Advocacy and Communications Coordinator

JOB TITLE  Advocacy and Communications Coordinator – Sierra Leone Country Office

TEAM: OOSC NGO Consortium

GRADE: 3

LOCATION: Freetown

CONTRACT LENGTH: 12 Months (renewable up to 36 months)

CHILD SAFEGUARDING: Level 3- The responsibilities of the post may require the post holder to have regular contact with children or young people and, in the overseas context all posts are considered to be level 3 posts in view of potential situations which may allow staff unsupervised access to vulnerable children and young people.

ROLE PURPOSE: Save the Children is seeking an Advocacy and Communications Coordinator for the anticipated Delivering Learning for Out of School Children (OOSC) Project. The Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) in partnership with the Qatar-based Education Above All (EAA) Foundation seeks to implement a five-year program to facilitate enrolment into formal and non-formal learning programs for out of school children. The MBSSE through the World Bank will receive funding for a program aiming to provide effective accelerated learning programmes that support the enrolment, retention, completion, learning outcomes and transition of OOSC. An NGO Consortium led by Save the Children has been formed to co-implement this project alongside MBSSE.

The Coordinator is responsible for media communication, advocacy and documentation. As a member of the OOSC NGO Consortium Implementation Unit, S/he will support the development of high-quality products that enable excellent communications activities for the Consortium. The post-holder will be supporting the delivery of a comprehensive media and communications plan, ensuring smooth flow of information, good relations with visiting donors and the media (including social media), and high-quality case studies to showcase Save the Children’s work. Additionally, the Officer will work closely with the Consortium Partners to ensure that external messaging, branding and image is consistent with donor sign-off, branding, and visibility requirements as well as develop and deliver related guidance and training materials to staff and partners. As an advocacy lead, s/he will  support the to strengthen the voice of children and to support the OOSC NGO Consortium advocacy efforts towards duty bearers. The post holder will support program development, providing essential analysis, background and review support to program development teams.

In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

SCOPE OF ROLE: 

Reports to: Chief of Party, with matrix reporting to CO Advocacy and Communications Manager

Staff directly reporting to this post: None

Role Dimensions: Works with the FEPS and OOSC NGO Consortium partners, Save the Children Safeguarding Officer, Area and Field Managers

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Communications and Information

• Support the development and implementation of the OOSC Consortium advocacy, communications, visibility and media plans.
• Work with teams to ensure quality, compliance with organizational guidelines and appropriate content and provide review of all communication material and awareness raising material produced and distributed by SCI for the projects; audio-visual and print.
• Through the Chief of Party, respond to ad-hoc information requests from Save the Children staff members, or SC member organizations, as requested.
• Support ongoing assessments and monitoring of the situation.
• Set up and implement a production and distribution plan of all awareness raising material that will be produced within the project activities.
• Lead the development of communications materials around special reports or project reports
• Maintain/ create social media platforms

Research and Documentation

• Responsible for drafting factsheets, Q&As, and briefings.
• Support the drafting of press releases, by collecting information from reputable sources and developing or supporting the production of social media content
• Support the documentation of case studies, photographs, video’s, in liaison with Advocacy and Communications Director
• Support research for both advocacy and programmatic responses for the country office. Conduct or support needs and other types of assessments, as necessary.

Branding and Visibility

• Ensure understanding and compliance of donor branding and visibility requirements across the consortium.
• Review and approve all project and office visibility materials destined for an external audience, both for program and administrative purposes, to ensure compliance with Save the Children and donor branding requirements.
• Develop and deliver staff and partner training modules when necessary on communication, documentation

Emergencies

• Leads the SitRep development in times of declared Humanitarian/Emergency Responses.
• Provide support as requested to other staff in times of emergencies.
• Ensure Save the Children member requests are being met in terms of communications content for profiling the emergency on media and communication channels

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.

QUALIFICATIONS 

Undergraduate degree in Social Sciences

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Undergraduate Degree in any of the Social Sciences or other relevant professional qualification with at least 2 years of experience related to the post

Essential

• Significant direct experience in safeguarding or protection sector
• Proven track record in the implementation of safeguarding or protection implementation policy and practice.
• Demonstrates strong leadership behaviors.
• Proven experience of planning, delivering and evaluating training.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to engage with people at all levels, in particular children, their families and local leaders and members of different communities and social groups.
• Good analytical and problem-solving skills
• Organizing and managing a complex and demanding workload and working on own initiative
• Influencing practice and policy, including communicating effectively and persuasively at all levels, and in different situations, both verbally and in writing, at individual and group level
• Facilitating learning, development and change for individuals and/or groups/organizations
• Developing, sustaining and referring to external and internal professional networks
• Preparing written reports or materials to a publishable standard in English
• Valuing and respecting the contribution of others working effectively with diversity and challenging discrimination
• Coordination skills, especially in relation to cross-departmental working and external networks
• Work and travel in challenging environments

Desirable

• Knowledge and understanding of Save the Children’s social, environmental and child safeguarding policies and procedures

Strong awareness and understanding of social, environmental and Child safeguarding in the digital world (online abuse and materials/interventions to protect children).

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