Introduction: The Council of Governors is established under Section 19 of the Intergovernmental Relations Act 2012 and is mandated to provide a mechanism for consultation amongst County Governments and share information on performance of the counties in execution of their functions among other functions (Section20).
The Council of Governors is charged with the mandate of information sharing across all counties regarding implementation of devolution.
Objective: The Council of Governors has begun the process of establishing a best practice centre to support in the implementation of the specific mandate of sharing best practices.
The Best Practice Centre will be a multi-sectoral multi-stakeholder source of information for innovative practices implemented by counties and borrows from other external/international experiences for documentation, learning and sharing.
It is for this purpose that COG is recruiting a Best Practice, Monitoring and Evaluation Director.
Duties and Responsibilities
Establish and supervise the Policy and Best Practices Service team(PBPS) as well as PBPS Knowledge Management Guidance Teams to develop a knowledge management action plan and that will address the counties’ operational learning needs and help the COG identify, capture and share lessons with counties and various stakeholders.
Assess, report on, and promote innovative practice with a view to service improvement, establishment of new standards, and promotion of learning;
Lead development of CoG Monitoring &Evaluation (M&E) plan and associated workplans for each committee;
Be responsible for sourcing data and information for specific M&E needs directly from other agencies (National and County Governments);
Serve as the point of contact for both the promotion of knowledge sharing activities; and, for the sharing of operational knowledge within COG, as well as among county governments
Promote the active use throughout the counties of the knowledge sharing systems, tools and guiding principles.
Host the Communities of Practices of government projects
Promote the integration of lessons learned, best practices and other operational knowledge into work processes, guidance and planning scenarios.
Produce, collect, store and disseminate best practice materials originating in the counties.
Prepare and share county executive’s syntheses of lessons learned and recommendations documented in the COG’s Best Practices Toolbox reports.
Develop, on behalf of the COG management, an appropriate mechanism for considering and, following up on local-level recommendations generated by knowledge sharing mechanisms.
Organize follow-up action as required on studies undertaken, seminars or workshops on counties’ specific best practices and lessons learned activities.
Liaise with national and international organizations and academic institutions on all issues related to knowledge management, and assist in the organization of inter-governmental policy consultation.
Provide other learning, research, policy and guidance services to the Council.
Oversee and participate in evaluations and assessments for the Council of Governors programmes;
Closely cooperate and coordinate with Counties and other stakeholders for the design, quality, development and completion of all assessments, analytical reports, case studies, success stories
Serve as focal point for providing M&E inputs on Implementation Progress Reports (IPRs);
Support monitoring and evaluation missions commissioned by the CoG Development Partners
Perform other duties as required;
Competencies
Professionalism:- Demonstrated ability to complete in-depth studies and reach conclusions on possible causes and solutions to problems in specific areas; excellent research, drafting and analytical skills; commitment to implementing the mandate of Council of Governors.
Leadership:- Skills in overseeing work of committee clerks and other staff; proven negotiating skills; ability to advise senior management; ability to effectively lead, supervise, mentor, develop and evaluate staff and design training/skills enhancement initiatives to ensure effective transfer of knowledge/skills.
Creativity:- Actively seeks to improve programmes; Offers new and different options to solve problems or meet devolution needs; Promotes and persuades others to consider new ideas; Takes calculated risks on new and unusual ideas; Thinks “outside the box”; Takes an interest in new ideas and new ways of doing things; Is not bound by current thinking or traditional approaches.
Communication:- Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailors language, tone, style and format to match the audience; Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.
Education
Advanced university degree (Master’s degree) in social studies or humanities related field.
Work Experience
At least 5 years of progressive responsibility experience in the area of knowledge management, organizational learning Community of Practice (COP) or policy development.
Experience with successfully managing and completing responsibilities related to government programs.
Experiences in creating and managing performance monitoring plans and leveraging performance monitoring data for improving ongoing project management are under consideration.
Contribute in indicator development, data collection and analysis, data quality assessments, and/or performance monitoring and reporting.
Knowledge in designing and field testing surveys and other data collection instruments are required.
Experience with leading and communicating change management initiatives to diverse audiences is desired.
Experience in both qualitative and quantitative data analysis
Knowledge and experience in data analysis software
Thematic research experiences in different studies: cross-sectional, comparative and cohort studies.
Languages
Fluency in spoken and written English is required
Fluency in spoken and written Kiswahili is desired and an added advantage
Duration: The assignment is for a duration of one year and is renewable subject to performance and availability of funds.
How to apply
Interested candidates should send a cover letter, CV and a copy of ID to describe interest and relevance to the position to hrcog@cog.go.ke by 7th August 2015