SignPost Moderator (Borno) at the International Rescue Committee (IRC)

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: SignPost Moderator

Requisition ID: req42613
Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Sector: Protection and rule of law
Employment Category: Regular
Employment Type: Full-Time
Open to Expatriates: No

Job Description

• The International Rescue Committee has been in Nigeria since October 2012 and came in response to a widespread flood disaster. IRC’s Emergency Response Team, with local partners, Civil Society Coalition for Poverty Eradication (CISCOPE), implemented projects to support food security, livelihoods, nutrition, and WASH in Kogi State.
• Beginning of January 2014, IRC shifted its geographical location to the Northeast, in Adamawa state to provide a humanitarian response to the conflict-affected populations. In the Northeast, IRC has operational offices: Yola and Mubi field offices in Adamawa State, Damaturu in Yobe State and Bama, Monguno, Gwoza and Maiduguri field offices in Borno State-with the latter office opened in October 2015. In both states, IRC is providing humanitarian support to internally displaced populations hosted in IDP camps, camp-like settings, host communities, and returnee populations. In 2023, the IRC began operations in Northwest Nigeria.
• The IRC Nigeria country program is implementing multi-sectoral interventions in the sectors of: Health and Nutrition; Environmental Health; Child Protection; Education; Women’s Protection and Empowerment; Economic Recovery and Development and Protection Rule of Law. Most of these programs are driven in partnership with strategic local NGOs.

About SignPost

• SignPost is an innovative, first-of-its-kind project within the Nigeria Country Program that harnesses social media and other digital tools to change the way the humanitarian community communicates with IDPs, Host community Members, returnees, and refugees.
• SignPost meets IDPs, Host community Members, returnees, and refugees in Northeast Nigeria where they are online to listen to their questions and concerns and to provide the information they need to make informed choices about their lives. We also provide the humanitarian community with a platform to reach IDPs, returnees, and host community members with accessible information in multiple languages.
• It meets communities on the digital platforms they already use and aims to deliver information that is contextualized to their specific needs and speaks to their lived realities.
• This approach draws on evidence that people are more likely to trust and act on information that is responsive to their needs, speaks to their lived realities, and that comes from “peers” rather than authority figures.
• Signpost very often incorporates face-to-face information services in order to reach people who have less access to the internet and social media. In Nigeria, we are anticipating face-to-face delivery modalities to be incorporated into the overall information strategy.

Position Summary

• Moderators are the heartbeat of the SignPost project. They communicate directly with our users every day - replying to their comments, messages and questions. Moderators come from the same culture as the section of our audience they are working with and speak their dialect.
• Moderators need to mediate between the Signpost team and our audience. To do this, they need to translate questions from our audience (in their native tongue) to English, without losing any meaning or tone.
• The Moderators will be responsible for community engagement and entry, identification of protection concerns, and provision of relevant information and feedback to clients in their dialects.
• The Moderators will be line-managed by the Community Engagement, Protection and Service mapping Officer.

Essential Responsibilities

• Reply to messages and comments received on Signpost information channels with the help of a team of experts and moderation guidelines.
• Engage users in the conversation offline and online.
• Follow protocol to escalate any communication from vulnerable cases to Protection Specialists.
• Feedback on (and translate into English if required) representative and noteworthy comments and write an analysis of the day’s communications (including responses to posts, trends in conversation and information gaps).
• Share opinions, feedback, cultural awareness, contextual knowledge, and learning with the wider team on an ongoing basis.
• Collaborate with Editorial and Social Media teams to develop thorough, well-researched answers
• Analyze information gaps amongst refugee populations to feed into future content creation.
• Keep up to date with all the new information put out on an ongoing basis and attend regular trainings as required.

Accountability:

• Reports Directly To: Community Engagement, Protection and service mapping officer.
• Works Directly With: SignPost editorial team (Senior Editorial Officer, Community Engagement, Protection and service mapping officer); translators; and Senior Advocacy Manager

Qualifications
Essential Knowledge and Experience:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences, or another relevant field
• Experience working with a humanitarian organization for at least 1 year.
• Experience in a humanitarian organization a plus.
• Knowledge of IDP issues in Northeast desired.
• High emotional intelligence (our users are in difficult periods of their lives and moderators need to empathise with them).
• A native speaker of one of our audiences’ key languages (Hausa, Kanuri, Barbur, Margi, Waha, Shuwa Arab, Fulani/Fulfulde).
• An excellent level of English.
• An understanding of the subtlety of language and an ability to apply communication guidelines in written responses.
• A typing speed of 30 words per minute.        

Skills and Interests:

• Native-level oral and written English skills required.
• Ability to work effectively with a diverse team in a sensitive environment.
• Ability to work independently with remote management.
• Strong interpersonal skills and high emotional intelligence.
• Ability to handle pressure and ambiguity with grace and humor.
• Proven organizational skills.
• Healthy respect for deadlines.
• Strong interest in IDP/ refugee/humanitarian issues.
• Photo and video skills a plus.
• Passion for writing
• Strong interpersonal and time-management skills; shown ability to prioritize and deliver on time.
• Great attention to detail
• Strong analytic problem-solving skills
• Ability to work both independently and in a multifaceted, cross-functional team
• Native or near-native Hausa, Kanuri, Barbur, Margi, Waha, Shuwa Arab, Fulani/Fulfulde languages a plus.

Standards of Professional Conduct:

• The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way - Code of Conduct. 
• These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability.  In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Harassment-Free Workplace, Fiscal Integrity, Anti-Retaliation, Combating Trafficking in Persons and several others.

Gender Equality:

• IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.