Job Description

Communications and Media Officer – Addis Ababa Advocacy Office

Background of the assignment

Addis Ababa is home to the African Union, a regional institution with global impact which plays a critical role in shaping children’s lives and helping to ensure their rights are fulfilled. The AU has a direct role in helping to safeguard the rights of children in Africa who are vulnerable, marginalized, socially excluded and affected by poverty.

Save the Children has a small global advocacy office in Addis Ababa (alongside offices in Brussels, Geneva and New York) that influences the AU institutions on issues that affect children’s rights and wellbeing in Africa.

The Communications officer will be responsible for implementing the SCI PAO strategy for communications including coordinating major events, leading their design and execution, holding media events, managing digital and Social media presence, producing press releases, maintaining close relations with key media contacts, overseeing standard and quality representation of Save the Children during external events, and organizing major visits. S/he will also be responsible for content generating including multimedia content.

S/he represents Save the Children values and principles in interactions with staff and external audiences, including frequent interaction with member technical staff.  These values and principles include commitment to the mission of Save the Children, team orientation, accountability, integrity, and ambition.  It is expected that the Communications Officer will demonstrate initiative and leadership including introducing systems and procedures to strengthen the public image of Save the Children PAO.  It is also expected that the person in this position will also have a deep understanding of political situation of the country to be able to successfully raise the external profile of the Save the Children while reducing the overall risk to the organization. S/he will work very closely with the Humanitarian and Education Team and the Child Rights Governance Team and the rest of the program implementation team.

Child Safeguarding:

Level 2: either the role holder will have access to personal data about children and/or young people as part of their work; or they will be working in a ‘regulated’ position (accountant, barrister, solicitor, legal executive); therefore, a police check will be required (at ‘standard’ level in the UK or equivalent in other countries).

A.KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY: 

Ownership of external communication processes and delivery

• Develop and implement a communications and media strategy including parameters for the delivery of effective events and media engagement

• Generate content (print and multimedia) intended for external use

• Ensure the quality of all external communications including events and media engagements that meet global standards

• Develop and implement a proactive strategy for media engagement for the Addis Advocacy Office (AAO).

 Media and external stakeholder engagement

• Develop a media strategy for the AAO including identifying key dates and global moments, such as launch of documents, and external channels for communication

• Identify and maintain diverse contacts in the national and international media

• Produce high-quality, accurate, concise press releases on different topics that support specific projects or AAO priorities

• Maintain contacts with other external communications persons in collaborating organizations including UN organizations, donors, and other NGO

• Ensure that relevant Save the Children staff members have media training

Support for external events and visitors

• Develop guidelines and parameters for running external events

• Support the execution of major external events

• Maintain photos, presentations, banners, and other materials to support external events

• Document external events and communicate them as appropriate through internal and external channels

• Support major AAO visits including producing background information, supporting planning processes, and facilitating logistics

• Maintain lists of external visitors and ensure that they have adequate information on security and safety, transportation, and other background information about Ethiopia.

Maintain a database of resources related to events, visits, and media engagements

• Develop and maintain a database for all external communications materials and strategies

• Keep external communications support materials for use in future activities

• Share summaries of relevant external media engagements internally within Save the Children

Capacity building of communications and other staff

• Communicate the external engagement strategy within the AAO

• As appropriate, include communications activities into new projects

• Build the capacity of AAO and regional-level leadership in assisting in implementing the external communications strategy.

• Build the capacity of communications, administrative, and other staff to support external communications.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

The Communication and Media Officer will:

• Advocate for change with key AU policy makers and decision makers on humanitarian, peace and security and education agendas (and on the interface between these issues)

• Build and maintain advocacy networks with influential allies, within the AU and among civil society, recognizing that we cannot achieve the change we want by ourselves

• Deliver ambitious plans to engage and influence the AU on humanitarian and education agendas, in line with agreed organizational objectives, and provide strategic insight to help shape wider Save the Children advocacy efforts in these areas

• Build profile and credibility for Save the Children, by being a convincing spokesperson for the organization, a source of knowledge and analysis, and through personal commitment to our values and mission

• Be a strong member of the Addis team, actively participating in building a strong global advocacy office that is networked within the wider organization and has strong links to Africa Country Offices, the other advocacy offices and members

 SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS (SCI Values in Practice)

Accountability:

·        holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values

·        holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

·        sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same

·        widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others

·        future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

·        builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters

·        values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength

·        approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

·        develops and encourages new and innovative solutions

·        willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

·        honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

Equal Opportunities

• The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI’s global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Gender Equality Policies, supported by relevant procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

• 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.

Safeguarding our Staff:

• The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy. 

Health and Safety

• The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SC Health and Safety policies and procedures.

• We offer a competitive package in the context of the sector. The duty station of the position holder will be in Addis Ababa This role is offered on the basis of national terms and conditions only.

The Organization
We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 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 realize the right 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 environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

Job Requirements

QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE

Education

·        University degree in a relevant subject or equivalent field experience

·        At least two years of relevant experience in a credible media organization OR equivalent experience in Communications and/or Media in government, media agency, private sector or humanitarian or development agency.

·        Experience of leading communications and media activities in a challenging environment and a good knowledge of the Ethiopia media scene, networks, and media contacts

·        Strong knowledge and understanding of the external media situation in Ethiopia as it pertains to international NGO

·        Evidence of excellent verbal and written communication skills producing high quality English-language materials for a wide range of different audiences including donors, journalists and the 'general public'

·        Excellent writing skills, and the ability to produce compelling media products in English, such as press releases, key messages, speaking points and Q&As

·        The ability to digest complex information, quickly, and express this crisply and clearly

·        Highly organized and able to solve problems quickly

·        Excellent relationship building skills within and outside of Save the Children

·        An initiative-taking, proactive, inspiring attitude with the ability to manage and prioritize an unpredictable workload and solve problems quickly with limited support

·        Experience of delivering training, presentations and other capacity building activities to varied audiences, ideally within a country programme.

·        Excellent IT skills with understanding of effective visual communications for diverse audiences

·        Excellent understanding of communications, media and campaigning activities

·        Experience in multimedia content development; photography and video production and editing

·        Strong influencing skills

·        Politically and culturally sensitive with qualities of patience, tact and diplomacy, and the ability to advise on sensitive issues

·        Commitment to the aims and principles of Save the Children. In particular, a good understanding of the Save the Children mandate and child focus, and an ability to ensure this continues to underpin our support

Additional job responsibilities

• The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

How to Apply

Application Information:

·        Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application and include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at http://www.savethechildren.net/careers

·        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.

·        All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.

Interested applicants who meet the MINIMUM requirements should apply using the below link: https://stcuk.taleo.net/careersection/ex/jobsearch.ftl