Voyaging begins when one burns one’s boats, adventures begin with a shipwreck. - Michel Serres, The Five Senses

A report in The Chronicle recounts a startling issue of lost cadetship application forms submitted by students at Lupane State University. The spokesperson for the university said they either got lost or misplaced at their Harare offices. I find it weird for an academic office to lose a bunch of 121 three or four paged forms. Before the students are asked to re-submit these forms investigations should be done to ascertain what happened to the forms they had submitted. I have always questioned the way universities handle the cadetship application process and reading this article brought back my dark cloud over this programme. For me there was always a lack of transparency. Being an orphan I thought I made it to top ‘A’ list of those credible but alas my application was turned down.

That then programmed my mind to feel that some local universities are structuring themselves to be ‘money making’ businesses thus having fewer students on cadetship will prove more viable for their business. They would rather do away with having to wait for the government to give them the disbursements for fees for students on cadetship and have students pay their full fees directly to them. University authorities find it much easier to chase away students who haven’t paid their fees in full at the exam entrance door than to drag the government to pay its cadetship dues to them on time. Thus on the universities’ end they are never keen to get more of their students on cadetship. On the other hand you cannot blame them since the government has failed to fulfill its mandate on the cadetship programme. But then if the government lets down universities and they in turn ‘punish’ students on cadetship what is being achieved at the end of the day? Every stakeholder involved in the cadetship programme should play his or her part because if this vicious circle continues we are killing the future of the nation.

Consultancy: Translation of the Advocacy Toolkit  from English to Shona and Ndebele

Voluntary Service Overseas is an international development charity organization that works through and with people (volunteers) to fight global poverty.VSO has been in Zimbabwe since the 1980′s and initially its mandate was sourcing and delivering human capital to government and other institutions. VSO Zimbabwe is registered under the PVO Act of 2003(PVO 27/2010).

VSO Zimbabwe is part of an international organization that operates in more than 40 countries and has over 90 years of experience in development work. During that period, VSO International has placed over 40,000 professional volunteers into different professions globally. As a result of these efforts, over 14 million children are receiving a better education and almost five million people are accessing better quality HIV and AIDS services, and over a million disabled people are better able to enforce their rights to education and health services.

VSO is always looking for new ways to turn human energy and ingenuity into lasting change. VSO Zimbabwe has send professionals to share their skills with their local counterparts as one aspect of our vibrant National Volunteering Programme. The programme is also working towards enhancing national professional volunteerism in Zimbabwe.VSO work is demand driven. We embrace a range of development methods that allow us to provide whatever kind of help is needed most, including promoting international strategies and action, knowledge brokering and youth exchanges. We no longer exclusively recruit from the developed world as over 30 per cent of our volunteers come from within the country their nationality. VSO has just initiated a South to South fellowship programme where professionals from southern countries exchange knowledge and ideas through a 60 day exchange programme. At a global level, VSO is working very closely with the Commonwealth in promoting international learning exchange visits. (Commonwealth Fellowship Programme)

Purpose of the consultancy
VSO would like to recruit a consultant / consultancy firm / company or organization to translate the Advocacy Toolkit from English to Shona and Ndebele.

Criteria for selection
-Professional knowledge in Advocacy, Governance and law.
-Professional experience of at least 3 years in translation of community interventions material to shona and Ndebele.
-Strong analytical skills and good Shona and Ndebele writing skills.
-Experience and familiarity with communication for advocacy.
-Good appreciation of effective communication and facilitation skills, with readily available examples of translated work particularly on community interventions in Zimbabwe.
-An understanding of community interventions in Zimbabwe and interpersonal communication issues is an added advantage.

TORs for the consultancy may be requested from: peter.mutoredzanwa [at] vsoint [dot] org

Please submit applications including a proposal in a sealed envelope marked “Translation – Advocacy Toolkit” no later than 12 noon on 8 February 2013 to:
The Country Director, Voluntary service Overseas, Ref: Translation – Advocacy Toolkit, Room 14 Cambitzis Building, King George Rd, Avondale, Harare, Zimbabwe, P.O. Box CY 1836 Causeway, Harare; or by e-mail to peter.mutoredzanwa [at] vsoint [dot] org

Work in and for Zimbabwe. Help grow our nation. Check out the vacancies below. If you’d like to receive this sort of information, as well as civic and human rights updates, by email each week drop us a note saying “subscribe” to: info [at] kubatana [dot] net

Please note that the job vacancies we carry are related to the NGO and civil society sectors only.

Programme Manager: Trocaire
Deadline: 8 February 2013

Description of the unit / department: Trocaire is one of Ireland’s leading agencies working for global justice and promoting human development. The International Division is responsible for Trocaire’s development and humanitarian work worldwide.

Background to the Role
The purpose of the country unit in Trocaire’s structure is to deliver results for poor people, achieving change through development, humanitarian and advocacy work which empowers poor and marginalised people to take increased control over decisions that affect their lives and to improve the quality of their lives, in the particular countries where we work. The country is also responsible for contributing to the achievement of Trocaire’s overarching goals in relation to international advocacy, campaigns, communications, fundraising and marketing.

The Programme Manager role is a new role, responding to a strategic decision to deepen Trocaire’s investment in programme quality management at country level.

For more information and to apply please click here

Programs Coordinator: National Association of Social Workers Zimbabwe (NASW-Z)
Deadline: 8 February 2013

Background to the Position
The National Association of Social Workers Zimbabwe (NASW-Z) is as a voluntary, membership-based, non-partisan, non-tribal, non-racial, non-discriminatory and not-for-profit organization, which was established in order to advance the interests of social workers and raise their professional status. In furtherance of its mandate and in its contribution to the Social Welfare Workforce Strengthening in Zimbabwe, NASW has entered into strategic partnerships with various stakeholders to run various programmes including a Social Worker Graduate Internship Program and other exciting innovations in the delivery of social work interventions in Zimbabwe. In this regard, the Association is seeking to recruit a Programmes Coordinator to run its programmes.

Job Summary
Reporting to the NASWZ National Executive Council (NEC) through the President of the Association or his designate, the main role of the Coordinator is to be the leader of the Association’s Secretariat, designing programmes and leading resource mobilizationefforts, overseeing the implementation of programmes and to be the face of the Association as assigned by the NEC. The Coordinator will assume the following responsibilities:

Key Functions of the post
-Oversee the Implementation of NASW programmes including the student and graduate internship program
-Design and develop programme management and resource mobilization strategies and systems
-Design, coordinate and support activities of the National Association of Social Workersincluding membership mobilization and retention
-Monitoring and evaluation of the Association’s Programmes
-Produce monthly, quarterly and annual progress reports and submit the same to the NEC
-Network and represent NASWZ at various social/child protection forums and meetings
-Technical backstopping for consultants on delivery based contracts
-Oversee day to day operations of the Association, including managing staff of the association at national and branch level
-Ensure effective management of resources and put in place systems for accountability to members and funders

Qualifications and Experience: Applicants must meet the following criteria
-Primary University degree in social work and registered with the Council of Social Workers
-An advanced degree is an added advantage
-NASW membership is a must
-Good Presentation skills
-Excellent communication skills
-At least 3 years experience working with vulnerable people and one year must be at lower to middle management level supervising people
-Understanding of the country’s labour laws and collective bargaining issues desirable but not a must
-Ability to work with little or no supervision
-Results oriented and able to work under pressure
-Knowledge of monitoring and evaluation
-Experience working within a multi stakeholder project

Female Applicants with the relevant qualifications and experience are encouraged to apply.

Email your application to: nasw.sec [at] gmail [dot] com or nasw.hararebranch [at] gmail [dot] com

Accountant: International Union Against TB and Lung Disease
Deadline: 12 February 2013

The International Union Against TB and Lung Disease (The Union) is an international scientific organisation headquartered in Paris, France and with 14 offices worldwide. To fulfill its mission, its office in Zimbabwe has a vacancy for an Accountant based in Harare. S/he will work closely, on a day-to-day basis, with and report to The Union’s Senior Administrator in Zimbabwe. The post holder will also provide financial support to the Director of The Union Zimbabwe Office and program co-ordinators. The successful candidate shall apply accounting principles and policies to assist in the analysis of financial information, prepare accurate and timely financial reports and statements and ensure the implementation of appropriate accounting control procedures. Applicants should posses a recognized accounting qualification or equivalent with a minimum of 3 years’ experience in the management of financial systems and budgets, financial accounting and reporting and financial data analysis.

For full details of the job and responsibilities, please visit The Union’s website, www.theunion.org
Condition of Employment – Initially one year contract subject to renewal based on performance and availability of funding.

Please send CV + motivation letter to: hrzimbabwe [at] theunion [dot] org