Learning officer Open government Partnership

Learning Officer OGP

About the Open Government Partnership (OGP):

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is an international, voluntary effort to improve government performance, encourage civic participation and enhance government responsiveness to people. OGP aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.  To achieve these objectives, OGP brings together governments and civil society organizations as true partners. OGP is overseen by a Steering Committee composed of governments and civil society organizations in equal numbers, a unique model that embodies the goal of civic participation. Its chairs are also drawn from both sectors.  OGP is already demonstrating the power of this approach – in its first year it has grown from 8 participating countries to 57, each of which embraces the OGP Declaration of Principles, and commits to developing and implementing country action plans, all jointly developed with civil society.

About the team of the independent Civil Society Coordinator: 

The role of the independent Civil Society Coordinator (CSC) of the OGP is to further the achievement of the OGP open government objectives by building and engaging a strong civil society network at the national and international level. This goal will be advanced through activities to advance learning, improve communication, strengthen skills, and provide better access to knowledge and resources.

The team has two main objectives: making sure that national civil society actors are well-informed and better equipped to play their role in achieving their (OGP) objectives and partner with their government on OGP, as well as making sure that by working with the civil society members of the Steering Committee, the key interests of civil society are reflected in international OGP governance, positions and events.

The principles of work of the team are: independent and supportive; fostering the local dynamic; transparent and accountable; prioritizing reflection and learning; inclusive and diverse; getting things done. The team of the independent Civil Society Coordinator is hosted by Hivos. Over the next few months the team will grow to 4 positions (including the advertised position), plus 0.2 FTE team assistance support by Hivos.

Position description:

Hivos is looking for a dynamic, self-motivated individual to work as Leaning Officer in the team of the independent Civil Society Coordinator. The Learning Officer will report directly to and work closely with the CSC, and will spend most time collecting and translating interesting stories/experiences and reports/resources on open government and T&A in general, and on making the results of the work available to the wider OGP community. A small part of the job consists of assisting the CSC in organizing learning activities executed by third parties to capture in-country experiences and approaches with OGP.

Responsibilities:

• Collect relevant stories, experiences and other resources on open government and OGP specific work and ‘translate’ them into user-friendly and digestible products for CSO audiences.
• Provide well-written, relatively short pieces of research, that are immediately relevant to actors in the community, and that build on proven approaches and experiences within of the OGPcommunity.
• Responsible for maintaining the resources and case studies available on the OGP civil society website (once launched) and for contributing to the bi-monthly civil society newsletter.
• Assist the CSC in organizing learning activities executed by third parties to capture in-country experiences and approaches with OGP.
• Providing other support to the CSCas needed.

Requirements and skills:

• Masters degree in knowledge management or relevant field (e.g. international affairs, social or political science, development);
• Three to five years ofwork experience, preferably in knowledge management, research or information management;
• Experience in open government, transparency, accountability, citizen engagement and/or smart use of technology desirable;
• Strong analytical skills, ability to process a lot of information and communicate it effectively to a broad CSO audience.
• Strong writing and presentation skills, technologically savvy, including strong competence in social networking tools;
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, ability to consistently meettight deadlines;
• Ability to learn quickly and work independently; resourceful and creative
• Proficiency in English as requirement;
• Possess exceptional interpersonal skills; desire to work as part of a small, virtual team.

Details and how to apply

• Position based at Hivos in The Hague (The Netherlands)
• Preferred start date is January 2013
• Compensation commensurate with experience with a maximum of € 3.716,15 (4 day working week,  salary scale 11). Initial contract for 12 months
• Applications (letter of motivation and curriculum vitae (resume) must be submitted to Hivos via e-mail to jobs@hivos.nl with reference code 1211300-27 before 23 November 2012.

Questions

Please address any questions to Paul Maassen, independent civil society coordinator, at pmaassen@hivos.nl.