Deputy Chief of Party, Countering Disinformation Program in the Sahel

Introducing Zinc Network

Zinc Network is an international development company headquartered in London with offices in Washington, D.C., Tbilisi and Warsaw. We’re on a mission to achieve meaningful, measurable change through the application of behavioural science and strategic communications, technology, and human-centred design (HCD).

We have 100+ team members from diverse professional and cultural backgrounds, including democratic governance specialists, behavioural scientists, researchers, content producers, digital experts, and service designers. We work with a broad range of governmental, NGO, and private sector clients, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); the U.S. Department of State (DOS); the U.S. Department of Defence (DOD); the UK Home Office (HO); the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO); UN agencies and missions; Microsoft; and the Internet Watch Foundation.

We conceptualise and create award-winning programs, interventions, and campaigns that change the way that people think, feel, and act across a wide range of pervasive social issues, including disinformation and hate speech, violent extremism, poor governance, threats to children and young people’s online safety, gender-based violence, and more.

The role:

Zinc seeks a Chief of Party (COP) for a forthcoming USAID-funded program that will strengthen information integrity and resilience across the Sahel by investing in key local actors such as fact checking organisations, investigative journalists and data scientists at the country and regional level. The program will operate in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mauritania. This position is contingent upon award.

What you’ll be doing:

The DCOP will manage a small team of Activity Managers, helping to ensure that civil society partners on the project are equipped with skills in digital forensics, data analytics, fact checking and other capacities. They will also manage a roster of technical experts to provide industry best practice in information integrity. They will support the Chief of Party (COP) with overall project performance and provide technical leadership and oversight for project activities. They must have demonstrated experience working with civil society and independent media in their country of focus.

We are looking for a natural leader who is constantly curious, driven, and able to adapt and overcome to deliver results in challenging operating environments. We value individuals who can live and breathe the subject matter, the strategy, and Zinc’s methodology while learning to navigate complex multi-stakeholder environments and mobilise networks on the ground to deliver meaningful, measurable change.

Responsibilities

· Develop the capacity of civil society independent media to better understand audience preferences and attitudes, data analytics, and digital market trends, helping them test different content and formats

· Advise on tactics deployed by governments when censoring free media and critical voices, and support civil society to operate safely and securely

· Support the COP in providing overall leadership, management, and technical direction for the program; in the COP’s absence, serve as the primary liaison with USAID on managerial, strategic, and technical matters, including responsibility for making key decisions and solving programmatic problems in a timely manner

· Support the preparation and delivery of high-quality reports to USAID, including quarterly and annual reports, annual work plans, and technical and financial reports

· Ensure all contractual deliverables and reporting requirements are met and in compliance with USAID rules and regulations

· Represent Zinc Network to USAID, respective Sahel governments, Sahel counterparts, local partners, and other program stakeholders

· Monitor and, when needed, adapt activities to achieve results; ensure that activities are implemented effectively and in complementarity to USAID and other donor activities

Requirements

What we need from you:

· Minimum five (5) years of relevant, senior-level professional experience supporting civil society and independent media, with a minimum of three (3) years of experience working in one of the program’s target countries

· At least four (4) years of experience managing and supervising staff

· Demonstrated ability to work effectively with civil society in the Sahel; a strong preference for experience working with fact-checking and/or investigative journalists aiming to counter mis/disinformation and malign influence

· Professional level of oral and written fluency in the French and English languages

· Permission to work in one of the program’s target countries

Conditions of Employment

Candidates who receive a job offer will be required to:

- Disclose any previous disciplinary action against them resulting from a substantiated safeguarding (including any breaches involving trafficking- related activities) or workplace investigation.

- Undergo background checks including employment verification, sexual offender registry (as available), identity confirmation, and anti-terrorism vetting.

Please include a CV showcasing how your background meets the position requirements.

If you require an accommodation to be made at any point throughout the recruitment process, please let us know when contacted.

Area of Selection

We’re committed to hiring a diverse workforce from different professional and cultural backgrounds, and to that end we encourage a variety of people to apply to join our company to represent the diverse range of subjects associated with our projects.

Benefits

What we can offer you

The opportunity to work with colleagues from a diverse range of professional and cultural backgrounds including the very best ex-diplomats, television producers, digital media strategists, linguists, researchers, and behavioural scientists from both the public and private sector.

Across Zinc Network there’s a commitment by everyone to deliver meaningful, change across all the subject areas, social challenges, and policy goals we’re striving to achieve.

Lastly, we’re committed to hiring a diverse workforce from different professional and cultural backgrounds, and to that end we encourage a variety of people to our company to represent the diverse range of subjects associated with our projects.