COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER

Based in: Johannesburg (MSF SA office)
Reports to: Communication & Audiovisual Coordinator, based in Brussels
Starting date: September 2011
Closing date for applications: June 15th 2011

Background

As part of the communications department based in Brussels, the “Combo” team works on information and strategic communication matters related to MSF operations in a number of countries managed by MSF’s Operational Centre of Brussels.

In this case, the Communications Officer position will be responsible for operational communications support to Cell 6, which currently manages the MSF projects in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The Communications Officer will divide his/her time between the Cell 6 portfolio of countries, but for practical reasons will be physically based in Johannesburg, in the MSF South Africa office. As the other members of the Combo team, he/she will report to the Communication & Audiovisual Coordinator based in Brussels.

Main objectives and tasks of the position

The Cell 6 portfolio includes various operational communications plans and public positioning on advocacy topics that need to be developed. These range from decentralised HIV/AIDS care, to MDR-TB, gaps in human resources for health, violence, disease outbreaks, challenges in treating mobile populations, and the humanitarian situation of survival migrants to name a few.

The Communications Officer will focus on supporting and advising the teams managing operations at field and headquarters levels in their external but also internal communications activities and strategies, on providing a constant stream of information on these interventions, and helping MSF continue exposing the medical humanitarian needs of the population it is helping.

By following a number of contexts closely, the Communications Officer will advise how communications can support operations both locally and internationally, help identify project-related issues for external communication, produce efficient tools and strategies, and coach staff in the field in working with the local media that he/she will help identify.

To achieve these objectives, the Communications Officer will regularly visit the different projects covered. It is important that this person be able to travel on short notice to these locations, as some communication activities might stem from sudden emergencies.

The Communications Officer will closely interact with the rest of the Combo team, the Operational Coordinator of Cell 6, as well as with the Advocacy and Analysis Unit of MSF. To this end, visits to the Brussels headquarters will be required.

Similarly, the person will closely collaborate with both the Communications Unit and the Programs Unit of MSF South Africa office regarding regional issues and campaigning opportunities.

The dominant language of this position is English. The candidate must therefore be completely fluent, and show excellent writing skills in that language as well.

Qualifications
To be considered for this vacancy, a candidate must demonstrate:
- experience in MSF communications
- a solid knowledge of MSF operational communications processes
- a good understanding of humanitarian action and media systems
- excellent English writing skills (which will be tested as part of the selection process)
- a strong sense of initiative combined with team spirit

In addition, the following qualifications will be highly valued:
- experience in productions of communications tools (written and multimedia)
- understanding of French

Interested?
Send a letter of motivation as well as your CV by June 15th 2011 to:
thalia.maes (@) brussels.msf.org
or
MSF, Thalia Maes, rue Dupré 94, 1090 Brussels (Belgium).
Please mention “Communication Officer–Cell 6” in your application title or subject line.