Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD)

Job Vacancy-Project Coordinator

Transnational Capacity Building Project for Deaf Associations in West Africa

The Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD) and Danish Deaf Association (DDL) are seeking a Project Coordinator for a three years fixed term position, starting from 1st November 2022 with possibility of a three-year extension depending on the funding of the next phase. The Project Coordinator will work as part of the GNAD Secretariat based in Accra, Ghana, and the position reports to the GNAD Executive Director through the Programs Manager and is supported by the WFD West and Central Africa Regional Secretariat (WCARS). The key responsibility of the Project Coordinator will be to manage the project’s activities through rigors reg supervision of country-level project coordinators/officers.

The Project in Short

The purpose of the WCARS project, titled “Transnational Capacity Building Project for Deaf Associations”, is to strengthen the organizational capacities of the National Associations of the Deaf in Togo, Niger, Mali, and Cote d’Ivoire, and the WFD Regional Secretariat of West and Central Africa (WCARS) based on the lessons learned from the 14-year long project partnership between GNAD and DDL improving the capacity of GNAD to advocate for deaf people’s rights in Ghana. The project is also building on the lessons learned from the previous WFD Deaf Human Rights and Capacity Building Training Project in Western and Central Africa 2009-2012.

The long-term goal of the project is to increase the organisational capacities of four National Associations of the Deaf so that they are able to advocate for the human rights of deaf people, to participate fully in the disability movement in the countries, that the deaf people in the four countries have access to skilled Sign Language Interpreters (SLIs), and finally that the four National Associations of the Deaf are serving as a role model for the other deaf associations in the Western and Central Africa.

Phase 4 will put its focus on strengthening the existing network between the four National Associations of the Deaf, WCARS, and GNAD consolidating major gains made in the inception and first phases with a specific focus on country-level needs.  The outputs of this phase will among others be a set of capacity and context analyses of the National Associations of the Deaf in the four countries and of the WCARS identifying needs for capacity building and common issues for common advocacy work, which will be presented and discussed upon at the partnership workshop.

The 4th phase is expected to focus on advancing national-level advocacy work including access to Sign Language (SL), i.e. rights to SL, research and knowledge about SL, and SL interpreter training; and capacity building of the deaf associations including establishing and strengthening of local branches. The specific areas of intervention are depending on the country-specific needs assessment.

The project is funded by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) through Disabled Peoples Organisations Denmark (DPOD).

Experiences

A successful applicant is expected to have the following experiences:

 

  • At least 3-5years of work experience in human rights, development, or a closely-related field;
  • Solid knowledge and experience in project coordination;
  • Experience in coordination of multiple project partners;
  • Experience working with Deaf communities in Ghana and West Africa;
  • Ability to provide training for diverse groups

Skills

The following skills are required from a successful applicant:

 

  • Ability to carry out tasks, make decisions independently and meet deadlines
  • Ability to successfully liaise and network with colleagues, deaf associations, national governments, and various partners in a multicultural environment;
  • Fluency in reading and writing English and French;
  • A good understanding and proven experience of budgeting principles and financial management;
  • Good analytical, interpersonal, and reporting writing skills;
  • Ability to think strategically and creatively;
  • Knowledge of human rights questions, with special focus on deaf issues;
  • Capability to coordinate effectively and to assist the deaf community to build up stronger organisations;
  • Ability to learn new tools, methods, and knowledge and to provide training to people;
  • Knowledge of the political context in the participating countries is an asset but not required;
  • Ability to coach and support the work of other colleagues and partners
  • Fluency in at least one of the project countries’ National Sign Language is essential

Qualifications

To be considered for the position the candidate should have a background in social sciences, development studies, or other relevant discipline.

Main responsibilities

The Project Coordinator is expected to:

  • Supervise the implementation of project activities in the project countries
  • Prepare bi-annual narrative and financial reports to Programs Manager
  • Provide technical support and training to colleagues and partners
  • Supervise and facilitate the disbursement of Local Development Funds and receiving of reports from Country Project Teams
  • Promote, document, and facilitate transnational knowledge and experience sharing;
  • Be responsible for receiving all project reports from Country Project Teams
  • Monitoring of training and ongoing capacity building programs in four countries

To apply for this position, please submit your Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a cover letter (maximum of one page) via email to The Executive Director, GNAD, email Address: gnadeaf@yahoo.com. Please ensure that your CV and cover letter clearly demonstrate how you meet the experiences, skills and qualification requirements of the role.

A short statement in any national Sign Language about your experience in project work (maximum of 2 minutes), uploaded to Vimeo or YouTube with the appropriate link is an advantage but not a requirement.

All application materials shall be written in English.

Salary expectations may be mentioned in the letter of application but the final salary is determined by the project budget.

Shortlisted candidates’ interviews are expected to be carried out via Zoom or face-to-face in Accra.

Deadline for submission of applications is 15th September, 2022

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