Project Coordinator - Ghana National Association of the Deaf

Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD) is a non-profit organization that advocates for the rights of individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing.  GNAD works through right-based advocacy on cross-cutting issues aimed at facilitating access to public goods and services for deaf communities.

Job Description

Project Coordinator 

The Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD) and Danish Deaf Association (DDL) are seeking a Project Coordinator for a three years fixed-term position, starting from 1st November 2022 with the possibility of a three-year extension depending on the funding of the next phase.

The Project Coordinator will work as part of the GNAD Secretariat based in Accra, Ghana, and the position reports to the GNAD Executive Director through the Programs Manager and is supported by the WFD West and Central Africa Regional Secretariat (WCARS). The key responsibility of the Project Coordinator will be to manage the project’s activities through rigors reg supervision of country-level project coordinators/officers.

The purpose of the WCARS project, titled “Transnational Capacity Building Project for Deaf Associations”, is to strengthen the organizational capacities of the National Associations of the Deaf in Togo, Niger, Mali, and Cote d’Ivoire, and the WFD Regional Secretariat of West and Central Africa (WCARS) based on the lessons learned from the 14-year long project partnership between GNAD and DDL improving the capacity of GNAD to advocate for deaf people’s rights in Ghana. The project is also building on the lessons learned from the previous WFD Deaf Human Rights and Capacity Building Training Project in Western and Central Africa 2009-2012.

The long-term goal of the project is to increase the organisational capacities of four National Associations of the Deaf so that they are able to advocate for the human rights of deaf people, to participate fully in the disability movement in the countries, that the deaf people in the four countries have access to skilled Sign Language Interpreters (SLIs), and finally that the four National Associations of the Deaf are serving as a role model for the other deaf associations in the Western and Central Africa.

Phase 4 will put its focus on strengthening the existing network between the four National Associations of the Deaf, WCARS, and GNAD consolidating major gains made in the inception and first phases with a specific focus on country-level needs. The outputs of this phase will among others be a set of capacity and context analyses of the National Associations of the Deaf in the four countries and of the WCARS identifying needs for capacity building and common issues for common advocacy work, which will be presented and discussed upon at the partnership workshop.

The 4th phase is expected to focus on advancing national-level advocacy work including access to Sign Language (SL), i.e. rights to SL, research and knowledge about SL, and SL interpreter training; and capacity building of the deaf associations including establishing and strengthening of local branches. The specific areas of intervention are depending on the country-specific needs assessment.

The project is funded by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) through Disabled Peoples Organisations Denmark (DPOD).

Main responsibilities:

The Project Coordinator is expected to:

• Supervise the implementation of project activities in the project countries
•  Prepare bi-annual narrative and financial reports to Programs Manager
•  Provide technical support and training to colleagues and partners
•  Supervise and facilitate the disbursement of Local Development Funds and receiving of reports from Country Project Teams
•  Promote, document, and facilitate transnational knowledge and experience sharing;
•  Be responsible for receiving all project reports from Country Project Teams
• Monitoring of training and ongoing capacity-building programs in four countries
   

Required Skills or Experience

Education: Minimum Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences, development studies, or other relevant disciplines.

Prior Work Experience: 

•  At least 3-5years of work experience in human rights, development, or a closely-related field;
•  Solid knowledge and experience in project coordination;
•  Experience in coordination of multiple project partners;
• Experience working with Deaf communities in Ghana and West Africa;
•  Ability to provide training for diverse groups

Language: Proficiency in spoken and written English

Competencies: The incumbent must succesfully demonstrate the following competencies: 

Skills and Abilities: 

•  Ability to carry out tasks, make decisions independently and meet deadlines
•  Ability to successfully liaise and network with colleagues, deaf associations, national governments, and various partners in a multicultural environment;
•  Fluency in reading and writing English and French;
•  A good understanding and proven experience in budgeting principles and financial management;
•  Good analytical, interpersonal, and reporting writing skills;
•  Ability to think strategically and creatively;
•  Knowledge of human rights questions, with a special focus on deaf issues;
•  Capability to coordinate effectively and to assist the deaf community to build up stronger organisations;
•  Ability to learn new tools, methods, and knowledge and to provide training to people;
• Knowledge of the political context in the participating countries is an asset but not required;
•  Ability to coach and support the work of other colleagues and partners
•  Fluency in at least one of the project countries’ National Sign Language is essential