Communications Officer (Consultant)

UKRAINE NATIONALS ONLY

ActionAid is a global federation working for a world free from poverty and injustice in 45 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia, and America. We want to see a just, fair, and sustainable world, in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity, and freedom from poverty and oppression.

Our strategy is to build international momentum for social, economic, and environmental justice, driven by people living in poverty and exclusion. In practice, this means working closely with people living in poverty and exclusion, civil society organisations, social movements, and supporters.

Together, we deliver grassroots programmes, provide emergency relief and campaign for things such as women’s economic rights, tax justice and climate justice. For further information, please see: https://actionaid.org/who-we-are

ActionAid’s Humanitarian Approach

Emergencies are a strategic priority for ActionAid. We believe that crisis and disaster-affected people have the right to assistance. Our emergency responses are guided by our Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) and Humanitarian Signature – our federation-wide, non-negotiable approach to humanitarian preparedness, response, and recovery which all humanitarian interventions must adhere to, and which is built around the pillars of:

• Aiming for all programmes to be women- and young-people led, supporting women, young people, their organisations and networks to have more influence at the national, regional and global level.
• Shifting the power from North to South, international to local, from a male-dominated system to one where women, young people, their organisations, and networks play a central role.
• Working with communities and local organisations to hold agencies (e.g. national governments, donors and INGOs) accountable.
• Supporting community resilience to prepare for, mitigate, respond, recover, and build back better from crises. Interventions with a long-term perspective.

ActionAid’s response to Ukraine Crisis

Given the acute situation in Ukraine and its global impact, ActionAid has decided to immediately respond to the humanitarian crisis.

Building on ActionAid’s existing partnerships and alliances in countries bordering Ukraine, we are setting up a local partner-led humanitarian response focusing initially on refugees, strengthening women’s and young people’s leadership, and providing immediate humanitarian relief, psychosocial counselling support and prevention of gender-based violence. ActionAid Spain (Alianza) is the lead for this response, supported by the ActionAid International Humanitarian and Resilience Team (IHART) in line with ActionAid’s internal emergency classification policy.

Our response will include:

• Multi-sectoral assistance to Ukrainian refugees in neighbouring host countries, including food, shelter, winterisation support, health, Non-Food Items (NFIs), livelihoods, rental support and/or water, sanitation, hygiene, both in-kind and via cash assistance; and language support.
• Multi-sectoral protection services for refugee women and girls affected by/at risk of SGBV and trafficking, including case management, protection counselling, psychosocial support, legal assistance, safe spaces, referral to specialised service providers and/or economic autonomy support.
• Multi-sectoral support to refugee girls, boys, and youth, including psychological first aid and psychosocial support; educational support, including educational kits and learning materials, provision of Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) to support refugee families in meeting education-related costs, and/or learning support for out-of-school children and youth; and/or child and youth-friendly spaces and recreational activities.
• Target groups will include refugee women and girls affected by/at risk of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), trafficking and sexual exploitation; refugee children and youth (girls and boys), elderly women and men, women and girls, and men and boys with disabilities.

ActionAid has well established global safety and security systems which are supported by a global network of security focal points (SFPs). The ultimate responsibility for safety and security sits with the member/country leadership and related governance structures. About 2/3 of ActionAid’s members are either members or affiliates, with their separate boards, and 1/3 are country programmes, currently supported through the governance structures of ActionAid International. ActionAid Spain (Alianza) is a member of the ActionAid federation with a separate board of governance.

Role Overview:

The Communications Officer works closely with the AAI communication team, Ukraine response team and Ukrainian partners. She/he will provide tactical and operational support to the Communications Team and produce content and assets to promote the AA Humanitarian response.

The role reports to the Comms Coordinator and is accountable to the Regional Senior Emergency Manager of the response and the Strategic Leadership Team (SLT).

Main Responsibilities:

Communication:

• Work with communications team members to conceptualize and implement communications strategies, campaigns, and activities.
• Develop, write and edit communications materials, including press releases, blog posts and social media content.
• Produce digital media archives including photos and videos
• Respond to media requests and identify media opportunities with journalists and international correspondents in Ukraine.
• Work closely with AAI´s partners to identify stories, collect testimonies and support them on media and outreach activities.
• Develop training sessions on comms.
• Ensure that all communications and materials align with AAI´s standards and guidelines.

Location

• The selected person will perform his/her duties in Ukraine.
• The selected person must make as many temporary transfers and trips as necessary within the response areas (such as Poland, Romania, Moldova and Spain and within Ukraine) for the correct performance of their duties and tasks.

Essential Requirements

• 3+ years prior experience in a communications role with an NGO preferably in the humanitarian sector.
• Relevant educational qualification on communication oriented studies.
• Exceptional communication/ writing / interpersonal skills and be able to compose engaging and accurate content.
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Ukrainian is essential.
• Computer knowledge in Office suites.
• Design and video edition programs (such as Adobe Creative Suite) knowledge is an asset.
• Understanding of communications, public relations and social media best practices.
• Ability to think strategically and identify ways to improve communication efforts
• Must be resourceful and take initiative even when given minimal direction
• An ability to absorb and analyze information.
• High integrity and dependability.
• Experience of working in a diverse team and building good relationships with people at all levels and cross-culturally
• Excellent inter-personal and problem-solving skills and diplomacy
• Consultative and empowering working style and willingness to learn from others
• A strong commitment to AA’s vision, mission and values, especially the rights based approach and the principles of equal opportunity as outlined in ActionAid’s Code of Conduct.
• A strong commitment to embedding feminist leadership and ActionAid’s humanitarian signature.
• A strong commitment to adhering to and promoting ActionAid’s approach to Sexual Harassment, Exploitation, and Abuse and other Safeguarding concerns (including child abuse and abuse of adults at-risk)
• Understanding of and commitment to women’s rights and cultural sensitivity.
• A commitment to the importance of downward accountability to rights-holders and transparency in humanitarian response.
• The recruited person must be legally able to conclude a service contract in Ukraine and must ensure his/her administrative capacity to stay and work in the country

Desirable:

• Experience of working in an emergency response situation

Conditions:

• Service Contract
• Starting date: immediate hiring.
• Location: Kyiv (Ukraine)