Deployable Communications Specialist at Plan International

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian non-profit organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood, and enable children to prepare for - and respond to - crises and adversity. We believe in the power and potential of every child, but know this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Deployable Communications Specialist

Location: Nigeria (Deployed 75% of the time to Plan International’s country programmes. Home-based when not deployed)
Type of Role: Permanent or maximum fixed term contract available as per employing office’s standard terms and conditions
Reports to: Head of Global Media
Functional Area: External Communications
Effective Date: February 2023
Travel required: Up to 75% (may be at short notice)
Grade: 4

Role Purpose

• Plan International country offices in response to an emergency, often need additional experts to support their response and help those affected by crises. Plan International’s core surge team is composed of technical, global experts who can deploy to emergency responses within 72 hours for up to 4 months.
• The post holder will be expected to provide leadership to their area of technical specialism to support the country team they are deployed to.
• Core surge team members are globally roving and work away from their home base continuously, from a few weeks up to four months per assignment. Core surge is typically deployed to country programmes for up to nine months a year (pro rata for part-time posts). When not deployed (or on annual leave), core surge team members may be assigned project/proactive work.
• The Deployable Communications Specialist is expected to work as an integral part of the country office.
• They are deployed to lead all communications for the response and support Plan International to communicate effectively with key stakeholders including the media, supporters and donors.
• The post holder will develop public messaging and create high-quality comms materials for use in Plan International’s global channels and across our network of National Organisations.  

Dimensions of the Role

• This position may line manage in-country national communications specialists when on deployment.
• No budget responsibility is required for this position.
• Develops and maintains relationships with stakeholder groups both within Plan International and externally.
• May deploy at short notice to a CountryOffice for up to 4 months.
• The post is expected to be on deployment for up to 9 months per year.
• Reports to the Country Office when on deployment with a technical line report to the GH Head of Global Media.
• Regular interaction with GH media and digital teams and regional communications specialists, close collaboration with programme, Humanitarian, Advocacy and National Organisation communications colleagues.

Accountabilities

• Position Plan International as a key agency in the emergency response to help us raise funds.
• Develop the crisis communications plan, including key comms messaging, and update regularly so our external communications are aligned with our programme response and reflect the evolving situation. 
• Advises County Management Team on comms and media approaches and opportunities.
• Primary contact in-country for setting up and managing media interviews.
• Develops and updates communications talking points.
• Develops skills of key staff to be confident and able to participate in media interviews.
• Develops strong content highlighting the impact of our programmatic response, and the humanitarian situation on the ground and reinforce. Plan International’s advocacy and policy messages
• Produces a range of compelling human interest child-focused content such as case studies, eyewitness accounts, blogs, first-personaccounts, images, audio, video
• Ensure all content is available for everyone in the Plan International communications network to use by uploading all content in high resolution onto the global Media Bank or working closely with the GH Media Librarian to ensure that everything is available on the Media Bank
• Uses social media to highlight the humanitarian situation while in country
• Monitor the situation for challenges, risks, threats and opportunities related to the emergency context that may impact communications and public engagement approaches, messaging and operations
• Ensure brand visibility of Plan International where appropriate and promote the local partners we work with.
• Ensure that child protection guidelines for content are strictly adhered to including consent
• Look for opportunities to use developments and the international news agenda to drive positive and consistent messaging about Plan International which represents the organisation effectively and raises its profile and reputation as a principled humanitarian agency.
• Liaise with journalists/correspondents, manage media requests and provide spokespersons with briefing and talking points.

Safeguarding:

• Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Child Protection (CPP) and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI) are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility.
• This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.

Key Relationships:
The post holder will need to be an excellent team worker who can operate in a large organisation and deliver results by collaboratively working with others as well as autonomously:

Internal:

• Work closely with humanitarian, regional and country-based colleagues in the assigned regions; build relations and offer guidance, support and coaching as required.
• Work collaboratively and supportively with other teams, National Organisations, Liaison Offices, partner organisations and external contacts.
• Work positively with other Communication Department colleagues – including the video unit, multimedia archivist, digital and internal communications teams as well as with freelance photographers and filmmakers in creating effective press packages and content.

External:

• Proactively develop and strengthen productive relationships with key global media contacts and outlets in assigned regions and specialist areas.
• Managing and overseeing the work of freelancers, including photographers, videographers and comms consultants.

Technical Expertise, Skills and Knowledge
Essential:

• Able and willing to deploy at short notice to humanitarian crises.
• Substantial experience working in journalism, media relations or PR at an international level.
• Excellent verbal and writing skills in English with the ability to quickly translate complex information into strong messages and compelling content.
• Track record of writing news articles, features, picture stories, op-eds and press releases and developing vlogs and visual content.
• Multimedia skills, including photography and filming.
• Proven success at pitching stories to the media and working with journalists.
• Strong understanding of international humanitarian and development issues and rights-based work.
• Practical experience working in complex emergency settings.
• Practical experience with and ability to organise media visits, set up interviews and brief spokespeople.
• Track record of handling complex, sensitive, and fast-moving situations and working in high-pressure environments with tight deadlines.
• Good understanding of social media and digital channels.
• Keeps up to date with key humanitarian and international development issues and trends and can spot new opportunities as they arise.
• Strong organisational skills to deal with a complex work environment.
• Work enthusiastically as part of a team and forms effective and constructive working relationships across the whole organisation and wider network within the sector.
• Good understanding of humanitarian values, principles, the Humanitarian Charter and Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief.
• Committed to actively upholding Plan International's vision, values and behaviours and policies, including the Say Yes! To Keeping Children Safe Policy.

Desirable:

• Fluency in English and at least one other language (e.g., French, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese)

Plan International’s Values in Practice
We are open and accountable:

• Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
• Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
• Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
• Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
• Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people

We strive for lasting impact:

• Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
• Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
• Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
• Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.

We work well together:

• Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
• Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
• Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
• Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

We are inclusive and empowering:

• Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
• Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
• Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
• Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

Physical Environment:

• As part of the core surge team, the primary purpose of the role is to deploy to emergencies globally.
• The post holder will deploy to a diverse range of countries and contexts. This can range from insecure environments to countries that have just been impacted by a rapid-onset disaster.
• The post holder will be provided with the necessary support for such varied locations, including security training, well-being and mental health support and briefings before all deployments.
• While on deployment, the accommodation, transport, and availability of services will be dependent on the context and the specific country offices policies.

Level of contact with children:

• Mid contact: Occasional interaction with children.

Application Closing Date
5th March, 2023.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Click here for more information (Word)