Communications Senior Officer

Save the Children is seeking a qualified candidate to fill the following vacancy in its Ramallah Country Office:

Position: Communications Senior Officer

Position Ref.: SCI/ComSO/2019

Contract Type: National Post

Deadline to apply: April 19, 2019

The role:

The Communications Senior Officer (CSO) will develop and deliver a high quality country office (CO) communications strategy and products to strengthen the voice of children and to support the CO advocacy efforts towards government and other duty bearers.  As part of the CO Policy, Advocacy and communications team, the post holder will ensure the quality of products developed through Save the Children’s programme work, and ensure the content is in line with organizational guidelines, priorities and objectives.  The post holder will oversee and ensure compliance with SCI and donor sign-off, branding, and visibility requirements as well as develop and deliver related guidance and training materials to staff and partners. The post holder will support programme development, providing essential analysis, background and review support to programme development teams.  The post holder will support emergency responses, prepare the Emergency communications strategy, and be ready to deploy in the event of emergencies in the oPt.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Key Area 1: Communications and Information

• Develop and deliver high-quality communications and media strategy, in consultation with Operations, AMU, PDQ colleagues, and children.
• Plan and ensure development of materials in English to reflect the situation of children in the oPt, for use in programme activities, fundraising (including donor meetings) and advocacy.
• Support the development and implementation of the CO advocacy, communications, visibility and media plans for all projects in the West Bank and Gaza Field Offices.
• Work with teams to ensure quality, compliance with organizational guidelines and appropriate content and provide review of all communication material and awareness raising material produced and distributed by SCI for the projects; audio-visual and print.
• Gather and analyse information from a wide range of sources (UN, NGOs, media, internet, personal contacts, etc.) on the humanitarian and political situation in the West Bank and prepare situation reports when necessary.
• Provide analysis or updates on the situation, as needed, to support programme development. media and advocacy work, with a particular view to identifying or mitigating risk.
• Respond to ad-hoc information requests from Save the Children staff members, or SC member organisations, as requested.   
• Support ongoing assessments and monitoring of the situation.
• Set up and implement a production and distribution plan of all awareness raising material that will be produced within the project activities.
• Lead the development of communications materials around special reports or project reports to support Country Office strategy.
• Facilitate oPt website development and content, if requested.

Key Area 2: Research and Documentation

• Responsible for either leading or drafting press releases, factsheets, Q&As, briefings and position papers.
• Support the documentation and visibility needs for all programmes (case studies, photographs, video’s, branding and visibility etc) and ensure this in line with and feeds in to the overall CO advocacy and communications strategy.
• Support research for both advocacy and programmatic responses for the country office. Conduct or support needs and other types of assessments, as necessary.
• Identify themes/trends from research and monitoring work.
• Research specific themes as requested.

Key Area 3: Branding and Visibility

• Ensure understanding and compliance of Country Office and partner branding and visibility requirements.
• Review and approve all project and office visibility materials destined for an external audience, both for programme and administrative purposes, to ensure compliance with Save the Children and donor branding requirements.
• Develop and deliver staff and partner training modules when necessary on communication, documentation, branding and visibility.

Key Area 4: Programme Development and Emergencies

• Support the CO programme development efforts, in terms of providing input for concept/proposal writing, ensuring communication activities are included, upon request.
• Support project development/fundraising as requested, in particular through conducting research, collecting data, and developing background statements and one-voice review of proposals.
• Leads the SitRep development in times of declared Humanitarian/Emergency Responses.
• Provide support as requested to other staff in times of emergencies.
• Ensure Save the Children member requests are being met in terms of communications content for profiling the emergency on media and communication channels

Key Area 5: Staff Management and Development

• Provide support to Save the Children staff in building their capacity in the field of Communications, Documentation and visibility.
• Support Save the Children partners by providing all new partners with a package of “Partner Training Module” that includes:

1. Communications and visibility plan for their project.
2. Skills of interviewing children.
3. SCI Child Safe Guarding Policy.

Ready to work to respond to any natural disaster or emergency situation anywhere in oPt.

• In the event of an emergency support the implementation of Save the Children’s emergency response activities as needed.
• Support SCI by providing input to the preparation of emergency concept notes and proposals including budgets for SCI emergency programmes in Gaza.

Jobs.ps, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

QUALIFICATIONS  

• University degree in Social Sciences, Journalism & Media, or related fields.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential

• At least 4 years of similar experience in a recognized local or international agency in the oPt in a communications-related role.
• Previous experience in communications, design, photography, audio or video content creation and editing.
• English fluency.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to manage a complex and diverse workload and to work to tight deadlines.
• Ability to contribute to a small, proactive team, motivating staff and working collaboratively with colleagues and providing support and advice as required.

• Ability to conduct interviews with children and families and to record primary statements.
• Willingness and ability to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies.
• A full appreciation of the value of co-operation, both internationally and within a team environment.
• Understanding of Save the Children’s vision and mission and a commitment to its objectives.
• Commitment to Save the Children’s values.

Desirable

• Arabic language skills.
• Strong project management skills.
• Experience or knowledge of working and living in relevant regions/contexts.

The Organisation

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 120 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the rights of children and to ensure their voices are heard.  

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday,
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated.

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children.  We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

CVs should be submitted to the following e-mail: [email protected], please make sure to include a cover letter and up-to-date CV, (including dates and salaries of three of your most recent/relevant positions (at least last 3 years), with the position title, organization name, dates of employment (from/to), Gross Monthly Salary (in New Israeli Shekel)). Please make sure to mention the position ref. in the subject.  The selection committee will review all applications as they are received. All applicants must meet the minimum requirements described above, and those unable to meet these requirements will not be considered.

Please also include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations.

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.