INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

For Senior Communication Officer

Country Office: Ethiopia

Work Base: Addis Ababa

Availability: As Soon As Possible

Salary Scale: EMS07

Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply for this position

About Action Against Hunger

Action Against Hunger-USA is a global humanitarian organization that takes decisive action against the causes and effects of hunger. We save the lives of malnourished children and we enable entire communities to be free from hunger. With more than 8,000 staff in over 50 countries, our programs reached 17 million people in 2019.

About the Country Program in Ethiopia

Action Against Hunger has been operational in Ethiopia since 1984 responding to both chronic and acute needs through a multi-sectoral strategy where nutrition, Food Security and Livelihoods, WASH, and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support activities are integrated to have a meaningful impact on people’s resilience. Action Against Hunger currently operates in 5 different regions (Oromia, Somali, Amhara, Benishangul Gumuz, and Gambella) with a portfolio of 20m USD/year of emergency, resilience building, research, and innovation programs. We have a country team of around 600 staff in 17 regional and satellite offices. Our main donors in Ethiopia in 2020/2021 are BHA, ECHO, Europaid, UNHCR, UNICEF, GFFO, BPRM, SIDA, EHF, WFP, CIAA, and others.

Summary of position

The Senior Communications Officer will contribute to the overall Country office Communication strategy and plan to work in Grants and Reporting Department of Action Against Hunger – Ethiopia Mission in line with Action Against Hunger – the USA and the country’s technical policies.

The Senior Communications Officer will report to the Grants and Reporting Head of Department (GRHoD).

This position will be based in Addis Ababa with frequent travels to the field sites of the organizational operational areas. The Senior Communications Officer will work in collaboration with the grants team members, Program Technical Advisors, Coordinators and Managers in addition to, operations team, and Finance Department.

The Senior Communication Officer role’s purpose, engagement, and delivery are:

Purpose

Develop at the country level outreach campaigns connecting different media to promote Action Against Hunger work. Identify themes at the country level which connect the organization’s programs and capacities with the community needs and priorities.

Engagement

Engage local/regional partners on issues related to the organization activities; Monitor response to organization’s engagement effort; Advise management on opportunities to improve outreach and promote program awareness  

Delivery

Identify opportunities for engagement combined with the effective use of media to improve program awareness; Build effective networks of collaboration to showcase organization capacities; coordinate communication campaigns with programming and funding cycle.  

Essential job duties

Planning:

• Support and coordinate the development and execution of an effective communications strategy targeting social media, web content, and other traditional media (TV, Radio, Print);
• Conduct high-level research and analysis on assigned topics to support internal and external presentations, reports, and policy decisions of AAH related to communications;
• Take a lead in designing and developing information and visibility materials, such as fact sheets, briefing papers, brochures, posters, as well as social media messages, website content, and to make available accurate and timely information on AAH programs;
• Develop and follow-up on the implementation of donor visibility plans for AAH programs
• Support country program staff to proactively in planning and preparation for communications needs in emergencies to contribute to overall better information flow and coordination of rapid response interventions; 

Organizing & Implementation:

• Take lead and facilitate the drafting of communication materials, including talking points, briefs, speeches, background/position papers, reports, correspondence, press releases, and digital content( both in Amharic and English);
• Ensure coordination between different departments of AAH on the tasks that involve internal and external communications and media related works;
• Lead and coordinate the preparation of AAH- ET communication publications for both internal and external purposes;
• Set-up mechanisms and take a lead to systematically collect and produce case studies, success stories, photos, videos, and other communication materials in a regular manner on the basis of the program’s activities, scale, reach, and impact of interventions,
• Lead the development of contents and updates for organizational website and other media platforms and outlets with up-to-date information on humanitarian needs and project responses/interventions and data on outputs and outcomes
• Proactively seek out interesting stories from programs, initiating or accompanying field visits to collect high-quality photos, case and success stores - quotes and possibly audio and video material suitable for use in media and communication products

Budget Management:

• Lead and manage the communication and visibility budget of the organization across the different portfolios
• Ensure the communication and visibility budget is properly utilized for the intended purpose in the respective grants period 
• Coordinate with different departments and field offices on the appropriate use of the communication and visibility budget based on the need and continuously monitor the budget utilization as per the plan 

Reporting, Communication, Dissemination, and documentation:

• Be in regular contact with communication and advocacy team based at regional and headquarters and provide relevant information for AAH’s global communications products;
• Work with regional and HQ teams on media campaigns and advocacy efforts to raise global awareness of humanitarian needs and AAH’s core program activities in Ethiopia;
• Provide Periodical reports and updates on different visibility and communication activities carried out
• Develop networks contacts among humanitarian organizations, coordination bodies, and donor organizations (and, as necessary, national and international media) for more effective information sharing and communication of the organization’s activities and interests
• Ensure proper documentation and dissemination of communication and visibility materials in the proper manner
• Lead and serve as a focal in Supporting resolution of communications inquiries directed to the AAH;
• Serve as a focal person in messaging development, drafting, and dissemination of communication materials;
• Accompany guests and the management during the field visit

Knowledge Management, Learning, and Capacity Building:

• Train and coach program staff on external communications and how to spot and share relevant information, data, and human interest stories from their work to convey the project’s success and impact on clients’ lives
• Maintain and analyze data on the scale and reach of communication products
• Train and build the capacity of field staff on visibility and communication materials development and management

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Functional supervision: None 

Gender Equality Commitments  

• Foster an environment that supports the values of women and men, and equal access to information.
• Provide a work environment where women and men must be evaluated and promoted based on their skills and performance.
• Respect beneficiaries’ women, men, children (boys and girls) regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion. Race, color, ancestry, national origin, age, or marital status. 
• Value and respect all cultures. 

Fiscal Responsibility

• The post holder will manage the organizational visibility and communication budget in all active portfolios under the guidance and leadership of the program director and field coordinators and in coordination with the Grant team and respective grant holder- field coordinators at the base and capital officer levels.
• The post holder will be responsible for smooth budget management and reporting of the visibility and communication budget lines of active grants of the mission portfolio. S/he will be responsible for planning, management, and implementation of these budget lines. 

Physical Demands

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to sit for long periods and to concentrate on work, including typing, and turn out heavy volumes of work accurately, within short time frames under stressful situations in the context of a moderately noisy office with many interruptions. Must be able to proofread own work accurately so that only minor corrections are needed on an infrequent basis. In addition, the employee is expected to travel frequently to the operational areas of the organization to collect, first-hand information and stories of communication materials that are to be systematically documented, organized, and crafted for various communication materials. This role also requires frequent yet, pre-planned and coordinated traveling to organizational remote operational areas to fetch first-hand information and materials to synthesize standard communication materials. 
• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Working Conditions, Travel, and Environment

• The responsibilities of this post require regular job attendance at least five days per week. Must be available to work outside normal office hours or on the weekends as required.
• Must be able to travel as required for standard domestic and international business purposes. While performing the duties of this job in the field, the employee may be exposed to precarious settings under high-security risks and/or very basic living conditions and outside weather conditions, as well as to infectious diseases.

Job Requirements

Required Qualifications and Professional Experience

• Bachelor's Degree in journalism, communications, public relations, Development Studies, or other related fields
• 3 -5 years previous work experience in communications in the field of Development and Humanitarian contexts is an asset
• Good knowledge and experience in applied photography and audio-visual communication tools 
• Experience in report writing, storytelling write-ups with good command of the English language.
• Prior work experience in both Humanitarian and Development contexts is desirable but not mandatory 

 Required Skills & Competencies

• Strong organization skills, rigorous, analytic, and details oriented.
• Excellent skills in photography and audio-visual materials development
• Strong communication and writing skills
• Good knowledge of project cycle management and reporting
• Flexible, self-starter, and adaptable
• Proficiency in written and spoken English;
• Computer literate: good command in Microsoft Office (MS. Word, MS. Excel, and MS PowerPoint) in addition to Strong skills in audio-visual computer software applications and web pages navigation and management.
• Interpersonal skills: communication, autonomy, organizational skill, creative and innovative thinking (, thinking out of the box mindset).      

How to Apply

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

If you are interested, please send your application composed of none returnable CV, a Covering Letter with “Senior Communication Officer” written in the subject line, and three references, applicants to the following address:

Through CLICK HERE

NB: Only shortlisted applicants will be, communicated on and the selection process includes technical tests and an interview.

Action Against Hunger-USA provides all staff with an attractive salary & benefits package. We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees & qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, ancestry, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Action Against Hunger-USA complies with all applicable laws governing nondiscrimination in employment.