Background

The post holder will form part of the core International Security Sector Advisory Team (ISSAT) at the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). ISSAT provides practical support to the international community in its efforts to improve security and justice, primarily in conflict-affected and fragile states. It does this by working with a group of member states and institutions to develop and promote good security and justice reform practices and principles, and by helping its members to build their capacity to support national and regional security and justice reform processes.

Within ISSAT, Knowledge Services reinforces ISSAT’s other core service lines – advisory field support, training, and advocacy – and assists the international community by supporting the process of learning from practical Security Sector Reform (SSR) experience. Its primary activities involve:

• Development and management of an online SSR community of practice website (access to SSR methodology and resources, information about SSR programmes around the world, forum discussions, blog posts, directory of SSR practitioners, etc.)
• Development of SSR guidance, e-learning and supporting resources (operational guidance notes, tools, case studies, lessons identified reports, e-learning courses etc.)
• Design, organisation and facilitation of knowledge-sharing and learning events (after-action reviews, panel discussions, interviews, etc.)
• Ongoing communications (newsletters, presentations, blog posts, videos, etc.)

Through these activities Knowledge Services aims to make it easy and enjoyable to access and apply the best available SSR knowledge and expertise.

Role, Requirements and Responsibilities

The primary role of the Designer and Web Developer is to continue the development and maintenance of an innovative and effective SSR knowledge platform built upon the eZ Publish content management system. This will involve liaising with our outsourced web design and development contractor on the specification, design, development and testing of new features; ongoing maintenance, bug-fixing and enhancement of the platform; and design of other ISSAT publications, such as newsletters, presentations, reports, etc. In addition, the post holder will be expected to contribute the generation and uploading of content, communication with knowledge platform users, and all other tasks related to Knowledge Services.

Essential Skills

• User needs analysis, usability testing and requirements specification
• Web design (CSS, SVG, user interface design, responsive design, icon design)
• Web development (HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Git, eZ Publish template language a strong advantage)
• Document design (Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat, and similar)
• Web content management (experience using eZ Publish CMS an advantage)
• Web development project and workflow management
• Written communication

Desirable Skills

• Knowledge management
• Conceptual, analytical, systemic and creative thinking
• Search engine optimisation
• Web analytics
• Video editing (Adobe Premier Pro, MS Movie Maker, or similar)

Languages

• Fluency in written and spoken English
• Abilities in other languages, particularly French, are an advantage

Other Qualities

• Work effectively within a team
• Apply initiative and creativity to solve problems and capitalise on opportunities
• Take ownership of significant workstreams
• Manage tasks and time effectively
• Create high-quality outputs

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development and maintenance of the web-based knowledge platform
• Lead on the design aspects of ISSAT's digital and printed communications, ensuring that they are professional, consistent and effective (from a usability perspective)
• Liaise with external partners that provide support for the design, development and hosting of the web-based knowledge platform
• Design and create documents, infographics, videos, mobile apps and other knowledge products to maximise the value of knowledge content
• Design and execute a programme of usability testing and performance measurement to help maximise the user experience with and the overall performance of ISSAT knowledge products
• Provide training and technical support to users to help them to effectively use the web-based knowledge platform and other knowledge products
• Regularly identify and upload relevant knowledge content to the web-based knowledge platform
• Carry out other relevant tasks as specified by the ISSAT Advocacy & Outreach Coordinator or other members of the ISSAT Senior Management Team