Community and Knowledge Manager

BACKGROUND

The Global Water Partnership (GWP) is an intergovernmental organisation established in 1996 to support countries in their efforts to implement a more equitable and sustainable management of their water resources. The GWP network spans 13 regions with more than 3,000 institutional Partners in 180+ countries. The global secretariat is in Stockholm, Sweden. More information: www.gwp.org

Pressure on water is rising, and action is urgent. Gaps in access to water supply and sanitation, growing populations, more water-intensive patterns of growth, increasing rainfall variability, and pollution are combining in many places to make water one of the greatest risks to economic progress, poverty eradication, and sustainable development. If the world continues its current path, projections suggest we may face a 40% shortfall in water availability by 2030. The consequences of such stress are local, national, transboundary, regional, and global in today’s interconnected and rapidly changing world, with consequences disproportionately felt by the poorest and most vulnerable¹. Civil Society, governments, the private sector – everyone must work together, across sectors and political boundaries, to find and implement solutions that ensure sustainable and universal access to safe water and sanitation. The Global Water Partnership was set up to do just that– help convene key actors on multiple levels and foster good governance and decision making.

Innovation in leveraging partners and knowledge to address the pressing water challenges is urgently needed, however. The Global Water Partnership is rich in relationships, partners and knowledge, working across its network of 3000+ partners, with the many well organized and ‘switched on’ country water partnerships and/or its regional water partnership teams. The social and intellectual capital built over the years is strong and has allowed GWP to successfully contribute to country- or river-basin-level shifts towards better and more integrated water resource management. Going forward, the Partnership will systematically invest in building a more vibrant global community, strengthening and sustaining its individual members and their impact through mutually useful flows of knowledge, ideas and innovation. Deliberately managing and building its partner base – in terms of composition, services provided to the partners, and in working through the partners – will boost knowledge creation and mobilize action, creating opportunities for leveraging each other as a hotbed for innovation and new solutions to address water management challenges. GWP has invested heavily over the years in its knowledge base, specifically the “IWRM ToolBox” and by working through its Technical Committee (TEC), its Regional Technical entities, and through other global and regional knowledge efforts². Now, the knowledge agenda needs innovation, revitalization, and updates, re-considering methods and tools from the user perspective.

SCOPE OF POSITION

GWP’s global team is looking for a highly motivated, creative, and well-versed innovation, community & knowledge professional to strengthen ongoing community mobilization and knowledge management efforts. The purpose of the role of a “Community and Knowledge Manager” is to shape and support the vibrancy and growth of the GWP community, mobilizing it to act together for excellence in innovation and instigating change, for mutual value and for positive change in the world through impact on water resources management. The introduction of a high-profile community management function for GWP is intended to build and to amplify the effectiveness of GWP’s community through the facilitation of visible and shared intent, viral dynamics of exchange and experimentation, infectious energy and an exponential intensification of learning and knowledge exchange. Our ambition is to engage a broader community in the work of the Global Water Partnership by engaging stakeholders beyond GWP, mobilizing individuals, organizations, and communities to improve management of water resources at scale, to innovate, and to build markets, attract finance, and strengthen institutions in support of good governance of water resources.

Management of knowledge, connections, and network effects is an essential component of this role, with a view to building knowledge exchange, guided community access, and community marketplace dynamics as a service. Identifying, amplifying, and leveraging diversity will also be one of the role’s key concerns, given the purpose and focus of the community on innovation and taking action, and hence an understanding of and ability to design for and with multiple perspectives will be critical.

The position will lead the creation of a learning and knowledge community within GWP, mobilise and organize the GWP community’s knowledge to enhance its innovativeness, relevance and impact, utilizing the unique global and diverse composition of the GWP Network. Inspiring change at the ground will amplify the effectiveness of GWP’s work in integrated water resources management (IWRM) by catalyzing and facilitating visible, shared, and active exchanges and experimentations for learning and knowledge-sharing. It is a dynamic and high-energy role that will engage with the broad GWP community, leveraging the diversity of the knowledge generation that exists, and which will develop. This is not a traditional knowledge management role; it requires a person with multi-disciplinary skills, an understanding of knowledge design, behavioral science, science to policy innovation, and creating and marketing dynamic communities for exchange, learning, and capacity-building.

As part of the Communications Team, the Community & Knowledge Manager will report to the Head Communications while working directly and indirectly with all GWP management, staff, and partners. S/he will be responsible for:

Strengthening and Building a Vibrant Innovation and Knowledge Community by working closely together with, inspiring and guiding GWP’s Network Officers and Regional teams as they:

• Create strategies and work plans for mobilizing the GWP community to become an innovation and learning community, mapping and building relationships within the community, intensifying the flows between knowledge holders and receivers and increasing the interconnectedness between all members of the community, including GWP Partners.
• Create and maintain principles and values which support self-organisation and self-sustenance of innovation and knowledge communities.
• Introduce innovative methods to unlock knowledge from underutilized knowledge holders within the GWP Network.
• Design and implement formal and informal methods to capture, codify, and curate learning and knowledge – explicit and tacit.
• Identify knowledge partners, entrepreneurs, and other innovators within and outside the GWP Network and establish relationships for mutually beneficial formats to engage with the GWP community of partners.

Strengthening approaches and methods for knowledge management across the GWP community and in particular in the global and regional teams by working closely together with, inspiring and guiding GWP’s Network Officers and Communications Officers, as well as Regional teams as they:

• Develop simple and easily applicable knowledge management strategies fitting with their regions and thematical focus, including processes for capturing, organizing, and developing information, experiences, insights, and knowledge stories from the people in and outside the GWP Network.
• Develop and implement effective organizational tools for evaluating, assessing, and communicating the impact of GWP’s work to improve existing practices and to inform decisions and programme management overall.
• Create and implement innovative changes for the GWP IWRM ToolBox to amplify its knowledge uptake and use, considering new forms, structures, and financing opportunities, making it the go-to source for water management knowledge.
• Identify and create ways to showcase the innovation and creativity of various projects within the GWP community to encourage learning across the community.
• Ensure knowledge capture and uptake in all projects at the global level and support with methods and tools to ensure integration, uptake, and capacity-building in the regional and country level projects.

Leadership and Direction in the area of community mobilization, innovation, and knowledge management by:

• Encouraging good knowledge management practices across work streams, creating a working atmosphere of sharing, stimulating thinking, self-reflection, challenging assumptions, and providing advice and support.
• Working with GWP’s technical experts at all levels (e.g., the GWP Technical Committee, regional technical groups), to collect information on best practices and lessons learnt for review and transformation into innovative and new knowledge products.
• Leading the development of “template” knowledge products to be used throughout the GWP network (these may or may not include videos, fact sheets, infographics, online resource, etc.).
• Working with external IT and knowledge management providers to create efficient formats for information sharing, management, and turning information into knowledge.
• Contributing to strategic reviews, business planning and development of the organization as a whole, providing timely updates and reports to colleagues, Management Team, and Governance bodies as needed.
• Representing GWP at internal and external meetings, boards, or committees as appropriate.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Technical

• University degree in international affairs, communications, business, environmental studies or a related field.
• Innovation, community management, learning and entrepreneuship: At least 10 years’ experience in building innovation and learning communities, entrepreneurship, and collaboration, possibly from the start-up community context. Experience in designing, hosting and managing community events and practices, in promoting learning and behavior change, ideally with geographically distributed communities.
• Behavior Change: Experience in having applied concepts of behavioral psychology and/or applied sociology in some form of cultural or organisational change management; experience in data capture and analysis, in evaluating and assessing organisational impact and improving organisational capacity and practices a plus.
• Relationship Management: Evidenced ability to build effective and sustainable relationships internally and externally.
• Knowledge Management Technologies and Tools: Experience in having successfully used knowledge management approaches, technologies, and tools in solving operational challenges in a community or company setting. Evidenced ability to explain to others, in pragmatic “how to” language, key knowledge management concepts, and ability to understand and engage with relevant and innovative digital technologies and approaches; experience in supervising technology vendors.
• Management and comunications. Strong management and communication skills . Highly developed interpersonal skills and demonstrated competence in negotiation at the highest level. Experience of having worked in or with multi-cultural settings.
• Global development trends, sustainable development: Awareness of global development trends. Knowledge of the water sector is an advantage
• Fluency in written and spoken English a must, knowledge of French and/or Spanish an advantage.

Not-technical

• Professionalism: Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity. Demonstrates corporate knowledge, self-development, and initiative-taking. Ability to work in a multi-cultural and international environment based on mutual respect and tolerance. Ability to exercise good judgement, discretion, and tact in handling sensitive issues. 
• Planning and Organizing: Excellent organizational and task management skills, with appropriate attention to details and ability to prioritize work among multiple competing demands, and under tight deadlines. Ability to manage multiple workflows at the same time. Ability to thrive in a fast-paced work environment where adaptability is essential.
• E-literacy: Excellent e-skills, including the ability to use modern office technology and related software. Practical knowledge of word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software is required. Ability to do internet research, compile information and find solutions online to information gaps is essential.
• Teamwork: Support colleagues, contribute to team culture, and share responsibility for decision-making and results. Places team agenda before personal agenda. Supports and acts in accordance with final group decision; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility. Ability to “lead from behind” and work without direct authority to deliver timely and high quality products.
• Personal: A good sense of humor. Love for nature, its beauty and its resources. Willingness to 'get the job' done with a positive attitude to take on a wide range of tasks. Availability for longer travel to attend international meetings.

Please send in your CV along with a motivation letter to vacancy@gwp.org by Wednesday, 1^st August 2018.

The position, while new with GWP, is expected to be a long-term assignment and part of the core team. The contract is initially offered for 1-2 years for administrative reasons.