Opportunities to lead Capacity Development; Knowledge Management; Participatory Monitoring, Evaluation, Reflection & Learning
Send a CV and 2-page motivation to: Margaret Wolff (M.Wolff@ru.c.za) by 24 May 2019
The Tsitsa Project is being implemented primarily by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), Chief Directorate Natural Resource Management (NRM) in the communal and free-hold title areas of the north-eastern Eastern Cape. The project works with local authorities and traditional leaders, conducting land restoration in the highly erodible catchment, while a number of South African universities conduct related research in this remote rural landscape. Rhodes University has been contracted by DEA: NRM to provide capacity development, knowledge management, and Participatory Monitoring, Evaluation, Reflection and Learning (PMERL) support.
The vision of the Tsitsa Project is to support sustainable livelihoods for local people through integrated landscape management that strives for resilient social-ecological systems and which fosters equity in access to ecosystem services.
The Tsitsa Project therefore wishes to appoint part-time or full-time coordinators for these cross-cutting project support areas, as outlined below. Expressions of interest (from individuals or organisations) may address one area only, or more than one area in combination.
The appointees will be based at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape. They will join a vibrant transdisciplinary research community with a commitment to just social development and ecological sustainability. We work with some of the best scholars globally and nationally, and we also deeply value our close connections with rural communities.
If you are interested in working in such a context, please send a CV and a two-page motivation as to why you can and want to do this work, to the Rhodes Tsitsa Project Manager Margaret Wolff, M.Wolff@ru.ac.za. Queries about the terms of reference may be directed to Prof Eureta Rosenberg, E.Rosenberg@ru.ac.za. Appointments are to be made during June, to commence as soon as possible thereafter. (Please note that these appointments will be made in line with the requirements of theEmployment Equity Act of RSA and the University’s recruitment and selection policies and equitystrategies. The initial focus will be on equity candidates.)
The closing date for expressions of interest is 24 May 2019.
Capacity Development Coordination
The Tsitsa Project involves a number of formal and informal capacity development initiatives, with mostly adult participants, in the rural catchment and among project implementers. We wish to coordinate these initiatives so that they address programme objectives through well designed,educationally sound and high quality learning opportunities, meet participants’ needs and optimise resources. This role requires a background in adult education, training and/or capacity development, with a sound understanding of both conventional training, and expansive and social learning processes. The coordinator will be hosted and guided by the Rhodes University ELRC (Environmental Learning Research Centre). The coordinator will also from time to time provide on-site support to trainers and learning facilitators in the catchment. A first initiative will be to lead the design and delivery of a multi-level ‘social learning facilitation’ course for facilitators working or planning to work in the Tsitsa Project.
Nature of position: Part-time (can be combined with one of the other functions, or with doctoral study)
Available: From 1 July 2019 (contract position)
Minimum qualification: Masters degree or equivalent, with a strong learning theory component.
Report to: Prof Eureta Rosenberg, ELRC (Contact E.Rosenberg@ru.ac.za for further detail.)
Knowledge Mediation and Management
The broader Tsitsa Project produces research and organisational development products that need to be collected, curated, shared and mediated internally among implementers, and made available for interested external parties, especially the natural resource managers, beneficiaries and residents that live in the catchment. The aim is to optimise the value of research, organisational development and learning about restoration, sustainable land use management and development, locally, nationally and internationally.
The role of knowledge mediation and management therefore includes identifying and sourcing relevant documents, providing staff with branded templates and platforms for sharing knowledge (such as a website) and helping to run and resource science-management-community engagements. The appointee will be based at Rhodes University and travel to the catchment from time to time. He/she needs to work closely with the Project Manager to guide and support internal and external communications, and with the project’s PMERL function which has complementary aims, as outlined below. The knowledge mediator needs a broad understanding of the substantive content of the Tsitsa Project purpose and its social and bio-physical research, in order to mediate this transdisciplinary content for others, as well as an understanding of the diverse contexts in which the content andknowledge ‘products’ can be used. A working knowledge of at least basic Geographical Information Systems (GIS) procedures including mapping and graphic skills is an essential requirement. Technical knowledge of databases and websites, but these components may also be outsourced. The appointee will build on and refine the existing Tsitsa Knowledge Management Strategy.
Nature of Position: Part-time (can be combined with one of the other functions, or with post-graduate study)
Available: From 1 July 2019 (contract position)Minimum qualification: Masters degree or equivalent
Report to: Ms Margaret Wolff (Tsitsa Project Manager)
Participatory Monitoring, Evaluation, Reflection and Learning
The Tsitsa Project strives to embody a Strategic Adaptive Management (SAM) approach; it is also a pilot project for new, transdisciplinary approaches in research-based restoration and livelihoods development. For both these reasons, it requires an innovative approach to monitoring and evaluation that combines monitoring against and feedback from a variety of social and bio-physical indicators, with transdisciplinary synthesis, collective reflection and meaning-making to guide project actions and share lessons learnt more broadly. Participants in the PMERL process range from citizen monitors in the catchment, to researchers, students, restoration project managers and DEA officials.
The Tsitsa PMERL coordinator needs to implement and refine the M&E guidelines already developed (see Botha et al., 2017 and Rosenberg & Human, 2018), and engage with the Tsitsa Project participants, to ensure that relevant monitoring and reporting takes place and is well supported with tools and guidelines. The appointee would also be responsible for creating opportunities for participants’to collectively reflect on findings, for the documentation of insights, and for producing high quality meta- level reports to support further organisational learning. Finding ways to integrate with the DEA: NRM reporting system is a key requirement of the position. Liaising with the Knowledge Mediation Manager and the Tsitsa Project Manager is an essential part of the role.
Nature of Position: Part-time (can be combined with one of the other functions, or with doctoral study)
Available: From 1 July 2019 (contract position)
Minimum qualification: Masters degree or equivalent, with experience in social science methodology
Report to: Prof Eureta Rosenberg, ELRC (For further detail on the position please contact E.Rosenberg@ru.ac.za.)
