East Africa Communication and Advocacy Officer

Trócaire is a partnership based Irish NGO supporting local civil society in East Africa. Trócaire has programmes managed from its Nairobi office; the Kenya country programme (focusing on sustainable livelihoods, governance and human rights, HIV and gender and humanitarian responses), Somalia country programme (focus on health and education and an emergency response programme. Trocaire wishes to announce the following vacant positions within the East Africa Region based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Main Purpose of Role

The East Africa Communications and Advocacy Officer is responsible for promoting the work of Trócaire and our partners in the three countries to the general public in Ireland and in the region and supporters as well as donors, staff, governments and other stakeholders. She/he will work with the Kenya ,Somalia Country Directors ,Emergency Programme manager and their management teams to raise the profile of Trócaire both inside and outside the region and to support national and international advocacy linked to our programmes. She/he will be responsible for linking with various departments of the Public Engagement division in Trócaire HQ.

It is envisaged that 50% of the time will be spend on the Somalia programme, 30% on the Kenya programme and 20% on the Emergency Programme

Job Grade: Two year contract at Grade 4 on Trócaire Kenya scale

Reporting to Somalia Country Director with a dotted line report to the other CDs and Communications team in HQ. No direct line reports

Background to Position Trócaire has been working in Somalia and Kenya for the past 20 years . With increasing demands to profile the work of Trócaire and the support received from our donors, and to ensure our grassroots work supports national and international advocacy efforts Trócaire requires a professional Communications and Advocacy Officer who will produce high quality communications and advocacy materials in a variety of media, as required by Trócaire and its partners and donors.

Key Duties & Responsibilities: Communications

• Develop a Communications Strategy for the region in collaboration with the country management teams and the Communications team in HQ
• Suggest story ideas and produce well-written stories of change on the impact of Trócaire’s work in the region to be used by Trócaire for specific, pre-agreed/designed purposes
• Produce good quality photographs/footage of the impact of Trócaire’s work in the region to be used by Trócaire for specific, pre-agreed/designed purposes
• Provide a local media round-up on a regular (monthly) basis
• Coordinate with the digital communications team to provide timely blogs, reports, photos and other materials for uploading the Trócaire website
• Coordinate with relevant staff in HQ as necessary, including Communications, Policy officers, Fundraising &Marketing and regional staff
• Where useful/relevant, provide an analysis of developments relating to media/public communications
• Produce (in collaboration with the Country Directors and other Programme staff) leaflets, briefings and brochures for existing and potential donors, setting out the nature of our work in the region.
• Assist in the organisation of field visits of supporters, HQ staff, and donors; in particular producing briefing materials on Trócaire’s work in the region and the projects they will visit. Potentially accompany such trips to encourage high quality materials coming out of the trip for use in media and communications work.
• Support the Country Directors to quickly respond to requests from Trócaire communications, media and fundraising staff, Donors and Partners.
• Establish a database of communications professionals, including photographers, videographers, and other NGO press officers, for networking and potential hire for resource gathering.
• Engage with relevant partners for resource development
• Maintain the country media brief as required for Somalia and Kenya
• Provide support and advice to the country teams to ensure that we meet the Code of Conduct and standards expected in all our communications.
• Copy-edit key work from partners and programme staff within the office. This might include, for example, reports to back-donors like the European Union or DFID or to government institutions.
• Travel regularly to the field to gain first-hand knowledge of Trócaire’s programme work, in order to be able to communicate it accurately.

Advocacy

• Support the Country Directors/PM to engage in local/national advocacy as appropriate
• Actively participate and represent Trócaire in inter-organizational coordination as requested by the Country Directors/PM
• Keep abreast of the context in the region in particular as it relates to the NGO working environment and issues related to Trócaire’s work
• Provide country-specific content for briefing papers as required (in advance of high level visits, to feed into organisational policy documents etc.)
• Represent Trócaire in all relevant coordination, advocacy and communication fora as designated by the Country Directors/PM
• Work closely with the Programme Officers to support programme level advocacy strategies on key organizational thematic areas
• Collate topical in-depth information specific to the region through desk research and case studies, etc., to support advocacy initiatives and thematic positions for Trócaire. Support the production of policy briefings and other materials by the Policy and Advocacy team in Trócaire HQ through providing information specific to the region, for use in organisational advocacy initiatives
• Build and maintain contacts with relevant NGOs working on similar thematic areas in the region to ensure the building of a stronger advocacy base as well as the inclusion of Trócaire key messages as appropriate.

Notes:

This list of duties and responsibilities is by no means exhaustive, and the post holder may be required to undertake other relevant and appropriate duties as required. This job description is subject to regular review and appropriate modification;

Expected Outputs:

• Trócaire Kenya, Somalia and Emergency programme profile is appropriately raised within the organisation, with donors and with other key stakeholders at a national, regional and international level
• Trócaire communications and advocacy materials are of a consistently high standard
• Communications material from the region are regularly used for communications, media and fundraising.
• Staff throughout Trócaire are aware of the work of the Somalia, Kenya and Emergency programmes and see them as a key asset for the organisation
• Trócaire programme staff are aware of the importance of communication and advocacy work and actively support it.
• Trócaire in the region has a clear and effective communications strategy in place
  Essential requirements:
• University Degree or Masters in media, communications or related field.
• An excellent communicator with strong social/representation skills
• Ability to demonstrate sound experience of communications and media work, including seeking out stories protectively
• Good social media skills
• Ability to produce high standard photographs and video footage
• Ability to write in perfect, clear, accessible, English
• Word-processing and desktop publishing software skills to layout work to a very high standard
• Able to identify and write strong, interesting stories / case studies
• Strong analytical skills and ability to summarise complex issues clearly
• A good understanding of development issues in the region, and able to encapsulate them in clear and simple ways.
• Sensitive to the reputation and security risks associated with communications and advocacy work
• Extremely well organised, and able to responding swiftly to requests while maintaining a very high quality of output to deadline
• Demonstrated capacity to engage with a wide range of actors in an advocacy role
• Able to form good relationships with others quickly, to being a team player
• Willing and able to travel within the East Africa Region (Kenya and Somalia) often at short notice
• Desirable
• 3 year experience of working on development projects in the field
• Experience of working with partner organisations
• Knowledge of the Somalia, Kenya contexts
• Able to communicate in Kiswahili, Somali or Sudanese Arabic

HOW TO APPLY:

Trócaire recruitment and selection process reflect its commitment to People in Aid Code of Good Practice. Prospective applicants must be committed to safeguarding children and adults against all forms of exploitation and abuse by signing Trócaire’s Safeguarding Programme Participants Policy.

Interested applicants, who meet the above requirements, should send their CV, cover letter with current and expected salary to the Human Resources Officer through the following email address:hr@trocaire.or.ke with the job title as the subject of the email by 31st May 2015. Applications will be reviewed as they come and only short-listed candidates will be contacted.