Position Title:                         Senior Learning and Development Specialist

Reports To:                            Learning and Development Manager

Department:                           Administration and Operations

Team:                                     Regional

Job Location:                         Nairobi, Kenya

Grade Level:                          7, National

Introduction:

Church World Service (CWS) is a not-for-profit, faith-based organization transforming communities around

the globe through just and sustainable solutions to hunger, poverty, displacement and disaster. CWS does

not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, gender identity, genetic

information, age, disability or veteran status in employment or in the provision of services.

This position is responsible for designing, developing, and implementing learning solutions that align with

the organization’s goals and support employee growth and performance. Senior Learning and Development Specialist will be the administrator of the e-Learning Management System (eMS) and will work closely with Software Development Team to ensure optimal utilization of the organization digital learning tools.

The position will be part of the Human Resource team and Subject Matter Experts across CWS

Africa to develop interactive tools that will aid learning initiatives.

Key Relationships:

Internal to CWS

• CWS Africa management at all levels
• All CWS Africa staff

External

• Human Resource service providers
• CWS Global HR colleagues

Working Environment

Primarily in-office 

Leadership and Management (20%)

• Provide input in strategic planning conversations to achieve CWS Africa Program goals.
• Champion CWS policy, procedures, and organizational culture to staff, and contribute to strategies for ensuring staff fully understand and abide by CWS policies.
• Aligning learning and development initiatives with organizational goals to deliver targeted employee training.
• Develop tools to identify training/knowledge gaps by working closely with CWS Africa Supervisors.
• Leverage and optimize various learning digital tools, including the eMS, virtual collaboration tools, and authoring software, to enhance the learning experience.

• Establish robust evaluation methods to measure the effectiveness and impact of learning initiatives.
• Manage learning and development projects from start to end, ensuring timely delivery, adherence to budget, and as per CWS Africa expectations.
• Manage the CWS Africa learning and development mailbox, training calendar, and helpdesk.
• Provide input and apply cost-saving measures to ensure continuous learning.
• Facilitate a safe, healthy, and professional work environment.
• Participate in hiring interviews and undertake other human resources functions.

Program Administration (35%)

• Track progress towards achievement of established annual goals and objectives related to staff learning and development. 
• Facilitate a variety of training sessions, workshops, and learning interventions, both in-person and virtually, ensuring a positive and impactful learning experience.
• Collaborate with CWS Africa management, and subject experts to conduct thorough learning needs assessment to identify skill gaps, performance deficiencies, and development opportunities across CWS Africa.
• Contribute to planning for offsite and external training.
• Provide training and tools to ensure employees are proficient in navigating and completing courses, quizzes or surveys via CWS Africa e-Learning Management System (eMS), i.e. moodle.org.
• Work closely with the Software Development team to ensure timely new software upgrades and improvements of the eMS.
• Provide technical support on training development, training design, monitoring, and evaluation instruments, and training feedback mechanisms to CWS Africa management and staff.
• Work closely with CWS Africa supervisors to develop questions for Job Knowledge and hiring assessments.
• Ensures new staff orientation curriculum, recurrent and mandatory training are built, uploaded, and updated on the CWS Africa Moodle online learning management system (eMS) and UKG Pro Learning, as necessary.
• Develop a plan and timeline to create instructional design documentation; products may include but are not limited to instructional systems design and documentation, storyboards, narrative scripts, graphics, assessments, and scenario props.
• Create engaging learning activities and compelling course content that enhances knowledge retention and transfer. Visualize instructional graphics, the user interface, and the finished product.
• Create learning aids i.e. material/media (audio, video, simulations, role plays, games, etc.)
• Schedule and ensure dry runs are completed for all learning initiatives.
• Maintain training design, project documentation, and course folders.
• Contribute to developing training materials and manuals housed by the Learning and Development Team.
• Use instructional design principles and adult learning theories in curriculum design and development.

Compliance (25%)

• Report any identified areas of significant compliance risk for the CWS Africa programs.
• Ensure timely and accurate reporting of suspected fraud, malfeasance, and data breaches.
• Coordinate and participate in regular inter-departmental process reviews for CWS Africa to compare requirements vs. current outputs and implement process changes based on the outcome of the process reviews.
• Contribute to the development and updating of the learning and development policy and procedure documents.
• Contribute to responding to the yearly external audit's inquiries. 
• Analyzes all learning and development reports, survey results, and organize learning initiatives dry runs to monitor training effectiveness and proposes different training approaches.
• Contribute to the development of effective training indicators and goals, including pre- and post-training assessments and satisfaction surveys from trainers and participants for reporting of Learning and Development activities.

Data Management and Analysis (15%)  

• Together with CWS Africa management, carry out training needs assessments and analyze collected needs assessment data to inform Learning and Development Unit priorities and organizational training needs.
• Maintain training attendance records including those in CWS Africa meeting platforms (MS Teams, Zoom, WebEX etc), eMS, UKG Pro Learning or other subscribed learning platforms.
• Ensures data tracking functions on the eMS and UKG Pro Learning are effectively utilized to ensure accurate and timely reporting.
• Track and report on data related to the Bureau of Population Refugee and Migration Objectives and Indicators.
• Contribute to the completion of the Internal Monthly Training Report for CWS HQ, and PRM quarterly performance progress report.
• Work closely with the Software Development team to ensure continuous improvement of reporting functions in digital learning tools.
• Analyze data, generate reports, and provide recommendations for continuous improvement.

Additional Responsibilities (5%)

• May be deployed to the field to observe or monitor training and compliance.
• Provide cover-up for HR roles, as necessary.

Any other duties as assigned.

Experience:

• A minimum of six (6) years of paid work experience is required, including staff Learning & Development.
• Two years of supervisory experience is required.
• Experience working and leading diverse teams is preferred.
• Previous experience working with vulnerable communities.

Skills:

• Strong analytical skills and excellent report-generation skills with the ability to understand, process and document information for a variety of audiences.
• Proven expertise in instructional design methodologies and adult learning principles.
• Strong proficiency with Learning Management System (LMS) – CWS Africa uses moodle.org
• Proficiency in e-learning authoring tools.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills.
• Advanced computer knowledge, specifically with MS Office, Learning Management Systems, Authoring Tools, and other statistical analysis programs.
• Strong English communication skills, both oral and written.

Education & Certifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Organization Development, Education, Instructional Design, or a related field, a master’s degree is an added advantage . 

Abilities:

• Manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Create innovative learning solutions that cater to different learning styles.
• Maintain a high performance standard with attention to detail, completing tasks within set timeframes;
• Exercise good judgement and seek guidance as appropriate when confronted with unanticipated problems; 
• Deal effectively and courteously with a large number of associates, outside agencies, refugees and members of the general public;
• Manage large and diverse workload under pressure with competing priorities.
• Maintain the integrity of official records; 
• Analyse and solve complex problems and make sound decisions; 
• Work with minimal supervision;
• Work independently and contribute to overall operations of CWS Africa; 
• Be flexible with changing of daily duties as needed;

Important Requirements:

• Strong English communication skills, both written and oral.
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment required.
• Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and willingness to support CWS’ Platform on Racial Justice as a CWS employee required.
• Remain alert and responsive to any child safeguarding and PSEAH (Prevention of Sexual, Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment) risks, acquire relevant knowledge and skills which will enable you to promote strong safeguarding PSEAH practices, understand the child safeguarding and PSEAH Policies and procedures, and conduct yourself in a manner consistent with the Child Safeguarding and PSEAH Policies.

• The candidate should be in good health, willing and able to travel extensively in often difficult conditions, and have a high degree of flexibility. Must have proof of Yellow Fever vaccination before traveling for RSC Africa.
• This position is based in Nairobi, Kenya
• This position requires the use of laptops at all times, competence in Microsoft Office packages is required.
• This position may require travel
• A background check which includes references and an educational and criminal check.
• This position is Full time.
• All employees should be prepared to work from the CWS office.