ACTED JOB OPPORTUNITY

COMMUNICATIONS AND ADVOCACY OFFICER – HARGEISA

14/10/2019

ACTED Somalia

PD_Department

Last Update

October 2019

Position: Communications and Advocacy Officer
Department: Project Development Department
Direct hierarchy: Project Development Manager.
Location: Hargeisa

I. Background on ACTED

ACTED is a French humanitarian NGO, founded in 1993, which supports vulnerable populations, affected by humanitarian crises worldwide. ACTED provides continued support to vulnerable communities by ensuring the sustainability of post-crisis interventions and engaging long-term challenges facing our target populations, in order to break the poverty cycle, foster development and reduce vulnerability to disasters. Their interventions seek to cover the multiple aspects of humanitarian and development crises through a multidisciplinary approach which is both global and local, and adapted to each context. ACTED is looking for professionally confident, self-motivated, experienced and committed team player to fill Communications and Advocacy Officer position in Hargeisa.…………………………………………………………………………………

II. Position Profile

Under the supervision of the Project Development Manager, provide leadership in the development of communications and advocacy products. With support of the Project Development manager, support the reporting process for all current projects. And lastly, assist in writing proposals concept notes and budgets.

III. Duties and Responsibilities

Communications
a) Develop communications strategy and support in report writing for ongoing projects in line with donor requirements but also a broader strategy in line with overall Country Strategy;

b) Build capacity of staff across the organization in communication skills and practices;

c) Create content for communication supports online and offline. Document results and best practices including compiling success stories, developing presentations and other communication materials;

d) Distil key lessons from projects and develop communications materials. Publish articles to increase the visibility of projects and their results and disseminate communication products, as agreed in the communication strategy;

e) Update and maintain a photo bank, organize and coordinate the productionk

f) Take lead in dissemination of communication materials to relevant stakeholders as per Manager’s guidance;

g) Coordinating communication activities and events of ACTED

h) Work on increasing the visibility of ACTED operations through organizing media profiles/interviews and submitting articles on our work when requested;

i) Improving internal communication (gathering success stories, staff profiles etc but also ensuring circulation of key information points to staff, producing a monthly newsletter internal/external).

Grant Management

Contract follow-up

a) Communicate contractual obligations in particular with regards to reporting deadlines to Programme, AMEU and FLATS team;

b) When any issue is identified in meeting deliverables in the given timeframe and budget, inform relevant staff in country and seek ACTED HQ Program Department advice on potential solutions that would meet donor rules.

Reporting
a) Participate in and take minutes of kick-off and close out meetings for each project

b) Write quality narrative reports, reflecting the progress and status of projects in a transparent, timely and professional manner, in liaison with ACTED HQ GMU and finance, which will contribute ultimately to steady cash inflow;

c) Work in close relation with AMEU to incorporate AME data (incl. data on input, process, output, outcome and impact indicators, lessons learnt and best practices) in reports and review M&E reports from AMEU;

d) Liaise with FLATS teams when preparing reports, especially with finance to ensure greater coherence between financial and narrative reports by crosschecking the matching of data in the narrative and financial reports;

e) Contribute to the monthly update of the Reporting Follow Up (RFU) and ensure smooth and regular communication with ACTED HQ GMU.

Partner Follow-up
a) Ensure partners report to ACTED in a timely and qualitative manner as per the requirements of the grant agreement.

Internal Coordination

Internal Coordination and Communication

a) Facilitate interdepartmental communication and information sharing from the Base, to the Area, Capital, and even up to the regional and HQ offices by taking minutes of the various ACTED coordination meetings

b) Send meeting minutes in a timely manner to HQ;

c) Inform ACTED HQ GMU and finance of latest developments, opportunities and challenges so that GMU can best advice on the way forward.

Filing
a) File properly contractual project documents both in hard and soft copies;

b) Update regularly the Resource Centre at the office with appropriate and relevant external and internal resources.

4. Fundraising
External relations
a) Update regularly a directory of donors, international and local NGOs, other partners and stakeholders;

b) Contribute when required to the reporting to national and local authorities as required by ACTED registration/legal status in country;

c) In the absence of Technical Coordinators, participate in key clusters and/or working group meetings;

Contribution to proposal development
a) Contribute when required to the development of fundraising documents (Expression of Interests/concept notes/proposals) in line with ACTED country strategy and donor requirements and in close collaboration with ACTED HQ GMU (Grant Management Unit) and finance;

b) Liaise with Area Coordinators, Project Managers and Technical Coordinators to ensure that proposals are relevant and technically sound;

c) Incorporate learning from previous interventions (e.g. lessons learnt and best practices) into new proposals;

Contracting
a) Contribute to addressing in a timely manner all comments by donors on proposals in liaison with relevant staff in country and ACTED HQ GMU and finance

5. Any other tasks as requested by the PD Manager or CD.
IV. Qualifications/Skills Required

Essential qualifications and experience:

· Masters or Bachelor’s Degree in Communications, Public Relations or related field is preferable.

· Demonstrated experience in project development in an NGO/INGO is highly preferable.

· Strong graphic design skills will be an advantage

· At least 5 years of professional work experience in designing and executing communication activities, preferably in development programmes

· Ability to work in a team and to sometimes tight deadlines in a dynamic and fast-paced work environment

· Very good mastering of English (both verbal and written)

· Ability to communicate with people outside the organisation, representing the organisation to external sources.

· Ability to create new ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including creative contributions

· Proficient in use of computer applications related to the tasks

· Excellent communication skills with knowledge of both internal and external communications environments.

· Proactive, self-starter – able to work with minimum supervision.

· Excellent time management, organization, and prioritization skills, with the ability to work under pressure and to meet deadlines.

· Flexible, enthusiastic and a willingness to listen and learn from others.

HOW TO APPLY:
V. Application Procedure:

Qualified Somali persons with the required skills and qualifications are invited to submit their detailed curriculum vitae and cover letter as a single document (i.e. the cover letter should be on the first page and the CV should start on the second page of the same document) to somalia.jobs@acted.org and received on or before 28th October 2019 with the subject line “Communications and Advocacy Officer – Hargeisa”. Applications sent after the deadline will not be considered.

Please note:

· Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Please note that only the shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

ACTED will at no stage of recruitment process request candidate to make payments of any kind. Further, ACTED has not retained any agent in connection with recruitments.

ACTED is committed to protecting beneficiaries within our programmes from exploitation and abuse and any kind of misconduct. ACTED has specific policies, including PSEA and Child Protection, which outlines the expected behavior and the responsibility of all staff, beneficiaries, consultants and other stakeholders and has zero tolerance towards misconducts. Any candidate offered a job with ACTED will be expected to sign ACTED’s organizational Policies and Code of Conduct as an annex to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents.

ACTED is an Equal Opportunity Employer.