The post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE:

• USAID/LEGO Foundation Childhood Development Activity (previously known as Early Childhood Care and Education in Emergencies (ECCE) Activity) is to improve early learning and holistic development outcomes for preschool-aged children in emergency contexts. The main objective is to increase opportunities for preschool aged young children (ages 4-6+), prioritizing those affected by crisis and conflict including refugees and IDPs, to participate in quality play-based, pre-primary programming that increases their overall well-being and improves their early learning outcomes and holistic development skills. This will be achieved with four intermediate results:

• ECCE providers demonstrate strengthened capabilities and resilience to deliver quality, play-based, safe, inclusive, equitable, and crisis-sensitive ECCE in emergency contexts.’

• Educators, supervisors, and local administrators demonstrate the knowledge, motivation, skills, and well-being to implement quality, play-based, safe, inclusive, equitable, and crisis -sensitive ECCE in emergency contexts.

• Caregivers and communities provide young children with support for social-emotional well-being, early learning, and holistic development in emergency contexts.

•  Generation and use of quality evidence on adaptive implementation of Early Childhood Care & Education Activity in emergency contexts.

Activity reach: Direct: 233,440 to 504,700 learners (50% of them female), ages 4-6, across 57 districts in five regions through play based ECCE services at learning center's through ASR and O-class curricula.

Indirect: 1.8 million children and adults in Ethiopia’s emergency-affected population through radio programs and village based engagements of parents through parental group sessions

Regional implementing organizations working in education and child safeguarding will lead all direct services for the activity in ECCE center's and communities. These organizations were chosen because of their operational presence in the prioritized locations, their education sector expertise, and previous successful program implementation with Save the Children and/or their track record of successful program implementation:

1. Amhara Development Association (ADA),

2. Afar Pastoralist Development Association (APDA),

3. Action for Integrated Sustainable Development Association (AISDA),

4. Ethiopian Orthodox Church-Development Inter Church Aid Commission (EOC-DICAC),

5. Wag Development Association (WDA),

6. Oromia Development Association (ODA),

7. Education for Development Association (EFDA) and

8. Organization for Welfare and Development in Action (OWDA

Save the Children is seeking a Communications Specialist who will communicate the results (achievements, challenges and lessons learnt) of implementing, monitoring and evaluating the project to USAID, LEGO Foundation, Save the Children, Government of Ethiopia (at both national and sub-national levels), local implementing partners, internal stakeholders, and to all other relevant stakeholders in a succinct and compelling manner.

The Communications Specialist will lead the production and dissemination of high quality project reports and facilitate the translation and communication of selected project documents to USAID, LEGO Foundation, Save the Children and the Ministry of Education. He or she will contribute to the development of a multi-channel social behaviour change communications (SBCC) campaign aimed at encouraging the enrolment and re-integration of Ethiopian children into the formal education system through play-based approaches; he or she will play an active role in mobilization and enrolment drives to change the knowledge, attitudes and practices of parents, caregivers and other school and community members to better enable them to effectively support their children’s early childhood education.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Chief of Party with dotted line reporting to the SCI Director of Advocacy, Campaigns, Communications and Media (ACCM).

Staff reporting to this post: None

Budget Responsibilities: $100,000

Role Dimensions: Over the 5-year period, focus will be on producing and ensuring project reports are of excellent quality (weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually), documenting the Activity’s success stories and best practices in addition to strengthening the project’s social behaviour and change communication strategies.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY :

Coordination & Development of reports and communications products

• Develop and submit high quality reports (weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually) to key stakeholders including USAID, LEGO Foundation, Save the Children, and Ministry of Education

• As per need, translate project reports into Amharic and other significant local languages

• Strengthen the Activity’s SBCC strategy in collaboration with project staff and partners to ensure gender-transformative, inclusive, positive literacy messaging to help foster a culture of reading in Ethiopia, including working closely with the Advocacy, Campaigns, Communications and Media (ACCM) team to plan and coordinate a social mobilization campaign, activating partnerships at community, Kebele, Woreda and national levels to build support for early childhood education and development

• Work with the CO ACCM team to produce promotional materials, communications products, and local media engagement such as radio programmes

• Engage with key Activity stakeholders to broadcast literacy-focused radio content and other forms of communication

• Manage the content and layout of the (CO/project) website to ensure of availability of resource materials, support the coordination of events and related advocacy activities; ensure news items and information about events are regularly disseminated to stakeholders

• Oversee and contribute to the drafting and publication of project communication materials, all project capacity building materials and training events

• Oversee the development of promotional materials, and strategic mass media approaches such as media releases, site visits, videos, websites, radio programs, social media and tweets, and other similar promotional opportunities

• Manage the publication and sharing of resource materials on relevant platforms

• Support the coordination of events (such as kick-off meetings/project launch) and workshops; ensure news items and information about events are regularly disseminated to stakeholders

• Support the CoP and other project staff in writing up minutes of the Project Steering Committee as well as important meetings with donors, Government of Ethiopia, Local Education Group, local implementing partners, and meetings with other high level stakeholders

Manage the USAID and LEGO Foundation Brands

• Manage the development and deployment of the USAID and LEGO Foundation brand, ensuring consistency and compliance with USAID and LEGO Foundation branding and marking guidelines

• Ensure that all project reports, event banners, project teaching and learning materials, project equipment and infrastructure are properly branded and marked as per the approved Branding and Marking plan

• Ensure that all documents and deliverables for an external audience are of good quality, and that all products are consistent with the Editorial Style Guide and other branding guidance

• Promote a common language across the organization to describe literacy needs and trends, and the Activity’s programmatic approach

Facilitate cross-organization learning and sharing

• Coordinate with other SCI colleagues in Ethiopia in organizing content and speakers for webinars, ensuring cross representation and contributions

• Collaborate with partners and SCI colleagues in Ethiopia to ensure consistency of messaging and value addition across education and literacy campaigns

Representation & Coordination

• Ensure that the project’s work is well-coordinated with other efforts of USAID and LEGO Foundation projects in Ethiopia, other agencies and Government, advocating for the specific needs of children enrolled in early childhood and development programs

• Work collaboratively with the ACCM team in promoting advocacy activities that support the project’s objectives.

• In collaboration with project and other SC colleagues, feed in learning, experiences and evidence to relevant advocacy objectives, and identify opportunities and material to contribute to communications and media work.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL)

• Support as necessary in the cleaning up of reports from project studies and evaluations; this includes undertaking final edits to reports of special studies and evaluations

• Document progress on achievement of targets, action plans and accountability mechanisms and provide feedback for improvements

• Collaborate with the MEAL team to ensure that the use of MEAL findings inform program decision making and quality improvements

• Develop success or case stories and other related materials.

Child Safeguarding

• Understand the provisions of the Child Safeguarding Policy, Code of Conduct and Local/Country Procedures and conduct oneself in accordance with the rules of the Child Safeguarding Policy, in personal and professional lives – which includes reporting suspicions of child abuse.

• Ensure that all project activities carried out are considered in relation to prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse and handling of serious complaints in line with the child safeguarding policy.

• Promote the message of child safeguarding to colleagues in other organizations and government ministries, children in their own and beneficiary families, and community members in general and be vigilant about observing possible child abuse/harm in their personal and professional lives.

Capacity Building

• Identify capacity gaps and work with the Chief of Party to build the capacity of the program staff and partners, including local implementing partners, government counterparts to ensure improved partner capacity in communications over time

• Provide orientation/training to program field staff from time to time. Identify learning and training opportunities for staff and work as a mentor and role model for staff.

General:

• Comply with Save the Children policies and practice with respect to child safeguarding, code of conduct, communications guidelines, health and safety, equal opportunities and other relevant policies and procedures.

BEHAVIOURS (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

Job Requirements

QUALIFICATIONS 

• University Degree in a relevant field such as Communications, Education, Literature or equivalent experience; A Master’s degree preferred.

• A minimum 8 years of proven experience of working in the role of Communications Specialist or equivalent role.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• Experience in reporting on program implementation and results, and writing project reports. Experience working in the field of education desirable.

• Experience of leading communication activities (including information provision), advocacy, journalism or protection in a challenging environment

• Evidence of excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and Amharic for a wide range of different audiences including donors, journalists and the ‘general public’.

• Experience in translating documents from English to Amharic and vice versa

• Demonstrable understanding of conflict-sensitivity and experience in conducting appropriate success stories/case study interviews with children and adults

• Politically and culturally sensitive with qualities of patience, tact and diplomacy

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

• Commitment to humanitarian aims and principles, and to the mission of supporting vulnerable children.

• Experience in creating communications products such as factsheets and briefings packages

• Excellent writer and editor, skilled at distilling large amounts of information for diverse audiences

• Excellent computer skills especially in web design, MS Excel spread sheets, SPSS, STATA and MS Word

• Experience in literacy programming is an added advantage

• Able to work in a fast-paced environment and to adapt to changing work plans.

• Commitment to Save the Children’s mission and values.

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.

Equal Opportunities

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and 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.

Health and Safety

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

How to Apply

Register using the following LINK