Position Summary
The Content Management Officer (CMO) will oversee the day-to-day content, knowledge
organisation, digital resource management, and community-support activities for UbuntuNet
Alliance’s Open Pan-African Repository (OPAR) and its associated digital knowledge platforms,
including the OPAR Community of Practice (OPAR-COP) and the emerging e-textbook
programme.
The role involves repository coordination, digital content management, scholarly communication
support, community facilitation, and knowledge-platform administration. The officer will help
ensure that OPAR becomes a trusted continental platform that supports repository visibility,
metadata aggregation, open-access collaboration, institutional capacity building, and access to
African scholarly and educational resources.
Background
UbuntuNet Alliance is establishing OPAR as a Pan-African initiative to strengthen the visibility,
discoverability, accessibility, interoperability, and long-term sustainability of African scholarly
outputs and repository ecosystems. The initiative includes several interconnected components,
including:
- The Open Pan-African Repository
- The OPAR Community of Practice
- Metadata aggregation and repository interoperability initiatives
- Capacity-building and training programmes for librarians and repository managers
- Open educational resource and e-textbook initiatives
- Resource-sharing and collaborative knowledge platforms supporting universities and
research institutions across Africa
The CMO will play a central operational role in helping these activities function coherently and
consistently.
Key Responsibilities - OPAR Platform Content Coordination
The CMO will oversee the day-to-day management of content published through OPAR-related
digital platforms, including preparing, editing, reviewing, publishing, updating, and organising
announcements, news items, training materials, repository guidance documents, implementation
resources, case studies, community updates, and institutional support materials. The CMO
should understand the importance of metadata quality, interoperability, controlled vocabularies,
discoverability, and standardisation within repository ecosystems.
The CMO will ensure that all published content aligns with OPAR’s professional identity, visual
standards, and Pan-African mission. Content should remain accurate, current, accessible, and
relevant to repository managers, librarians, researchers, and institutional stakeholders.
The officer will maintain a structured publication schedule to ensure regular activity across the
platforms and prevent stagnation of the community environment.
- Repository Resource and Knowledge Management
The CMO will coordinate the organisation and maintenance of repository-related resources,
including repository policy templates, metadata guidelines, OAI-PMH and interoperability
documentation, repository governance resources, FAIR and CARE guidance materials, training
presentations and exercises, implementation checklists, institutional self-assessment tools,
technical support guides, frequently asked questions, and community-contributed resources The
CMO will maintain logical folder structures, version control practices, metadata consistency,
document descriptions, and naming conventions to ensure that resources remain discoverable and
usable over time. - E-Textbook and Digital Learning Content Coordination
The CMO will support the management and organisation of digital educational content
associated with the e-textbook initiative, including coordinating educational materials,
supporting content preparation workflows, organising author submissions, maintaining resource
libraries, and helping ensure that educational resources are properly structured and accessible.
The CMO will assist with organising metadata, categorisation, descriptive information, and
content packaging for educational materials developed under the programme. The role may also
involve coordinating communication with participating faculty members, institutions, reviewers,
and project partners involved in the development and dissemination of digital educational
resources. - Community of Practice Coordination and Engagement
The CMO will support the operation and growth of the OPAR Community of Practice by
facilitating communication, welcoming members, supporting discussions, responding to basic
enquiries, directing members to relevant resources, and helping maintain an active and
constructive community environment. The CMO will help identify recurring questions, emerging
community needs, useful practices, and areas requiring additional guidance or resource
development. - Training and Capacity-Building Support
The CMO will support repository and digital knowledge management training programmes.
Responsibilities will include preparing participant materials, organising training resources,
supporting onboarding communication, coordinating access to learning materials, maintaining
participant documentation, and assisting with post-training follow-up activities. The CMO will - help organise outputs generated during workshops and training activities, including completed
- templates, institutional action plans, implementation guides, and participant feedback.
- Editorial and Knowledge Packaging Functions
The officer will transform technical, policy, and training materials into accessible community-
facing resources suitable for librarians, repository administrators, institutional leaders,
researchers, and development partners, including preparing guidance notes, resource summaries,
practical checklists, FAQs, case studies, training highlights, community updates, implementation
briefs and introductory guides.
Desired Qualifications
The ideal candidate should possess at least a bachelor’s degree in Library and Information
Science, Information Management, Knowledge Management, Publishing, Digital Curation,
Communications, Education Technology, Information Systems, or a related discipline. A
master’s degree in a relevant field would be an added advantage, particularly in areas related to
digital repositories, scholarly communication, open science, digital libraries, records
management, or knowledge management.
Desired Experience: The candidate should demonstrate experience in at least some of the following areas
- Managing digital content or online knowledge platforms
- Supporting repositories or digital libraries
- Organising learning resources or educational materials
- Supporting scholarly communication or open access initiatives
- Managing institutional or project documentation
- Supporting online communities or communities of practice
- Coordinating training or capacity-building programmes
- Working with universities, libraries, or research institutions
- Managing digital educational content or publishing workflows
Experience working within African higher education, research, library, or digital knowledge
ecosystems would be highly desirable.
Required Skills and Competencies
The successful candidate should demonstrate:
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Strong organisational and documentation skills
- Ability to manage multiple streams of content simultaneously
- Strong editorial and proofreading ability
- Ability to structure and organise digital information logically
- Ability to work independently with limited supervision
- Good interpersonal and community-engagement skills
- Comfort working with digital collaboration tools and online platforms
- Familiarity with repository concepts such as metadata, interoperability, open access,
institutional repositories, and scholarly communication.
Languages
Excellent written and spoken English is required. French and/or Portuguese would be a
significant added advantage.
Method of application
To apply for this position, complete the job application form. Receiving applications will close
on 30 th May 2026 at 23:59 CAT.
Languages
Excellent written and spoken English is required. French and/or Portuguese would be a significant added advantage.
Method of application
To apply for this position, complete the job application form here. Receiving applications will close on 30 th May 2026 at 23:59 CAT.