This one-year diploma course has been designed in partnership with the African Union Commission’s Peace and Security Department and is part of the “Africa Peace and Security Program” (APSP) which is a wider institutional partnership between IPSS, the AU and GIZ.
It offers experienced professionals working on African Peace and Security a unique opportunity to acquire a certified and in-depth training while retaining their current positions. It addresses the most pressing issues of African Peace and Security today from a practice-oriented perspective, including conflict dynamics as well as the role of sub-regional and pan-African organizations in creating lasting peace on the continent.
Sessions are held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the Institute of Peace and Security Studies, Addis Ababa University. Senior and mid-level professionals from the AU, from the Regional Economic Communities, the UN and multilateral organizations, national governments as well as from the non-profit sector are invited to attend this course.
The course is very innovative: While international best practice has served as benchmarks, its curriculum has practically been designed from scratch. Its most distinguishable features are:
• Executive format: participants study while staying with their jobs; the course blends attendance with distance learning • Thematic focus on Africa: the diversity of African problems and African solutions are taken as the main reference and examined in great detail (rather than seeing them as particular cases of universal phenomena) • A pragmatic, interactive and experience-oriented methodology: workshops with experts and resource persons as well as problem solving and interaction among participants rather than lectures and learning from the book.
The curriculum has been designed in great detail by IPSS, down to the level of individual course elements.
- Objective of the consultancy
The consultant will be the interim Course Manager for all MPSA cohorts in session as of June 2012 to May 31, 2013.
The consultant will work in collaboration with the Lead-facilitator and co-facilitators in the delivery and facilitation of the entire program (onsite and on-line). The Program Director of APSP and the Training Programme Coordinator will provide more guidance that is detailed.
The consultant will, based on the curriculum and with the materials provided, liaise with the Lead Facilitator and Training Programme Coordinator to: • ensure the delivery of the course according to the curriculum and schedule • ensure that each individual participant attains the learning objectives as set out in the curriculum as much as can realistically be expected • contribute to the further development of the curriculum
The consultants will demonstrate the highest work and professional ethics in order to act as credible role models for the participants and to meet the high standards expected from them as representatives of this project.
- Tasks and deliverables
a) Preparation
The individual preparation of the consultant plays an important role, because: • the curriculum of this course differs substantially from academic courses as well as from short-term adult education or workshop facilitation
• the participants are senior or very senior professionals, many of them with ten or more years of working experience in peace and security; their expectations are correspondingly high and they will probably not be ready to cope with facilitators whom they perceive as not fully mastering the issues.
The consultant will:
• ensure that participants to the program are selected/admitted, and all formal requirements for their participation are fully met
• ensure that participants are informed about the results of selection (admitted, postponed, rejected or so). Prepare all required invitation letters to participants at least two working weeks before the start of each MPSA Program
• ensure there is a comprehensive data base (e-mail, telephone, and the institution they belong to, copy of application, agreements and important communication) of all participants are stored in soft copy on Moodle; and ensure that this data base is used to manage participants related processes (invitations, visa, financial transactions, certification, etc
• ensure the recruitment of required facilitators and resource persons well in advance of each batch or session; and that they are contracted upon agreement with Program Director
• ensure that all hired/invited facilitator and resource persons are given their terms of reference at least one week before they fulfil their responsibility
• ensure that after each daily session there is a de-briefing exercise between the Course Assistant, Lead Facilitator and Co-facilitator and that this information is uploaded on Teachers Wiki on the MPSA Moodle Platform
• acquire an in-depth understanding of the curriculum, in order to refer individual course of the current module to course elements of other modules and to the overall course; by means of analysis and discussion with the Program Director
• acquire an in-depth knowledge of all course materials categorized as “essential” (mainly articles and excerpts from books, but also video, newspaper clippings, etc.)
• make recommendations regarding the adjustment, expansion or presentation of the “essential” course material at least three weeks before the commencement of the course
• acquire familiarity with all other course materials
• learn to use freemind mind mapping software in order to read and manipulate the curriculum file
• learn to use the web-based collaboration tool in Microsoft outlook.
b) Management of the attendance sessions
The consultant will ensure the smooth facilitation of all the attendance sessions and elements of the module. In consultation with the Lead Facilitator, the Course Manager will ensure that the facilitation of the program follows current best practice for workshop facilitation and adult education. The Course Manager will organize frequent meetings with the course management team to jointly evaluate the facilitation approach.
• ensure that established programmatic standards are continuously monitored, evaluated and improved in consultation with the Training Coordinator from time to time.
• Will generally be available on-site from 30 minutes before the course’s beginning (to ensure proper preparation and to lead informal discussions with early arrivals) to one hour after the last session, in order to conduct follow-up discussions (“daily debriefing”) with the management team of the course.
• Will be required to work on weekends as and when required, especially during the on-site sessions when all the participants are in Addis Ababa.
c) Distance Education
The course comprises a distance-learning element that is supported by the learning platform Moodle. For these elements, the consultant will, as per the requirement of the course schedule and the grading policy and table,
• manage the distance-learning platform Moodle (www.moodle.org) and bring all operating problems to resolution • Contribute to developing standards and implement these, and ensure adherence to these standards with regards to: design of individual elements overall lay out of the Moodle filling system within the Moodle presentation (e.g. sequence) of course elements formulation of task/assignment and feedback
• Manage the contract for hosting Moodle (license management, handling of support requirements)
• post relevant topics to the course’s forum, and follow up and reply to posts
• review and respond to e-mail queries.
The consultant will also write a short statement about his experiences with the distance education element and make strategic as well as operational/specific recommendations with regard to:
• objectives of distance education as part of the overall course • principles and processes for making use of the learning platform • the suitability of the various elements used.
d) Advocacy (in collaboration with outreach)
The consultant will ensure that sister Regional Organizations in Africa for Peace and Security are regularly updated on our activities and program
• ensure that brochures for the program are available and updated in hard /soft copies and on the website of the program
• ensure the alumni of the MPSA are updated on developments of the program and from time to time organize events to build strong pool of Ambassadors of the program.
• will monitor and send progress reports after each session of each module to the supervisors of participants at their respective home organizations
e) Qualification and experience:
• Minimum MA degree in political science or relevant discipline. • Minimum two to three years work experience in a similar environment required. • Experience working in a fast paced environment. • Fluent in both written and oral English language skills. • Excellent and demonstrable computer skills (Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Advanced Excel etc) • Ability to work under pressure and stringent timelines.
Submit a recently updated CV and motivation letter to f.owusu@ipss-addis.org by May 20, 2012.
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