editors, proactively identify editorial challenges, ranging from skills-gaps to conflict or censorship, that impact on PesaCheck’s research and you will also proactively identify other production bottlenecks that erode PesaCheck’s ability to quickly debunk emerging misinformation narratives. 
• You will, with input from the Managing Editor, drive the refinement of PesaCheck’s editorial style guide and newsdesk ‘playbook’ (operational manual) and editorial policies to help journalists better understand their role and content production guidelines. 

go to method of application »

The StoryLab will be supported by CfA’s larger pan-African network of full-time data analysts, digital designers and newsroom mentors/trainers, with additional support from CfA’s software engineering and forensic research teams in 21 countries across the continent.

About the Role:

The successful candidate will work with CfA’s executive committee (ExCo) to transform the organisation’s existing editorial resources into a centralised virtual StoryLab newsroom, to drive pioneering digital journalism projects across the continent.

While the StoryLab will focus on digital and data-driven multimedia reportage, the managing editor’s core ‘superpowers’ will be compelling storytelling and high-impact journalism, as well as building and managing winning teams, rather than just digital expertise. CfA has a strong technical team to support the data/digital aspects of the StoryLab’s mission.

The managing editor’s core team will include a digital-savvy deputy editor, at least two full-time copyeditors, and a number of veteran ‘beat’ or topic editors managing thematic desks focused on everything from health emergencies and gender inequality, to religious extremism and state capture, as well as our ‘Dominion’ portfolio of climate and land-focused projects.

Collaborative field reporting will be undertaken by CfA’s network of 50+ mainstream newsroom partners across the continent, our affiliated innovation partners such as the Oxpeckers Centre and InfoNile, as well as selected journalism fellows from CfA’s WanaData network of 450+ women data scientists/storytellers. The resulting stories will be published by networks of African and global media partners, including major European and North American media. 

Journalism projects will be underpinning by sophisticated data/digital resources, such as CfA’s OUTBREAK toolkit for tackling health emergencies, or by support from its in-house investigative forensic research lab, its network of fact-checkers in 13 African countries or its AI/machine learning research team at CivicSignal.

The role will require a combination of editorial agenda/vision-setting skills and charisma, as well as robust journalistic storytelling talent, and strong people/systems management skills to ensure that all the moving pieces sync into polished story packages, on deadline and within budget. 

The successful candidate will need to be a culture fit with CfA, and must have a passion for co-creating solutions-driven products, through visual/multimedia storytelling that offers audiences actionable insights or information, underpinned by evidence-based investigative analysis. The candidate must also embrace peer-mentoring, nurturing both their team and partners through collaborative co-production

Key performance indicators will include setting and maintaining international-level editorial standards; growing an award-winning multidisciplinary editorial team; meeting editorial targets and production deadlines; mentoring and growing a pan-African network of reporting partners/journalists. 

Required 

• Demonstrable newsroom leadership skills honed during at least seven years in a mainstream media or equivalent digital publishing environment.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills and demonstrable aptitude for nurturing young talent, and drawing out the best in emerging voices.
• Exceptional writing and editing skills which will help set benchmarks for world-class editorial standards.
• Robust critical thinking and creative solution aptitudes, with strong research and investigative skills.
• Proven track-record for creative problem solving in fast-paced and impact-driven environments, where solutions involve balancing human and technology considerations.
• Demonstrable ability to self-manage, creating your own as well as wider team timelines and milestones with clear systems/processes.
• A solid understanding of journalistic production systems and workflow methodologies, including how to integrate multimedia and digital storytelling techniques, built around actionable information, to create compelling storytelling.
• Digital workplace skill sets, including proficiency in collaborative work solutions such as Google Drive (Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, etc.), Slack (or equivalents such as Teams), and project management tools like Trello (or equivalents).

Preferred candidates who are able to demonstrate the following will have an advantage:

• Experience managing/working with transnational teams, across multiple time zones, with diverse cultural backgrounds.
• Proficiency in data-driven or investigative journalism, and/or visual (infographic/social media video) storytelling or other multi-platform news production.
• A strong track record for peer-to-peer mentoring of young journalists and newsroom teams.
• Working knowledge of at least one major regional African language, such as Amharic, Fulani, Swahili, Yoruba, etc.

Language and Location Requirements:

• Location: Kenya, Nigeria or South Africa preferred, but open to candidates based elsewhere in Africa 
• Languages: English primary language
• Preferred but not required: Arabic and French, plus major African languages such Fulani, Kiswahili, isiZulu, Yoruba, etc

Responsibilities 

• You will, in consultation with CfA’s ExCo and with the support of its ManCom, transform the organisation’s disparate editorial resources into a centralised virtual newsroom, as the StoryLab.
• You will grow and forge the existing full-time core team of editors and copyeditors into a dynamic newsroom that produces international award-winning content.
• You will steer development of a strategic editorial roadmap for the StoryLab, identifying issues and countries for prioritised attention and suggesting storytelling techniques and partners for amplifying our impact.
• You will shape CfA’s editorial standards, setting product benchmarks and quality guidelines, as well as creating editorial policies and playbooks.
• You will help set and then achieve editorial targets, will establish production schedules and will help ensure the StoryLab delivers on project deadlines, at agreed quality standards, while meeting partner and audience expectations within the agreed budgets/resources. 
• You will champion adherence to the StoryLab’s editorial standards and methodologies within CfA, and externally with partners and in industry fora, in the pursuit of editorial excellence.
• You will embrace CfA’s philosophy of solutions-driven actionable information, and will ensure the accuracy, relevance and quality of the StoryLab’s content.
• You will set the tone and pace for peer-mentoring CfA’s storytelling partners, in the WanaData network of 450+ women data scientists/journalists and our network of 50+ newsroom partners. 

go to method of application »

The Courseware Developer will be CfA’s in-house ‘architect’ for designing the structure of training courses. The candidate reports to the Data Academy’s Senior Programme Manager and will work with the support of CfA’s wider Data Academy team of editorial experts, data analysts and digital designers in 20 African countries, as well as external domain experts in order to achieve set programmes or module objectives. The candidate will champion CfA’s Academy Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), ensuring that it is on par with the world’s best. 

About the Role

The successful candidate will join CfA’s Data Academy team to lead a revamp/refresh of our existing MOOC platform, restructuring and updating existing courseware, while also improving the functionality and user experience on the platform (with support from CfA’s tech and content teams).

A major focus for the role will be to build courses that are modular, with core lessons teaching key skills, complimented by elective modules that offer topic/tool specific add-on skills. CfA courseware is intended to be flexible enough to be easily customised or repackaged for different audiences by our in-country staff trainers or university partners. The MOOC courseware also serves as the master curricula for teaching kits for our in-person/offline training workshops, as well as template course materials for our university partners.

CfA’s courseware developer will be responsible for benchmarking our learning materials on global best-practise, and will also lead our joint development of new courses with both internal and external stakeholders to create learning solutions.

The candidate should have a strong strategic analysis and critical thinking skills, as our projects are varied and fast-paced, so you need to quickly understand and learn new things. You will need to possess a keen attention to detail and a good eye for both quality and aesthetics. You should be comfortable handling multiple tasks with multiple ongoing deadlines and should have previous experience working on the digital collaboration tools that CfA uses, such as Slack, Google Drive, and Trello.

Required 

• Bachelor’s Degree or significant proven expertise in any related disciplines with equivalent combination of practical experience and professional training/certification in any of the following: instructional design and learning technologies, computer science and education, information technology, or other closely related fields.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience in training development, creating blended learning solutions for both instructor-led and self-paced training programmes.
• Experience with using multimedia and online web instructional materials, especially for a web-based Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as WordPress’ LearnDash platform.
• Experience assessing training needs, writing lessons objectives, and storyboarding course outlines/learning journeys. 
• Ability to work creatively and accurately under pressure with excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to multitask and self-organise, and prioritise work when managing multiple timelines and schedules.
• Excellent leadership, team-building, and self-management skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.  

Preferred: 

• Knowledge of data journalism and/or multimedia storytelling, or civic technology and civic engagement, or digital democracy approaches.
• Experience with developing courseware formats for new communication channels, including using mobile platforms as WhatsApp or equivalent social messaging platforms.
• Experience with creating or customising courseware content using InDesign (or equivalent tools), video scribe, audio/narration editing tools and other e-learning design technologies is also an asset.
• Expertise in adult learning and all aspects of instructional design for various formats, including instructor-led, self-directed e-learning, task-driven experiential learning, webinar-driven interactive learning, mobile optimised courseware, and various types of performance support.
• Willingness to teach others and learn/pioneer new techniques.
• Experience in remote collaboration tools, including Slack, Google Drive, and Trello to manage workflows.
• The ability to communicate and work effectively with curriculum or domain experts and project team members who work remotely and in different time zones.

Language and Location Requirements:

• Location: South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria or anywhere else in Africa
• Languages: English
• Preferred but not required: French and/or Arabic

Responsibilities: 

• Conceptualising and designing master curricula, in consultation with CfA programme teams and external domain experts, for modular, task-driven experiential courses that function as both self-directed e-learning and as in-person courseware of instructors.
• Developing courseware support materials, including facilitator guides and user-manuals; participant materials and exercises/assignments; and course handouts/toolkits. 
• Repacking the master curriculum for offline/in-person presentation, including developing presentation slides (PowerPoint, etc) with instructor talking points/notes; class handouts and participant handbooks, etc.
• Cultivate and manage a pool of thematic experts that CfA can call upon to co-author courses and/or present flagship classes.
• Proactively measure user experience and participant trends/feedback to improve the quality and effectiveness of CfA courseware.
• Monitor overall usage/completion rates and trends for CfA’s online MOOC and other webinar-based learning programmes, to offer actionable insights to improve the effectiveness of CfA’s Academy programmes.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of the training courses 
• Monitor trends in teaching practices, and explore and recommend new technologies that will enhance Data Academy’s training model
• Advise CfA’s trainers on the following aspects of the training content: accessibility, readability, potential for learner engagement and fit with learning objectives.
• Work with CfA engagement team to promote CfA training programmes including the MOOC site to the wider public and increase traffic and engagement on the site.

go to method of application »

The successful candidate will join CfA’s transnational CivicSignal research team, which drives analysis of the continent’s media ecosystem and emerging civic technology sector. You will be the  editorial sherpa for Code for Africa’s multinational and multilingual team that uses digital collaboration tools and machine intelligence toolkits to create research reports and datasets for a global audience and international institutional partners. 

Candidates must have demonstrable experience in managing investigative processes and research diaries, driving content production pipelines that involve collaboration across multiple multinational and multilingual teams across Africa to ensure they deliver world-class reports and data-driven insights to an agreed-upon schedule.

The ideal applicant is fluent in English. Additional proficiency in French and/or Arabic would be an advantage.

About the Role:

The successful candidates will join CfA’s transnational CivicSignal research team, to craft and manage the content production process and output for CfA’s content production teams. These include iLab, our digital forensics investigative team, and PesaCheck, our fact-checking team, as well as the CivicSignal research team. Outputs take the form of research reports, briefing documents and presentations, among others.

As part of a multinational team within a growing organisation, you must be agile and able to thrive in a multicultural environment. You will need to work easily with people from different backgrounds who may speak different languages. 

Required: 

• Demonstrable newsroom management skills in a mainstream media or equivalent digital publishing environment.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills and demonstrable aptitude for operationally managing multiple content production teams across countries.
• Demonstrable ability to create team timelines and milestones with clear systems/processes.
• A solid understanding of journalistic or other media-related production systems and workflow methodologies.
• Digital workplace skill sets, including proficiency in collaborative digital work solutions such as Google Drive (Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, etc.), Slack (or equivalents such as Teams), and project management tools like Trello (or equivalents).
• An understanding of media ecosystems and/or digital advocacy and/or digital civic engagement.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to present research insights and shape research outputs.
• The ability to collaborate with a diverse set of multidisciplinary project stakeholders.
• Experience in working with remote, distributed teams with agile methodologies.
• Proactive, solutions-oriented approach to problem solving
• Ability to work under tight deadlines with good prioritisation and time management skills
• Ability to work with minimal instruction in a teamwork environment
• Strong organisational, analytical and interpersonal skills
• High professional standards and ethics

Preferred: 

• Competence in open source intelligence (OSINT) research techniques, including data scraping, data mining and other intelligence gathering techniques.
• Competence in computational linguistics, Natural Language Processing, and specifically the  methodologies and tools offered by the MediaCloud.org platform.
• Multiple languages, such as French, Arabic and other languages spoken in Africa.

Language and Location Requirements:

• Location: Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal or South Africa. Exceptional candidates from elsewhere in Africa will be considered.
• International Language: English
• Preferred but not required: Arabic, French, KiSwahili or any other major language spoken in Africa.

Responsibilities: 

• Managing the editorial production process and content diaries for CfA’s teams producing analytic and investigative reports.
• Scheduling and running the weekly ‘insights diary’ used to shape CfA’s reports and investigative outputs.
• Ensuring that reports, presentations and briefing documents are delivered on time by the relevant teams.
• Ensuring that analytical and investigative outputs are aligned with organisational goals and lead to meaningful outcomes.

go to method of application »

The successful candidate will work with an agile transnational Knowledge team of data analysts, community coordinators, digital designers, and editorial experts, with additional support from CfA’s software engineering and forensic research teams, in 22 countries across the continent.

About this role

The successful candidate will help CfA build a community of Wikipedians-in-Residence (WiR) in Anglophone and Francophone African countries, specialising in editing, fact-checking and verification of information in Wikipedia as well as help build sustainable relationships with CfA’s partners, Wikipedia communities in Africa, and local Wikipedia volunteer groups. 

You will help develop and grow a community of volunteer Wikipedia editors and contributors, by organising events, facilitating technical training, marshalling resources and forging partnerships with research, media, statistical organisations and Wikipedia communities. You will also help pioneer new ways for the wider Wikipedia community in Africa to mobilise and tackle topical issues such as climate denialism or delayism and related mis/disinformation.

The ideal candidates will have strong strategic analysis and critical thinking skills, as our projects are varied and fast-paced, so you need to quickly understand and learn new things. You will need to possess keen attention to detail. You should be comfortable handling multiple tasks with multiple ongoing deadlines and should have previous experience working on the digital collaboration tools that CfA uses, such as Slack, Google Drive, and Trello.

Required 

• Substantial, practical experience working as a WiR or as part of a Wikipedia project. 
• Registered Wikipedian with a good reputation on Wikipedia.
• Advanced hands-on experience in Wikipedia editing and understanding of rules that govern Wikipedia editing. 
• Ability to write online learning material and implement online workshops on Wikipedia’s toolkits and culture.
• Experience in organising Wikipedia edit-a-thons or other related Wiki events.
• Comfortable with training, skills coaching and mentoring.    
• Experience in digital research, online community organising and outreach. 
• Ability to work across a diverse network of editors and researchers.
• Organised and able to create, manage and oversee multiple timelines and schedules.
• Ability to work creatively and accurately under pressure with excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to multitask, prioritise, and manage time efficiently.
• Excellent partnership engagement and stakeholder management skills.
• Excellent leadership, team-building, and self-management skills.
• Experience working with online-first tools such as Google Product Suite 
• Proficient in English language (spoken and written).

Preferred: 

• Familiarity with climate denialism and climate justice programmes.
• Familiarity with data analysis and data visualisation tools such as spreadsheets, R, Flourish will be an added advantage.
• Relationships with Wikipedia communities in Africa and media houses.
• Bilingual in English and French (spoken and written)
• Bachelor’s degree in any relevant field

Language and Location Requirements:

• Location: Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa or Uganda. Exceptional candidates from elsewhere in Africa will be considered.
• Languages: English 
• Preferred but not required: Arabic, French, KiSwahili or any other major language spoken in Africa.

Responsibilities: 

• Build and manage a community of Wikipedia editors and contributors across four or more countries in Africa.
• Organise WiR community events including monthly meetups and edit-a-thons which will focus on researching specific topics to fast-track the creation of new entries on Wikipedia, or make corrections/updates to existing entries.
• Forge partnerships with research, media, statistical organisations and Wikipedia communities.
• Facilitate technical training on how to edit Wikipedia articles, create content on topical issues on Wikipedia and determine the quality and credibility of Wikipedia articles.
• Work with local user groups to replicate Wikipedia’s successful approaches, Wikipedia’s new machine learning tools and playbooks. This will include training Wikipedia editors to teach user groups to use and contribute to Wikipedia by demystifying the editorial processes and providing guidance on establishing quality standards of the resource. 
• Develop publicity content covering CfA’s work on Wikipedia.
• Conceptualise and develop Wikipedia online courses for CfA’s MOOC
• Track and compile data collected about participants and the impact of the Wikipedia training sessions and events.
• Conceptualise and develop Wikipedia and other Communities’ training materials.
• Create weekly and monthly WiR community engagement plans and project reports.