JOB DESCRIPTION

POSITION: Research & Outreach Officer

REPORTS TO: Research & Outreach Supervisor/Head Of Education 

LOCATION:  Dar Es Salaam 

Long term

Full time

UBONGO is Africa's leading producer of kids' edutainment. As a non-profit social enterprise, we create fun, localised and multi-platform educational content that helps kids learn, and leverage their learning to change their lives. Ubongo reaches millions of families across Africa through accessible technologies like TV, radio and mobile phones. Our show’s ​Ubongo Kids and Akili and Me currently air in 31 countries across Africa, in Swahili, English, French, and Kinyarwanda. We are currently adapting the shows to even more languages including Kikuyu, Luo, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, and Twi. This is a great time to join an organisation that’s rapidly growing across the continent, and work with a creative and impact-driven team committed to reaching as many families in Africa with life-changing edutainment. 

We are looking for a Researcher.  Working at Ubongo won’t be easy, but it will challenge and excite you with lots of responsibilities, plenty of fun, and give you the opportunity to impact the lives of millions of kids every day. 

We’re looking for an organised, creative and skilled Researcher who will be able to ensure that the content created is well researched and educational for African audiences at all stages of production. You’ll work closely with the Head of Education and the Pre-Production team to carry out research and user testing with our pan-African audience.

RESPONSIBILITIES: 

1. Contribute to and support Ubongo's research processes.

Main Activities: 

• Working with teams to ensure continuous and creative research for all content and products.
• Ensure that all products move us toward Ubongo's vision of helping 440 million kids in Africa learn, and leverage their learning to change their lives.
• Support the development of materials for research of our shows and any other current and potential Ubongo and client products i.e. apps, client projects, school material, etc.
• Report writing and​/​or presentations of research design and results to Ubongo and clients as needed.
• Plan, contact stakeholders and support roundtables for every show or content as needed.

2. Support and continually improve Ubongo's user testing processes.

Main Activities: 

• Working with teams to ensure continuous and creative user testing processes for all content and products.
• Arrange user tests and focus groups with kids or other stakeholders all over Tanzania and possibly outside of Tanzania.
• Develop and/or review materials for testing.
• User test at all stages of content-e.g outline, song, post-production, to ensure that all content is helping children learn
• Report writing and​/​or presentations of user test results to the wider Ubongo team, especially the production team
• Work with the team to coordinate and facilitate distractor testing for each show.
• Support data input and data analysis of the distractor tests and report to the team and stakeholders on results and conclusions.

3. Support outreach activities.

Main Activities: 

• Building relationships with preschools and schools all over Tanzania (and possibly outside) that we can work with in testing/research.

• Building relationships with individuals and organizations that we can work with in testing/research

REQUIREMENTS​:

TO BE A MATCH, YOU’LL NEED:

• Fluent in written and spoken English and Kiswahili.
• Self-motivated and possess a high level of responsibility to complete tasks in a timely manner.
• Make significant progress without direct supervision.
• Have experience performing qualitative research or user testing.
• Strong research and analytical skills - experience in education/ educational research highly desirable.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong relationship building skills.
• Willingness to travel and engage with different groups of people - at times, you will be conducting research all over the country and possibly abroad
• Ability to learn new software and research techniques as needed.
• Flexibility in adjusting to new work related requirements as they arise.
• Have a can-do attitude and readiness to learn on the job as we create an innovative new educational service
• Have a passion for UBONGO’s vision of using media to transform education in East Africa
• Be a persistent but empathetic pusher. We’ve got to get things DONE.
• Good at dealing with ambiguity and able to figure things out for yourself.
• Willing to speak up for what’s right, when you see wrong, or when you think there might be a better way.
• Be a good communicator, and ask when something does not make sense. At Ubongo, we fail fast and fail forward!
• Honest, trustworthy, transparent and conscientious.
• Someone who loves kids. They’re why we do what we do. They’re running around our office all the time. Our kids’ music and videos will become part of your life (and constantly stuck in your head).

Phew! You made it through that. The good thing is that there are also perks, like delicious healthy lunch at the office, health insurance, and you get to

watch cartoons at work.

Closing Date: 3rd January 2021

Please note that only applicants who apply using this online form will be considered. Those who come directly to the office with a CV or who email their CV to us will simply be referred back to this online form. 

So please ​save yourself​ ​time and effort by simply sticking to this form.

THANKS!