CARE Nederland and Nedsom are seeking
A Somali University Management Advisor (m/f)
As part of the Diaspora Partnership Programme
Duty station: Hargeisa, Somaliland

Who are we?

CARE Nederland is a humanitarian assistance and rehabilitation organisation. We are part of CARE International, a world-wide organisation active in humanitarian assistance, rehabilitation and structural development. CARE International has been working in Somalia and Somaliland since 1981. Currently the programmatic focus is agriculture / food security, water, health and education.

Nedsom is a Dutch-Somali foundation which aims to bring together the Somali Diaspora in the Netherlands, to promote Somali culture and to support development projects in both Somaliland and Somalia (Puntland).

Diaspora Partnership Programme

CARE and Nedsom together developed the Diaspora Partnership Programme with the aim to support Somali organisations. These organisations implement development projects together with CARE and Nedsom but lack certain expertise. Somali migrants, on the other hand, have useful skills and knowledge which could help these organisations in improving their effectiveness and efficiency. By sharing their expertise, the Somali Diaspora can increase the capacity of the local organisations and contribute to the development of Somaliland and Somalia (Puntland).

The vacancy

Doses of Hope Foundation (DOH) is a non-governmental development organization based in the Netherlands as well as Somaliland. The organisation is looking for an IT specialist with good training skills. The organization was established in the Netherlands in November 1997 and was born out of the initiatives of a group of Somali women living in the Netherlands (although now it has a mixed board comprising Dutch nationals and Somalis). Subsequently a local organization was also established in Somaliland in1998 by another local group which took the same name (Doses of Hope). The group in Somaliland is basically responsible for field operations while the group in the Netherlands has become its external intermediary, soliciting international financial and technical resources. Doses of Hope have two offices in Somaliland and a staff of 35 paid employees. The first office in Hargeisa was opened in 1999 and the second rehabilitation facility was opened in January 2003.

Establishment of Braille is one of the projects, which is a reading and production centre: The project, known as Somaliland Braille Teaching and production centre (SBC) is the first and the only Braille teaching school in the whole of Somaliland. SBC was initiated, in 2006 by Doses of Hope in partnership with Force Foundation, based in The Hague. The project has so far directly assisted 40 beneficiaries and it has indirectly benefited another 200 secondary beneficiaries (the family members)

The purpose of this project is to bring the blind and the visually impaired children and youth living in Somaliland into the society through Braille literacy intervention and to enhance their social and economic functioning. The Braille teaching and production centre was initiated, in 2005 in partnership with Force Foundation, which is based in The Hague. Since the centre is the first and the only Braille teaching school in Somaliland, it is currently facing a huge demand that outweighs far beyond the centre’s capacity, in terms of human resources, equipment and writing material.

Tasks:

The overall objective of the project is to, bring these marginalized children and youth into the society through Braille literacy intervention and to create awareness and enhance their social and economic functioning.

Specific objectives include:

• To strengthen the capacity of the centre enabling it to take additional 40 students;
• To empower blind persons and to improve the quality of their lives;
• To further the equalization of opportunities for visually and partially impaired persons in education and employment;
• To improve the computer skills (in the mid-term) of the visually and partially impaired persons in order to match the recent technological advances, accommodate their academic ambitions, and match the employment market demands.
• To teach the student how to use computers the school needs to hire a professional IT trainer.

Duties:

Preparation of teaching materials according to the curriculum;

• Conduct teaching lessons as per curriculum;
• Prepare and conduct periodical tests;
• Carry out any other relevant teaching duties as per the director’s instructions;
• Introducing methods of longer-term self-learning for the school, e.g. through the Hadley School for the Blind, New York – they run free on-line courses for the Blind that include units on computer use (http:// www.hadleyschool.org);
• Planning and starting a training programme;
• Developing evaluation tools to check progress.

Who are we seeking?

We are seeking a person from the Somali Diaspora with an EU nationality. We are looking for candidates who meet the following criteria:

Required:

• Somali origin
• Good Somali language skills
• EU nationality
• Diploma in ICT or computer science At least 5 years of management work-experience
• Work experience must include t eaching in college/institute of higher learning for at least 2-3 years
• Required expertise: -PC Networks; -Certificate of Proficiency in PC Installation & Support;-Test & Orientation Program
• Able to work together with local colleagues

Personal profile

• Good teaching skills
• Very flexible attitude, adaptability
• Patient, friendly
• Good co-operation skills
• Good (inter-cultural) communication skills
• Pro-active, takes initiative
• Can handle stress well
• Motivated to do development work in Somaliland

What do we offer?

• Salary range: € 1.640 - € 2.440 gross per month, depending on experience
• Social insurances (for illness, unemployment and disability)
• 8 percent vacation money
• Medical and travel insurances and travel to Somaliland and back
• Preparation training
• Supervision and support in-country from CARE

Duration

Duration will be till the end of July 2008 (full time position). Starting date as soon as possible.

How to apply

Fill out the application form (to be down-loaded at www.carenederland.org and www.nedsom.com) in ENGLISH. Send the application form and your CV in ENGLISH by e-mail to Ms. Karen Munk, Programme Officer at CARE Nederland at diaspora@carenederland.org.

More information

For more information you can contact Ms. Karen Munk, Programme Officer at CARE Nederland: diaspora@carenederland.org or (+31) (0)70-3105050.

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