Knowledge & Information Management Officer

Field-based position with visits to the headquarters in Geneva

Context & Mission

Médecins Sans Frontières is an international, independent medical and humanitarian organisation that provides care to populations in need, to people affected by natural or man-made disasters and to victims of armed conflicts, without discrimination and regardless of their race, religion, belief or political affiliation (MSF Charter). MSF Switzerland is one of the 5 operational centers of MSF that provides assistance in more than 70 countries to populations in distress.

The MSF movement is built around 5 operational centres supported by 24 sections and offices worldwide. MSF Operational Centre Geneva (MSF OCG) is one of these centres. Its 61 field projects operations are implemented in 23 countries in Africa, Middle East, Asia and Central America. The field operations are guided and supported by four Operational Desks, one Emergency Desk and other departments supporting operations, including Medical, Logistics, Human Resources, Finance, Information Systems, Communication & Fundraising, and General direction.

As stated in the OCG Document Management Policy, MSF information and documents are an important asset to be managed effectively to advance operations in the field and strategic priorities. A newer set of digital tools has been introduced to help staff accessing and storing information, knowledge and documents, such as the OCG Knowledge Management System (Kompas), OCG SharePoint Private Sites and Microsoft Teams Groups, in addition to a standard folder structure and retention schedule for missions. These tools aims to centralize essential mission documents, facilitate transversal collaboration and sharing of good practices among missions, cells and departments, and keep MSF institutional memory. The goal is to reduce the risk of inefficiency and loss of continuity of activities, mismanagement of personal data, failed audits, lawsuits or financial losses.

This role is part of the Knowledge and Information Sharing team (KISU) and reports to the Knowledge Management Systems Manager. The Knowledge and Information Management Officer has functional relations with the KOMPAS & SharePoint/Teams teams, and with KISU team in HQ, and with focal points, contributors and users of these platforms in all OCG locations.

The general objective of this role is to provide functional support to mission teams regarding the management of essential information, knowledge and documents and the use of digital tools for document management, knowledge sharing and collaboration. The Knowledge and Information Management Officer will participate in rolling out these tools and standards, documenting lessons learned, drafting tools and guidelines, and in improving best practices. It is an essential role to ensure that staff members internalize collaboration and document management as a regular activity and responsibility, and that these activities are harmonized across missions.

The Information and Knowledge Management Officer will work primarily in the locations where FiWi has been deployed, at both coordination and project levels, which are the locations where the Document Management Policy is to be rolled out.

The Information and Knowledge Management Officer will sign a special confidentiality agreement with MSF because s/he will access sensitive documents and information. S/he will act in compliance with Data Protection regulations and will have to pay particular attention to respect both confidentiality of information gathered at HQ and field level.

Tasks & Responsibilities

Contribute to build capacity and adoption in missions of OCG collaboration, knowledge and document management guidelines and tools and their integration to daily operations

• Before the field visit, liaise with the team in HQ and the designated focal points to define the specific priorities and issues to be addressed during the visit.
• On site, review governance arrangements in the mission for information and knowledge management (Kompas, private site, local server, etc) and for providing regular briefings for new arrivals in all collaboration and knowledge management tools.
• Validate the operation of Kompas, private SharePoint sites and Teams Groups in the field (online and offline with OneDrive). Ensure that access for all users with an MSF address is enabled, and all conditions are in place.
• Train mission users on Kompas, private SharePoint sites, OneDrive and Microsoft Teams Groups. Explain integration with other O365 tools and with OneDrive in particular.
• Provide in-depth training to designated focal points an ensure they strive for maximun automony within the OCG policy, guidelines and procedures.
• With the focal point(s) and key contributors, implement a full audit of Kompas mission site and private sites/local servers. Guide contributors to upload missing documents and to put in place the governance needed to guarantee the regular update of these documents and contents. Request to HQ team the update of permissions as needed.
• Identify users and settings that do not have access to digital collaboration tools due to connectivity limitations or lack of MSF email addresses (e.g., hospital, guest houses).
• In coordination with the team in HQ, introduce the retention schedule and the standard folder structure to the mission team as needed. Provide general guidance to designated focal points on these standards and on the migration of contents to the new structure, its use and permissions.
• Collect feedback from the mission team on how to improve collaboration, knowledge and document management in the mission, and on how to improve the guidelines and procedures and share this feedback with the team in HQ. Feedback include bugs to correct or improvements needed, or best practices that can be used to inspire other missions.
• Brief IS local officer(s) on the policy and guidelines for knowledge and document management and collaboration. Ensure that a process is in place in the mission to brief and share these guidelines on these tools with all new arrivals, and to provide on site technical support to users, and escalate requests as needed.
• Liaise with the Data Protection Officer (DPO) for questions related to personal data protection and the implementation of MSF Switzerland Data Protection Policy.

Provide direct support to focal points, key users and general users on collaboration, information, knowledge and document management tools to facilitate long term functioning and sustainability

• Provide first level functional support to focal points, contributors and users in visited missions on Kompas, private SharePoint sites and Teams Groups. Escalate these requests to the HQ team as needed according to internal procedures.
• Provide regular follow up webinars and “clinics” (in EN and FR), on Kompas and collaboration and document management platforms. These webinars are open to all users in the visited mission and users in other countries as needed.
• Animate the community of practice (CoP) of focal points and promote a lively exchange of questions, solutions and good practices from all missions. Regularly monitor the needs and interest of the community and update the visits and support to users accordingly.
• Improve and update the guidelines, communication and training material for focal points, contributors and users (e.g., How-Tos, presentations, video tutorials, posters), based on the feedback received and good practices collected.

Your Profile

Education

• University degree in Records Management, Knowledge Management, Information and Communication Sciences & Technologies, Business Administration, Information Systems or related field.

Experience

• Experience in records management/knowledge management procedures and tools
• Experience in managing digital platforms
• Experience in delivering training and webinars to users
• Experience providing first-hand support to users
• Experience with international organizations an asset
• Experience in change management an asset

Skills

• In depth knowledge on O365 tools (SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive) and Windows Office.
• In depth knowledge on document management practices and platforms
• Strong analytical skills, organized and methodical
• Proven pedagogical skills an asset

Languages

• Fluent in both French and English are required
• Spanish and Portuguese and asset

Personal Abilities

• Interest in humanitarian work and humanitarian organizations
• Strong communication and presentation skills
• Curiosity, initiative, and rigor
• Willingness to work in challenging field conditions
• Team player and solutions oriented

Terms of Employment

• Fixed-term contract, 12 months
• Full-time, 100% (40h/week)
• Working place : Field-based position with visits to the headquarters in Geneva
• Practical working conditions in the field are in accordance with the MSF OCG volunteer manual.
• Ideal start date: March 2023
• Gross monthly salary: CHF 5’500.- based on 100%
• Benefits: Health insurance and living expenses in the countries of intervention and at headquarters, paid according to internal regulations.

How to apply

Candidates submit their application following the requirements: CV 2 p. max. – letter of motivation 1p. max. – in French or English.

Deadline for application is February 12th, 2023. Nevertheless, we reserve the right to close the position early if we consider the number and quality of applications received to be sufficient.

APPLY HERE

The applications will be treated confidentially.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

At MSF, we are committed to an inclusive culture that encourages and supports the diverse voices of our staff members. We strive to create workplaces where teams of people with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, perspectives, ideas and experiences work together for the social mission of MSF to create better outcomes for our patients and the communities we work with.

We welcome applications from individuals of all genders, ages, sexual orientations, nationalities, races, background, religions, beliefs, ability status, and all other diversity characteristics.

MSF does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of discrimination or harassment, including sexual harassment. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo reference checks.