Online Community Developer, Arusha, Tanzania

Farm Radio International (FRI) is a Canadian organization that promotes radio as a tool to meet the communication needs of smallholder farmers across Africa. In partnership with our 400 and counting radio station partners across sub­Saharan Africa, we combine radio with modern ICTs such as mobile phones, MP3 devices and online services. With these tools, FRI offers radio stations and rural development initiatives a way to communicate with smallholder farmers and rural households. Interested? Learn more at www.farmradio.org

An excellent opportunity has arisen for the right, bright, interested professional. FRI seeks an experienced and dynamic web developer interested in an exciting opportunity. Do you want to use your skills over a four­month stay in the pulsing heart of East Africa? Can you help us build www.barza.fm ­ our online community initiative ­ into a vibrant and active space? As well as helping strengthen our online community, you will support FRI's other mobile and online services to help community broadcasters interact with their listeners.

The four month position will be based at Farm Radio's regional office in Arusha, Tanzania (see map: http://bit.ly/fri­arusha). There will be opportunities to travel within Tanzania and other countries in the Great Lakes region, where you will meet and work with radio stations, broadcasters, farmers, rural communities and technology partners. The Online Community Developer position is semi­volunteer ­ all expenses, including return airfare to Tanzania, visas, health insurance, internal travel, food and accommodation will be covered by FRI.

The Volunteer ­ Online Community Developer will report to the Regional Radio & ICT Manager in Arusha.

Please email a cover letter and a detailed CV to hangar@farmradiotz.org

IMPORTANT: PLEASE INCLUDE LINKS TO EXAMPLES OF YOUR WORK Note: Put 'Volunteer ­ Online Community Developer' in the subject line of the email Closing date for applications is October 30th, 2013. Due to time pressures, only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

Online Community Developer (wordpress wizard!)

Qualifications:

Our ideal Online Community Developer is a Wordpress Wizard, as this is the platform we have built the majority of our web based presence on top of. The person will be comfortable working on both front end and back end development as well as understands and enjoys making online communities and social networks 'tick'.

• At least three years experience developing sites with Wordpress (both themes + plugins) and extensive experience with Buddypress (for social element)
• Five years experience programming/coding (php/MySQL/+others)
• Experience working with online communities and using social media for campaigns and organizations
• Project management experience
• Knowledge of CSS, JSON, jQuery, HTML5 and other web languages/protocols.
• Speaks and writes English fluently (proficiency or fluency in French would be a bonus!)
• Enjoys working with a cool team of like minded people to build innovative projects

Roles & Responsibilities:

Barza http://www.barza.fm

• Oversee the development and functionality of features for the Barza online community
• Work with other volunteer developers to create innovate ways that voice / SMS and Android apps can plug more users into Barza
• Work with online community manager to maximize user participation on Barza
• Maintain plugins and themes
• Advise on strategies to expand reach of network/online community
• Integrate services from partners (UNESCO, FAO, AMARC and other regional radio networks) to consolidate their online resources into Barza platform
• Migrate other Farm Radio products (Radio scripts, Farm Radio Weekly and Blog) and integrate into Barza
• Explore possibility of using Barza as a Learning Management System for FRI's online courses
• Oversee development of mobile version of Barza
• Seek creative ways of making Barza a sustainable platform
• Develop FRW into a modern wordpress site with a magazine­style theme and functionality
• Integrate FRW with mailchimp to simplify weekly electronic bulletin/campaigns
• Improve integration of FRW with Barza

General Farm Radio web development: http://www.farmradio.org

• Provide occasional programming/coding support (php, MySQL) as needed
• Advise Farm Radio on how to improve web presence, including: search engine optimisation (SEO), use of social media, mobile applications and emerging developments in web technologies

Additional roles:

• Strategize ways in which online communities can be encouraged to organize 'offline activities' such as meet ups, user groups and other gatherings.
• Research other open source technologies that can be incorporated with existing FRI offerings to improve and or consolidate on existing work.
• Be a mentor to a junior developer who may work alongside and learn from you
• Other responsibilities as they arise.

Terms and Conditions:

• Standard Farm Radio International Terms and Conditions for expatriate volunteer professionals will apply.