Program Coordinator Job Vacancy in Kenya - Population Council

Position Title: Program Coordinator 

REPORTING TO: Manager, GIRL Center

LOCATION: Nairobi, Kenya

JOBS SUPERVISED: N/A

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Girl Innovation, Research & Learning Center (The GIRL Center) at the Population Council is a cross-cutting research hub, established in 2017, that leverages the Council’s 20 years of research and programming expertise in adolescent girls and brings together today’s leading scholars in adolescence to generate, synthesize, and translate evidence effectively for decision-making. Through rigorous research about what works — and what does not — we aim to ensure that investments in adolescent girls are based on evidence. Working with country counterparts in governments and NGOs, we are identifying best practices, refining the critical elements of girl-centered programs, and using solid evidence to help organizations and donors allocate scarce resources to the most effective programs.

The GIRL Center is seeking a Program Coordinator, based in Nairobi, to provide administrative, operations, and research support. They will work closely with the Center’s core management team to provide day-to-day support and assist the Center’s future hubs and Internal Research Collaborators as they are established and begin to operationalize the Center’s strategy. They will also provide research support across a portfolio of projects that focus on topics such as education, gender, child marriage, sexual and reproductive health, violence, poverty, migration, digital access, resilience, and empowerment.

The Population Council has offices in the United States (New York and Washington, D.C), Mexico, Guatemala, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Provide day-to-day support to the global GIRL Center team

1. Organize and take part in internal and external meetings and seminars. Take minutes, write meeting reports, and organize follow-up.

2. Coordinate logistics, including travel arrangements and catering for in-person events, in coordination with the local finance and administration team.

3. Support RFP development and submission process for new vendors.

4. Draft SOWs for consultants, subcontractors, and interns (U.S. and non-U.S.-based) and work with procurement, human resources, and accounts payable to deploy contracts and process invoices across Council offices.

5. Maintain project Sharepoint sites and troubleshoot issues with IT.

6. Conduct and track purchases for GIRL Center team and process staff invoices for travel and other expenses.

7. Help organize virtual webinars by reviewing presentations, facilitating practice sessions, and assisting with technology.

8. Manage the GIRL Center listserv and inbox.

9. Coordinate the GIRL Center’s internship program by reviewing applications, conducting interviews and reference checks, liaising with human resources, and scheduling onboarding activities. Coordinate professional development and social opportunities for interns.

10. Manage GIRL Center interns by determining portfolio, delegating tasks, conducting weekly check-ins to measure progress, and identifying growth opportunities.

11. Provide additional administrative support to staff as needed. Independently troubleshoot and resolve problems as they arise.

12. Drafting and copy-editing communications materials including press releases, quarterly newsletter, and social media messages

13. Assist with fieldwork/primary data collection as-needed.

14. Help regional hubs and country-based collaborators understand and operationalize the Center’s strategy, mission, vision, and values.

15. Organize monthly meetings for Internal and External Research Collaborators. Identify opportunities for collaborators to present at Center brown bags, learning sessions, research symposiums.

Provide research support across the Center’s portfolio

1. Assist in the preparation and submission of donor reports and grant proposals. Assist in drafting technical and supplementary sections as requested. Review, copy-edit, and format reports and proposals to conform to donor requirements.

2. Manage citations for multiple projects by organizing Zotero collections, formatting references for research products, and conducting Zotero trainings for new staff.

3. Conduct systematic and structured literature searches and synthesize evidence for research projects, including the Evidence for Gender and Education Resource (EGER) and the Adolescent Atlas for Action (A3).

4. Set up and manage Covidence for scoping and systematic reviews and lead Covidence trainings for new staff.

5. Coordinate and regularly communicate with Campbell Collaboration for systematic review submission.

6. Become familiar with systematic review protocols and inclusion/exclusion criteria and assist with title and full text screening.

7. Support manuscript development by contributing to sections and copy-editing prior to journal submission.

QUALIFICATIONS:

We recognize that strong candidates may not have every qualification listed here and encourage applications and individuals who bring passion and experience in many or most of these areas.

  1. Masters Degree and 3-5 years of relevant work experience.
  2. Excellent English language skills (oral and written). Excellent writing and editing aptitude. Ability to quickly draft correspondence; prepare presentations, briefs, and other written materials with a sharp attention to detail, appearance, and accuracy while utilizing good editorial judgment.
  3. Demonstrated experience with literature and/or scoping reviews including defining search terms based on research questions, identifying databases that contain both peer reviewed articles and grey literature, conducting searches, and organizing search results. Experience working on systematic reviews is a plus.
  4. Ability to read, understand, and summarize qualitative and quantitative research studies from peer-reviewed articles and grey literature.
  5. Demonstrated interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills.
  6. Experience in administration of a multi-location organization, preferably including international office locations.
  7. Excellent administrative and organizational skills with keen attention to detail. Demonstrated ability to work independently and proactively, manage time efficiently, prioritize, multi-task, and respond to rapidly changing priorities.
  8. Proficiency in Sharepoint, Outlook, MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint required.
  9. Familiarity with a reference management program such as Zotero or Mendeley and a systematic review program such as Covidence a plus but not required.
  10. Experience in or knowledge of the Council’s regional locations highly desirable. Fluency in a language or languages of the Council’s country office a plus.

ATTITUDES AND ATTRIBUTES

  1. Interest in completing routine administrative tasks and supporting a diverse team based in multiple countries
  2. Flexible, self-motivated, collaborative, with a team player attitude
  3. Results-oriented and committed to excellence
  4. Optimistic and resourceful, with strong self-awareness, cultural competence, emotional intelligence, and humility
  5. Willingness to participate in remote meetings across multiple time zones on a regular basis
  6. Interest in adolescent health and development including education, sexual and reproductive health, child marriage, empowerment, migration, digital access, and gender-based violence

SALARY AND BENEFITS Salary range between KES 246,427 to KES 344,985 per month, depending on knowledge, skills, and experience. Excellent benefits package includes medical and group life and personal accident insurance available immediately upon hire; provident plan with employer contribution equal to 15% of annual salary, after successful completion of the trial period. We strive to provide an environment of professional growth and development.

How to apply

We are seeking an individual to fill the position described. If you know of a qualified candidate or are interested in this position, please apply at: http://www.popcouncil.org/employment/index.asp. Please attach your CV and Cover Letter in Word or PDF format. The Population Council is an international, nonprofit, nongovernmental institution that seeks to improve the well-being and reproductive health of current and future generations around the world and to help achieve a humane, equitable, and sustainable balance between people and resources. The Council conducts biomedical, social science, and public health research and helps build research capacities in developing countries. Established in 1952, the Council is governed by an international board of trustees. Its New York headquarters supports a global network of country offices.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. This is a national position and only Kenyan nationals will be considered.

The Population Council provides equal opportunity; it does not discriminate against any person with regard to age, color, creed, national origin, disability, political belief, veteran status, religion, marital status, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Decisions on employment are based on an individual’s qualifications as related to the position for which they are being considered. The Council especially encourages applications from members of underrepresented groups including but not limited to Black people and people of African descent, Indigenous people, people of color, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, including people who identify as transgender, nonbinary, or gender expansive, people with disabilities, first-generation college graduates, and those from communities with the most to gain from expanded access to sexual and reproductive health services and information and quality education. The Population Council is international in the composition of its board of trustees and its staff, as well as in the nature and deployment of its activities.