This is an exciting time to join the British Council team in Ethiopia and an opportunity to make a significant contribution to evolving the role of civil society in supporting Ethiopia’s development. The British Council has been leading an ambitious long term civil society support programme, to manage the delivery of strategic grant support and impactful capacity building activities to enable development of a professional civil society base, able to effectively collaborate with government to meet the needs of the most marginalised people in Ethiopia.

The Civil Society Support Programme 2 (CSSP2) is a £16.7 million capacity development programme designed to support Ethiopia’s civil society and its contribution to the country’s national development, poverty reduction and advancement of good governance. CSSP2 is led by the British Council in consortium with Social Development Direct and Pact, and is supported by multiple donors (Ireland, Sweden, and Norway) led by the FCDO. CSSP2 is delivered mainly through a central programme office and a regional hub. The programme works to build effective relationships that foster collaboration between civil society actors, citizens, and the government to support hard to reach communities and often overlooked development issues. Ultimately, government, CSO and public trust and confidence in each other will help to create an enabling environment in which there is increasing space for constructive dialogue and requisite action on issues of concern.

CSSP2 is an adaptive and flexible programme operating in a progressing and evolving context: socially and politically, and for the Ethiopian civil society sector in particular. With recent developments in the country including the approval for the revised CSO law, CSSP2 is in a unique position of opportunity to adapt programming in response to the changes in the context, and advance in an innovative direction. The context demands CSSP2 to be dynamic in nature, drawing in and ultimately building on lessons and best practice from the first and second phases of the programme, along with experiences of the British Council’s, and consortium organisations’ experience of civil society strengthening programming in Ethiopia and across the globe (and where appropriate, considering international learning and good practice). This point in time presents opportunity for the changing civil society space in Ethiopia, and for CSSP2 to play an impactful role in supporting the organisations working towards a more inclusive and effective civil society, building better relations, with an enhanced culture of collaboration and dialogue.

We are seeking a consultant who can serve as Communications Consultant for the British Council in Ethiopia CSSP2 Programme with a brief to successfully deliver the following (and others as they arise).

• The primary accountability of the postholder will be CSSP2 and he / she is expected to work 100% of their time on this project.
• The post holder must have the ability to work in an ambiguous and difficult environment in which British Council processes need to be adapted or developed to cope with unusual requirements and difficult context. The post holder will work closely with the programme delivery and management teams as well as having significant interactions with the technical teams and Ethiopian partners.
• Lead on the development and implementation of a communications plan for the programme and help the programme to maintain a visible presence in various media platforms including social media.

Main Accountabilities

• Content planning and development: Create professional-quality content in house such as infographics, videos, print collateral and online stories.
• Website and social media management: Ensure website content is comprehensive, up to date and relevant. Create content for social media platforms and liaise with the British Council Communication Manager for timely release and follow up.
• Communication capacity development to programme staff using a supportive and collaborative approach on a consistent basis. Extend the capacity development support to partner staff to plan and implement communication activities better.
• Media handling and event management. Develop and implement standards and tools for effective event management and manage CSSP2’s external communications (PR) and contribute to the program’s visibility by using all possible media outlets
• Media engagement for civil society development to ensure promotion of sector level media engagement for civil society sector actors.

Benefit package: Daily consultancy fee rate depending on experience and qualifications.

Duration: Until 31 March 2022

Job Requirements

Summary of requirements: - Required qualifications and experience  

• First degree or equivalent in Journalism, development communication or a related field is essential. Master’s degree in development communication or related field is desirable
• Experience in managing communications within a large and complex organization and managing communications work for an international organization.
• Extensive successful writing and editing experience with a variety of print and online communications media
• Strong written and oral communication skills in Amharic and English
• Experience of producing content with a strategic purpose

How to Apply

Submit your CV and Consultant response questions to Gebrye Kefelew Gebrye.Kefelew@BritishCouncil.Org) and Cc to Memekiya Woldegerima Memekiya.Woldegerima@BritishCouncil.Org The Terms of Reference (ToR) and the Consultant response guide is available at the British Council website through the following link

NB: The email subject should be clearly indicated as ‘Communications Consultant’.

The submission deadline is November 09, 2021 (5.00 p.m. Ethiopia time).