Job opportunity: Content and Research Assistant – Vietnamese candidate only

Open Development Mekong is looking to hire a national Content and Research Assistant to contribute to research and content development for Open Development Vietnam (ODV) site. The role is to provide research and data support to the Content and Research Officer who manages the ODV platform.

About us:  

The Open Development Initiative (ODI) is an open data and information network developed by East-West Management Institute, Inc. (EWMI) that sheds light on development trends in the Mekong Region. The Mekong Basin is a trans-boundary ecosystem shared by 6 countries providing a central livelihood and food security to 60 million people as the largest inland fishery in the world. ODI’s objective is to increase public awareness, enable individual analysis, improve information sharing, and inform rigorous debate – all contributing to the sustainable development of the region from a social, economic and environmental perspective. By combining open data, data journalism, and research capacities and approaches, the initiative offers one-stop shopping for data on country or regional development for civil society, the private and public sector. Our regional platform (http://www.opendevelopmentmekong.net/) has been established and now has active partners in all the Lower Mekong countries.

Objective of the position:

The role is expected to involve approximately 20 hours per week to perform the following tasks:

Data and data contributions:

  • Research and find data and information that is suitable for content development around the ODM taxonomy structure.
  • Upload and translate datasets in ODM Datahub (CKAN).
  • Assist in coordination and training of local partners as well as promoting the expansion of the data contributors network.

Research and editorial content support:

  • Support the editorial research and content development for the OD Vietnamese site. This will include research and writing support to the Content Officer.
  • Manage translation of all content pages  (English – Vietnamese).
  • Monthly review and update of content on OD Vietnam to ensure that data, statistics and content is relevant and up-to-date on all pages, dashboards and data visuals.
  • Assist with other additional research and other tasks as needed.

Localisation, social media etc:

  • Maintain and continue to localize the platform into Vietnamese where necessary and  coordinate localisation with national partners in Transifex when necessary.
  • Assist in coordination of social media campaigns for ODM and OD Vietnam.

Knowledge and Skills:

The candidate should be familiar with issues affecting SE Asia and in particular the Mekong region. They should have a strong interest in development and environmental sustainability with in depth understanding of the economic, social and political context of Vietnam and the Lower Mekong Basin and the transboundary issues within the region. Additionally the candidate should possess the following skills and qualifications:

  • Research skills to be able to find support the development of content pieces for the platform.
  • Proven writing skills to be able to produce stories or content that are well balanced, evidence based and without bias or agenda.
  • Time management and organisational skills are essential to ensure deliverable of research and data entry is completed in a timely manner.
  • Be able to read and write English and Vietnamese fluently.

Desirable:

  • Good computer skills and knowledge of web user interfaces such as WordPress would be useful.
  • Ability to work within a virtual team environment and from home.
  • Understanding of open licensing and open standards an advantage.

Qualifications:

  • Bachelor in political or social science, Library science, Information Library, Data Science other relevant area of study.
  • Masters or higher level qualifications are desirable.
  • Previous work experience that relates to the Open Development Vietnam agenda and goals.

Terms of the contract:

The position is for a part-time posting with on the job training and support. Within the first 1 month of the posting a performance review will be conducted and additional responsibilities and tasks may be asked should the candidate perform well. EWMI-ODI would like to invest in the candidate to build their skills and ability to contribute to the OD Mekong and OD Vietnam site over the longer term. This is contingent upon funding.

All interested candidates should submit a motivation letter outlining why they would qualify for this posting along with a recent CV, in English, listing two referees to Lan Nguyen at recruitment@opendevmekong.net. Deadline: May 15th 2018.