The position
Position Overview
The Aga Khan Foundation is seeking a dynamic and experienced Innovation and Design Advisor to join our team in East Africa to lead AKF’s agenda in becoming a regional leader in social innovation and impact. The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in driving design thinking and innovative solutions across our portfolio, ensuring a user-centric approach to address complex challenges.
Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership of Design Thinking & Innovation
Develop and implement a comprehensive innovation strategy/agenda aligned with AKF EA’s mission and goals as a regional leader in social innovation and impact
Lead on the development and execution of the Foundation’s design studio, including finalizing and implementing the business model as a program and financial asset
Elevate AKF EA’s role as a leader in social innovation and impact across the region and globally by elevating our work and best practices
Program Portfolio: Design Processes to Innovate
Lead on the design and execution of timely, effective, and high quality design processes through our program portfolio
Develop the fabric of support to enable innovation, such as coaches, materials/documentation, and advising
Develop country-specific design leads to develop our in-house capacity to deliver on proposal development and design related activities (eg. innovate, incubate, scale)
Design and implement financial processes to enable timely innovative design work at the school and community level
Programme Portfolio: Incubation for Scale
Finalize the school and community incubation frameworks, testing them through our program portfolio
Incubate a minimum of 60 ideas per year, scaling no less than 30 prototypes over that same period
Deliver on time, on budget, and with quality incubation processes and outcomes
Business Development
Integrate design thinking strategy into new business development opportunities and program inception processes
Create resources for partnerships staff to understand why and how to integrate HCD into their work
Identify and manage external HCD partners (eg. consultants and coaches) to ensure all processes are delivered on time and with quality, as well as, build on each other to demonstrate impact.
Representation & Broader Learning
Elevate AKF’s internal capacity to engage in and lead design processes through a learning agenda
Build AKF’s network of design thinkers and partners
Create linkages to AKF’s Global work (eg. Bezos, Accelerate Impact, Schools2030 Global Secretariat)
Contribute to global thinking on HCD/design thinking, including writing stories, speaking, and collaborating with colleagues across the AKDN and externally
Represent AKF in the design space/events/conferences
Duration of Contract: Two Years
The requirements
Qualifications
Master’s degree in a relevant field and recognised further education in design, design thinking, or like.
Proven experience (minimum 5 years) in leading innovation initiatives and design projects, preferably in East Africa and in the social sector.
Strong facilitation skills with the ability to lead workshops and engage diverse stakeholders. Experience in Northern Uganda and the Swahili coast is a strong asset.
Experience working in East Africa or a similar context is required.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationships at all levels.
Demonstrated understanding of community engagement and a commitment to participatory approaches.
Knowledge of monitoring and evaluation frameworks for innovation projects.
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