The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a regional grouping of 21 African States which have agreed to promote regional integration through trade development and
trade facilitation. More information can be obtained from the COMESA website www.comesa.int.

Applications are invited from suitably qualified and experienced professionals from COMESA Member States for the following position: Head of Knowledge and Information Centre.

JOB PURPOSE
To facilitate knowledge sharing and research through the provision of knowledge management and information services to support the regional integration agenda at COMESA.
To be responsible for the effective management and organization, retrieval and disposal of all organizational records and archives.

B. MAIN DUTIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES
Under the direct supervision of Director Human Capital Management and Administration, the incumbent of the post will perform the following duties:

i. Provide input into long-range strategic and policy priorities/ issues relating to COMESA’s role in supporting development in Member states in order to realize the
regional integration agenda

ii. Consolidate annual Unit work plans and budget inputs in order to gain Management’s approval and funding of work plans required to execute Unit mandate

iii. Monitor the implementation of Unit work programs and budgets to ensure that the Unit mandate is executed in line with COMESA strategy and within approved budget limits

iv. Systematically coordinate acquisition, technical processing of all COMESA Secretariat Knowledge and Information Resources in terms of classification, cataloguing, barcoding and indexing, including custody of intellectual capital metadata to facilitate access and retrieval of these resources;

v. Provide strategic leadership in managing COMESA Secretariat Intellectual Capital by drafting relevant policy and procedures documents to guide in managing of these resources;

vi. Build partnerships, collaborations and exchange programs with national, regional and international stakeholders for knowledge and information sharing and dissemination;

vii. Establish relevant information systems and coordinates functioning of COMESA digital repository of flagship publications, COMESA Official Gazette, journals, magazines and Newsletters;

viii. Coordinate strategic management of COMESA Secretariat intellectual reserves, including safety and control on use of these resources, regular data backups, controlled scanning and long-term preservation and data format migration to neo technologies to avoid technology obsolescence;

ix. Maintain an active Master file index of all Secretariat Records, databases and knowledge resources, including critical policy documents for proper management and administration of COMESA Secretariat intellectual Capital;

x. Establish COMESA Archives and explores relevant technologies to orchestrate access
and retrieval to preserve historical memory of the Secretariat;

xi. Conduct education and training on COMESA Intellectual capital – management procedures, care, storage, access and retrieval;

xii. Promote and coordinate utilization of knowledge resources for continuous learning, harness knowledge sharing and capture within the Secretariat;

xiii. Coordinate acquisition of Information Resources from Member States, Knowledge capture, (both tacit and explicit), Records Management life cycle procedures (retention schedules), storage, access and retrieval for preservation of the Secretariat historical memory;

xiv. Manage and coordinate the recruitment, training and development of Unit staff to achieve key mandates;

Manage the performance management process in the Unit to ensure achievement of
Unit objectives supports COMESA strategy;

xvi. Motivate, engage and build staff into a high performing team through coaching,
effective communication and providing frequent feedback on work; and

xvii. Perform any other duties as assigned by the supervisor from time to time

C. MINIMUM ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

i. Bachelor’s degree in any of the following fields: Information Science, Library Science, Records Management, Archives Administration and Information Technology

ii. A Postgraduate qualification in any of the above fields will be an added advantage.

D. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Minimum six (6) years of professional work experience on similar area in national, regional or international institutions, of which at least three (3) years in a managerial role.

E. PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS/QUALIFICATIONS
Certification in Information Technology, Database Management; Networking; or IT diploma is desirable.

F. SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE

i. Strong background in Information processing: cataloguing and knowledge descriptive standards such as AACRII/RDA, MARC authorities and tools such as OCLC and expertise
in organizing and manipulating data using spreadsheet applications, skills in database management, information technology networking.

ii. Strong background in Records Management 15489 I & II and Archives description using internationally accepted standards, Records classification and indexing; Records and
Archives management systems.

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Call for Application for Professional staff 2025 ENG 2 phase Clean (002)