Hi KivaFriends,
During Q1, Kiva would like to pilot a KivaFriends Liaison role. This will be an experimental program with an initial goal of clarifying and expanding communication channels between Kiva and the KivaFriends community. I'd like to emphasize that this is a trial program with a narrow scope so that we can get it underway and consider how we might improve it in the future. With that in mind, we will be collecting feedback throughout the pilot.
Why is Kiva recruiting a KivaFriends Liaison?As KivaFriends, you help identify bugs, generate valuable feature requests and know more about the day-to-day happenings on the Kiva site than most. The Kiva team wants to ensure that we have channels in place to surface your ideas and learn from your feedback. Over time, we'd also like to provide more ways for you to get involved with Kiva-related initiatives (if that interests you) and make more information available to you.
What will the KivaFriends Liaison do?As we envision this role as a partnership, some of the details will be ironed out once the Liaison has been chosen.
However, we’re imagining that the KivaFriends Liaison will highlight the top issues of concern to KivaFriends in a weekly call with a Kiva staff member. In order to ensure that the call is productive, we’d like the Liaison to submit a list of the top five issues one day ahead of the call, so that Kiva Staff has time to get answers from the appropriate team members on our end. The Liaison will then take charge of reporting findings to the KivaFriends community following the call. The first KivaFriends Liaison will work with Kiva staff to determine the best way to work with the KivaFriends community to come up with a list of the top issues on the forum on a weekly basis.
The ideal candidate would need to take an objective stance in reporting the KivaFriends community’s top concerns to the Kiva team (and not bias toward their own concerns) and also report news or responses from Kiva staff back to the KivaFriends community without injecting too much personal commentary. That being the case, we’ll work with the first liaison to discuss creating a special KivaFriends avatar when they are logged into KivaFriends wearing their Liaison hat. That way, the liaison can still partake in critical debates, inserting their own opinion into the discussion, when logged into KivaFriends using their personal avatar.
How can I apply to be the KivaFriends Liaison?If you'd like to be considered for the role, please let me know by emailing me at
liz@kiva.org by February 9th. Then, within a week, we'll be selecting a liaison and moving forward. Please include short answers to the questions below and make the subject of your email "KivaFriends Liaison Application" -- I'll be evaluating the applications with a few coworkers and we’ll select a liaison based on the following criteria:
--Candidate's availability on a weekly basis
--Candidate's history of involvement on KivaFriends and Kiva
--Candidate's ability to work well with both Kiva staff and the KivaFriends community
--Evidence of excellent communication skills
Questions to answer: 1. How much time could you devote to this role per week? Would you be available to participate in a weekly call during business hours (PST)?
2. How long have you participated on the KivaFriends forum, and why do you choose to participate?
3. We love the diversity of opinions and independence of the Kiva Friends community, and it’s important that KivaFriends feel free to be critical of Kiva; however, it’s also important that the KivaFriends Liaison serve, as much as possible, as an objective reporter in both directions. To what degree would you be able to serve as a neutral reporter while wearing the KivaFriends Liaison hat?
4. Do you have any past experiences that you think would help you to be successful in this role?
Thanks in advance for working with Kiva to make this role a success!
