Vacancy, SOUTH SUDAN PROGRAM MANAGER/in

Position: Program Manager, #defyhatenow South Sudan  

Duty Station: Juba, South Sudan 

Duration: 12 months 

Type of contract: Fixed Term Contract

Form of employment: Fulltime 

About #defyhatenow 

#defyhatenow is a global initiative that works on creating frameworks for enhancing trust between stakeholders in Africa and beyond through mobilising civic action against all forms of hate speech, misinformation, human rights violations, and incitement to violence, primarily that which is induced through online media. The initiative is considered one of the leading entities working on providing data-driven and community-based solutions to the problem of hate speech, fake news, and misinformation, working at the nexus of technology, peacebuilding, and human rights. #defyhatenow’s teams of researchers, designers, data analysts, artists, activists and programmers have a wide range of experiences. They are currently leading flagship projects in Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Cameroon, and Kenya.

#defyhatenow has provided extensive capacity-building programs for civil society, humanitarian agencies, the media, the private sector, and government agencies in the region. Through these programs, #defyhatenow has reached over 300,000 people with essential hate speech awareness and knowledge on the impact of misinformation. #defyhatenow is also invested in nurturing a community of young people through Fellowships. #defyhatenow Fellowships provide youth activists and community leaders with resources and expertise that enable them to tackle hate speech online and offline; thereby bringing together grassroots organisations and youth groups to create a healthier public discourse and prevent conflict among communities. #defyhatenow has had over 50 fellows across its countries of operation. #defyhatenow utilises a partnership-centred approach to program implementation; this model emphasises the need to enhance collaboration and strengthen the capacity of local and international actors while creating synergies with like-minded individuals and organisations. 

About our South Sudan Program

The South Sudan program is part of a broader intervention framework that aims at increasing trust among stakeholders online and improving the public discourse health among social media users in Africa; with a specific focus on Hate Speech Mitigation, Misinformation Mitigation, Tackling Incitement to Violence and Data Analysis. The program aims at promoting freedom of expression, access to information, and digital rights to create a framework for increasing trust between stakeholders and communities in South Sudan while mobilising civic action against all forms of hate speech, misinformation, human rights violations, and incitement to violence. Our program relates to the global objective of supporting and strengthening civil society organisations, democracy activists and human rights defenders working on critical human rights and democracy issues in South Sudan. #defyhatenow South Sudan Program functions on the frontline of the fight against hate speech, misinformation, and human rights violation. We believe in the centrality of human rights and human dignity in all our programs and projects. We draw inspiration and guidance from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights & African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. These principles and values guide the #defyhatenow South Sudan program.

Program Objectives 

  • To contribute towards freedom of expression, access to information and the fight against misinformation and hate speech in South Sudan.
  • To empower South Sudanese civic actors to mitigate hate speech, misinformation and increase access to information.

To succeed in this role, you should:

  • Have prior experience in program management, project management, and team  leadership/people management  
  • Have excellent time management and communication skills as you will collaborate with partners and internal teams to deliver results on deadlines. 
  • Be self-driven and diligent in your roles.
  • Have working experience in digital rights, human rights, community organising and social media management.
  • Have a demonstrable experience in advocacy and research on areas of human rights and digital rights.   
  • Have demonstrable experience in movement-building, partnership development, community building and organising.

This is a mid-level management role. It requires good analytical, management and decision making skills as well as a good understanding of digital media, research,  human rights and movement building/grassroots organising. As the South Sudan Program Manager, you will work closely with our global and East Africa teams as well as the project funders and partners to coordinate various activities and programs relating to the project goals. Ultimately, the Program manager’s duties are to ensure that the organization’s programs run smoothly and meet #defyhatenow’s mission within the country. As a program manager, you will provide advice to partners, and take part in the development of program concepts and campaigns.  The Program Manager reports to the Programme Director and directly line manages staff based in Juba.

Main Roles and Responsibilities  

  • Manage the implementation of various donor-funded programs within South Sudan, the scope of this task will include but not limited to 
    • Strategic planning and strategy development 
    • Fundraising and resource mobilization 
    • Program development and implementation
    •  Sub-granting and  partnership development
    • Donor reporting and compliance 
  • Lead #defyhatenow South Sudan programs by creating high performance and standards and providing leadership on various thematic issues that relate to the work of #defyhatenow in South Sudan. This will include management of Juba based program staff and overseeing the daily work of Admin and finance.  The current South Sudan program consists of the following teams. 
    • Research and publication 
    • Administration and finance 
    • Communication, outreach, and fundraising 
    • Tech and data
    • Training  and education 
    • 211Check, a fact-checking and information verification platform 
  • Manage the training of youth, community leaders, social media influencers and public officials on hate speech mitigation, misinformation mitigation,  and social media literacy. 
  • Manage research on the impact of social media on current events concerning hate speech, misinformation, and incitement to violence in South Sudan.
  • Set setting up new structures and improving on already existing frameworks to ensure organizational and people development within #defyhatenow’s South Sudan program.  
  • Work with in-country partners to provide bi-monthly briefings and insights to stakeholders on the health of online public discourse and the impact of digital media in the country.
  • Work with #defyhatenow data and tech teams and assist in the development technology-driven systems for analysing hate speech, online incitement to violence and influencer activity to generate empirical evidence that can be used for decision making and problem-solving. 
  • Provide advice to partners on managing significant and hate-free digital media presence, including but not limited to blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube accounts. 
  • Communicate with various stakeholders in and outside South Sudan to understand public perceptions and realities of hate speech, fake news, and misinformation in communities. 
  • Provide advice in developing concept notes and programs for implementation in South Sudan.  

The duty station for this job is Juba, South Sudan and it’s open to South Sudanese Nationals only.

This is a time-limited, task-oriented engagement, funded as a project between September 2020 and June 2022. If you are the person we are looking for; please send us your Curriculum Vitae/Resume and Cover Letter to [email protected] by 30th September 2020. Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.