The BBC World Service Trust is the BBC's international charity which uses the creative power of media to reduce poverty & promote human rights.
Closing date: 13 Feb 2010Location: Kenya - NairobiJob Title: Executive Director
Location: Nairobi, Kenya, with frequent regional and international travel (relocation date in 2010 to be negotiated)
Duration: 2 years (with possibility of renewal)
Annual Compensation: Commensurate with experience and international rates for non-for-profit, executive level positions, including benefits
Inquiries and Responses: BBC World Service Trust/African Media Initiative,
ami @ bbcwst.net (please include “AMI Director Search” in subject line)
Application Closing Period: Wednesday, 13 February, 2010
Note: Successful candidates will be invited to an interview in Nairobi in mid-March, 2010 with a view to offering the role by June 1st, 2010.
Description:The African Media Initiative (AMI) is an unprecedented pan-African effort to improve democratic governance, social development and economic growth in Africa by strengthening the continent’s media sector.
This continental initiative -- supported by a broad coalition of respected African media entrepreneurs, executives, journalism experts and media academics-- aims to support the development and leadership of a private media sector that is ethical, quality, sustainable and adaptable so that it can fully serve the needs and interests of its audiences and citizens.
At the core of the AMI mission is a shared belief in the critical importance of professional ethics and sound management in the private media sector which is now the dominant provider of news and other public information in almost all African nations.
This includes the innovative and responsible adaptation to new technologies, and a commitment to reaching rural and other marginalised audiences that have long been underserved in African media markets.
With backing and involvement from a broad and diverse community of African media experts and entrepreneurs, AMI includes representatives from all regions of the continent, as well as from all media: print, broadcast and electronic with many participating media houses engaged in all of these interlocking platforms.
The group’s common denominator is a set of professional and personal values, with the ultimate goal of strengthening private media so that it can better address critical public needs and hold governments to greater account.
AMI is firmly grounded in the largest consultation and research process on the media ever to take place in Africa, under the auspices of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the BBC World Service Trust, and led by African journalists, scholars and professionals.
The parallel investigations both concluded that the economic fragility of Africa’s private media keeps it from realizing its full potential for independence and public service. The purpose of AMI is to address the core constraints identified in these research and consultation projects by immediately implementing a set of recommended solutions.
AMI has a projected ten-year horizon, from 2010 to 2020, in which it will seek to catalyze transformational changes for private media operating in the public interest throughout Africa.
It will act as a small, strategic focal point that undertakes a holistic, but select, set of activities geared towards how media can achieve sustainability and serve public needs in equal measure. AMI does not intend to duplicate or compete with already existing media development activities.
Rather, in focusing on the business side of the media sector, AMI seeks to fill a gap that can have dynamic and long-lasting effects for the sector and for society as well as compliment widespread activity that focuses on strengthening journalism. It will do this primarily through developing and brokering partnerships and resources to fill key needs as opposed to executing the solutions itself.
Overall Purpose of the Job
As the senior executive for AMI, the ED is responsible for ensuring the successful delivery of the AMI strategy and business plan, and his/her performance will be measured against this.
S/he must ensure that in all its operations AMI complies with the standards of good governance set out in its Constitution and that its human and financial resources are managed efficiently, and effectively.
The ED has ultimate responsibility for ensuring that AMI finances are managed in accordance with the legal and financial statutes and ensuring that the policies of the Board are applied in full.
The successful candidate will be responsible to the Board for the implementation, finances and management of an initial pilot phase, through 2012, that will work in five priority areas:
1.1 Improving the economic enabling environment by targeting the legal and policy environment for independent media, including needed reforms of repressive press laws and investment-inhibiting regulatory and fiscal structures affecting the media business;
1.2 Strengthening of media markets through capital infusions, new regional loan facilities as needed, cross-border cooperation, and new or expanded vehicles to provide accurate market data, technical aid and investment advisory services;
1.3 Building leadership, management and professional capacity to enhance quality, ethics and overall professionalism of media in Africa, with specific focus on gaps in management and commercial skill building;
1.4 Promoting technological adaptability by focusing on access to technological tools and skills among smaller media enterprises, and fostering innovative uses of mobile phones, fiber-optics connections and other information technologies in the public interest; and,
1.5 Fostering thought leadership and information in the community through convenings, workshops, and research and information products
The executive director will need to work -- and establish excellent working relationships with -- the multinational board, a wide range of senior figures within the donor community, and within the media world in Africa and beyond.
Main Duties:1. Institution & Team Building: AMI will work with a specialized firm to recruit top level African professionals to fill the positions necessary to manage the Initiative and its programmes.
Specific responsibilities include:
* Supervising the work of the agency, establishing Terms of Reference and milestones for the recruitment process of the professional team
* Ensuring that correct procedures for the recruitment of the professional team have been followed
* Ensure that employment, health and safety and organizational risk are followed and that AMI complies with all relevant laws.
* Regularly reporting to the Board on progress of these processes
2. Management and Capacity Building: To lead and develop a cross-functional regional team (developing expertise in project management, finance, HR, and communications) to build the capacity of AMI.
Responsibilities include:
* Building a strong team of staff, managing and guiding their development, plan succession, and taking prompt action to address issues of underperformance
* Ensuring new members of the team receive appropriate training in AMI’s approaches and standards, and their performance is managed effectively
3. Raising and Managing Funds: With members of the Board, develop a strategy to mobilize resources to support AMI, and to make best use of resources available to maximize impact.
Expectations include:
* Supporting board members in marketing the current and planned programme activities in ways which are attractive to institutional and other donors (locally and internationally)
* Overseeing the submission of major donor proposals and contracts, and the timely reporting back to all types of donors
* Convening donor and investor meetings to secure additional pledges to allow for the development of AMI’s programmes
* Establishing a professional finance and accounting function; ensuring the efficient and proper use of funds and assets; creating securing and monitoring implementation of AMI policies and processes for financial control and reporting; and taking prompt action to tackle variances and control gap
4. Programme Development, Management and Delivery: Strategically develop and manage AMI’s portfolio of programmes.
This will include:
* Ensuring that processes are established for identifying relevant implementing partners and where needed processes are followed for grant-making and investment in five (5) priority programme areas listed above
* Establishing advisory panels and experts to help monitor effectiveness of intervention in the five (5) programme priority areas
* Reviewing partnerships and grants to ensure that there is coherence and they fit programme priorities
* Promoting learning by programmes from relevant best practice externally with support from the relevant expert advisors
* Establishing a programme of impact evaluation and ongoing media research to ensure measurement of impact takes place in all programmes and assessing performance regularly against agreed programme objectives and indicators
5. External Relations: Building AMI’s external profile and influence in the region and beyond.
This will include:
* Building effective working relationships with relevant decision makers in key international institutions, civil society organizations, business and in governments on the continent and beyond
* Planning and personally leading activities to deliver outcomes on top priority media development issues for the region, including media profile where appropriate
* Developing close links with key donors and stakeholders (such as the AU, ADB, NEPAD, UN, DFID, private foundations, etc.) with shared interests in the region, to understand their changing interests and priorities, develop appropriate, strategic, collaborative proposals, and build income from donors.
6. Board Relations: Maintain an effective relationship with members of the Board of AMI, providing support to their activities as appropriate.
* In close consultation with Co-Chairs, develop an annual work plan which takes into consideration the infancy of the Initiative and its needs of regular Board meetings as well as the busy schedules of directors.
* Work with Co-Chairs on Board members’ compensation and benefit package as well as on directors’ evaluation process.
Qualifications:The successful candidate will demonstrate or possess:
* Considerable knowledge and experience of media and/or international development in Africa with a proven track record in gaining results
* A strong awareness of the world of international development and a good understanding of the role of communications and media in development
* Proven ability to raise funds, particularly from large institutional donors
* Strong leadership and organisational skills with experience of working with and reporting to an international board of senior figures
* Ability to manage significant budgets and to monitor income and expenditures
* Demonstrable experience of working with outside donor agencies, with a clear understanding of their priorities and motivations
* Proven ability to work with credibility at a senior level, to make presentations and the ability to promote AMI amongst opinion formers and decision makers in many countries
* Proven ability to communicate effectively in English. The ability to communicate in French and/or Portuguese would be a definite advantage.
* Proven ability to manage staff including recruitment, appraisal and performance issues
* Ability to work to contribute significantly to strategic planning and to take forward agreed initiatives
* Minimum 10 years experience in relevant executive/management level position
Application ProcessInterested candidates should submit electronic applications, consisting of a letter of interest (two pages or fewer) and complete curriculum vitae, in either Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format, to the following BBC World Service Trust e-mail address by close of business on Wednesday, 13 February, 2010: ami @ bbcwst.net.
Please include “AMI Director Search” in subject line.
Note: Applications submitted directly to the African Media Initiative will not be received for consideration.
Letters of interest should address:
* Applicant’s availability to participate in interviews in March, 2010;
* Applicant’s availability to relocate to Nairobi, Kenya in 2010 (it is not necessary that the applicant be able to relocate by the contract start date of 1st June, 2010, but relocation at a later date in 2010 -- to be negotiated – is required)
* Applicant’s regional expertise and experience
* Applicant’s written and oral language proficiencies
* Additional pertinent information about the applicant’s interests, experience, and expertise
Inquiries: BBC World Service Trust/African Media Initiative, ami @ bbcwst.net (please include “AMI Director Search” in subject line)
For more information please see
www.africanmediainitiative.org and
bbcworldservicetrust.org
