Post title:                        Communications Coordinator  

Report to:                       Country Director

Duty Station:                 Country Office, Addis Ababa  

Salary:                             As per the organizations scale

Required:                       One

Duration                         One year with possible extension based on performance 

IR/INT/EXT/VN/045.23
June 26, 2023

Introduction:

Islamic Relief is an international relief and development charity founded in 1984 with its headquarters in Birmingham, UK. As well as responding to disasters and emergencies, Islamic Relief promotes sustainable economic and social development by working with local communities - regardless of race, religion or gender. The office officially started operation in Ethiopia in 2004. Islamic Relief Ethiopia (IRE) is operational in the Somali Regional State with a base office in Jigjiga, Hargelle, Elkere, Bare, GG and Dekasuftu, Afar Regional State; Ewa, Awra and Gulina; Oromia regional State, West Harergeye, Chiro and Meayso Woredas and an additional operational office in Addis Ababa. For more information please visit our website: http://www.islamic-relief.org/work-with-us

Job Overview/Summary

The Communications Coordinator is responsible for supporting the implementation of communications policy, strategy, and guidelines of IR Ethiopia and IRW in general. Accordingly, he/she will coordinate and support IRE'S press activities; leads on branding and marketing of IRE; takes responsibility for publications: design, printing, and final editing; assists in managing and promoting events; documents lessons learned from various programs and use them for IRE image building and undertake advocacy to influence policy and practice of stakeholders where appropriate,  assists in updating IRE's website and subscribers' database; acting as a liaison between the organization, the public, and the media to ensure that the brand remains top of mind; assists in developing campaigns; and team working.

Duties and Responsibilities (Communications)

1.      Collaborates with management to develop and implement effective communications strategy following IR guidelines and donor requirements

2.      Work with programme teams, partners, and donors to support the development and follow-up on visibility and communications operational plans for different projects

3.      Plans and executes strategic communications plans to proactively communicate the vision, mission, goals, and work of Islamic Relief;

4.      Develop, support, and promote company communication goals, including message development, social media content creation, and media outreach

5.      Develop and disseminate public relations materials that increase our visibility among community and partners

6.      Write, edit, and distribute content, including capacity statements, publications, press releases, website content, annual reports, newsletters, speeches, and other marketing material that communicates the organization's activities

7.      Responds to media inquiries, arrange interviews, and act as the organization

8.      Seeks opportunities to enhance the reputation of the brand, and coordinate publicity events as required

9.      Regularly visit project sites in the field to ensure a direct link between programme work and produced material.

10. Leads the designing and executing of information/marketing/advocacy campaigns using multi-faceted (multilingual, multimedia) digital and traditional formats. This task includes developing content for blogs, articles, social media, and websites of Islamic Relief.

11.  Leads the development of case studies and IR's successes stories and lessons learned

12.  Organize communications, visibility, and branding training for IRE staff, volunteers, and partners.

13.  Undertakes any other duties and tasks appropriate to the post as may be required from time to time by the Country Director.

Duties and responsibilities (Advocacy and Influencing)

1.      Leads development of country advocacy strategy

2.      Represent and advocate for IR-Ethiopia with UN agencies, donors, the Ethiopian Government, NGOs, and others at the highest levels in both verbal and written communications to ensure IRE is seen as the lead international agency in terms of innovation and quality of the implementation that focuses on our SFAs.

3.      Managing partnerships with donors, government stakeholders, and humanitarian organizations

4.      Assists in conducting, awareness-raising campaigns, events, information dissemination workshops, etc. for target groups.

5.      Actively builds relationships with key media people influencers to raise IRE’s profiles, promotes and publicizes events and assists IRE's units in developing an annual events calendar and ensuring the timely progress of each event.

6.      Positively represents and promotes IRE as an organization to external agencies

7.      Maintains documentation management system, both hard copy and on network

8.      Be fully aware of national policies., strategies, and other initiatives and developments by the government and other stakeholders relating to our strategic focus areas (SFAs).

9.      Regularly assess and communicate the implications for IRE's programmers and priorities of any changes in the operating environment in close collaboration with the relevant actors.

10.  Produce an advocacy strategy that articulates compelling messages for the Programs.

11.  Take the lead role to develop an advocacy plan (with timeline and key outcomes) - Ensure that follow-up on the implementation of the advocacy strategy.

12.  Develop policy briefs and position papers as required related to our SFAs in coordination with other relevant country team members.

Job Requirements

Personal Specification

 Formal Education/Qualification and work experience

• Bachelor's Degree in Communications, Journalism, arts and humanities or a related field and a minimum of 5 years of experience working for non-profits in the humanitarian setting Or  

• Master’s  Degree in Communications, Journalism, arts and humanities or a related field and a minimum of 2 years of experience working for non-profits in the humanitarian setting

Skills and Competences

• Must be able provide a strong portfolio of published stories, features, articles, graphics design works, etc

• Relevant work experience within the NGO or international organization settings

• Training and skills in graphics design software including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe Illustrator

• Experience in photography and video camera

• Experience with video editing  

• Ability to function in and adapt appropriately to a fast-moving, cross-unit team environment.

• Excellent media and communication skills, including social media and multimedia, plus strong
  interpersonal skills

• Strong knowledge and understanding of current trends in digital media/social media

• Excellent command of English, (written, oral, comprehension) including highly developed drafting skills. Fluency in the main language(s) of the country and duty station in question is highly desirable

• Ability to travel up to 25% domestically to the Islamic Relief Ethiopia operational areas

• Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal skills.

• Good time management and organizational skills.

• Proficient in Microsoft Office, content management systems, and social media platforms.

• Ability to manage a complex and demanding workload with flexible behavior

• Sympathy with the aims and objectives of IR

• Commitment to humanitarian principles and action

Safeguarding and Equal Opportunity

Islamic Relief and Islamic Relief staff considers the welfare and protection of children, young people and people at risk to be paramount to the organization. And must adhere the principle of ‘do no harm and leave no one behind.’ It is critical we do not expose communities or staff we work with to the risk of harm through our interventions.  With a zero-tolerance approach Islamic Relief have a number of related policies which also describe standards in behaviour expected from the organization, its staff and representatives towards each other and those we serve. Islamic Relief is committed to responding swiftly, appropriately and constructively to any and all information children, young people and people at risk have disclosed.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks. We participate in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme and will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and child abuse during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment before signing the contract agreement.

Islamic Relief believes everyone has the right to be safe, respected and valued regardless of who they are or their circumstances, and an equal employment opportunity to all candidates and qualified applicants, we do not discriminate on the base of age, sex, race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, disability status and diversity. 

How to Apply

Application Procedures

·       Interested candidates are required to submit a complete Job application form stated with the duty station that you are applying for with all required supporting documents (copy of credentials and testimonials) through Ethiopia.HR@islamic-relief.org.et.

·       You can access the Job Application Form with this link: http://www.islamic-relief.org.et/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Employment-Application-form-1.docx. Failure to follow the instructions will invalidate your application.

·       Closing date for the application is July 10, 2023.

·       Due to the high volume of application, we regret that we will be able to contact only the shortlisted candidates.

·      Female candidates are highly encouraged