Consultant - Facilitator, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Global Communities of Practice

Deadline - February 28, 2010

Background

infoDev (www.infodev.org) is a research, capacity building and advisory program, coordinated and served by an expert Secretariat housed in the Global ICT Department (GICT) of the World Bank Group. It helps developing countries and their international partners use innovation and information and communication technologies (ICT) effectively as tools for poverty reduction and sustainable social and economic development.

infoDev’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program serves a growing global grassroots community of practice focused on the start-up and growth of technology-enabled SMEs in developing countries. Underpinning this community is infoDev’s global incubation network which reaches close to 300 business incubators, more than 20,000 small and medium enterprises and has helped create over 200,000 jobs across 87 developing countries. infoDev aims to leverage this extensive network to effectively enable south-south, peer-to-peer learning and business linkages for incubators and small businesses in the technology space. infoDev has created five regional networks focused on knowledge-sharing between professionals in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa, as well as global networks focused on issues of common concern such as youth and women entrepreneurs.

iDisc (www.idisc.net) is infoDev’s virtual networking and knowledge-sharing platform for its ever expanding innovation and entrepreneurship community. It consists of a toolkit on business incubation, virtual workspaces for global working groups, entrepreneur success stories, business incubation performance and impact data, and a global networking directory for business incubators. iDisc also has a monthly newsletter reaching more than 5000 innovation and entrepreneurship professionals worldwide.

The Innovation and Entrepreneurship team is led by a Task Team Leader and it comprises an Operations Officer and a team of consultant specialists and facilitators.

Scope of Work

infoDev is seeking to hire a short term consultant (STC) to facilitate the continued growth of its regional and global communities of practice. The Consultant will be a member of infoDev’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship team and will work under the supervision of the Operations Officer. The Consultant will have two primary areas of responsibility:

facilitating the start-up and growth of two new global communities of practice on ICT entrepreneurship and technology-enabled agribusiness entrepreneurship respectively, and;
leading the continued development of iDisc to:
- support infoDev’s new training program for business incubator managers;
- be used as a strategic tool in the roll-out of infoDev’s new programs in the area of access to markets and access to finance for technology entrepreneurs;
- be used as a strategic tool in infoDev’s outreach and communications to partners and stakeholders in the innovation and entrepreneurship community;
- creatively reflect the issues and themes of importance to the infoDev innovation and entrepreneurship community, and;
- maintain and continually expand infoDev’s virtual community of practice on innovation and entrepreneurship.

Specifically, the Consultant will be asked to:

Develop and lead a 2-year implementation plan for the launch and growth of two global communities of practice on the use of business incubation for ICT entrepreneurship and technology-enabled agribusiness entrepreneurship; engage a wide-ranging developing country constituency to comprise the communities of practice and to take ownership of the goals and deliverables for their work; and undertake outreach to and facilitate the involvement of developed country counterparts who wish to contribute to or support the work of the communities of practice. This task include preparation and monitoring of grants, organization and facilitation of face-to-face and online meetings, outreach to relevant other organizations and entities to engage them in our work; as well as effective communication of the outputs of these communities.
Lead the continued development of iDisc, including developing business requirements and roll-out plans for new features for the site, liaising with the web developer to implement these new features; ensuring a steady, updated and attractive flow of content that raises infoDev’s profile and serves infoDev’s expanding innovation and entrepreneurship community; occasionally writing highlights and other articles; and monitoring the use of iDisc and proposing and implementing appropriate adjustments to it content and structure.

Duration of Assignment

The position is initially for 1 year, which may then be extended depending on the availability of funds. The candidate should be able to start the assignment on March 15, 2010. Please note that Short Term Consultant (STC) assignments are limited to 150 days per Fiscal Year which is from July 1 to June 30.

Location

Qualified candidates may apply from anywhere in the world. Travel is required to Washington, D.C. to interact with the infoDev team and to other parts of the world to interact and facilitate the communities of practice, as appropriate.

Qualifications required

Masters degree in a relevant field;
5+years of relevant work experience;
Demonstrated understanding of the role of business incubation, SME development, access to finance and market facilitation issues in the developing country context ;
Experience in facilitating discussions between groups comprising professionals from a variety of cultural backgrounds, particularly in developing country contexts, and in ensuring progress in discussions and deliverables set by these groups;
A proven track record in stimulating and ensuring sustained participation in communities of practice;
A proven track record in developing and implementing web-sites and web-based tools, demonstrated by an increase in website traffic and site stickiness;
Excellent communications and interpersonal skills
Ability to think strategically and to implement methodically and systematically, but with cultural sensitivity
Fluency in English