mentee-corporate-evidence-leader-mentorship-programme-at-packs-africa

Job Description:

In October 2022, the first cohort of our mentorship programme came to an end, with much successes recorded in mentee capacity. The sole mentee took up lead role within our youth-led organisation. Do you have what it takes to join cohort 3, with cohort two transitioning to its second year in 2024?

This programme started on the premise that various competencies, relevant for the wide variety of ecosystem players, are necessary to drive growth and innovation among practitioners within the multidisciplinary field of Evidence-Informed Decision Making (EIDM). Whiles capacity development efforts are being made to promote competencies among evidence producers and their counterpart user communities, very little is being done to enhance competencies among intermediary organisations.

As a regional leader in the practice of EIDM, PACKS Africa initiated this programme to provide capacity development opportunities to youth leaders within the community. Ultimately, it is envisaged that a good proportion of products from the programme will drive EIDM initiatives wherever they may be engaged after graduating.

Company Description

Started in 2017 as a youth-led Pan-African capacity development think tank, the organisation is registered in Ghana as a private not-for-profit organisation that operates at macro-level within the evidence ecosystem across the continent to enhance opportunities for the use of evidence in decision making processes. Our vision is a Pan-Africa development process which is fueled by evidence-informed policies, and we strive to realise this by influencing the use of research and other forms of knowledge in the development of policies in Africa.

At the core of our activities is ecosystem strengthening through evidence governance support, knowledge management, and advocacy for EIDM. In that direction, we undertake primary research on evidence ecosystem governance issues, which informs our advocacy for expansion in opportunities for EIDM, as well as support capacity development initiatives across individual, organisational and system-levels.

We currently have 2 major self-funded initiatives – pilot of a multi-dimensional diagnostic matrix (informed by the Context Matters framework) in Ghana, Ethiopia and Kenya, and the Evidence Landscape (a database to nurture an evidence ecosystem), supported by our Babia Analytical framework. In just over 5 years, our operations already span 6 sub-Saharan African countries, and we seek to expand further across the 5 regional groupings on the continent.

This mentorship programme serves as a strategic drive to help us in our regional expansion drive.

Corporate Evidence Leader Mentorship Programme (CEL-MP)

CEL-MP seeks as an objective to create a pool of young evidence leaders on the African continent, by engaging them through rigorous weekly activities that last for 12 months minimum (expandable to 24 years). Two main competencies are targeted throughout the programme: corporate leadership competencies and technical EIDM competencies. With the aim of developing corporate leaders for the practice, greater attention is paid to corporate competencies.

Corporate competencies

o knowledge for organisation development

o administrative skills

o ethical leadership skills

o ability to transform open ideas into viable initiatives

Technical EIDM competencies

o knowledge for evidence ecosystem governance

o critical thinking for evidence use

o analytical thinking for evidence production

o communication and knowledge brokering

A responsive Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework is designed to guide implementation, as well as produce the necessary learnings that inform adjustments in each round of the programme. A targeted outcome from this programme is for mentees to assume executive leadership roles in EIDM-relevant institutions.

Qualification criteria

Essential qualities

– Must range between the ages 26 and 31 years

– Must be an African living in an African Union (AU) member country

– Must have a minimum of first degree undergraduate education

– Must have worked for a minimum of 3 years within the EIDM community

– Ability to multi-task and work under pressure

Added qualities

– Candidates with gender and disability minorities are highly encouraged to apply

– Fluency in multiple languages recognised by the African Union (AU) is an advantage

– Although youthful candidates are prioritised, their ability to demonstrate exceptional contribution to the EIDM field is an added advantage

Application process